Cayley Brooks: Crank the Shield 2012

A couple days back home from Austria and I was off again to Haliburton for my first MTB stage race. Crank the Shield is a 3 day stage race through the Haliburton area in northern Ontario, with lots of singletrack and amazing scenery. You can race either solo or as a 2 person team, with age categories for each. I decided to take it on solo and see how I could do on my own against the under 40 women.

The first day was definitely the hardest with rain and 12 degree weather all day. The rain had made all of the trails slick and soft which made for some slow going on the doubletrack sections. I was verrrry happy with my choice of bike for the weekend (Trek Top Fuel). My back was very thankful for the full squish on the bumpy trails and the lockout was perfect for the road (Thank you SRAM). The 66km pushed my limits but I finished with a decent time and after pigging out on the food at the finish and a hot shower, I was feeling much better. In between stages we got to stay at Camp White Pine in some great cabins, with some even better food. The all out buffets for breakfast and dinner were AMAZING, with everything you could ever want to eat. After this very muddy day it was also awesome to have the Trek Toronto guys there to clean and tune my dirty bike (Thanks Taylor!).

Day 2 was a much better day, with the trails drying out overnight and a much nicer 15 degrees in the morning. I was lucky and got to ride with Haley and Watson who were racing in the 2 person mixed category. It was much nicer to have someone to talk to (Haley) and someone to draft (Watson, but we talked too). Riding with them really helped me push myself and we finished the 65km in 3:45.

The last day we started out with a chilly neutral ride from CWP to Sir Sam's ski hill for the start. After riding some great trails at Sir Sam's, we headed out on the road back toward the Haliburton forest. Some of the course was sections of trails that we had ridden on day 1 but in reverse, which was cool to see how the trails rode in both directions. We finished off the 67km stage at Haliburton Forest and were greeted by an amazing and much needed BBQ.

Overall it was an amazing event that exceeded all my expectations. Chico Racing has always had great races, but this one was truly the best. All the organization, food, lodging, volunteer support and atmosphere were the best of any race I have been to. I want to say a HUGE thank you to Sean Ruppel, Chico Racing and everyone that helped organize this event, it was great! It is possible that this may have been the last Crank the Shield, but if it does return I would recommend it to anyone who's up for a challenge!

Here are some pictures from the weekend, mostly thanks to Miss Haley... Smith?