Skip to content

Bike race gets crack at new Golden trails

Phase 2 of the Schacher trail will soon be released to the broader mountain biking community.
10034goldenstarmountainbikingweb
Local Shane Kroeger will be representing Golden when he takes on some of North America’s best in this year’s Single Track 6 event.

Phase 2 of the Schacher trail will soon be released to the broader mountain biking community as hundreds of bikers in the Transrockies’ Single Track 6 race will compete in two stages of the six stage race on Golden’s extensive trail network.

The second to last stage will take place on Golden’s Mt. 7 and Mountain Shadows network, including parts of the Schacher trail, while the final stage will take riders along the CBT and Moonraker networks. Those stages will take place on July 27 and 28.

Local Shane Kroeger will be competing this year following a 19th place finish in the open category of the 2014 race. This year he’ll be classified with other riders aged 40 and over and his goal is to make it onto the podium, as well as defend his title for having the fastest descents.

Competing for a second time was an easy decision for the local rider after a positive experience in 2014.

“The big motivation is that two days are in Golden and the last time I raced I really enjoyed racing with the hometown crowd. It’s fun to be part of the local events,” Kroeger said.

“Once I heard it was coming back to Golden I was pretty interested in taking part again.”

Kroeger has been training on his bike since May - when his work as a ski guide was complete for another year.

“Starting in June I was mainly training for enduro mountain bike racing…for the last couple weeks I’ve been focusing on putting on a lot of miles and specifically cross-country miles,” Kroeger said.

“Now I’m starting to get more into the tapering phase where I’ll try and rest the body a little bit.”

According to Kroeger, the start of each stage will be very important, as failing to emerge from the middle of the pack will make it difficult to ride up at the front, given that most cross country courses provide riders with few passing opportunities. Recovery between the stages will also be vital to Kroeger’s success.

While he hasn’t trained on the specific courses in the other communities that are hosting the race - Fernie, Kimberley and Cranbrook - Kroeger hopes that he can finish strong in Golden while putting his local experience to good use.

“I ride in those areas all the time so I’m very familiar with all of the trails that are going to be involved so I’d like to think I’ll have a local advantage there,” he said.

Because Golden is the last stop for the race, the Golden Cycling Club will get a chance to host a post-race party at the Rockwater, with band Easy Ruckus supplying the entertainment.

Admission is by donation to the Cycling Club and the party will get underway on July 28 at 9:30 p.m.