Although there were two 200K brevets on the schedule for Red Deer, unfortunately we had to cancel the April 21st brevet because of snow. I guess slogging through about 8 inches of heavy wet snow didn't appeal to anyone. So the May 5th 200K was our first one for the season. As it was, it had been raining overnight and was just clearing up before the ride was to begin.

When I arrived at Tim Hortons, so did one other cyclist ... a guy from Sylvan Lake (Mike). We set off at 8 am, and the first bit of the route was fine with practically no wind and lots of long gradual climbs and decents.

And then, when we headed west from Bentley, that's when the wind started up. Heading west from Bentley also means lots of hills because we cycle through the beautiful Medicine Hills. I was being blown all over the place by the gusts, all while slowly climbing a hill. That is my least favorite cycling situation to be in!!!!

I had a bad crash a month earlier, and my shoulder was quite sore by the time I got to Eckville, so I took some ibuprofen and it settled right down. But the wind continued ... not the hills so much, just a very annoying wind. The crosswinds would blow half a field into my face, and nearly knock me into the opposite field! I must have inhaled most of Central Alberta's farmlands. But I've experienced worse (The Last Chance springs to mind, and about a good portion of my rides in Manitoba) ... and we were only into it for about 100 kms in total.

When we got to Rocky Mountain House everything changed ... the temperature reached a nice warm 15 degrees, the sun was shining, and we had a GREAT tailwind all the way back. All along the way to Rocky Mountain House, we had been squeaking into the controls with minutes to spare, but in the 80 kms after Rocky we made up about 2 hours!! We were flying!!

We rolled across the finish line in about 11.5 hours. Not my fastest 200K, but decent.