Weekend Report: 12 Hours of Cumberland & Minto Road Race

Weekend Report: 12hr’s of Cumberland & Minto Road Race

Words: Terry McKall

Images: Nicholas Kupiak (@ridegradient) and Mark Karu (@curbwzrd)

UROC’s 12 Hours of Cumberland is one of the most anticipated events on the Island Cup schedule. Being primarily a team race, except for some truly impressive and masochistic solo racers, there’s way more time than the usual XC races to sit around and hang out with other racers between laps. For this reason, it always feels more like an event than a race. This year, our team was Parker and I from Victoria joining with Derek Vinge and Clay Ward, living in the Courtenay / Cumberland area.  To add to the already festival like feel of THC (12 Hours of Cumberland) weekend, we had Nicholas Kupiak, Fabian Merino traveling with us to race the Comox Valley Cycle Club’s Minto Road Race on Sunday, and Mark Karu along just because Cumberland is an awesome place to ride mountain bikes. Oh, and it was also Nick and Mark’s birthday.

People’s work schedules made for a later departure from Victoria, but still early enough to enjoy a fine dining experience in Nanaimo followed by one of the more impressive Island sunsets I’ve seen this year.

Knives, Axes, fire, and a birthday cake made of Lucky and donuts. That’s probably all you need to know about Friday night.

Saturday – 12 Hours of Cumberland

Waking up next to Comox Lake is never a bad thing. Everyone emerged from their tents, coffee was attended to and breakfast was had. While Parker and I set off for the THC’s announced 8am start, Mark headed off to explore trails beyond the 12 Hr.’s smaller loop, and Fabian tried to talk Nick into riding up Mt. Washington as a good pre-race ride for the entirely flat Minto race the next day.

Down at the 12 Hr. course the days instructions were read, racers took off, and everything else for the next 12 hours is mostly a blur. There was some racing, some sitting around, occasional visits to the nearby Cumberland Brewing Company, an incredible and dramatic showdown in the Men’s solo race with Naked Bicycles Sam Whittingham eventually edging out Justin Mark for his 3rd Solo 12 Hr. victory. And I think I almost crashed out at least 3 people in the transition area, all on our team. Eventually the bell was rung to end the race, and we came out with the most laps of the day. Which meant another of the prized ceramic mugs from Scott Beardsley for Parker, who now has 3 wins in the 4-person team category in the last 3 years. Time to go solo next year?

Sunday – CVCC’s Minto Road Race

Sunday morning started out slow. Everyone dragged themselves out of their tents, packed up camp and ate breakfast, then headed down to the start area for the Minto Road Race, put on by the Comox Valley Cycle Club. While Fabian and Nicholas were registering and doing all the other pre-race things, Mark, Parker and I … did not do much at all. Eventually Emilie showed up with some fresh picked strawberries, which she was kind enough to share. Being a week after Robert Cameron Cycling Series, the fields were a bit on the smaller size, but we stick around to watch the start of the race. A late solo break escaped on the 2nd last lap, and Nick escaped shortly after, also on his own. He held on for 2nd, while Fabian took the field sprint for 3rd. Pretty solid Sunday showing from the Broad Street racers!

While Fabian and Nicholas were busy doing very well in a road race, Mark, Parker and I went off into the woods with Dodge City Racing’s Greg and Emilie (@dodgecityracing) for more time on the mountain bikes. After a long, unhurried climb we finally turn back down the mountain onto Race Rocks, one of the higher up, rockier Cumberland trails. Some intersections, more trail, a new trail, a classic trail, and Greg pulls off on the side of the road, stashes his bike in the trees, and leads us down a barely visible trail through the bushes to one of the best waterfall/swimming spots I’ve seen on the Island. Parker finds mini-pool on the verge of the cliff, while everyone else swims in equally refreshing, much safer parts of the pool. We head back to the bikes, rally some fire-road, more trails, and then meet up with Nicholas and Fabian to see how Minto went. Find Pizza, one more visit to Cumberland Brewing Company, and start the drive back to Victoria.

Thanks to Mark (@curbwzrd) and Nicholas (@ridegradient) for the images, find them both on instagram for more