Singletrack 6 2024 - Stage 2 (Nelson - Morning Mountain) Recap

Stage 2: Nelson (Morning Mountain)

The climbing trails continue to be a revelation. How often does one get to race up 1000 meters of wooded, serpentine singletrack, replete with beautiful wooden bridges, pitch changes and perfect dirt? Rarely? Never? 

Perhaps for good reason: put hundreds of racers on the same track and you need to create places for them to pass (read: doubletrack climbs). But put a couple hundred kind, stoked souls on some of BC’s best, however, and the passing issue ceases to be a thing. Today’s climb up Bottoms Up/Upper Bottoms/Fairly High and Very High was proof of that. We’d like to shake the  hands of the skilled craftsmen who built these trails.

But we wouldn’t have any grip strength to do so. Today’s descents—the steep chunder of Blue Steel in particular—left our forearms feeling like a hot bottle of Perrier. It was great. With effort (and occasional bravery) you could thankfully find rhythm on a trail that was seemingly anti-flow. 

We’ve found rhythm in the pacing of our long, post-race days too. The early start allows for plenty of relaxation by the river, chilling (get it?) at the well air-conditioned Kootenay Co-Op grocery store and plenty of snacks, naps, reading and goofing. 

-JW & CD

What people we’ve met do when they’re not racing ST6:

  • Firefighter

  • Early-childhood development specialist

  • Civil engineer

  • Industrial design

  • Psychotherapist

  • Teacher

Ryan Bell