The BC Bike Race Returns to Squamish for 2027. Here's How to Actually Ride It.

7 days ago

3 min read

After more than six years away, Squamish is back on the BC Bike Race (BCBR) route. The 2027 edition marks a big shift for BCBR too: after 20 years as a seven-day race, it's moving to a new five-day format, running May 24 to 28, with riders choosing between two very different ways to race.

Enduro Course

5 days, solo only
4 timed downhill stages per day
30-45 km per day
Mix of tech and flow trails, blue to light black

Classic XC Course

5 days, solo or team of 2
25-45 km per day
Mix of tech and flow trails, blue to light black

The Enduro Course Is Blind. Your Prep Doesn't Have To Be.

No pre-rides, no course previews. Racers roll into each timed stage having never seen it before, and the clock starts the second they drop in.

That changes what "training" actually means. On a course you can pre-ride, you can memorize a line. On a blind course, memorizing a line isn't an option. What matters instead is your ability to read roots, slabs, rock rolls, and steep tech on sight and commit to them, wherever they show up. That's a skill you build over time, on real trails, not something you can cram into a shakedown run the day before your stage.

Squamish is one of the best places on earth to build exactly that skill, because the terrain here throws so many different versions of technical at you. The more you ride it, and the more you ride it with someone who can show you why a feature works the way it does, the more prepared you are for whatever the blind course puts in front of you on race day.

The Real Problem Isn't Your Skills. It's the Disconnect.

Here's a version of this we hear all the time. A rider is plenty fit. Maybe they ski tour all winter, maybe they're strong on trails everywhere else they've lived. Then they get to a trail like Rupert or Angry M, or a section of Original Sin at Whistler Bike Park, and something changes. They know they have the skills. They've ridden harder features before. But they get off the bike and walk it anyway, or they brake check right before the feature instead of committing.

That's not a fitness problem, and it's usually not a skills problem either. It's a coordination problem between what your body is capable of and what your brain lets it do in that moment. And it's the single biggest thing standing between most riders and actually enjoying a full day on Squamish's trails.

Training Full Circle, Not Just Cardio

Most riders prep for something like BCBR by building fitness first and hoping the technical side sorts itself out closer to race day. On a course this technical, that order doesn't work. Confidence on tech terrain isn't something you bolt on in the last few weeks. It has to be trained alongside your fitness, from the start, the same way you'd train your legs and your lungs.

That's the whole idea behind Full Circle. We build your mental strategies and your on-bike technique together, right from day one, so your brain and body are working together well before you're standing at a blind stage start.

Here's what a year in the Full Circle program looks like:

Purposeful drills every two weeks, so you're always working on something specific and always moving forward
Remote coaching & feedback on your riding, to make sure what you think you're doing on the bike actually matches what you're doing on the bike
One-on-one coaching, in person, in Squamish, so you can stack up sessions with us on the exact terrain you'll see on race week

Registration Is Open Now

BC Bike Race is back in Squamish for the first time in years; the enduro field is blind, and the trails haven't gotten any easier. You've got a solid block of training ahead of you before May 2027. Start it the right way, with fitness, skill, and composure built together, not stacked on top of each other at the last minute.

The adventure and the race of a lifetime are coming back to our home trails. Full Circle Coaching Program registration is open now.