MEC Fall Ride, Potluck Dinner

Sometimes you underestimate your own capacity for punishment. I survived, but only just. 🙂

Yesterday was the Mountain Equipment Co-op Fall Ride. I did the Spring Ride in June this year, and had a good time. So I signed up for the Fall Ride, which featured three different distances: 60 km, 100 km and 140 km. I was tempted by the 140 (it was going further into the Rockies, and I’m sure the scenery would have been awesome), but I remembered the last 10 km of the Spring Ride and how tired and sore I was, so I signed up for 100 km again.

The ride started at 9 am, so I was up before 6:00 and out the door to pick up Jessica by 7:10. Jessica is one of the several riders from the Bow Cyclists who were taking part. We did our best to set up carpooling this time around, since it was an hour’s drive to the start in Turner Valley. It was cool first thing in the morning: 6 degrees. The day promised to be nice, though. There was a bigger turnout this time, judging by the crowd.

The ride was amazing. It was well-organized, and the route was safe and fun. The sun did shine on us, but it never got hot enough that I took off my wind vest. The highlight was getting in a large group at about the 35 km mark: I had been riding on my own since the first aid station at 30 km, and was starting to get a bit lonely, when a large group caught up to me and invited me to join. It was about 15 riders all in single file and they were moving. Before they caught me, I was doing about 25 km/h, and the group was rocketing along at about 33 km/h. I got to the 50 km turnaround in record time! Too bad they were doing the 140 km distance, and I was turning back. The lowlight was “bonking” on the hill just outside of Longview. I had been riding with a couple of guys my age or older (Tom and David) and making good time, but when we hit the climb out of Longview at the 80 km mark, my legs gave out and I struggled up the hill. It took until the long downhill into Black Diamond for my legs to feel like they weren’t made of cooked pasta.

Even when I was done and had had some food, there was no rest for the wicked, because we were invited to a potluck dinner at Steven and Krisztina’s house that evening. I was home by 3:00, and rested and washed for a bit before we were on our way again. Their house is in the deep south-east of Calgary. When we were invited and I got the address, I joked to Steven that it was so far south we might see penguins…  🙂

It was a good time. There were a lot of guests (friends and family) and lots of kids from infant to about three years. There was one girl (Simone) who was almost ten. There was a real “flavour” to it: most of the guests were Hungarian (i.e. Krisztina) or married to, so the main dish was goulash and there were lots of interesting spices and baked yummies.

I managed to survive, despite being pretty darn tired and sore. I feel much better this morning. Not enough to consider going for the Sunday ride with the Bow Cyclists, but better.