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Singletrack 6 sees lead changes and steep descents in Nelson

Kaslo offers slight reprieve after hefty first half of B.C.'s XC stage race

Photo by: John Gibson / TransRockies

Stage racing isn’t just about managing legs, lungs and fitness. It takes smooth technique and solid equipment to survive a week’s worth of consecutive race days. It also takes mental strength to roll with the punches when, having prepared all the above, luck still doesn’t go your way.

2024 Singletrack 6 / Stage 4 / Kaslo, B.C., Canada
Sonya Looney takes over the race lead heading into Kaslo. Photo: John Gibson.

Nelson to Kaslo: Leads change with location

As Singletrack 6 dove into a second day of racing in Nelson, B.C., women’s leader Jena Greaser’s luck ran out. A broken pedal left Greaser stranded in Nelson’s vast network of singletrack and forced to drop out of the stage. But, with an 8-hour time penalty added onto her Stage 3 results and a spare set of pedals handy, the Fernie racer jumped right back in the next day when ST6 moved on to Kaslo. Because it’s not all about results, right? And a big day of sweet Kaslo trails definitely helped soften the blow of losing the leader’s jersey they day before.

That change sees Sonya Looney take over the lead. The Squamish racer was biting at the heels of Greaser before the pedal malfunction cut that race short. Looney now enjoys a comfy buffer between herself and new second-place rider, Amber Steed of Kalispell, Montana. But there’s still two days left to race and, as Greaser learned, mechanicals can happen to the best.

Quinton Disera flanked by the competition on the startling. Photo: John Gibson.

Fatigue can come in various forms. In the men’s race, the fittest of the fit are finding their challenge on the steep West Kootenay descents. Peter Disera and Rob Britton are still in pursuit of Quinton Disera for the overall, with Britton stealing a stage from Quinton in Kaslo.

In timed descent race-within-a-race, though, it’s the elder and semi-retired Peter Disera leading the standings. The multi-time Canadian XCO national champion is trading leads with New Zealand’s Jamie Bartlett and, after four timed descent stages, just 0.9 seconds separate the two.

For more on the timed descents, and Stage 3 and 4’s happening’s beyond the GC race, lets hear again from Oregon’s James Williams and Carl Decker

2024 Singletrack 6 / Stage 4 / Kaslo, B.C., Canada
Peter Disera hauling, and pulling back time, on the Kaslo timed descent. Photo: John Gibson

2024 Singletrack 6 – Stage 3: The Race within the Race

Here’s the deal: Each day has a chip-timed downhill section, usually in the four-to-12 minute range, and results are posted at day’s end, both for the segment and overall GC. Being BC, these are proper enduro stages—steep, rooty, rocky.

But these descents don’t seem to phase the leading women who are regularly posting DH times that are better than most of the men, even (ahem) several of the elite men. Women’s DH leader, Sonya Looney, enjoys a three-minute advantage over second place Shantel Koenig. Jena Greaser has been within a handful of seconds of Looney on the descents, even besting her on the opening two stages overall, but suffered a broken pedal today during stage 3 and a scratched as a result. But with back-up pedals in her beleaguered Honda Element, know that Greaser will be back at it tomorrow.

We had the chance to ride today’s timed downhill sector, Bigwood, twice. First while “fresh” fairly early on in the stage and then again near the end. But it was the second go that counted. It’s a fast, engaging trail on rich soil but littered with roots and rocks and tight switchbacks before giving way to a pedally section at the bottom. A solid section of trail that felt plenty rowdy at race-pace. If Bigwood, a “blue trail”, were anywhere outside of BC, it’d be a solid black.

Anyway, we were much relieved to hear Peter Disera—who’s a close second in the overall standings behind his brother, Quinton—say that yesterday he had to stop mid-timed-downhill to shake the pump out of his forearms. He reckoned the five-second stop was net-positive as it allowed him to rally with a somewhat fresher set of arms. The post-race story today, told under the shade of the tents at the finish line, carried the same theme as yesterday: arm pump and big grins.

2024 Singletrack 6 – Stage 4: Kaslo (Mount Buchanan)

What a relief.

Today’s stage was a welcome reprieve from the physical and mental demands of the first three stages. The climbing went down easier, and so did the descending. Our hosts must have known we’d be hurting.

Still, it was a beaut and boasted some unique features. We started by clicking off a few of today’s 1,400 m of climbing with a road climb out of Kaslo before turning onto yet another well-built, perfectly pitched climbing trail.

The early, mellow climbing gave way to what was today’s highlight—West Access Trail—which is described by Trail Forks thusly: “Exposure on steep sides. Not for the faint-hearted.” This punchy trail with its steep ups and downs did indeed hug a cliff side for several kilometers but the dirt was impeccable and the sight lines allowed one to rally anytime the trail flattened or pitched back down. It proved to be a place where the all-around rider could catch back up to the pure climber.

But that pure climber would soon get their turn again as we then launched upward, climbing the machine-built flow trail, Friendly Giant. Under the cover of forest canopy, the dirt here was like pavement and the lower portions rode incredibly fast. The climb ground onward and became steeper and steeper, much to the pure climbers’ collective delight, as we popped out on to a pitchy service road near the high point of our day.

Turns out Friendly Giant accommodates high speeds going down, too. The bermed flow trail allowed for fast descending and all without worry of arm pump or major catastrophe. We plummeted back down through the timed descent and soon enough we were rolling through the finish line.

What. A. Relief.

Just catching up to Singletrack 6? Here’s the report from Day 1 and 6 in Castlegar and Nelson. And here’s what it was like to race a 1999 Rocky Mountain Blizzard at the 2023 Singletrack 6 20th anniversary edition. For more on what’s happening in the West Kootenays, check out James Williams and Carl Decker’s full ST6 blog.