Today was the last of my big rides for 2015. This year I did the:
- MEC Spring Ride (100 km)
- Tour de Victoria (85 km), and
- MEC Fall Century Ride (106 km)
Not bad. 🙂 I’d arranged to give a fellow named Peter a ride this morning, so it was off to pick him up before the sun came up.
We made it to Turner Valley in plenty of time to get ready. We met up with more Bow Cyclists and other cycling friends.
There was quite a turnout. I heard that MEC opened extra spots when the original numbers sold out.
I’d signed up for the 100 km distance, but basically everyone else had signed up for the 160 km distance, so I started with them and mentally was planning on going somewhere around 140 km (70 km out and back). Since I was going to have to wait for Peter to finish, I could take my time.
Well, it was an interesting experience. I started with the leaders and managed to stay within shouting distance for the first 20 km, until the turn at Longview. There, we turned into the wind, and the leaders turned up the pace, and I found myself getting left behind. I joined in with a couple more groups (before getting dropped from them, too). It was partly that I couldn’t keep the pace up, and partly that I knew all this was going on 25 or 30 km into the ride, and I didn’t want to burn myself up.
The headwind ranged from bad to horrible on the westward uphill leg. Kenny and I met up at the 50 km aid station, and we decided to go on for another 10 km or so, so that our ride would be on the order of 120 km. But I only made it 3 km past the station. The wind was easily 40 km/h and gusts were reported to 100 km/h. I decided it wasn’t worth it, so I turned around and enjoyed a massive tailwind for the next 20 km or more. I was sailing, between 40 and 50 km/h. It was fun.
So, Peter ended up riding 150 km, so I had a long wait back in Turner Valley, but that worked out well. I got a chance to eat my lasagne and rehydrate while sitting and enjoying the sun. I even ran into Gord from the City of Calgary. He was there with his two dogs (Eddie Vedder and Gnarls Barkley), waiting for his wife Joyce to finish the 100 km ride.
It was a great day, except for the wind.
Impressive turnout, beautiful Turner Valley, well done, Simon!
The tail wind sounds interesting!!I I noticed the colours are changing on the trees already! Pretty. Mom
Yes, the leaves started changing about two weeks ago. At the moment, it’s a gradual thing, but soon there will be a big “drop” and the garden will die off. Then it’s 5-6 months of “winter”. 🙂 Fall is very short in Calgary, but it’s very pretty right now.