The Specialized North Shore Ripper
Ripper 1
Racing the way it should be...

The morning of this season's first North Shore Ripper began with rain - heavy, pounding, bone-chilling, early-spring rain - not the kind of weather that inspires most of us to leap out of bed at 6am to go for a ride. I entertained the idea that the event might be postponed and I could sleep in a little longer, but this is the shore - I rolled out of bed and grabbed my gear.

For the uninitiated, the Specialized North Shore Ripper series was created last season by the NSMBA as both a fundraising event, and a fun, no-pressure way to bring racing back to the shore. Last year, the events were so popular (and such good times) that the organizers, James Wilson (from Dizzy Cycles), Sharon Bader (from the NSMBA), and our very own Cam McRae, decided to expand the series into 4 races in 2005.

Before the race, I asked a few of the riders why on earth they would brave, what I considered a pretty nasty day, even by shore standards, to come out and do this sort of race. One of the guys enthusiastically replied, "I hear there are good looking girls waiting for us at the top!"

At the pre-race rider's meeting James managed to pump up the crowd even more by announcing that 130 people had showed up for the race today. He quickly ran through what to expect on the course, including the addition of Lower Griffin as part of the uphill portion, and finished off his spiel with, "…consider this the biggest group ride of your life." That statement managed to grab a few laughs, but I also think it captured the spirit of the event.

The race began with a good ol' Le Mans start, with the riders running up the fire-road to their bikes. The spandex halves of the relay teams hammered up the road towards the first hole-shot between two cement dividers and down into what is usually the end of Roadside Attraction. Although, the first rider in was a cyclo-cross rider, Lee (from NSMBA) was fairly confident that would change on the trail. "They (the cyclocross riders) are gonna get destroyed, " Lee said with a grin, as we ran up the fire-road to where the riders would emerge from Lower Griffin. But, despite Lee's cheerful doom and carnage predictions, all the riders, including the two cyclo-crossers arrived safely back onto the fire-road to continue the climb; the lead cyclo-cross racer had only dropped back a couple of places.

The rest of the race played out quickly, with the first rider's blasting out at the finish in around 44 minutes (unofficially - the race isn't based on times). Wayne Parsons managed to squeak in just ahead of Wade Simmons to take the win. *There were rumours at the after-party that Wayne has been doing a little pre-race training.*

After that, the rest of the riders emerged in ones and twos from the woods, grinning and exhausted. Despite the muck and sloppiness there was no major carnage, although Jay Hoots rode his entire race on a flat rear tire. He and his partner, Michele Carr still managed to pull in a 2nd place finish in the Mixed category.

Ironically, just as the last riders crossed the finish line, the sun actually came out - if that's not a big cosmic "HA HA" I don't know what is?

The after-party at Raglan's Bistro in North Vancouver continued along the same vein as the rest of the event. James and Sharon threw down awards from the mini-stage trying as hard as they could to clip the hecklers down below with mugs from Bean Around The World, and Hoots armour. It was apparent that everyone had a great time, and most were already plotting and planning for the Team Pangor Uphill/Downhill Relay on May 14th.