The TransRockies Race Series Turns 20
Heinrich (Heini) Albrecht and Chester Fabricius, founders of the famous TransAlps mountain bike stage race, wanted to see if the event could be held in North America. They set out to find the most spectacular mountain region to host their new race so naturally they ended up in the Canadian Rockies.
Twenty Years Of Good Times
The TransRockies Challenge was born in 2002. During that time, eventual TransRockies President, Aaron McConnell was already hosting mountain bike races in the area and agreed to join the German crew. The shoe fit and by 2005, McConnell was Event Director for the stage race.
In the early days the German-led outfit would travel to Canada to run the show. They brought their experience and high expectations with them. “It was kinda funny, they were very particular about how they did things. It took a few years before we could make that switch from a largely German run crew to a domestic crew – we had to learn how to execute on the same level as the Germans.” Says McConnell.
For the first few years, the original TransRockies Challenge took up the majority of the crew’s bandwidth. By 2007, the team added a new country and new sport- hosting TransRockies Run in the Colorado Rockies. While new events and locations have steadily been added to the calendar, the team has always made sure each offered a quality standard the Germans helped normalize from the beginning. “We built up our crew and got very good at hosting. Now, we’ve got quite a stable of people that can come work our events and operate them at a high level. Be it a start/finish crew, registration crew, course marking crew, or tent set up crew, we’ve got all the resources to do it well.” Says McConnell.
Betting on Gravel
Initially, the team talked about adding gravel into the original TransRockies Classic, which was resurrected in 2019. Ultimately they decided they wanted to keep the ‘Classic a mountain bike race. That didn’t stop people from wanting to experiment with gravel bikes. McConnell and the team helped folks decide which days would be good for gravel bikes, and they heard good things from the riders. Further validation that conditions were prime for more alt-surface riding. McConnell went all in.
“We talked about a one day gravel race at least five years ago, but at that time, gravel was still pretty young, at least in Canada.” While looking over previous course routes McConnell and his team realized they had something special right under their nose. “We were already using long sections of forest service roads,” Says McConnell. “Even though they were super remote, they had a great riding surface (hard, fast, smooth) and were built to a really high standard for logging trucks.” After the logging companies were finished with their work, the roads that supported their operations went mostly dormant.
Covid-19 has had major impacts on human gatherings worldwide. The lockdown’s gift however, was time. With races and events on hold, McConnell and his riding friends set out with a purpose to find a route. They were having, as McConnell puts it, “an excellent cycling experience” exploring these quiet, remote forest service roads. The opportunity was ripe with possibility and ideas turned to action.
“Almost immediately I was able to sketch out a route plan in my mind. I could envision how it would all fit together so I started working from there. Multi-day is our specialty, so I wanted to look at a gravel stage race.” Says McConnell.
With an amazing course set, a nearly full field ready to race, and cleaner air, the stage was set. However the Delta variant had other plans. One week before the race was set to start, British Columbia’s government imposed a limit on gatherings over 100 people. It was with heavy hearts that McConnell and his staff had to postpone the race until 2022.
Looking Ahead
The Gravel Royale will be more than ready to offer a memorable experience. “Most of the hard work is done but there’ll be another full year of tweaking details and hopefully getting more people involved,” Says McConnell.
Twenty years in, TransRockies now hosts nine different events throughout the year with a few more on the way. McConnell’s passion for hosting is stronger than ever.“ I love creating experiences for people,” says McConnell. “Events provide an opportunity for people to feel supported. Whether they’re there to race, or just ride with friends, having support is key to doing bigger rides.” TransRockies will continue to focus on offering memorable multi-day trail running, mountain biking and gravel events.
