4.0°C Not observed 
Early in the 2009 Test of Metal, Russell Stevenson saw Max Plaxton and Matt Ryan racing toward the first racer prime in the 67-kilometre course. That battle was the last that Stevenson, runner up in Saturday’s (June 20) 14th annual edition of the epic Test, saw of Plaxton, who steamed away to become the repeat Test of Metal champion.
“I could see Max for maybe three minutes, and then he was gone,” Stevenson said.
Plaxton stormed to his second consecutive Test of Metal victory with another record-setting time, breaking the mark he set in 2008 by almost one minute by stopping the clock this year at two hours, 30 minutes and 15.4 seconds.
In fighting form and looking to repeat as the top Test rider after posting his first U.S. Cup race series win one weekend earlier in Colorado, Plaxton finished about five minutes ahead of Stevenson, who hails from Mercer Island, Wash. Kona rider Kris Sneddon of Sechelt claimed third, followed closely by Ryan in fourth and Dwayne Kress, the fastest Squamish rider with his time of 2:41:08.5, in fifth.
“The course was great, it was just as good as last year,” Plaxton said, adding, “I think it’s a very diverse course, it has everything, so it takes an all-around rider to do well. It’s a true mountain bike course.”
Many of the 900-odd riders praised the course conditions in Saturday’s race, after earlier smatterings of rain tamped down the dust and produced fast, fun riding. Ryan said the 2009 Test course was “probably one of the fastest I’ve seen it, for sure.”
In fine form and ready to fly, Plaxton said he pushed himself hard in pursuit of a repeat win and a new record.
“I was hurting the whole race. I was going hard, I wanted to get a good workout in… I think it has a lot of prestige, this race,” Plaxton said.
Both Plaxton and Catharine Pendrel, the fastest female rider in the race, praised the crowds of spectators who lined sections of the challenging course to urge racers on with hoots, hollers and rattles of cowbells in the sporadic sunshine.
“It’s amazing. Just going through the feed zone there, (in) Powerhouse, the crowds are just like a European World Cup,” Plaxton said.
Pendrel, who finished fourth in the 2008 Olympic mountain biking race, posted a time of 2:50:44.7 to chop about six minutes from Wendy Simms’ record-setting time in the 2008 Test, and to smash her 2007 Test-besting time. She said she enjoyed all parts of the challenging course, getting into a good rhythm on the climbs and enjoying the infamous Powerhouse Plunge and the Crumpit Woods section.
“Girls before me have put out some pretty smoking times,” Pendrel said, pleased with her fun race and her record-setting result.
Plaxton and Pendrel both won all 10 racer primes, the cash prizes donated by the sponsors for the first male and female riders to reach certain spots on the course. Ryan battled with Plaxton for the first prime, at the outset of a strong race for Ryan where everything went according to his plans.
“I’ve never won a Test of Metal prime, so I thought I’d give it a crack,” Ryan laughingly said of his speedy start. Though Plaxton edged him out, he said he was happy with his race overall, as he fought off cramps in Nine Mile Hill and the Plunge, plus a Plunge crash, to catch Kress in Crumpit Woods and rip to the finish.
His time of 2:40:31.1 saw him maintain his fourth-place overall result from last year’s Test.
“All in all, another one crossed off this list, thank God,” Ryan joked. At the finish line of what could have been his ninth or 10th Test, he said, “They never get any easier. You start to work it out over the years, that’s for sure, trying to figure out the strategics of it, because a lot of guys go out a little bit too hard and sort of fade.
“You’ve got to have something for Crumpit Woods, because you can make up a lot of time in there.”
Pendrel donated $200 of her prime purse to the fastest male and female Squamish riders.
