B.C. Bike Race, Stage 4: A Jason Sumner gallery

With yet another day at the B.C. Bike Race being dominated by the Trek-Volkswagen duo of Chris Eatough and Jeff Schalk, we opted for a photo gallery to tell the story of stage 4’s 58.5km ride from Earl’s Cove to Sechelt on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. After finishing stage 3 with a thrill ride down the technical trails outside Cumberland, stage 4 kicked off at dawn Wednesday with the entire B.C. Bike Race entourage loading up for the short drive from Cumberland to the BC Ferries terminal at Little River. From there it was an 1:20 ride to Powell River, then a quick bus transfer to the

Photos

By Jason Sumner, VeloNews.com

Drying out from Stage 3

Photo: Jason Sumner

Schalk limbers up aboard the ferry

Photo: Jason Sumner

After finishing stage 3 with a thrill ride down the technical trails outside Cumberland, stage 4 kicked off at dawn Wednesday with the entire B.C. Bike Race entourage loading up for the short drive from Cumberland to the BC Ferries terminal at Little River.

From there it was an 1:20 ride to Powell River, then a quick bus transfer to the second ferry ride, which disembarked at Saltery Bay.

Heading for the docks

Photo: Jason Sumner

When the second ferry pushed into its dock at Earl’s Cove 50 minutes later it was game on, as riders readied for the 11:15 a.m. start, which sent the 160-rider field on an undulating ride south to Sechelt.

The names at the top of the standings remained the same in all the two-rider categories, with Cynthia Young and Michelle Newton (Shore Girls Don’t Cry) taking their fourth stage win and continuing to lead the women’s overall. David Harris and Lynda Wallenfels (Team Desert Cyclery-HealthFX) in open mixed; Randy Richmond and Sandy Mitchell (Gerick-Nelson) in veterans 80-plus; and Doug Nottebrock and Con Diamond (Kootenay-Okanagan Cooperative) in veterans 100-plus also own commanding G.C. leads in their respective categories.

The race start at Earl’s Cove

Photo: Jason Sumner

There was one new stage winner on Wednesday, as the Spike Shooter duo of David Overstreet and Mark Thompson broke through in the veterans 80-plus, derailing the three-stage run of Richmond and Mitchell.

Stage 5 of the B.C. Bike Race features another day of tricky British Columbia single-track, with racers making the twisting, 58km journey south from Sechelt to Langdale. The day ends at the Langdale Ferry Terminal, where a 40-minute ferry ride awaits. That’s followed by a bus transfer from Horseshoe Bay up the Sea-to-Sky Highway to Squamish, where the day-5 base camp is located and stage 6 will start.