Jasper team places second in TransRockies race

Jasper team “Guidi-Up” pedaled their way to second place on a 550 km trail over seven days in the TransRockies mountain bike challenge from Aug. 10-16. 

Amy Guidinger, 30, and Meghan Osborne, 27, held second place of nine teams in the women’s category for each stage of the race from Panorama to Fernie, B.C.

Guidinger, a physiotherapist, said they were shocked on the first day to find out how well they were doing. “One goal was to step on the podium once,” she said. “We ended up sitting in second the entire race.”

This was Guidinger’s third time riding in the TransRockies and the highest she’s placed so far. Last year she and a different partner came in fifth and she said a combination of teamwork, experience and luck helped this year.

“Megan is extremely strong, she’s an amazing rider, that with the experience I gained from previous years,” she said. “We had no major crashes or mechanicals... it made a huge difference.”

The race is divided into seven stages completed once per day, and teammates bike the whole thing together. “It’s really helpful for not only the mechanical support but also the moral support and the teamwork to get from point A to B,” Guidinger said.

When Guidinger suggested competing in the race, Osborne was all for it though she’d never done the TransRockies before. “She said yes right off the bat, but it’s such a huge training but also financial commitment that I made her think about it for a week,” she said. “It’s a big endeavor.”

The entry fee for the race is $3,300 per team which includes the transportation of luggage and camping gear each day. Guidinger’s coworker lent the team an RV to use for the race, though  the bikers without RVs camp along the route.

Osborne, a dispatcher for Parks Canada, said the only comparable race she’s done is the 24 Hours of Adrenalin, which she rode solo last year. “This (the TransRockies) is completely unlike anything I’ve ever done,” she said. “Every day was something different on your bike whereas the 24 Hours is one lap so you know what to expect.”

She said the bikers climbed over 17,500m over the week, and there were spots in which they would put their bikes on their backs and scramble. “It was the hardest bike ride I’ve ever done,” she said.

Guidinger is still deciding whether to enter again next year, now that she’s set the bar so high. But Osborne doesn’t even have to think over whether she’ll do the TransRockies again. “Yeah, yeah for sure,” she said.