BRIAN GALLANT SAC

August 22, 2005

Sarah and I decided that it would probably be a good idea to try racing together before we get married. A short race ­ just for fun. We asked our friend Jenn from team Canada Post and she was in like a dirty shirt. We also decided to volunteer at Raid afterward. I hadn't done a race under 12 hours in about four years so it was a bit of a switch.

There were only 12 teams signed up and even then only 9 showed. Thatąs a real shame as it is a great area. I think we were one of maybe two teams that had raced before. The briefing was brief, which was nice. I had never done a SAC so I didnąt know what to expect. I was really surprised that the instructions were so prescriptive. łGo here, turn left, go up hill, follow power line˛ sort of stuff. I have admit that turned me off a little as I prefer navigating. But that's just the style of the race so it was fine - I just wasn't expecting it.

It was 35 degrees that day and I was pretty worried about heat stroke so I carried approximately 30lbs of water.

PADDLE - 1 hour

We were a bit of a gong show on the paddle. The buggers put half the boats backwards so, of course, I dragged ours into the water in reverse and it took us about 30 seconds to realize, jump back out and get it right. We couldn't seem to keep the boat straight and I'm sure it wasn't helping that we had two canoe paddles and a kayak paddle. It really didn't help that we had never practiced together. "It's just for fun" I kept reminding myself. And, all said, it was a fun little paddle of about 9km on the west arm of Kootenay Lake.

HIKE - 1 hour

The hike took us along the shore of the lake, back the way we'd come, for about 1km. We crossed the highway and there was a short scramble up a rock face with chunks of stone and dirt flying everywhere. The RD was there making sure we were going single file, which was good because Jenn was having a deja vu of Primal Quest. Definitely one of the more white knuckle bits of a race that I have seen. We followed some flagging and ended up hiking along the edge of a farmer's field where, being clumsy as I am, I managed to tumble into a drainage ditch from what I think was a cow pasture.

With brown, stinky muck all over my legs and teammates laughing, we headed up into the trees, again following some flagging. We were moving fast up the slope and lost the trail so we started bushwhacking. That was the most enjoyable part of the hike for me and I wish there had been more! We ended up about 20 metres east of where we wanted, drawn by the heavy metal pumping from a back yard boom-box.

Except for 1km under a power line, the rest of the trek was through the outer edge of town so we mostly followed roads and street signs.

PUSH BIKE - 2.25 hours

Normally I wouldn't call this a section on it's own but it was so awful for our team that it deserves special recognition. Two hours up the back side of Morningside Mountain ski hill on the technical downhill trails. It isn't the worst hike-a-bike I've ever done but it was a bit much considering that it took us about 1/3 of our race. Regardless. we got through it and it was just a part of the race so it didn't bother me much. On the bright side, I now know where the good downhill is in Nelson! It was good because we were able to help each other through it so it made the whole thing seem more like a team event (keep positive!). Two of us had a good laugh at the end and one looked about to collapse but that is where forced feeding comes in.

BIKE - 2.25 hours

Finally, the part I'd been waiting for. It started with a steep downhill bit of dirt road for 4km, which gave way to trails. It was really fantastic, moderately technical, downhill riding. At times steep and fast, at others you were picking your way through rocks and debris or negotiating switch backs. When we hit the bottom after about 30 minutes, my heart cried out "MORE"!

We hit the edge of town and then the trail went up again. And up... and up. Not steep, just steady for several KMs. We arrived back at the gravel road we first started on, crossed the highway and began one of the most fun cross country rides I've done in a while. It was pretty non-eventful, except for Jenn nearly getting smucked by a dirt biker, but a blast nonetheless. It was an old rail bed from the Burlington/Santa Fe railway. It was clear, had a slight downhill slope and you could really rip it up. There were occasional erosion berms that were great ramps and I don't know how many times I caught air. Had I been on my own during this part, I would have been about half an hour shorter but ended up with something broken (remember, I'm clumsy).

The last bit was just a ride through town back to the finish. We didn't really follow the instructions much as we knew where we had to get to. It was so hot that we seriously considered stopping at the 7eleven for slurpies but we were fighting traffic. By that time we were competing for style points anyway. 6.5 hours and still ready for more.

SUMMARY - It was fun and organized. The staff and volunteers were friendly and enthusiastic. I wish there had been some tougher navigation as that's my favorite part of racing but it was still fun. It just wasn't that type of race, which really is fine, simply not what I expected.

LOW-LIGHTS - The hike a bike. It would have been a really fantastic hike so I don't know why they didn't drive our bikes up instead of making us carry them. Again, it wasn't all that bad and everyone had to do it so it was perfectly fair.

HIGHLIGHTS - Burlington/Santa Fe trail ride. This was a good, fun race that would be great for new racers or experienced racers looking for a fun way to spend an afternoon.