Salmon Arm 50km shakes up BC Bike Race leaderboard

After two days in Kelowna, BC Bike Race hit the road and headed north for a brief visit to the Shushwaps. While the stay was short, the stage was long. The week’s first Queen stage took in 50km of Salmon Arm singletrack and a hefty 2,000m of elevation gain and loss.

Rob Britton tests the competition

For Rob Britton, the extended climbs were a chance to take the race to the more experienced mountain bikers.

“Yesterday I was definitely out of my element. I followed Peter Disera into Vapor and had to let him go. But today I was feeling much more comfortable,” the former WorldTour road race said of his attack out of the gates on today’s first climb. “I figured if I could get 90 seconds, I’d be ok. I didn’t quite get that on the first climb, But the mountain bikers were on the limit. I got a bit more on the second climb, I was able to shake Carter but Luke was riding super well. Once he had a gap, I couldn’t close that.”

Luke Vrouwenvelder held on to Britton on the climb, then created a gap to take the Stage 2 win and re-capture the leader’s jersey from a suffering Peter Disera. Britton, who crossed the line second, is swimming in uncharted waters.

“I don’t really know these guys, and I haven’t raced XC as much. I’ve done sea Otter, but this is legit descending and these guys are good,” the Canadian said of trying to find his place in the field. The mix of riders at the front is making for dynamic racing. While retired from full-time road racing, Britton still has an engine to push the pace.

“If I can open the throttle from the start, I can hope to tire these guys out – today or over the next couple of days – and hopefully that works out.”

The Canadian is one of the few top riders taking on the BCBR and Gravel Explorer double. He’s leaving the second half of his Okanagan expedition for later and just focusing on this week.

“This whole year, it’s all just fun,” says the recently retired Britton. “If I’m exhausted for the gravel race, so be it. But usually, the more I get into it, the better I go.”

Pendrel finds her pace 

Catharine Pendrel is also recently retired and also finished second on Stage 2 in Salmon Arm. For…