Vermillion 400 Saturday May 25
Peter
Willi Fast
Hello All:
Although somewhat late, here is my ride report from the Blue Ridge 300 two
weekends ago. It was memorable.
The Blue Ridge 300, the second brevet in the 2013 Super Series, was scheduled for Saturday May 4. The weather forecast all week had promised warm and sunny conditions, and for once the prognosticators were bang on. They did not disappoint!
Another bonus was that a number of riders had expressed interest in this brevet, and we ended up with a group of six: myself, long time Randonneur Jeff Shmoorkoff, my good friend and fellow Paris-Brest ancien Wim Kok from Fort St. John, and three randonneuring rookies: Steph Neufeld, Courtney Parker, and Jennifer Peterson.
We gathered at the start, the Esso station at Beach Corner west of Stony Plain. It was dark, and cold (+1 degree C), and I was surprised to see our three new riders wearing shorts and minimal tops. At least one showed up without a light, and Jeff gerry-rigged an extra for her.
After some delay, we departed at 05:15, west bound on Highway 16A. We were on wide shoulders on a 4-lane highway with little traffic (due to the early hour). We rode easily and steadily off the bat, and soon heard a call from behind that Jeff had forgotten something in his car. He turned around, and we kept going, confident that he was strong enough to catch back up. Not much later, another call from behind – someone’s light had fallen off! An inauspicious start.
We quickly reached Highway 16, and then soon afterward turned north on Highway 43, the highway to Whitecourt. Riding was easy, but cold, and Jeff caught back up to us on this stretch. We turned west before Onoway, then had a very nice quiet early morning ride around the eastern shore of Lac St Anne (still frozen over !), through Alberta Beach, to Gunn, the first Control (06:30, 35 km). We got cards signed at the gas station in Gunn, I grabbed a chocolate milk and a banana, and we quickly resumed pedaling.
A short stretch back east on Highway 16, and then we turned north on Highway 33 for the long stretch to Barrhead. We rode two-up on most of this stretch, changing leads from time to time. The group proved very compatible in terms of riding pace, and it was enjoyable to ride with others in a tight pack, confident in their abilities to do so safely. It was still cold, and by the time we got to Barrhead, the second Control (08:13, 80 km), all of the girls were VERY cold and shivering, with numb feet and hands. They couldn’t feel anything. The sun was trying to warm things up, but ever so slowly. After getting cards signed at Fas Gas, I enjoyed chocolate milk and a sandwich, while the girls huddled inside trying to get warm.
With some prompting, we got the show back on the road, and continued northwest on Highway 33 towards Fort Assiniboine. We started to feel some wind from the northwest on this stretch, and turned our group into a single pace line. The girls took more than their share of turns on the front, proving themselves to be very strong riders. The stretch to Fort Assiniboine was very picturesque, typical boreal scenes of aspen and spruce, nicely rolling roads, very little traffic. Wim and I both commented on the beauty of the landscape.
On reaching the Fort Assiniboine Control (10:00, 120 km), we were ready for a break, and convened to the rotating pedestal picnic table behind the Fas Gas for food and rest. It was getting warmer, slowly, and the girls looked to be getting more comfortable. After bathroom breaks and pictures, we pushed on again for the long stretch to Blue Ridge.
We climbed a short stretch out of the Athabasca River valley from Fort Assiniboine, and after a short while, I heard a call from behind about a flat. Jenn had flatted, in the back (of course), so we all stopped to help her change out the tube for a new one. Back on the road soon enough, and we then turned southwest for the remainder of the route to Blue Ridge.
On this stretch, the wind started to pick up, not in our favour, and we had to dig deep to keep up the pace we had set for ourselves. Jeff moved to the front for a particularly long pull, having quietly set a goal for himself to pull at the front all the way to the 160 km mark. Unbeknownst to us, he pushed on towards his goal, the rest of us benefitting from his work, until he finally threw up his hands and yelled; “Yes – the Century mark!” We had now ridden 100 miles, with Jeff pulling the last 10 or so km.’s. Thank you Jeff! Steph and Courtney now moved to the front and did the lion’s share of pulling while the rest of us held on. On the few uphill stretches, they pulled away from the group, but we caught them again on ensuing flatter stretches. At one point, we all stopped to remove clothing because it was now getting hot. Off came tights, jackets and booties (for those who had them on), revealed were shorts and halter tops or short sleeved jerseys. More comfortable now, we continued into the wind, finally crossed the Athabasca River again, and climbed the last portion into Blue Ridge (13:01, 188 km)
This had been a long, hard stretch, and we decided, on Jeff’s advice, to stop at the Blue Ridge diner for soup and mashed potatoes. Both hit the spot and would serve as fuel for the rest of the journey. While the rest of us ate inside, Jeff changed a tube outside because of a slow leak he had developed. We enjoyed the food, and Steph’s stories of working at the Blue Ridge sawmill as a student prankster.
We now faced a long stretch back on Highway 43, the busy highway from Whitecourt to Edmonton. We had been hoping that our new direction to the south and east would favour us with a tail wind, and when we turned onto 43, we were not disappointed. We were able to ride two-up on the wide shoulder, and with the aid of the wind, were cruising at 35+ km/hr with little effort. We all had smiles on our faces, and everyone was talking about how this day was turning into something special. To keep us grounded in reality, fate threw a flat tire my way. I got that tell-tale squishy feeling in the back, and sure enough, my back tire was losing air quickly. The group was kind enough to stop and wait while I changed the tire. We then got back to riding, the cool train trestle at Rochefort Bridge came and went, and it seemed that we had reached the Control in Sangudo in very good time (15:10, 226 km).
By now, it was very hot, exposed skin was starting to turn pink, then red, and Jeff came out of the Sangudo Control with a big Mr Freeze – a rarity for an early season brevet in northern Alberta! We had a short break on the gas station porch, and then were off again.
We had another stretch on 43, still with favourable winds, and eventually turned south towards Darwell. Another nice road along here took us to the penultimate Control (17:09, 263 km). The gas station in Darwell was very busy. I headed straight for the bathroom to take care of some urgently required business, while others stocked up and got cards signed. Jenn and Courtney discovered that you cannot always trust local tap water sources for drinking (blech !!) and resorted to bottled water. We had a short sit down, where I took another sandwich in the sun.
The next stretch back to Alberta Beach was on a nice quiet back road, very enjoyable riding with a good tail wind – beauty. After Alberta Beach (where we discussed the site of annual pilgrimages to Lac St Anne for supposed healing powers of the lake water), we had another short shot straight east, and then back on 43 for a stretch to the south. Here, we met Jenn’s husband, who was sitting on his tail gate in the ditch, waiting to take photos of our small peloton as we flew by.
Once we reached Highway 16, we were almost there, and while the rest of the group pushed hard up one of the final hills, I pulled up and waited to ride the finish with Wim. We all re-grouped shortly before the finish, to complete the brevet together at 18:30, for a final time of 13 hours and 30 minutes.
In hindsight, it seems this was one of my easiest 300’s. Good strong riders to share the work, and great riding conditions and weather made for a memorable brevet. I hope the trend continues for the upcoming Stettler 400 (May 25th) and Edmonton-Calgary-Edmonton 600 (June 15th).
Thanks to everyone who rode with me, to Wim for coming all the way from Fort St John (yet again !), and to Joel for organizing!
--
Willi Fast, MSc RPF
Senior Partner
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