When the dust settled after the inaugural Just Another Bike Race and the tallying ended for the first-ever Hell of a Series standings, plenty of Whistler and Pemberton riders were poised to bring home hardware from Squamish and North Shore events.

In Saturday’s (Aug. 21) debut of Squamish’s Just Another Bike Race event (JABR), which Race Director Dwayne Kress said he envisioned as a 40-kilometre cross-country race falling somewhere between the Test of Metal and the Gearjammer on the difficulty scale, Whistler’s Tony Routley rocketed along enjoying the climbs and feeling the best he has all year.

“It was a good day, it was a good course,” said Routley, who won the Male 50 to 54 division and finished in the top 20 overall with his time of two hours, 22 minutes, 43 seconds.

The race started and ended at Quest University, rolling through fun Squamish singletrack trails like Half Nelson, Roller Coaster and Pseudo-tsuga with road riding for breaks in between. The approximately 147 riders in the inaugural event did the climb from the start line to the new Half Nelson trail about two and a half times, Routley guessed — which was good for him, because he actually enjoyed the ride.

“It’s 25 minutes to a half an hour, (and) you can get into the rhythm of the climb. It just seems to suit my fitness, and we had to do it twice from top to bottom,” Routley said, clearly revelling in the climb time.

He finished about 20 minutes behind race winner Ricky Federau of Chilliwack, and about 11 minutes behind fellow Whistler rider Michael Robinson, who steamed to a seventh-place finish overall and won the Male 30 to 34 category by crossing the Quest finish line in 2:11:11.

Other category winners from Whistler included David Thornhill and Routley’s Team Whistler teammates Trevor Hopkins, Gary Baker and Ann Yew, plus his mountain biking pupil Cathy Zeglinski of the pink-clad Northlands Medical Clinic cycling team. Zeglinski had a big day, winning her division and finishing as the third-fastest female rider in the race, with a time of 2:37.50.

“This was my strongest race yet, finishing in 2:37 ahead of many of the guys I have raced before,” Zeglinski wrote in her Northlands Medical team’s blog. “The distance seemed to suit me well; although I prefer more technical, less climbing, today I was on fire in the climbs. Surprising, but then racing is never a sure thing.”

The tireless Baker, who stopped the clock at 3:22:43 as the lone rider in the Male 70-plus division, said he tried simply to ride steady on the new JABR course.

“It’s interesting, it has quite a bit of technical on it but it’s spread out by a lot of road riding in between,” he said.

The JABR served as a cap for the Hell of a Series (HOAS), the string of five cross-country races that showcased the stunning corridor singletrack trails that were newly united under the series banner this season. The series opened with the Orecrusher in May, followed by the North Shore Bike Fest, the Test of Metal, the Gearjammer and JABR.

Robinson iced his HOAS win in the Male 30 to 34 division with victories in the category at all five races. Baker, Hopkins, Routley and Zeglinski likewise claimed the HOAS titles and trophies in their respective categories, as did Whistler’s Mike Hawes, winning the Male 60 to 69 division, and Team Whistler’s Yew, who emerged victorious in the Elite Female category. Hawes finished second in his JABR division on Saturday.

Whistler’s Dave Johnston finished as the runner-up to Routley in the series standings for the Male 50 to 54 category, and he captured second place in the division in the JABR results too with his time of 2:43:10.

Other top JABR finishers included Pemberton’s Josh Hall, fourth in the Male 30 to 34 division and 19th overall, and Whistler’s Andrea O’Brien and Chloe Cross, who finished second and third, respectively, in the Female 30 to 34 and Female 20 to 29 categories.

Masters crit hits WOP

It was a busy weekend for Team Whistler, as its members headed home to help the B.C. Masters Cycling Association host a Masters Criterium event Sunday (Aug. 22) on the perfectly suited roads in the Whistler Olympic/Paralympic Park.

The event, a late addition to the schedule to fill in for a cancellation, drew just a handful of racers, with about 11 participants.

Routley said the numbers were “disappointing,” but the event still provided a valuable and fun experience for several local riders who have been doing the weekly Team Whister Tuesday night group rides and made their first foray into road racing on Sunday. Francis Chiasson finished second in his age category in just his first race, Routley said, and Bill Geddes was another group member who also got his feet wet.

Some riders with the Tuesday group also helped combat their nerves about racing by coming to watch the criterium, points race and Miss and Out events on the 1.4-kilometre bus loop course.

“From that standpoint, it was pretty good,” Routley said.

Regardless of the low numbers, the traffic-free WOP venue was a hit with the riders who did make it up to the Callaghan Valley, including some competitors who travelled in from Vancouver Island.

“The course up there, it’s just a perfect spot to hold an event like that… Without exception, everyone thought, ‘Wow, this is a cool spot, we’d like to do another one,’” Routley said, adding that Team Whistler has been talking to the B.C. Masters organizers about bringing a national event here, perhaps in the next two years.