The Big Day...IMC bike couse!

Hey Everyone!

Today was the big IMC bike course day. We were up yet again super early in the morning, and I'm not going to lie I was a little nervous about this bike ride for a couple of reasons. The first being that this was my test to see how race day was going to play out, the second was that I have never ridden that far on a bike EVER before, and lastly my ass and nether regions were beginning to hate me!

We got started down Channel road in Penticton and then made our way to the east side of Skaha lake. My legs were a little tired, not to mention I am not much of a morning person so I took my time warming up. Everyone took off and I just kept an easy spin going waiting for my body to realise that I have to bike whether I wan't to or not!

We turned off the Skaha lake road onto Maclean Creek road, my legs still weren't quite ready to do this when I rounded a corner and there was a hill that went straight up. Well, maybe not straight up I am exaggerating a bit, but it felt like it was straight up. After this rough little climb we were winding through this little country road for a bit. We came back out at the highway and we all met up again.

The next part of the course was the easy part. We came out of Maclean Creek at OK Falls and then turned to head toward Oliver and Osoyoos. This part is a gradual down hill, so it was nice to get down into aero and giver. I found it really easy to get nurtiton in along this part of the course as well as keep my heart rate exactly where it shoud be.

We all (Verna, Jenna, and myself) gathered up again at the Husky, filled up and then headed up Richter Pass. I was wondering how my legs would feel after climbing anarchist and it wasn't too bad at all. There are 7 rollers past Richter Pass and those sucked. I had a hard time getting in enough food, it is a constant up, down, up, down. At one point I was trying to eat part of a bar flying down a hill! At least I didn't crash!!! I found it difficult to get into a rythm because you are constantly changing gears. I finally made it through there and we hit the flats out to the out and back by Cawston. This is where I messed up my nutrition, I should have had something to eat and by the time we got to the Big Bear Fruit stand (at the bottom of yellow lake) I was starting to bank a bit. I got some food in me and I started to feel a lot better!

The Yellow Lake climb is shorter than Richter pass and I think it is steeper. The most challenging part is that you climb this after you have ridden 140ish km already. We made it up without any problems and then it was smooth sailing all of the way back into town. Greg had come looking for us and we met up with him just as we came back into Penticton. All and all it was a great day. Being on the course is going to help me in so many ways on race day. I will have my nutrition plan in place and will be ready to go come Aug 24th. Having the peace of mind knowing I CAN do this now! Here is a pic of my bike at the top of yellow lake.

I have included a map of the bike course so you can see what I am talking about. We did everything but the out and back section by Cawston.