Most people treat The BC Bike Race like the beast it is: a weeklong war of attrition against roots, rocks, and BC’s finest singletrack. But Russell saw it as a time management problem: why stretch it over seven days when you can squeeze it into one?

“If you’re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough. – Roger Alen Wade” – Russell Theissen

Veteran XC racer, Head of Purchasing, and self-proclaimed Excel guru at NOBL Wheels, Russell Thiessen, is saying goodbye to the rugged, rooty coastal BC singletrack this summer and moving back to the “bustling metropolis” of Winkler, Manitoba. He tried to retire from racing a couple of years back, but we all knew how well that was going to go.

Russell has a spreadsheet for bike component weights, a spreadsheet for snacks and their respective carb counts, a spreadsheet for race splits, and an enviable collection of KOMs – he’s a guy that needs a goal, especially one that takes careful planning.

“In his prep sheet, he allotted a total of zero seconds of transition time. Let’s, uh…let’s see how that goes!”

Not one to take the easy way out, Russell thought of the perfect end-sender challenge: riding all seven stages of the BC Bike Race in under 24 hours. That’s 234km of singletrack, 7,013m of climbing, and 304km of driving between stages, all in under 24 hours.

There’s the small hurdle of riding these courses before they’ve been marked, but we’ll get to that later.

“That GPS track was awful”

Prologue: Maple Mountain – 23.1km, 754m
Stage 2: Maple Mountain – 21.1km, 705m
Stage 3: Mt. Tzouhalem – 22.3km, 919m
Stage 4: Nanaimo – 39.6km – 929m
Stage 5: Cumberland – 38.2km, 1216m * Queen Stage
Stage 6: Campbell River- 49.2km, 967m
Stage 7: Cumberland – 31km, 893m

“Normally, with this much mileage, the body would be pretty upset, but with only about three of Russell’s brain cells still firing, his legs have no one to complain to”

“Just slammed some pizza pops and…two more [stages] to go!” – Russell

It’s a wild test of stamina, skill, and stubbornness, set against some of the world’s most iconic mountain bike trails – from Duncan’s Mount Tzouhalem, to the mecca of Cumberland and the lush forests of Campbell River – and his trusty spreadsheets will only get him so far! Watch Russell take on the challenge with his motley crew of support and see if his wheels, legs, and sanity come through.