SRAM all day
Words Ben Hildred
Images Callum Wood
Sun up to sun down; one final push; extend the loop; another lap; just keep going.
SRAM has created an event in Whistler to celebrate their new transmission, a way to push participants and blur the gap between type one and type two fun; T-type fun, maybe?
The original event was a great success during the Canadian Crankworx stop. Feedback and stories from its inaugural spin justified it as an event to be repeated – but why wait for summer to roll around again in B.C when Queenstown’s best season is in full swing? Let’s do an All Day ride here too!
I was tasked with the effortless mission of persuading 40 friends to enrol for a day of fun and riding bikes with a loosely formed plan. In a town of keen beans it was pretty simple, and with the promise of a beer and food provided by SRAM, at Atlas after their pedal, it was on.
Ten teams of four met at Atlas first thing to get briefed, receive an ‘All Day’ handbook and create their own adventure. Each team was given the same seven checkpoints; get to all the checkpoints, take a team photo, send it to me and return to Atlas. How you get to the check points, the trails you use and the routes you take was up to each team. Meanwhile, I’d be at Atlas ‘all day’ with a colour printer, documenting each team’s mission live, printing off the checkpoints, as well as other images the teams saw fit to send, and creating a story board for everyone to see on return. Easy as!
I was tasked with the effortless mission of persuading 40 friends to enrol for a day of fun and riding bikes with a loosely formed plan. In a town of keen beans it was pretty simple, and with the promise of a beer and food provided by SRAM, at Atlas after their pedal, it was on.
I spent the day on my toes, printing and pinning the snap shots of my friends’ ‘trails’ and tribulations. Recovering from a big ride the weekend before, I didn’t think I was in the mood to pedal, although seeing the laughs, predicaments, comradeship and pursuits everyone was on made me remarkably jealous, although stoked everyone was having a blast. The photos tell the stories. The teams were varied: a team of troopers headed by local force on a bike, Erin Greene, went hard on the adventure aspect, taking the most offbeat route over the mountains. Meanwhile, team Scotland, steered by Craig ‘Crug’ Munro shipped his motley crew around, surviving on their favourite fermented fizz – the one consistent every time my phone beamed updates were their smiles. The locations chosen meant teams had to visit Coronet Peak’s famous Rude Rock, grind up to the Ben Lomond saddle, dive down into Skippers Canyon, visit Wynyard’s famous jumps and sit atop McGazzas big table – all elements of an epic Queenstown adventure. Once all checkpoints were checked, teams started to return in the late afternoon, with stories to accompany the timeline of photos that awaited them, pinned up for all to see. Teams had averaged 2000 – 2600 vertical meters over 50 – 65km, mostly off-road. The question that concluded the day: when can we do that all again?! Logan Weber; “I had the best day pedalling I’ve ever had! For sure hope this happens next year!” The All Day ride was Logan’s biggest day on the pedals to date. After severely contracting the type two bug, he went on to complete an Everest a few weeks later! A huge thanks to SRAM for suggesting the event be held in Queenstown, and for funding the day; and to Atlas for hosting us all – the best bar around! What a time.
Checkpoints: McGazza Table; Ben Lomond Saddle; Beached as;Wynyard; Rude Rock; THE Rude Rock; Pack Track and Sack river crossing; Conestown.
