Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/126959
The Bike Race Coast in Gear The B.C. Bike Race may not be the longest in the world, but it is the most technical, and that makes it an obligatory challenge for the knobby-rubber crowd. In fact, this year's week-long timber blast sold out its 550 spots eight months ahead of the June 29 start day, including registration for 97 Mexican mud freaks eager to sample some of Canada's gnarliest and loamiest hand-built rainforest trails. Other mountain-bike races log lengthy stretches on boring fire roads, while the BCBR boasts 75 per cent tight single track that begins in Comox, moves up to Campbell River, crosses to the Sunshine Coast, backtracks to Squamish and climaxes in Whistler. Daily stages average 50 km in length; "Gravity Enduros" offer mini-races within the overall competition, and riders do whatever it takes to survive the grind — including duct-taping beer-can metal over fractured frames. Last year's winner – Neal Kindree of Squamish — clocked in at 16:15:52. bcbikerace.com Powell River, deep-forest single track, Day 3 of the B.C. Bike Race The RoadTrips I Call Shotgun! Planes move us faster, trains cheaper and behemoth cruise ships with far more comfort, but it is still the good old family car on which most parents rely for summer vacations. So what is it about roadtrips that continues to captivate imaginations? A trio of Canadian authors offer their streetwise theories in a recent flurry of books. ■ Route 66 Still Kicks: Driving America's Main Street by Rick Antonson (2013, Dundurn; $27) Part humorous mid-life crisis, part historical treatise, two CEOs dump their iPhones, rent a Mus16 W e s t w o r l d p14-17_Frshtrx.indd 16 >> Summer 2013 tang convertible and drive almost 4,000 km from Chicago to L.A. along a storied stretch of U.S. road that has been bypassed by superhighways and in some sections completely decommissioned. The old thoroughfare may be devolving to muddy ruts, but Antonson re-animates some of the incredible characters who once drove it (Al Capone, Mickey Mantle, Will Rogers) and captures all the tensions and hijinks that accompany such a trek without GPS. ■ Canada's Road: A Journey on the Trans-Canada Highway, from St. John's to Victoria by Mark Richardson (2013, Dundurn; $20) British journalist Thomas Wilby made the first attempt to drive coast to coast in Canada in 1912. Problem was, there was no nationwide network of roads and he ended up completing large chunks of the adventure on Yankee asphalt. Fast-forward a century and Canadian auto journalist Mark Richardson re-creates the feat, only this time on a proper highway (the good ol' TCH) – and with a proper vehicle (a brand-new Chevy Camaro). Richardson's journal entries form a compelling tribute to what he calls "the only link in this country that we can actually touch, that connects every province and is accessible to anybody, whenever we want it." (B.C. Bike Race) Margus Riga, (insets) Route 66 Still Kicks 13-04-18 1:26 PM ■ Alm Then Thom Awar tis Gi collec mean surpr tions ing a eight army statio from Warn ness, aggre (Armstron