So sweamrs and I made it though a very wet BCBR We apparently had more rain than the previous 5 times combined….
This old thread from 2 years ago is worth a read.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bc-bike-race-some-thoughts-after-doing-it
In addition here are some more comments not covered in the above. Feel free to ask more while it’s still fresh in my mind…
When there are 2 options for ferries make every effort to get on the earliest one even if it means skipping showers / not washing bikes. Ferries get delayed etc and especially on day 2 the second ferry (which we weren’t on) got in very late.
If you’re going for meal plans then Plan A (the earliest) are allowed in Plans B & C but not the other way round. I’m an early riser and sweamrs struggles with breakfast so we went for Plan A to allow us to digest fully pre-race start each day and found it worked out fine.
Despite it being “the ultimate singletrack experience” there is a lot of forest road climbing especially on days 3 & 4.
Endurance is good but a lot of the trails are quite tech and require short burst of power to get any flow. Sweamrs had plenty of endurance but lacked power and so struggled with punchy climbs / moves.
They have a habit of putting the most techy trails at the end of the day which can be quite demoralizing if you’re tired.
Breakfast / Dinner is fantastic. On trail food at aid stations is average. If you’re towards the back plan for only 2 meals / day. If you’re near the front it’s a long time to dinner and a couple of the campsites aren’t near food so pack a few bars etc or recovery drinks (we did the later)
The Holiday Inn in North Vancouver is a good spot for pre-race as they were doing pick-up of bags from there which avoided a schlep.
Line-ups (queues in Canadian) are a feature of the trip.