So now that we’ve decided to enter the BC Bike Race it is time for us to start thinking about all the logistics that goes on with a seven day bike race. Planning for a one day national event out west is pretty hard to plan out, but a seven day race in a foreign country is a whole different game. Where to begin?

Let’s start off with some of the rules of the BC Bike Race. Each racer is provided with a large duffel bag. All of the racers gear including sleeping bag must fit into the duffel bag. Now the duffel bag isn’t exactly gigantic. Sure it is large enough for some racing kits and a pair of jeans to lounge around in between stages. However, the bag is not large enough for an extra set of wheels, tires and spare parts that will most likely be required for such a long race. So how do we transport our bike gear? Do we try and offer another team who has a support van following the race money to transport our bike gear? Or do we try and fund our own mechanic for the race? Or do we just buy any needed bike part from the traveling bike shop at full price? See how this can be confusing? If anyone out there wants to help out and be our mechanic for a week drop us a line.

How do we get to British Columbia, Canada? Well we both live in Maine, so driving across the entire country isn’t exactly our top choice. Do we fly from Boston or Montreal? Do we fly to Vancouver or Seattle? What air line charges what for each bike box? Some of these questions we have figured out. Delta and United charge about $150 each way for each bike box, that would be an extra $600 for the two of us, if we both brought an extra set of wheels, add another $300 round trip between the two of us. If we fly internationally, the $150 goes up to $300 on some air lines. So remember when you are flying to a bike race don’t necessarily go for the lowest ticket price. Remember to add the bike box charge or other oversized luggage fees. Right now we are looking at flying South West to Seattle as they have some great ticket prices and it only costs $50 each way per bike box. But how do we get from Seattle to BC? Ah the madness!!

It is recommended by the promoters, as access to laundry will be very limited to impossible, that each rider have a clean pair of shorts for each stage. As we are two budding professionals with little sponsorship we both receive one team kit each from our separate sponsors. So now we have to come up with a bunch of bike shorts, great. Yes we both own extra shorts, but they are getting old and we really don’t want to go to a seven day mountain bike race with a worn out chamois. At approximately $70 for a pair of shorts, it’s almost another $1,000, when multiplied by 14, for just shorts for our team!! We’re not talking about custom shorts either! We are talking about plain black bib shorts with a decent chamois! Wow things are starting to add up wicked fast!!

So there are just a few examples of the logistical problems we are facing here at the 497. As each week passes by the pressure builds up. Hopefully we’ll have every detail finalized by the end of May. In the next weeks we will talk about our gear, training, and more about our general life styles.

Thank you for reading and following our journey to British Colombia.