Epic Ride MMXI

A report from the desk of Bruce...

Some points of interest on our weekend ride. 

Put myself to bed at 7:00 pm, tossed and turned until 9:10, got up at 9:30 refreshed.  I made a pot of coffee and pumped up my tires once more.

At 9:25 I left the house because I told anyone that would listen to meet me at the corner of Viterra if they wanted to join me on a one-lapper of Rosetown.  The purpose of this was to make sure we’d have 300 km when we get to Rennie (Red Rock Bible Camp).

Once I settled onto my bike I looked down the road to see a blinking light on hwy 30.  YAHOO!, I’m  not the only one!!  As I drive up the look that I get is one of “why are we doing this?”

Curt Toews and myself quickly find ourselves fighting a ‘very short’ headwind to Rosetown. It stayed somewhat dusk-like until 11:00pm!

At 11:45 we’re at the bike shop making coffee soon to welcome Albert, Curt Falk and Chaz.  Our enthusiasm for the ride is evident in the chatter.  You’d think we were women!

It was probably 12:20 before we all left and all loose ends were tied up.  Curt took TP along so he could procrastinate.

Our first several hours were spent admiring the starry sky, jabbering on about every subject under the moon, being chased by an invisible dog, peeing lots, eating more.

We arrived in Steinbach at 5:45.  Experiencing the dusk-till-dawn ride is, what I have discovered, not a goal on many people’s list.  But I must say is will be a highlight in my book! 

We breakfasted at Tim’s.  Ok, Tim’s has good coffee, but you have to order the XXL .

Chaz took a lot of pictures.  So we’ll have to get him to send them. 

Mike K met us in Steinbach.  Chaz had a wedding to attend and Albert’s leg was bugging him to they biked back to Morris where Albert’s truck was waiting.

The rest of us left in a blaze of rubber and spandex at 7:30.

Our pace was unbearable for me as we tried to allow Mike to get his legs warmed up.  After 50K, I packed it in and said I like to ride on my own!

It was a day of force feeding and lots of water.  It is amazing feeling to be able to push my body that far. 

300.98 kms, 15 hours, 12 in the saddle, averaged 25.4 km.  This was about an hour behind the other guys.

The fatigue in my legs was easily forgotten when I settled into the hottub!  YEAHH!

From Chaz,

After Albert and I left the Hard Core Red Rock group, we headed back west on the 52 to buck the head wind that had made the night ride so relaxed!  Before we had even left Steinbach, my tire demons returned to plague us.  2 CO2 cartriges, lots of tube patches and finally a full tire and tube swap later... and we were off.  We had a good push against wind and worked our way to St. Agathe.  There we were able to enjoy the strong North wind pushing us on the final stretch to Morris.  All was well until 13k from Morris when a rock killed the last of our inner tubes and I was left to walk while Albert continued biking to pick up his truck in Morris.  In the end our average speed was just over 26 km/h.

Good times!