Hey! I rode from Vancouver to Edmonton in August, and from Princeton to Kimberly we were pretty much on the BC epic route. Our ride was 1000 miles, 10 days, 10 miles of elevation gained (I'm Candaian but's nice round numbers when I use imperial).
On day 9, beginning on the Icefields parkway we pushed ourselves and rode 290 km, which was my biggest day of riding in my life. I could have gone further that day, I was still feeling pretty good when we got to our hotel after 14 hours in the saddle. Certainly it put the idea of racing on my mind.
I attempted Edmonton to Vancouver in August 2023. I made it to Nelson and scratched due to excessive wildfire smoke. That was my first attempt at any kind of a bicycle tour or any kind of activity that one might classify as an ultra. I went into that ride quite naive but I've learned enough since then that I'm ready to get myself into some real trouble.
Edmonton - Vancouver via Nelson sounds like a heck of a route, and 290km is 100kms more than I've ever done in day! I haven't "officially" done the BC Epic (a bit of an oxymoron given it's lack of official-ness, by which I mean I have not left with the grand depart or the entire route in a single ride) but this might be the year. I have family in Kamloops and live in Calgary, so trying to put a plan together to start the day before in Kamloops, bike to Merritt, watch the backs of the amazing racers for an hour before they disappear, meander into Fernie a week later, then keep going to CGY. I am definitely not (and have no interest in) racing but love the speed and... immersion? of bike touring - it's just about perfect.
On day 9, beginning on the Icefields parkway we pushed ourselves and rode 290 km, which was my biggest day of riding in my life. I could have gone further that day, I was still feeling pretty good when we got to our hotel after 14 hours in the saddle. Certainly it put the idea of racing on my mind.
I attempted Edmonton to Vancouver in August 2023. I made it to Nelson and scratched due to excessive wildfire smoke. That was my first attempt at any kind of a bicycle tour or any kind of activity that one might classify as an ultra. I went into that ride quite naive but I've learned enough since then that I'm ready to get myself into some real trouble.
Have you done the BC Epic?