July 04, 2011 (Alberta) – Day 2 in Fernie dawned with clear skies and warm temps forecast for the day.  Being fatigued from the racing of Day 1, sleep was good the night before, except around 11:30pm when the town of Fernie set off, by our rough estimates, about 90% of their municipal budget on Canada Day Fireworks! “Bang, bababang Bang!”

Based on your finishing time from Day 1, each team and solo rider was slated into one of three starting heats, 5 minutes apart. Again a neutral rolling start up through town was in order as the short road section led to some gravel double track and the field gradually got strung out as the leaders up’d the pace. The gravel trail led under the river to a whole new Garden of Eden for mountain bike racers! The climbs kept everyone honest, as they were steep and technical. You had to maintain your focus and pick your line carefully otherwise you’d slip out on a root and be relegated to hiking. Much more elevation gain was on the menu for today.

As the course description reads, what goes up must come down, and the descents were a lot of fun and the flat sections. This day of racing met the expectations as promised, as it was an exciting day of riding some of Fernie’s best trials. Unfortunately there were some racers who missed seeing the signature red flagging tape denoting the proper direction and took a wrong turn sending them blazing down trail in the opposite direction. Not what you want, however, the organizer did his best to rectify the situation and I’m sure there you’d have to plow through 3 lines of tape to veer off course tomorrow. Speaking from experience, the last thing an organizer wants to have is the racers leave the course by mistake.

Day 2 Pre-Race Bikeridr.com video

The volunteers at this event are awesome! So much cheering was going on near the feed & marshal stations which really motivated me to keep going. Once again I (Mike S.) struggled near the end of the stage with all the relentless climbing, however overall I felt better with the way I rode today as compared to Day 1. Today’s climbs were steep and technical, and then would rise up even steeper. Of course it makes it much more difficult for me when my partner of choice (Mike B.) is a Mountain Goat!

Of course not everything is in your control, and that includes the train schedule.  The train in Fernie both delayed our start, and made it tricky for event organizers to keep track of time when the race was paused for finishing riders trying to cross over back into town. Thankfully most competitors understand the nature of mountain bike racing and were happy to be riding some of the best trails around during a beautiful day in July.

So tomorrow is the final Day of the inaugural Furious 3 in Fernie. Time to rest up as there is still more great Fernie riding on tap!

Check out our Garmin information for Day 2 HERE.

Day 2 Post-Race Bikeridr.com video