This past long weekend (Victoria Day) was pretty eventful for me. I went with Adam to his second race of the year at Porcupine Hills. This was a cross country; 98km winding through trees, up and down steep hills and shale. The race was about half an hour farther than the famous world heritage listed site, Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. We stopped in Calgary for the night, met up with my friend Christine (I met her on an Uluru tour; aka Stuntgirl) and bright and early next morning for the 2 hour drive south.
The race was broken up into different parts. the first part was 50km and very technical while the second half was 48km and had a bit more open straight aways. The organizers set up a little log obsticle course for the entertainment of the spectators/pits at the midway checkpoint (50km end of first loop). It was great to see the pros hop over foot high logs (as well as people getting tripped up by them). It took Adam 4Hours 4Mins to complete and his unofficial result was 11th place in his class. (some competitors couldn’t finish because they were either too slow or too tired) There was at least double the amount of riders in this class as compared to the last race I went to.
After the race, we went to the interpretive centre for Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. The cliff and views are beautiful and the centre is built right into the cliff so it has a minimal visual disruption to the whole area. The buffalo jump was used before horses and Europeans. Many different tribes banded together for this event. A few scouts dressed up like coyotes or other buffalo, patiently and gently herding them closer to the cliff. Other people built “running lanes” out of rocks and bush that narrowed to the cliff like a funnel. When the run started after days of gently guiding them towards the cliff, people would jump out of the lanes and wave their bush to keep them from turning and avoiding the jump. Since buffalo have bad eyesight, even if the first few buffalo managed to stop at the top of the cliff, the rush of the others behind them would push them over the cliff. Natives at the bottom would finish them off. This was usually done in the fall so they have pelts and food for winter but only if conditions were right. Winds blowing the wrong direction or a bad ceremony beforehand could ruin the whole event.
Bertha