Today was a great day. Yes, I am in pain right now, but overall I am very happy. I rode in the 140 km “Epic” distance of the Tour de Victoria, after doing the 90 km “Legend” distance last year. 140 km is the longest ride I have ever tried, but I was confident, after having a couple of strong finishes at 100 km in my MEC rides this year.
The alarm went off at 5:00 this morning, so that I could eat some breakfast before leaving for the ride. There wasn’t too much grumbling, surprisingly. We were at the parliament buildings by 6:15, and had time to take a picture.
There were about 800 riders starting the 140 at 7:00 am. Can you spot me in the crowd?
Hint: I am looking at the camera, waving.
It took 5 hours and 45 minutes to finish, inside the window of 5-6 hours that I estimated.
- We tried to organize a cheering section for when I went through Langford, but that didn’t work out.
- There was a lot of wind today. The worst was either the crosswind on the way down Metchosin Road into the gravel pit, or the headwind I had to fight from Cadboro Bay all the way to the cruise ship docks.
- I didn’t do as well against my peers this year, as expected. I moved up from the “B” group doing the mid distance to the “A” Group doing the full distance. Results are here. My bib number was forty six.
It wasn’t easy, but I worked through the photos that were taken by professional photographers along the course. They weren’t indexed by bib number, so it was a matter of being patient and searching manually. In the end it was worth it. I found four of me, and one of them was so good I felt I had to get it. I paid $24.95 plus tax, but I think it’s cool.
Here is where the picture was taken.
The other three photos:
Congratulations, well done I would have made maybe 1 kilometre, Ha Ha !!!