About 620 hardy mountain bikers took part in the BC Bike Race’s two Sunshine Coast stages July 9 and 10.
In a pre-event interview with Coast Reporter, Andreas Hestler, director of marketing for the BC Bike Race, called the Earls Cove to Sechelt leg of the race the Queen Stage, because it features more climbing than any other stage, and fast, technical downhill: there were 1,710 metres of uphill climb over the 57-kilometre route.
Monday’s Stage 4, from Sechelt to Langdale, was 48 kilometres, with 1,403 metres of climbing.
Organizers featured two men well known in the local mountain biking community in the daily race summaries: Rod Camposano, who has been the course director for the Sunshine Coast part of the BC Bike Race since it began in 2006, and Bob Stanhope, who’s a racer this year after years of volunteering.
Camposano will be stepping back after this year’s race because he’s now living in Revelstoke.
“I see family on the trails after the race and they say they were here for the race. I think it’s great that the world gets to see it,” Camposano said in the Day 3 Race Report. “It’s been a great experience. Do I want to go? Not really. But I can’t do the work I used to without being here and being part of the daily developments in the forest.”
Stanhope talks in the Race Report about the different perspective he’s getting now that he’s a competitor. “I’m loving the experience. I’m middle of the pack and when I used to sweep there is a whole other life back there. Whole other attitude. Everyone here has a story.”
The BC Bike Race was scheduled to wrap up July 13 in Whistler, after Coast Reporter’s deadline. The final results and the daily Race Report are online at www.bcbikerace.com
