UltimateXC Archives - ActiveSteve

Taking the Ultimate Challenge for a 2nd Time

Let’s just clear the air here once again people. There is no such thing as an EASY race. Nor can there be a ‘relaxing’ race, or a ‘fun’ race. You are either racing, or you are participating. Why don’t I know that by now? As you are probably aware, last year I participated in the ‘Full Challenger’ version of UltimateXC. 3 gruelling days of racing, starting with a 67km kayak leg, then a 57km trail run, capped by a 100km mountain bike leg, all of which took place on and around Mont Tremblant. It was probably the toughest race I’ve ever competed in. But a great venue and event, so I wanted to come back. However, I opted to race in the 1/2 Challenger version, so a ‘mere’ 21km paddle, 21km run, and 50km mountain bike. My logic was that it would give me more time to just relax and enjoy the resort village. Ha! I fooled myself. This was still a tough race, and thanks to good friends and competitors, a hard fought battle for the podium. Curious about the whole story? Glad you are, as I will fill you in on all the gory details after the break. Before that, why not have a look at some of my pictures from the race as well?

Race Reports

Taking the ‘Ultimate’ Challenge at UXC

Welcome back race fans. It’s high time I update you all on my most grueling race accomplishment of the summer, and pretty much my racing career so far. Yup, I’m talking about Ultimate XC, a 3-day stage race that I did a couple weeks back at Mont Tremblant. Yup, Mont, as in mountain. That would play a rather significant role in how it all played out (successfully for this race!). Just to set the scene ever-so slightly, the race was ‘invitation only’, with credentials required. I almost didn’t get accepted. However, when the dust settled I managed to snag 12th overall in a very competitive field of tough athletes. Needless to say, it made me very happy. I have a few pictures to share with you (including some great race photos from lephotoshop.com, and obviously, quite a bit more to say about this doozy of a race. Read on friends!

Course Preview for Ultimate XC in Tremblant

Howdy friends! Have you been missing my posts? Well, I guess I’ve been too focused on living life, training, racing, settling into my digs, and getting a year older lately rather than sitting down at the keyboard and spending hours trying to chronicle all the afore-mentioned things. However, I’ve decided that it’s well overdo that I fill you in on some of my latest exploits, so what I’m going to attempt to do is polish off four blog posts in fairly short order, with various degrees of detail. The point of this post will be to fill you in on a crazy little training weekend that I spend a few weeks back up at Mont Tremblant in preparation for Ultimate XC. After spending the weekend previewing both the paddle and the bike, I can definitively say this will, by far, be the hardest solo endurance race I have ever undertaken. 60+km of kayaking including whitewater, 60+km of trail running with EXTREME altitude gain/loss, and 100km of intense mountain biking with more of the same altitude gain an loss. Honestly, I’m pretty daunted by the task, but also very much anxious to try it out. I’ve posted pictures from the weekend, as well as tried to throw together some custom maps of the bike and paddle (GPS died during day 2). Read on for a little more insight into the weekend.