Susan's and Doug's Adventures

It was an epic weekend for North American randonneurs. The first running of the Shenandoah 1200 was occurring in the east in record (90+°F) temperatures and on the west coast both the Seattle and BC Randonneurs were running 600 km rides into the Cascade Mountains in very low (1°C) temperatures. The SIR ride was 4 passes, ours was only one, but it was hard enough!

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Doug and I had had a disappointing 400 km. Climbing the canyon had taken forever and we needed a long recovery stop at the Elvis Lives control before continuing. We finished the ride 1 hour and 20 minutes later than goal. Not awful but not good enough for a year in which we plan to do an Ultra (the Rocky Mountain 1200). So we needed to do better on the 600k.

Babymonster (Josh -where did that other name come from???) did a Bikely Map that included a profile. This was most helpful. The overnight was in Merritt which was about ½ way up the big climb to the Coquihalla Summit. Essentially we started serious climbing in Boston Bar. The overnight was also at a “short” distance. Ideal for us is 360 km which usually means 6 hours off the bike. With an overnight at 345 km we estimated only 5 hours off the bike. This was my “in-the-head” planning. Doug did a spreadsheet with estimated speeds between controls (history from previous rides: advantage of this being our 15th year) and control stop times and in-between control stop times (we don’t eat enough if controls are more than 60 km apart). Doug’s results were the same: about 5 hours off the bike, about 3-3.5 hours sleep.

The ride to the start was fine. I start out earlier than Doug ‘cause I like to do it slow. Dave C. passed me on the way. I did try to speed up but no chance to hold him. I was surprised to see so many people at the start: over 2 dozen for a tough 600! We started out into a light mist: I had been expecting to stay dry until Hope. No such luck. I hung with the fast men (no fast women turned up) until Ken put the hammer down. I let them go. We were still well up with the pack on Mary Hill Bypass when I picked up a staple and got a flat. Now we were last.

Of course, judging your progress by where you are in the group is a silly pastime. I have been 3rd first to finish (on the LM 200) and third last to finish (on the LM 400) this year and really haven’t changed that much in speed. It all depends on who turns up and what kind of ride they are having. At PBP it is important to know where you are compared to the “bulge” and stay ahead or behind it. But even more that 2 dozen BC Randonneurs do not swamp facilities: one should ride one own’s ride.

The tailwind was building as we headed out the Lougheed and we went in and out of Mission quickly. We like this road. On the tandem we are really really fast on this road. I was playing whatif games: whatif I believed in support and we had our theoretical support team take our singles out to Hope. Then we could fly out to Hope on the tandem, switch to singles for the middle 300 km (all the hills) and switch back to the tandem for the trip back from Hope. And of course, if there was a control at the top of the Coq, we could take the tandem down the mountain too (would have been nice and warm on the back!).

The tailwind was building. I don’t like Nicomen Island: best part going west is reaching Dewdney and the best part going east is getting to Deroche. But with a nice strong tailwind, I pulled a little pack across at a nice clip which at least got it over quickly. We stopped at Seabird for another bite to eat and the first of many bottles of chocolate milk. Then onward to the canyon. It was starting to warm up but not warm enough that I had to worry about heat exhaustion. America Creek Hill, done.

Others were stopping for a “sit-down” meal at Dogwood but we just munched at the store. Our favorite is the Canyon Alpine just 5 km North of Boston Bar. Randonneurs have been there so often they don’t even ask what we are doing… they know. They just ask where to today? And let us order and then wander around filling bottles, making trips to the toilets, adjusting things on the bike. The last two times I’ve been there its been lunch time and it was little slow. This time it was later and we had a good break in 43 minutes. Peter and Keith were just pulling out as we pulled in. If we’d known the restaurant at Lytton was closed, we would have let more people know about the Canyon Alpine.

It was now officially warm and we had the three bumps to Lytton. Airport Hill, Jackass Mountain and the third one and then of course the climb into Lytton. I got a bit hot on Jackass but only enough to give me a headache… no stomach problems. Nonetheless, even with the tailwind, we were tired by Lytton. As you get tired you get so inefficient at controls and bumble. We sat out of the wind in the sun with Dug and Ron. Colin came in a we were leaving. It was a nice day that way. We only occasionally rode with other people but saw lots of people at controls and passing and being passed. Nice to have so many smiles out there!

The light on the hills coming out of Lytton was magic. Its beautiful scenery there anytime: huge hills, stark with almost no vegetation, the two mighty rivers converging and the road and rail lines clinging to the sides. I love getting down to river level and seeing the Thompson; one is always so high above the Fraser. The big rock was only half covered, less water than we’ve seen some years. Lytton to Spence’s Bridge is a reprieve between two hard sections. The three bumps to Lytton are brutal and I’ve never had an easy ride from Spence’s Bridge to Merritt (and its always been a headwind).

It was a headwind. It was steep. It was not so awful as the last two times ‘cause I was expecting both. It was slow and hard (surely we just finished the steep bit on Josh’s profile; this must be it – yeah but its not the top of it!). But finally, into Merritt! Only a little late… not bad at all.

Once we go over 300 km in BC, food becomes an issue. Places, even towns are far apart and almost everything is closed by 10. I’ve been hungry in Spence’s Bridge so many times we didn’t even plan to stop there. Instead we stopped by the side of the road, part way up the Nicola Valley. Merritt was another problem. The hotel was not near the fast food restaurants (and even they might not have been open). So I packed a small kettle in my drop bag. This plus a package of freeze-dried Italian Beef and Pasta (most calories we could find) made dinner. I had freeze-dried eggs for breakfast. Doug prefers to drink breakfast: 2 cans of ensure plus 2 more for the road. Because we spend so much time eating (two meals) at an over-night: 5 hours stop = 3.5 hours sleep. I know others get a much better sleep to stop ratio but if you don’t feed Doug, you pay down the road.

I’ve ridden Coldwater Road before. As a day ride, out and back. And it was fine. No problem. Coldwater Road has morphed since then. Tectonics have occurred and tilted it distinctly upward to the South. That was one hard first thing in the morning ride. It was beautiful though. The dawn came early and that road is small, bicycle sized, in an immense valley. The valley is full of contrasts from the treed hills on one side, the almost bare dry hills on the other, the tidy farms down near the river and the modern highway half way up the ridge. We made to the end and then Larson Hill faced us. From the profile, I knew that once up Larson the rest would be a fairly gentle grade. Turned out Larson wasn’t bad either. Much less steep than the grunts on Coldwater. Just a long single digit slog. Not much traffic. Not much view. No wildflowers. (Woodside later on had all sorts!)

Alex on his “no riding in dark” 600 came by on the down part of Larson. Very nicely towed me up to Doug (who descends faster than me) and then disappeared up the road. As we approached the top, we climbed into a cloud. By the time we got to the toll booths it was pretty yucky but I told Doug, no jackets we’ll climb to the summit first. It kept getting colder. We stopped for jackets before the summit. The top! We could just see the sign across the road. And then down… freezing cold, wet down. Just the 3 km to the rest area. So misty it was a bit hard to find the building but we found it and the warming room. And there were angels in a truck there. They had coffee and “bacon and eggers” and smiles. Wonderful truck vendors!! Soon after our organizers Gary and Jeff arrived. There were a lot of the people there for a time but most left before us. We pulled all our clothes out and put them on. Double hats for me. Thick gloves, full winter fleeces. The light jacket under the rain jacket. Dug A. had even more clothes. Smart man.

It was cold descending but the head wind helped. Once down the 8% top we could pedal. The coffee and food at the top was great.. no problems falling asleep. Its pretty sad isn’t it. All that uphill and then when we start going down all we want to do is fall asleep. But it was fine going down.. no ice not much wet so its was not slippery and it was full day so we could see fine. We stopped on Othello Road before the hills and took off clothes. I also dropped my saddle as my left achilles was hurting. I should have dropped it at the top of the Coq or even better in Merritt. I know I should drop the saddle the second day of Rando riding; Deirdre says its because our butts swell. If I don’t one achilles or the other complains.

We pulled into Hope while Paul, Dave and Brian were still there. It was the last we saw of them. About half-way through our too long stop, Fearon from Kamloops came to say hi. She and a friend were down to the Lower Mainland for a miniatures show. Bob K., Manfred and Alard arrived before we left.

The next section was hard on both of us. There was a headwind which was more demoralizing than actually a physical impediment. The three hills aren’t that bad. But the grey skies and being up so early was catching up with us. We dragged. We had a planned stop at the corner of Hwy 7 & 9 (where, if you turn right you go up to Harrison Hot Springs). When we got there, I could barely walk. My left leg was a mess: my achilles, my shin splints and my knee were all complaining. We sat on the sidewalk, drank Starbucks mochas, ate something and I had an Ibuprofen and stretched and massaged.

Back on the bikes. My leg was feeling better; the wind was dying, Woodside was okay and life was fine again. We weren’t exactly flying along but we were happy. I did the drag over Nicomen Island again.. not at anything like the speed I did on the way out. And up the hill to Mission and Timmy’s. We had full meals, a good 45 minute sit-down. More massage, more stretching and more ibuprofen. Alard, Manfred, Josh, Bob, Henry and Colin all came through while we were there. Henry had missed Timmy’s and had to double back.

Back on the bikes. We actually felt good now. The wind was strengthening from the back; the end was nigh. We started picking up the pace. The traffic was heavy but that just spurred us to ride harder. When one faltered the other took over. We relaxed over the Pitt River bridge taking the sidewalk and pressing the pedestrian button on the far side. We thumbed up the police running a speed check. When we reached Lougheed, Craig was taking pictures from his bike. The very last stretch and we were done. The picture at the end shows that Doug had a walk in the park… now me, I worked!

More pictures and stories here

Postscript: by Wednesday I was back on the bike with no Achilles pain or shin splints. My knee never hurt after Agassiz.