Ontario
Images : Robyn’s IG account @robynmiyuki
“… it was truly a wild, epic, beautiful and crushing ride, often all at the same time. The route was designed to thoughtfully destroy your soul in places, then raise it with stunning vistas. It was such a special experience to race it for the inaugural Grand Depart with some amazingly strong people!!” ~ Robyn Hughes
Wow… what an accomplishment. Beginning on September 27th at 6:00am, The Golden Horseshoe Bikepacking Race is a 1650km self-supported adventure race. We’re supper thrilled to see that Robyn, not only completed this epic race… in which 35% of all participates failed to do so… she crushed it!
Robyn finished 2nd in the Women’s Category
11th place overall : 8 Days, 1 hour, 12 minutes (wow)
Images : Robyn’s IG account @robynmiyuki
Here is more about this truly momentus event in Robyn’s own words…
“ At 1654km and 22,000m, the Golden Horseshoe Race had been intimidating me for many, many months.
This route was created to be a true marquee bikepacking event and throw many, many challenges at racers. There was a 90 minute hike a bikes up the side of Blue Mountain, hours upon hours of rocky ATV trails that tested your ability to find a good line in the leaves and many rutted out, sandy tracks that asked if you had enough torque left to get up and over boulders or if it was just better to get off and walk. Luckily, we had probably the most optimal conditions possible for this time of year with clear skies the entire time, highs around 20 degrees and only a couple of cold mornings where it dipped to -5 at the worst for an hour. And with a drought this summer, there was almost no mud and only two fairly shallow water crossings.
My race strategy was to take it slowly and not risk blowing anything up so that I could complete the race. I ended up sleeping about 3-5 hours per night, with a mix of motels and bivy camps and usually got rolling by 3am.
Some of the big highlights were watching the moon change every night, pedalling under the carpet of stars, the stunning fall colours everywhere and the vistas from the tops of the hydrocut roads. I came away with such an appreciation for Ontario (again!). HUGE thank yous to the organizers and volunteers who provided incredible media coverage, and all of the other racers. A lifetime highlight!!”
