Mountain Tour Training

I spent some time this week stripping my blue TREK mountain bike in preparation for mountain tour training. I normally use the TREK for commuting so quite a lot of accessories had to come off - first the headlight and tail light, then the fenders, next the rear pannier rack and the front handlebar bag and finally the kickstand. As you can see from the photo, there's not much else I could have removed - oh yeah, I did take off the long handlebar extensions and replaced them with shorter and lighter ones.
Our trainer guide is Stew Hutchings from United Cycle along with his riding partner Al. They have us gather around at the parking lot at Terwilligar Park and after discovering that out of the 8 people who showed up, I'm the only one who has done the Hinton Mountain Tour, they explain the requirements of the tour and what to expect. To my surprise, Stew describes the Hinton Mountain Tour as an entry-level mountain biking experience. I found it quite challenging last year and my daughter Jackie and I came through the finish line last on the second day of the tour. So if this is entry-level stuff, then I need this Training!