Downtime: Singletrack 6, 2016 - Photo Epic

Downtime – it’s intermission; the time between the finish line and the start gun. Wise use of downtime is crucial to the next day’s performance. Recovery is the key here - and the key to recovery is figuring out what the body and bike need. You must work inside the intermission to reload and be ready to fire bullets again the next day.

Whether car or truck camping, Sprinter van glamping, sausaging into motel rooms, or staying in plush hotels, the goal for every Singletrack 6 competitor is the same; rest, repair and recover.








Step one - is simply finishing the day’s stage. Exhaustion, elation and camaraderie are the emotions of finish-line faces. Everything from bar­-slumping fatigue, high fives after a friendly sprint finish, to the dance routines of Team Flower Power; all expressing the emotion of another day’s effort completed. Competition gives way to camaraderie once the line is crossed and the clock stops. Reliving the highlights of the day, be it fast and flowy singletracks, suffering climbs, or comedic crashes. Stories are shared and efforts compared in the post-stage relief of another day completed.






Refueling is vital to being able to do it again the next day. Go too easy on the calories and you’ll get worn down as the week goes on. The best strategy is to forego healthy decision making by simply eating everything in sight. This ranges from finish line feed zone watermelons, oranges, Clif Bars and PB&J sandwiches, to Kootenay diner gorge­fests of burgers & fries, meatball sandwiches and even second breakfasts of pancakes piled high with extra bacon and sausages. Followed up with coke, coconut water, and party-sized bags of dill pickle chips. The great thing about stage racing is that you can pretty much eat whatever you want, and your body will burn it all and be hungry again in an hour anyway. So you can stop at the next diner you pass and eat some more.







Bike maintenance and repairs consumed a lot of downtime too. A good washing, bolt check and chain lubing is the bare minimum to ensure a reliable steed for the next stage. And then there’s re-lubing sticky fork seals, rebuilding pedals, even replacing a taco’d wheel. Local bike shops chuckled at the steady stream of racers coming through their doors each afternoon, searching for every random thing from tubes and water bottles, to XTR 96bcd 30t chainrings (“good luck to you”), to spare bikes to rent when frames got broken (actually successful).








Battered muscles and wounded bodies . Evidence of fast and dusty trails are caked on the dirty finish line from sweaty exertion. Broken noses, scuffed knees, shins and elbows from crashes were all part of a community of mutual suffering. Soaking legs in glacier-fed rivers was a good daily routine, or even recovering at the Elevated Legs support tent.







Checking up on the day’s results and comparing daily progress against fellow racers was also a familiar routine during downtime. The organizers were amazing at having everyone’s daily stage times, Enduro stage times and Overall times and rankings posted immediately. So much time was spent analyzing and plotting to see which competitors were getting stronger or trailing off -- and if moving up a spot or two in the overall was in reach.



Beer ­-- last but not least, the beer. Some can't make it to the finish line, while others wait to sample local beers at local brewery's, like Fernie Brewing, who cater to riders looking for a cold post-race recovery beverage. Combining a cold beer with a cold dunk in a river was an excellent double downtime ritual, that rewarded legs and lungs for a solid day’s work.



Whether refueling, repairing, or recovering, all of our downtime was spent in pursuit of the ultimate goal, as we raced through 6 fun, fast and hard days in the East Kootenays.

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