Trail Bicycles

Cross Country (XC) is a classic style of racing where the event starts and ends usually at the same point. XC courses and trails consist of a mix of singletrack trails, and smooth fire roads. On Vancouver Island, that includes lung-burning technical climbs and exciting swerving descents.

Enduro is a style of racing where the overall race time is the sum of multiple timed stages.  It offers a bit more casual approach to racing as the uphill sections are not timed, only the downhill.  Don’t let that fool you though, there’s plenty of fitness an pedaling required to excel at this discipline. On Vancouver Island, course designers do their best to show off the most fun descents that the riding areas offer.

Follow the Trail Bicycles Racing Team through the 2024 season!

The night before the Coaltown Throwdown Women's Enduro, me and my friends including my teammate Talia, bejeweled our helmets in preparation for the race. We arrived in Cumberland and were excited to see all the women out ready to race with lots of costumes! 

We were led through some group stretches and then we headed out to the trails. Our first stage was Blueprint, and after a quick wait in line, I made it down smoothly and clean. As we were heading up to our next stage, it started to rain, and by the time we were heading down Blockhead, it was pouring. The rain didn’t last too long, and the Vanilla stage was in great condition after some rain, and so was Field Of Dreams. 

After stopping at the amazing aid station put on by Trail Bicycles , we grabbed some cookies for the way, and headed up to Field Of Dreams. Our final stage was Scat & Brat, which i knew very well. We headed back to the box where there was some food and draw prizes. 

Thanks to Trail Bicycles and all of our sponsors for their support: Rob Nygren from Royal LePage, Hornby Organic Energy Bars, Fresh Tracks Physiotherapy, Eatmore Sprouts, Village Performance and Wedler Engineering.

- Annabelle Whitehead

When we arrived in Cumberland for the 4th Island Cup XC, we were a little unsure about the weather; it was cloudy and not too cold, but the forecast said it was going to start raining. We had ridden the race course several times in training so I think most of the team had it dialed and was ready for an awesome race no matter the weather. After a very short warm up, we realized we needed to get back to the parking lot quickly if we wanted to grab a quick snack or drop a layer (before the race start), so we turned around and ripped down the road. Everybody got what they needed and made their start.

Before the chaos started, the starter made sure everyone knew that it was going to rain. I definitely didn't have my best start but I pedaled hard and did my best to keep close to  my teammate Max . The rest of the lap was really good; although there was a bit of a hold up on the trail called Brat with some slower riders on the descent. There was also some really sticky mud on  the trail 50:1 but I was able to keep a solid pace and pass a few people and put myself in 18th. Lap two was looking good and when the course opened up I could still see Max and I wasn't feeling super fatigued.

However, right at the end of a fun trail named Scat, right as I was about to pass someone, I got a flat. Thankfully, there was a course marshall right there who tried fixing it. When we realized that there was more than one hole in my tire and that there was no hope of fixing it, he very kindly offered his own bike. I thanked him and then kept going, despite the fact that the bike was an XL and mine was a medium. I finished the race and lost maybe ten minutes. I wasn't the only one with a mechanical, Loki got a flat right off the start and Eli’s chain kept falling off. In the end though, I think it was a good day; I learned the importance of riding smoothly, the team did really well with multiple podiums from other trail riders, and not a drop of rain had fallen!

Thanks to all of our sponsors: Rob Nygren from Royal LePage, Hornby Organic Energy Bars, Fresh Tracks Physiotherapy, Eatmore Sprouts, Village Performance and Wedler Engineering.

- Reed Macinnis

In U13 Beginner Men Owen Racher was first place, my brother Owen Meldrum was 2nd and Eli Pechter was 4th. In the U15 Beginner Men Darragh Whitehead finished 3rd. In U15 Intermediate Men Ben Pechter was 3rd, Alex Racher was 4th, Reed Macinnis was 6th and Max Sauter was 7th. In the U17 Intermediate Woman Annabelle Whitehead was first place. Elyas Smith was first in U17 Expert Men and Loki Motai was first in U19 Expert Men. Congrats to everyone who came out. 

A big thanks to our coaches and sponsors: Rob Nygren from Royal LePage, Hornby Organic Energy Bars, Fresh Tracks Physiotherapy, Eatmore Sprouts, Village Performance and Wedler Engineering.

- Cameron Meldrum

Jordie Lunn XC (Langford - March 31st, 2024)

Congrats to all the Trail Bicycles Racing Team racers:

Owen Racher placed 1st and Eli Pechter 2nd in U13 beginner male. Reed MacInnis was 3rd in U15 beginner male. Annabelle Whitehead placed 2nd in U17 intermediate women. In the U15 intermediate male race Alex Racher placed 2nd and Ben Pechter 4th. Gavin McPhail earned 2nd in masters 55-64 intermediate male and Talia MacPhail-Mcgrady was 2nd in U17 expert women. Tom Skinner placed 1st in masters 35-44 expert male. Brett Whitehead earned 3rd and Scott Manktelow 5th in masters 45-54 expert male. Elyas Smith was 1st in U17 expert male and Loki Motai was 1st in U19 expert male. Beginners completed 1 lap of the course, intermediates did 2 laps, and experts 3 laps. Congrats to all the supportive parents who raced too!

Thank you to all our sponsors: Rob Nygren from Royal LePage, Hornby Organic, Fresh Tracks Physiotherapy, Eatmore Sprouts, Village Performance and Wedler Engineering.  We appreciate your generosity.

- Max Sauter

Hartland was my first Island Cup XC race at the expert level.  It was fun and a good learning experience for me. However, going from a successful season last year to zero points in my first race was a little bit disappointing.

The Hartland course for the expert category was three laps of a 6.5 km course and 176m of climbing every lap. The course navigates through tricky, tough, rocky terrain; most of them being technical climbs. With few passing areas, and a steep climb at the start, Hartland is one of the toughest races in the season.

I felt pretty good pre-riding the course the morning before the race. At the starting line, I positioned myself around the middle of the pack. When the race started, I was able to get past a lot of other racers and I had a good run up the steep hill. This effort got me a spot around the top 30. I felt that I had decent pace, and I was starting to create a gap behind me. Although two problems quickly arose; Just before the end of the first lap I started experiencing brake rub. This was caused by the pistons in the caliper having shifted too far out of the brake caliper. This mechanical made me lose around 20-30 watts of pace. I was soon being overtaken by many other riders. Another problem was that I was getting a lot more fatigued than normal. This could’ve been from the brakes or putting in too much effort at the start of the race. It felt like the pace wasn’t there. My second lap was a lot sloppier than my first one. Although I still tried to push hard on the last lap.

My overall race result in expert was 37th in the men’s category. I think it was disappointing missing out from points and I think I could’ve maybe fought for the top 30 if I didn’t have the mechanical and I had thought of a better strategy. At the same time, I think it was a good learning experience for me as a rider and I can reflect on this for future races.

Congrats to those that made it out to Hartland for the first race of the season. Ben Pechter took 3rd in U15 Intermediate, Talia MacPhail-Mcgrady 3rd in U17 Expert, and Loki Motai with a great start in the U19 Expert Category, but unfortunately had to retire from the race due to a flat tire. 

Thanks to all of our sponsors for supporting the team: Rob Nygren, Fresh Tracks Physiotherapy, Village Performance, Hornby Organics, Eatmore Sprouts, and Wedler Engineering

- Elyas Smith