Last Sunday I participated in a very different new kind of poker game for me. In the picture you see the poker hands all the teams got. I sure had a lot more fun that I could have at a real poker game. Teams? Poker hands? Fun? Find out more about the SIMBS Hartland Poker Mountainbike Race and read on…
So what is a poker race? You don’t know? Don’t worry. I had no idea either. Basically we formed teams of two bikers and went to four target points in the great Hartland Park run by the great bunch of dedicated bikers and volunteers at the South Island Mountain Bike Society with support from CRD Parks.
Since my irregular bike buddies dumped me I just rocked up and ended up with Chad as a partner. We had a lot of fun. He was certainly hunting me around. Man, is this guy fit (Or me unfit..)! With a mass start all the around 40 teams headed off the Technical Training Area at once. We all had two hours and therefore plenty of time to get to all the points and collect a card. Coming back we would get a fifth one at the end. and then it would all be up to the poker hand we got.
Starting off Chad and myself proofed to be a great team. I knew where we were going and Chad was dragging me along. Hahah. So up we headed the regional trail. Up and up and up. All the way to Old Payoff. Got our first card there and went further up via the upper part of Twister to Phase Two. From there we headed along the awesome Daves Line to another pickup at the plateau. This is normally a place to get lost for me. And guess what.. we did it again. On the way down we wanted to hit Fun Trail and Bottom Feeder via the South Ridge Trail. Somehow we missed a turn off and end up way further south. But we got some great riding in ;-)
A bit later than anticipated we got to the third card pick up point near the rusted car wreck on Second Avenue and then made our way over to Little Face and Inventive taken in Ruffles on the way. At the last pick Chad could not resist one of the tree logs and promptly crashed. All was good though and we made it back to the finish within one and a half hours. Normally that kind of long round would have taken me at least another hour. I guess it helps to have somebody pushing you.
Oh and by the way we only had a pair of sixes. The winning team had four queens. Wow. But really we were all winners. We had fun, awesome weather, breakfast and lunch included and lots of swag was to be had at the end. A great day! Thanks to SIMBS , CRD and all the other sponsors. If you are into biking on Vancouver Island you gotta join SIMBS and support them. If there is another poker race coming up sometime in the future I will be there again. Maybe I find my way then…
