“There’s a beast in the woods in the Rocky Mountain Trench. It’s very, very old but it’s patient. It silently waits and watches. It weathers harsh winters and is home to a rich diversity of life. It is generous and will bestow the gifts of crisp, clean drinking water, places to rest and beautiful views but you better put your back into it because this unrelenting beast will try to break you.”

Steve O’Shaughnessy

This week on the My Back 40 podcast I speak with a couple of the creators of the Lost Elephant Ultra Race which will start on July 25, 2020 in Cranbrook, B.C. Nathan Siemens and Eric Ross are locals to the area and have been part of the event since it’s inception.

What used to be misrepresented as, the Kootenay Gravel Grinder, was later renamed more fittingly to reflect the epic nature of the event.

As with most years, there will be two routes. The Jumbo, which will be comprised of the last two Dumbo routes, except reverse and the Dumbo route each 520 and 300km respectively.

In this causal chat, we cover a number of random topics over a coldie or two. I’ll apologize in advance for the audio quality of this one but I still think you’ll enjoy the conversation. Nathan and Eric are both experienced and passionate cyclists and it was a blast to have an in person chat here at the “studio” after a great rip on my local, mosquito infested trails.

“Day 1: ~180km

I looked at my GPS. It’s midnight. The rain is falling and I see that the track is taking me down a rushing creek. It would appear as though the track had been washed out. I shrug my shoulders and push my bike into the darkness and shin deep, rushing water. “I’m sure the track is just past this ‘little’ washout.” I assure myself, but as I descend, I have doubts.

This can’t be right. I leave my bike by the creek, grab my GPS and head back up the bank. I probably spent 30 minutes trying to figure out what was going on.

Trying to peer through the darkness with my headlamp, all I could see were more alders. The light couldn’t penetrate the thick brush reducing my visibility to a metre. Trackleaders will show my dot yoyo a section a few times before I make my final decision, which was the right one.

As I plowed through the wet jungle, finally the tracks converge and I am back living on the line. But it’s not over yet. Within the next km I sustain sidewall damage and now I’m leaking air. Just when I thought I was “out of the woods” I’m thrust right back in….”