Racers awoke to a cool, damp North Vancouver morning as they prepared for their journey to the BC Bike Race Stage 1 Start Line in the port city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. The gray weather didn’t manage to dampen racers’ spirits, as this day earmarks the first full-length stage in the 2010 event.

Before further delay, here are the top finisher results from today’s stage and overall:

STAGE
Epic Team of 2 Men – Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks (Team Kona) 3:14:16
Epic Team of 2 Women – Brandi Helstermen & Cathy Zeglinski 4:19:26
Epic Team of 2 Mixed – Geof Kabush & Catharyn Pendrel 3:35:04
Epic Solo Men – Chris Sheppard 3:11:10
Epic Solo Women – Melanie McQuaid 3:58:35

Challenge Team of 2 Men – Team Degster 20:03:40
Challenge Solo Men – Darren Butler 01:19:36
Challenge Solo Women – Kelli Sherbinin 01:25:37

CUMULATIVE
Epic Team of 2 Men – Kris Sneddon and (Team Kona) 3:18:32
Epic Team of 2 Women – Brandi Helstermen & Cathy Zeglinski 4:30:22
Epic Team of 2 Mixed – Geof Kabush & Catharyn Pendrel 3:43:59
Epic Solo Men – Chris Sheppard 3:18:32
Epic Solo Women – Melanie McQuaid 04:08:10

Challenge Team of 2 Men – Team Degster 20:03:40
Challenge Solo Men – Darren Butler 01:19:36
Challenge Solo Women – Lisa LaPoole 5:53:49

An interesting element of the BC Bike Race is its four ferry crossings to get from stage to stage, and Monday morning’s voyage with BC Ferries across the Georgia Strait marked their first of the week. Racers walked off the ferry in Nanaimo and right into the start line area, where their bikes were organized and waiting to roll beneath the giant inflatable start/finish line arch with the official crack of the starter pistol.

Nanaimo RCMP members led the 8km neutral start out of the Langdale ferry terminal. A few quick open road climbing kilometres beyond and riders entered the Abyss trails area. The Abyss has been described by riders as a mini Canadian version of Moab. Once through the Abyss, riders went up for a few kilometres, hit some amazing singletrack at the top and did a big loop in that area. After transitioning, racers enjoyed a trail called T-Bar – an old school trail.

The Course Directors put together a course that flowed really well. For the final 25km riders did a big circumnavigation around the base of Mt Dumont and had a lengthy climb followed by some beautiful flowy singletrack.

Welcome back to Norm Thibault and Wendy Simms who took some time off after becoming proud parents. Wendy was born and raised in Nanaimo, as was Melanie McQuaid, so these trails could provide those two some serious home field advantage! McQuaid, who doesn’t normally ride these types of singletrack trails as part of her X-terra training regimen, is owning the solo women category and remains top female finisher overall. McQaid, who loved the trails on offer for today, sums up the general chatter around Base Camp regarding the very new, very revamped Day 1, “It was an amazing course! So much fun!!”

Next up: An early trip down the road to Cumberland where 70km of singletrack await Epic riders and 37km of singletrack await our Challenge participants. Cumberland is an historical mining town and if you look closely out on the trails you can see the remnants of mining years gone by. Let’s find out if our top finishers can continue to hang onto their podium spots for another day…

For up-to-date daily race information, check out www.bcbikerace.com.