Day 5, presented by Fox, was the first of two days in the Cumberland Community Forest and the biggest day of the week by the numbers: 38.2 kilometres and 1,216 metres of elevation.
Cumberland, a small town with a big mountain biking community, is known for its rocky and rooty terrain and that was definitely on the menu today. The long course, big elevation and technical terrain all combined to challenge racers as they near the end of their week with us.
But before we sent racers out on course, Johnny Rock made an appearance to play a Jimi Hendrix-style Star Spangled Banner for our American friends because no matter what’s happening politically, as individuals, our love of mountain biking brings us together.
With that electric start to the day, racers ventured out for an epic day on the vast network of Cumberland trails. Read today’s race report here.
Johnny Rock made his annual appearance for the 4th of July, delivering an electrifying rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.
A few of the rock faces were a little too spicy for some riders.
Left: Shimano techs were on hand for more than just bike repair.
Right: The watermelon fairies were out in full force at today’s aid station, making sure racers who didn’t want to stop got a little pick-me-up mid-stage.
BC Bike Race in one day?
After the racing was all done, Cumberland-based NOBL Wheels hosted a racer mixer and premiered a very special film, “The BC Bike race in 24 hours”.
The film will be launching on Youtube Monday but racers got a sneak peek of the short documentary, which was filmed at the end of May.
NOBL’s Quality Control Lead, Russell Thiessen, is an endurance cyclist who loves stamina-testing events like Leadville 100.
Since he would be moving back to his home province of Manitoba in mid-June and wouldn’t be able to do this year’s BC Bike Race, the idea was thrown around to do the whole 2025 course in one day.
“We didn’t think it could be done,” says Max Burkowitz, NOBL’s Content and Digital Marketing lead. But Russell decided to give it a shot and everyone got ready for a very big day of riding.
The result was a 10 minute snapshot of a day that started at 5am and ended in riding with headlamps 17 hours later, having ridden 234 kilometres of trail and climbed over 7,000 metres.
It’s no surprise that some of his first words, upon finishing, were “I’m going to fall over.”
Undoubtedly, many of our racers can relate to that feeling after a big day on course.
A steady stream of riders visited the NOBL Wheels open house after the race and got the first glimpse of their latest short film, “The BC Bike Race in 24 hours”.
Racing for a good cause
Every racer has a reason for being here. Often it’s personal, but sometimes it’s about doing something for someone else. Morgan Bello from Ottawa, ON, is doing BC Bike Race as part of his effort to raise funds for a YMCA program that helps homeless youth in his home city.
Bello is the VP, People & Culture and Corporate Services for the YMCA and knew about the program, but the need for it didn’t really hit home for him until one winter morning on his drive to work.
He passed by a young homeless person who was walking on the sidewalk. Something made Bello turn around and pick him up. The next 15 minutes of his car ride would narrow his focus on making a difference for homeless youth in his city.
“He came from a good family. He was a musician,” Bello says of the young man. “It could be you. It could be me…I thought after that day that I could do something for them.”
So he decided to start a fundraising campaign for Second Stage Housing Program for Youth, which provides housing and other supports for unhoused youth. The program currently helps 17 people, but Bello says there are so many more that would use the program if there were more spaces.
Since BC Bike Race had been on his bucket list for a long time, his fundraising campaign seemed like a perfect reason to finally make the journey to BC.
“It’s the first time doing this and this race has been a bucket list event, but I was so intimidated for years of seven days of racing… I feel good, despite a few bruises. It’s good!”
For the race, Bello is riding a Scott Spark, which is custom wrapped with illustrations by renowned Ottawa artist Jesus Rivera. The bike will be sold when he returns home and the money put toward the fundraising.
Follow his journey on the YMCA’s Instagram. If you want to donate to Morgan’s fundraiser, visit https://www.justgiving.com/page/morganbello
Morgan Bello on his custom wrapped bike with illustrations from renowned Ottawa artist Jesus Rivera.
With the roughest, toughest day behind them, riders are resting up for a very different day tomorrow with more distance 44.9 kilometres but much less climbing with 736 metres.
Words by Carmel Ecker
Photos by Deniz Merdano, Dave Silver, Petri Miniotas and Sara Kempner
