Van Isle 1200k

[Tom Russell]

Ken Knutson and I completed the Van Isle 1200k which took place
between Wednesday and Saturday of last week. That was Ken's 13th 1200k
and # 6 for me. Since we both had also done the Cascade 1240k last
month, we also received the CanAm 2400 pin, for riders who complete
both Canadian and American 1200s in the same season.
This was a very challenging ride with little flat terrain.
We had sunny, warm weather for the Van Isle ride, not too hot, with
one day of headwinds, but no rain. Didn't need those fenders after
all. The route goes from Victoria at the south end of the island, up
the east coast to the end of civilization at Campbell River. From
there we did an out-and-back to the west side of the island, to Gold
River. We returned to Campell River, then went north 250 k to Port
Hardy, then returned south to Victoria.
The high point of the ride for me was in the evening of the first
day, when we entered Strathcona Provincial Park and rode around
Campbell Lake. Next to us were the highest peaks of Vancouver Island,
right next to the road. Spectacular!
There were 23 riders in all, most of whom were from BC. These
included Bob Koen, who has ridden a SFR event. He was riding with 78
year-old Dave Gillander, who was making his 4th attempt at completing
a 1200. Dave started randonneuring when he was 70. He and Bob finished
in time, together, and were interviewed on local TV afterward.
There were six American riders, including Ken and I, and Mark and
Bill Olsen, who some of you might know.
Another rider, Jan Erik Jensen, was from Sweden, and has been
staying in BC with his family, since riding the Cascade. He was a very
strong rider.
The BC Randonneurs really turned out to support this ride. If you
are interested, results are posted on the Van Isle 1200k website. It
is interesting that they list results by finshing times. Dave Cambon
spent the four days photographing us, and his excellent pictures are
available on the Van Isle 1200k website as well. Also on his Flikr
page is a link to his account of riding a long wheel base recumbent
up the route that we took, then continuing on to the Arctic Sea,
mostly on gravel roads. Wow! Canadians are different.
Tom Russell

[Bruce Berg]

Tom,

Congratulations to both of you!  Both for completing the Van Isle 1200 and for earning the CanAm 2400 award.  I was wondering what that ride would be like and was concerned that you'd really be out on your own all night every night.  Sounds like I was not correct.  The photo's make it look like a spectacularly gorgeous ride.

 

You say there was little flat terrain.  How much climbing was there?  How cold did it get at night?

 

Bruce

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[Tom Russell]

Bruce,   We had really mild temperatures with highs in the 70's and low 80's. The lows were in the fifties, with balmy temperatures persisting  late into the night. The night riding was very comfortable. The coldest spot was coming out of Port Hardy at 2 AM.  Regarding elevation gain  for the Van Isle, the website reports 30,000 feet, or roughly the same as PBP. I put the route on Ride with GPS, and came up with 56,000 +. The second day alone had 22,000'. I have to say, I'm going with the Ride with GPS figure. It felt like 50,000'+, even if there were some bridges.   Day one had the nicest terrain. You have to clear Malahat Summit just out of Victoria, then you have a series on nice rural roads that climb over peninsulas of higher land inbetween  short flat sections along the coast, all the way  to Campbell River. After that you climb over the summit on the Gold River road. This starts out at 8% but soon moderates to 3-4%.   Day Two climbs out of Gold River with  6% climbs to summits before and after Campbell Lake, followed by the descent to Campbell River. Heading north to Port Hardy, you climb to a summit on the way to Sayward Junction, that is not steep but is very long and continuous. North of Sayward is a series of long steeper climbs, one of them almost to snow level. This was a big mountain section, with 1.5 hour climbs.   The road descends to Woss, where the bike lane ends. North of this is a section along Nimpkish Lake which rolls continuously and really slowed progress. It doesn't show up much on the profile, but  the cumulative elevation gain from this section alone must be significant. North of Port McNeil the road climbs and drops along  ridge tops, all the way to Port Hardy. This section had a good bike lane.   I averaged 16 km/h over most of the route. On day two I left Gold River two hours before closing time, and reached Woss, the 600k point, two hours before it closed. After that, I wasn't fighting the clock so much.   I finished # 9 out of 23 riders, two of which DNF'd, in 83:58. Tom --- On Tue, 7/27/10, Bruce Berg <berg...@gmail.com> wrote:

[jack holmgren]

Way to go Tom!   The Rando World now has a new hero:   Dave Gillanders!!!!!!!!!!!!    Right then....get out the old schedule and we have:   2011 - PBP   2012 - LEL   2013 - GRR   2014 - CC 1000 and VI 1200   repeat.   Jack From: Tom Russell <slrnin6...@yahoo.com> To: San Francisco Randonneurs <sfra...@googlegroups.com> Sent: Tue, July 27, 2010 2:13:11 PM Subject: [SFRandon] Van Isle 1200k

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[Ken]

Guys,
I'm finally back from Canada and heading out on my next adventure. My
son's bachelor party in Vegas! Just a few comments to build on Tom's
note. While about half the VanIsle is in wilderness areas, it isn't
desolate like many areas of GRR. The difference being that GRR has
many sections that are little used back roads. VanIsle travels on the
main road (only road) in the area. So while there is limited traffic
at night, the traffic is often patroled by local law enforcment
groups.
While the group was small, 13 of the 20 finishers were within a 5:35
hour finishing window. We were actually much closer together for 1100
km. As Tom mentioned, things are a little different in Canada.
Everyone got to Nanaimo (1097km) with over 12 hours to go. At that
point the ride became very casual. A few took a couple hour nap,
some took a long meal break, one group decide to take a "pub crawl" on
the way back and I elected to hit up 3 ice cream stops. So for the
most part we were mostly all riding within sight of each other
throughout the event.
In addition to the excellent BC Rando support, we had a very strong
personal support group. Tom's wife Bobbe, my wife Lori and Dave
Gillander's daughter Megan individually drove the course and set up
well stocked comfort stops atr each control. So from my perspective,
the event was more of a rolling party atmosphere.
The weather was about as good as it gets. The only problem was very
high headwinds on the second day (Campbell River to Port Hardy).
Unfortunately, I pulled a calf muscle on the first climb out of
Campbell River and struggled the whole second day. I'm still limping
along. Overall, I recorded 37,943 ft of climbing with my Garmin 705,
which is in alignment with what I had gotten pre-ride using map-my-
ride. I think it was the high winds that gave the preception that
ere was so much climbing to Port Hardy. The slopes weren't steep,
but with the wind it was difficult.
Since the ride is on Vancouver Island, the temperature is almost
always moderate. In comparison to California, it is like riding along
the Pacific Coast as often experienced on SF brevets. The days
aren't real hot and the nights are comfortable. The only variable
can be rain and we lucked out this time. When I did VanIsle in 2006
it rained north of Sayward Junction.
As usual, I had a great time riding with you Tom. It was a lot of
fun sharing the Can-Am challenge together!

Ken Knutson

On Jul 27, 2:50 pm, Bruce Berg <bergbr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Tom,
> Congratulations to both of you!  Both for completing the Van Isle 1200 and
> for earning the CanAm 2400 award.  I was wondering what that ride would be
> like and was concerned that you'd really be out on your own all night every
> night.  Sounds like I was not correct.  The photo's make it look like a
> spectacularly gorgeous ride.
>
> You say there was little flat terrain.  How much climbing was there?  How
> cold did it get at night?
>
> Bruce
>

> > sfrandon+u...@googlegroups.com<sfrandon%2Bunsubscribe@googlegroups.c­om>
> > .

> > For more options, visit this group at

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[Roland Bevan]

Ken & Tom - sounds like an awesome ride!  I hope to do this one year (probably won't get as lucky with the weather as you guys did this time, but still...)
I just loved this picture of Tom (by David Cambon) that was posted on one of the recumbent boards.
If that's not a great advertisement for randonneuring (and cycling in general), I don't know what is!

See you down the road...
  -Roland

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[Ken Knutson]

Roland,
When it comes to capturing the spirit of randonneuring, I love the attached one which I took during VanIsle.   The riders are Mike Fox from Iowa and Mark Olsen from Minnesota.  The location is Qualicum Beach, which was the 2nd to last control.  With over 14 hours and less than 160km to go, it was time for a nice, casual breakfast at the beach!
See you on the road.
Ken