After four consecutive days of unseasonable cold and rain, riders left Blairmore, Alberta for the final stage of 2009 with the finish line in Fernie squarely in their sights. The euphoria of completion added an extra level of excitement to the morning, as did an extra hour's sleep with a later start made possible by slightly shorter and flatter route than the previous three days which had seen most riders on course for at least 7 hours a day in tough conditions. 

 
At 75 km long with 1300 metres of climbing, Stage 7 looked like a mere blip compared to the 300km and 6700 metres of climbing they'd overcome in the previous three stages. It would still mean nearly four hours on course for the winners and much longer for most of the field thanks to course conditions which remained slick after the wettest edition yet in eight years of TransRockies riding. 
 
The leading group of riders stayed together through the first two feed stations before the leading Rocky Mountain Factory Team duo of Stefan Widmer and Marty Lazarski dropped the hammer, determined to celebrate their GC win with a solo ride down Victoria St. in Fernie. They had been the fastest team on the singletrack all week and again, they were able to open a sizeable lead on the technical sections and rolled into the finish alone for another impressive stage win.
 
Next across the line was PeteTurnbull of the UK, who has been riding solo since his partner was forced to pull out on day 1 with a serious virus. Though only teams are eligible for prizing, Pete has been in the action all week pushing the leaders and being one of the top finishers every day.
 
Even though the GC gaps were often very big, riders did not treat this as a ceremonial ride to the finish. Pushing for a podium finish on the last day, the Bow Cycles/Specialized duo of Ryan Correy and Brian Bain overcame a broken chain in singletrack. Correy used his elite running skills to get to the bottom then Bain took over towing his chainless teammate to the line to hold onto third place on the day as Team visitPA.com breathed down their necks.
 
In the Mixed 80+ category, Pat Doyle and Trish Grajczyk of Team Deadgoat took the suspense out of things early with a dominant ride and a sweep of all seven stages. Doyle was one of two competitors who was completing their fifth TransRockies and was honoured with a commemorative belt buckle that will go nicely with the pile of leaders' jerseys he's got. The other 5 TransRockies finisher was Dean Irvine of North Vancouver who was third overall in the Open Mixed division.
 
Team Cox of Norway held on to their gap to win the 100+ division while the Czechmasters in 80+ and Team Terrascape/Trek Toronto Open Mixed, both of whom had diced with the leading teams all week, won their respective categories. Finally, event host Nipika Mountain Resort also put their name on top of the standings as their Open Women's team of Magi and Kate Scallion held off a hard challenge from the Velobella/Vanderkitten team to win the gold. 
 
In every category and from front to back, riders made heroic and repeated efforts to get to the end of each stage. The TransRockies is considered to be the most difficult and epic mountain bike stage race and this was the most difficult edition of the TransRockies yet. The machined aluminum finisher medals will be only the smallest part of the reward that the competitors take home after overcoming the worst that the Rockies could throw at them over seven days, 532km and 14300 metres of climbing.

 

While much of the attention at the TransRockies each year is focussed upon the leaders and winners, many of the best stories of the event happen further back in the field where the bikers who don't ride for a living live. Riders and crew at the TransRockies spend a full week riding and living with each other, forging friendships in the face of the adversity which everyone faces every day on the way to the finish.

 

Its seems, the worse the conditions,  the more that riders bond together in pursuit of the collective goal of finishing the toughest stage race in mountain biking. When a rider crashes, other teams stop to help him pick up his bike and get going again. When someone breaks a bike, an instant repair crew forms with suggestions and help to find a way to the next finish.
 
This year, two of the competitors forced out of the race because of injury chose to stay on and become part of the event crew. Jon Stenson from the UK came into the TransRockies with ambitions of a high finish but also with a virus picked up at the TransAlps. He hit the first climb of the race heading out of Panorama and watched his heartrate skyrocket. Despite every effort to recover during the stage, he was forced to drop out and now faces 3 months of full rest to recover. For the rest of the event, Jon volunteered to be part of the crew at Checkpoint 2 and spent long days helping riders fill bottles and hydration packs, load up on fruit and bars, and get ready for what came next each day.
 
Just as disappointed to drop out was Mike Kontos who traveled all the way from Kenya to ride the TransRockies Unlike Jon, Mike came here just to finish the event-he's a latecomer to the sport but is now as passionate as any rider here. On Stage 3 of 2009, Mike suffered some tendinitis and was forced to get off the bike at Checkpoint 1. After spending a few hours there on Day 3, Mike decided that Checkpoint 1 was to be his new home and from there, he worked long hours  
 
One rider who rode with a completely different perspective on suffering was Ross Maylor of Calgary whose sister Nancy was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Leukemia. Ross has been in for testing and is waiting to find out it he is a compatible marrow donor for her, but in the meantime he's riding every day with his partner Bryan Sveinson in the 100+ Category, fighting alongside riders from all over the World in pursuit of the prized t-shirt and medal that marks you as a TransRockies Finisher.

Stage 7 Results: Complete Stage and Overall results from all stages will publised HERE.

 

For TransRockies 2009 video updates, please visit our YouTube Channel HERE.

 

You can also check out the photo galleries we've been posting daily on our site HERE