Port Alice Road Trip 07

Jun 13, 2007

Once you get north of Campbell River, you just never know what you are in for. We rolled into Port Alice at around 10 p.m. on Friday night to find our buddies Ferg and Kyle setting up camp right at the bottom of the downhill course. It was just getting dark and the rain clouds had settled in for the weekend. Kyle and Ferg decided that it was time to start a fire the good ol' fashioned way, with a can of gas.

Just as the blaze lit up the night I looked over and noticed that we weren't alone. We had only been in town an hour and already the fuzz was checking out the scene, I never thought I would say this but those two cops were probably the nicest guys in uniform I have ever met!


After a shakedown they were asking about the race and pretty much blended in with the crowd. We quickly joined the campers set up next door (mostly Port Alice and Port McNeil locals) who came equipped with a house DJ and strobe lights, like I said, once you get north of Campbell River.... One thing led to another and the minibike fire jumping was in full swing.


Saturday was the cross country, unfortunately those rain clouds were not moving, it had poured rain all night and showed no signs of letting up, the good thing was that the temperature was holding at around 22 degrees, all I can say is rainforest. The cross country consisted of 7 laps up the road and down the bottom two thirds of the dh course which is beautiful - full of groomed berms and smooth greasy lines. I basically dragged Ferg and Kyle for a hike up the course to check it out while the xc was happening since we had to wait for it to finish before we could do pre-runs.


Brad, the man behind the woman who organizes the race, had told me the night before something about adding a bit at the top of the dh track so I was eager to check it out. After more coaxing, me and the boys made it to the top of the old course, it took us about another 20 minutes to CLIMB up to the top of the new section. Holy crap, did it look scary. Brad and his crew had carved an amazing single track out of boulders, crushing them with pick axes to make a trail that wound down the mountain through steep root riddled forest and rock gardens. Line selection was going to be tricky, and that was just to walk back down the course. We shuttled up for our first run and I was seriously ecstatic that I had decided to bring my upper armour. We did a few laps of the top section and started to relax, it was ridable but now we had to try and ride it with some speed. Haha, ya, it was fun.

Saturday night was the BBQ Salmon feast, one thing about people in Port Alice, they definately do things first class. I got the feeling that a lot of people in that little community had contributed to making the dinner that was laid out for the riders that night, it was like a family BBQ! Events continued with the trials comp and kids race, no one is excluded from having a blast in this village! The party went pretty hard into Saturday night, the Quatsino Chalet, a quaint little hotel & "nightclub" was taken over by ravaged mountain bikers, the before and after pictures of the Quatsino Chalet sign basically gives you the idea.

Before

After

Sunday morning (still raining) I rounded up Jeff and Brent and our trusty shuttler Ross for some early morning practice. After Ross figured out that he should listen to my driving instructions re 4 x 4 we made it to the top of the course and I got to learn some of Jeff's killer lines.


The race organizers informed us that we would be doing two runs in a best 1 of 2 format. The interesting thing about this course that I realized after trying a top to bottom run is that there is virtually no pedal sections for the first 3.5 minutes and then there is about a minute of pedalling at the bottom, so your legs are like what the %*&#???? The race started right at noon and was orchestrated by the most organized group of people that I have ever witnessed. The shuttle drivers were mostly loggers from the local forestry company driving forestry trucks, there were about 20 radios up on the mountain with check points at every turn, we even had a toasty campfire going at the top of the course to roast our wet gloves on. In the end, everyone made it down the hill safely.


There were three different start zones for beginner, intermediate and expert so the times reflect the length of course. Results will be posted on rumblefest.com later this week, check back at pinkbike.com for the results of the overall for both DH and XC soon!


A big thank you to the community of Port Alice, all the racers & parents who made the trek.

DH action shots by Johno-Check his album HERE. if you don't see yourself in his album, then check out his web site at www.jsbazett.ifp3.com where you'll find tons of shots from all the Island cup races.


Fiona is a member of the Pinkbike.com/Devinci DH team and is supported by:

Devinci Bikes-
Marzocchi Suspension-
Magura Brakes-
MRP Chain Guides-
Maxxis Tires-
DT Swiss Wheel Sets-
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