2006 300K Drumheller, Alberta

May 6, 2006

My alarm went off at 2:50 am after a short and restless sleep. My father, Cadillac, and I loaded the car with his Catrike and Machak, and drove the 150 kms (95 miles) to be there in time for the 6:00 am start. One other rider and I had opted to take an earlier start than most of the other riders because we wanted to take advantage of as much daylight as possible. Cadillac headed to Strathmore, as soon as we were off, to start his ride.

The wind was blowing fairly strongly right at the start, from the west, but fortunately for almost the entire first 140 kms, it was a tailwind. I was cruising!! In fact, along the way I decided that I would only pedal if my speed dropped below 35 km/h (22 mph) … I didn’t pedal much. By about 10:00 am, the wind speed was 40 km/h (25 mph) with gusts up around 60 km/h (37 mph).

From Calgary to the outskirts of Drumheller (125 kms/78 miles), the ride sailed past. The terrain is slightly rolling prairies ... nothing overly inspirational except that it was nice to see hints of green everywhere. We did have a 3 km gravel detour to wake me up and slow me down a bit … I don’t like gravel! And I saw two coyotes.


As I approached Drumheller, the ride became more interesting and challenging. The road descends into a deep ravine just before Drumheller. It’s not a great road (no shoulder, lots of cracks and potholes), and halfway down the hill the wind whipped around a corner and next thing I knew I was in the middle of a whirlwind complete with blowing grass, sand, and small gravel! It was all I could do to keep the bicycle out of the cracks and potholes.
click to supersize Wildlife on the ride :)
Drumheller is known for the dinosaur remains which have been found there, and for the interesting landscape throughout the ravine … almost “Flintstones”-like. I like cycling through that area because it is so different, and I took a few photos which I will have developed when my camera is full.

The route took us on an out-and-back leg to Rosedale about 5 kms away. Going to Rosedale was fine but coming back to Drumheller gave me my first taste of what the wind was really like as I crawled along at about 14 km/h, while being battered by sand and dust. I climbed the long hill out of the Drumheller ravine and found myself on Hwy 9.

click to supersize Horseshoe Valley, Drumheller area
At the moment, Hwy 9 is NOT a good highway. It is very narrow with little to no shoulders, and very cracked and broken edges. It was extremely busy - almost bumper-to-bumper traffic - and they were doing construction on it in various places. The wind was now coming from a West-north-west direction, making it a cross between a headwind and a crosswind. I was having a lot of trouble keeping my bicycle in a straight line - the wind kept pushing me out into traffic. I had several very scary moments … one in particular involving a “Wide Load” vehicle who was roaring down the road!

I hit a really low point on the ride on Hwy 9. I could only manage about 10 km/h (6 mph) with the wind and road conditions, and I knew that a little bit later in the ride I would be faced with 100 more kilometers (60 miles) into the wind. I did some calculations and was not sure if I could make the finish in time. But then I reminded myself of something … on a long distance ride, never panic about the roads you aren’t on yet … the situation could completely change by the time you get there.


About 20 kms (12 miles) later, I turned south, and the wind had shifted to come almost directly from the north. I was able to fly a bit again, and even hit 65 km/h (40 mph) coming down one of the hills. But this stretch of road had a lot of hills … nothing really huge, just one after another after another … and despite the wind behind, which was starting to die, I was very tired.
click to supersize Town of Rosebud

I dragged myself into Standard and had a chicken sandwich which really hit the spot! I left Standard with renewed energy and not long after Standard, I was on the TransCanada Highway heading west … starting the 100 kms (60 miles) I had been dreading. Yet, when I reached that road, the wind shifted slightly to come from the northeast, and I was able to motor along to Strathmore (35 kms), and 20 kms beyond!

When I got to Strathmore, my father was there and told me that he had inadvertently almost completed a century. After I continued on my way, he did the remaining miles to reach a 100 mile century, and then he leap-frogged me in the car back to Calgary.

With about 45 kms to go, I turned north, into the wind which was getting stronger again, and then at the 30 kms to go point, I turned west again, hoping for more of the northeast wind, but I was disappointed. It was back to northwest again and it got windier as I got close to Calgary … and I was down to a 15 km/h crawl.

Last year on this section several large dogs terrified me. This time I climbed a hill and remembered the area … it is permanently filed away in the “scary places” section of my brain! But this time, the dogs were penned! They growled and barked at me as I went by, but they couldn’t get to me!! I even stopped near them and drank a can of Ensure, while watching them watch me. :)

Despite the fact that I couldn’t get any speed up, I still enjoyed this section of road … there wasn’t much traffic, it was still daylight (whereas last year it was pitch black), I could see some incredible views of Calgary and the mountains, and there were fields full of cute little calves and lambs.

I pulled into the Calgary starting point after 15 hours and 6 minutes of riding!! Personal Best!!

My previous best time on a 300K was 16:40.








NOTE: The photos on this page were acquired from various tourist information or town sites. It wasn't quite as green as some of these photos show, but was still beautiful! I plan to add my own when I get them developed.