Island Cup Marathon Cumberland - June 11th by Kieran Nilsen
Back in Kamloops, Carter and I were debating whether we should do a team of two, or a team of four in the upcoming 12 hours of Cumberland. The 12 hours of Cumberland is a marathon race involving teams of either two, 4 or solo. The idea is to do as many laps of a 7.5 km course in 12 hours as possible. As we debated whether to do two or four, Carter said, ‘’why don’t we do it solo?’’ I said yes, we convinced our parents and soon enough it was Friday evening, and we were signed up to ride our bikes alone for twelve hours straight. Our family camped in our trailer at the venue on Friday night. Greg from Bibliotaco gave me the biggest burrito I had ever seen and I made some last minute checks to make sure all was well on the bike. After a very poor and nervous sleep that night I woke up an hour and a half before the start of the race.
I woke up that morning, buttered up my different chamois, and headed down to pick up my race plate. After breakfast of oatmeal we set off at 8:00 am. We were showing off, pulling wheelies and drifting corners for a whole two hours. When we found out we were at three hours, we began to realize how long of a day it was going to be. At four hours Carter started to feel nauseous. At five hours I started to weave and wander off the trail. At the six hour mark we got the best advice ever given to us. Stop. Get a real meal. Just as that was the best advice ever, it was the best decision ever. With a burger and a few Red Bull in our stomachs, we head back out feeling awesome. Just as before, our condition slowly deteriorated up until hour ten. We pedalled slowly through, finding out we still had two hours left go. We managed to get in two more laps before finally calling it quits at just over eleven hours. All in all it was an amazing experience. I pushed myself harder than I ever have before and am stoked to be able to say I completed the 12 Hours of Cumberland. Our other teams placed amazingly with our boys’ team crushing the kid’s category and our mixt team coming fourth. So happy with how the event turned out and super excited for when next year rolls around.
A Big Thank You to our sponsors: Sew What, I Sew, Eatmore Sprouts & Greens Ltd., Rob Nygren Royal Lepage Realtor, Western One Rentals and Sales, Riverway Dental Inc., Wedler Engineering LLP, Airport Service and Mini-Storage, Trail Bicycles
I woke up that morning, buttered up my different chamois, and headed down to pick up my race plate. After breakfast of oatmeal we set off at 8:00 am. We were showing off, pulling wheelies and drifting corners for a whole two hours. When we found out we were at three hours, we began to realize how long of a day it was going to be. At four hours Carter started to feel nauseous. At five hours I started to weave and wander off the trail. At the six hour mark we got the best advice ever given to us. Stop. Get a real meal. Just as that was the best advice ever, it was the best decision ever. With a burger and a few Red Bull in our stomachs, we head back out feeling awesome. Just as before, our condition slowly deteriorated up until hour ten. We pedalled slowly through, finding out we still had two hours left go. We managed to get in two more laps before finally calling it quits at just over eleven hours. All in all it was an amazing experience. I pushed myself harder than I ever have before and am stoked to be able to say I completed the 12 Hours of Cumberland. Our other teams placed amazingly with our boys’ team crushing the kid’s category and our mixt team coming fourth. So happy with how the event turned out and super excited for when next year rolls around.
A Big Thank You to our sponsors: Sew What, I Sew, Eatmore Sprouts & Greens Ltd., Rob Nygren Royal Lepage Realtor, Western One Rentals and Sales, Riverway Dental Inc., Wedler Engineering LLP, Airport Service and Mini-Storage, Trail Bicycles
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