Solo riders endure 24 Hours in the saddle

Sports

Posted By Pam Doyle/Canmore Leader

Posted 1 month ago

The heat was getting to solo rider Michel Tessier, but he persevered for 289 kilometres to a fourth place finish at the 24 Hours of Adrenalin at the Canmore Nordic Centre on Sunday.

The Canmore resident rode 17 laps of the17 kilometre course through the day and into the forgiving cool of the night.

"I had to work for this one," Tessier, 37, said. "It seemed like I was working hard but not moving. I almost quit twice, but I put my mind on it to see if it would get better."

"When you're riding for a long time you don't realize how hot it is, until you stop," Tessier said. "I go with the flow. It depends on how you feel as to how hard you ride, you go through so many stages."

His fastest lap was his first one, which he finished in one hour and five minutes. Near the end it took him an hour and a half to finish a lap. But he kept going. He was enjoying the benefits of having seasoned racer Ryan Draper as his pit crew and coach.

"I was really beat," Tessier said. "It was way worse than last year."

In 2009, Tessier placed third in his age category and 10th in the Worlds.

A few tents down on solo row, Canmore's Leighton Poidevin, who was number one at the 2009 World Solo Championships, was well on his way to a podium finish at 1 a.m. But two hours later, Poidevin started having stomach problems and the excessive heat of the day was having a negative effect. He pulled out of the race at 2:30 a.m.

At midnight Saturday, Liz Birch of Banff didn't know how many more 17-kilometre laps she would attempt during her first solo race. But she knew she was tired, and she knew she had to ride back into the night.

"It's awesome out there," Birch said during a pit stop. "I am up to seven laps now. I have met some really cool people out on the trail."

Birch stopped to have volunteer pit crewmember Steve Soldan, with the Banff Ski Stop, check out a problem she was having with her brakes. And she took the opportunity to chow down a chicken sandwich before hopping back on her bike.

Birch finished fifth in the women's solo race on Sunday morning. She completed her goal of 10 laps.

Former Canmoreite Carena Dean, who moved to Squamish three months ago, was victorious in the women's solo race. She finished at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The Canmore race was just one in a long list of endurance events that she is tackling this summer.

"This is my fourth 24 Hours solo race," Dean said while relaxing in her tent after finishing.

"I am going to the World Adventure race in Spain and to Costa Rica for an adventure race there at the end of August. I just finished the BC Bike Race at the end of June and placed sixth in the women's solo race."

Jasper's Cory Wallace was forecast to win the men's solo race, and he did that handily, riding in to cross the finish line near noon on Sunday, after grinding out 20 laps of the grueling course.

"I'm pretty hammered at the moment," Wallace said at the finish line. "I left it all out on the course."

He faced his greatest challenges riding at night, he said. But after winning, he was ready to cool off.

"I feel pretty good for what just happened," Wallace said. "Once we're packed up, I am going to go and jump into Quarry Lake. And next week I'm going camping in the alpine."

Luke Way was the second place solo rider and Andrew Fairhurst was third.

Gary Buxton placed fifth. He was a little stiff after putting 16 laps of the course behind him as a solo rider, but he has done it all before. Buxton competed as a solo rider in 2006 and 2008 in his home of Canmore.

"It was a pretty tough course," Buxton said. "You were either climbing or in the technical section. There were very few places to sit and recover."

Buxton, who is the manager of planning and development for the Town of Canmore, kept going through the night by mixing up his intake with avocadoes, sweet potatoes and peanut butter and jam sandwiches.

"The further you are into the race the harder it is to eat," Buxton said. "But that's when you've got to eat."

Dave Vinluan of Banff has entered the solo race three times before and this weekend was his fourth.

"I managed to get nine laps in," Vinluan, who works for Caribou Properties said. "It was pretty tough at first. I ended up getting heat exhaustion and that set the pace for the rest of the day."

Vinluan, 41, said this is his last kick at the cat as far as the solo race is concerned.

"This represents the end of my mid-life crisis," Vinluan said. "I am not doing this solo again."

Complete race results can be found at www.24hoursofadrenalin.com.

photos@canmoreleader.com