The plan was to drive out to Vancouver Island, where I had never been before, but had wanted to visit for some time, to ride 1500 kms in a week, distributed over the 4 brevets (200K, 300K, 400K, and 600K) on the VanIsle Hell Week. But we all know about best laid plans!

My father and I left right after work on Thursday evening, drove straight through to Vancouver, crossed to Nanaimo on the ferry, and drove down to Chemainus where the rides for the week would start. I thought the island was beautiful!

We set up in the motel, and got our bicycles ready to ride. Then we drove around the town and visited the start/finish area to have supper at the Dancing Bean. Nice place, itty-bitty meals. It was OK with me because I'm rarely hungry before a ride, but my father could have used more. We also chatted with various ones about the events we had been on and about this event. That's one of the things I like about these events ... the social aspect. :)

Saturday, April 7, 2007

After a good night's sleep, about 50 cyclists gathered inside and outside the Dancing Bean at 6 am, getting ready for our 7 am departure. It wasn't raining when we gathered, so that was promising, although we were promised that it would rain eventually. The sky was growing light as we started the 200K together, the beginning of Hell Week!

The ride started at a relatively brisk pace, and I was enjoying myself. I rarely get the chance to ride with other people, and the scenery on Vancouver Island is gorgeous. For the first 10 or 15 kms, a group of us rode together, and then the route became more hilly, and we began to spread out. Unfortuately at this point, my father, who had been riding well, began to drop back. I continued on with several other riders.

It was nice to ride and chat. One of the other riders, who lived there, acted as tour guide, telling me about various features of Vancouver Island, particularly of the area we were cycling through. Very interesting. I was also surprising myself by sailing up 15% grade hills without much effort at all. There's something to be said for good gearing!

A comment on the traffic ... the drivers were great! No problems at all. In fact, as we were riding along side-by-side at one point, a truck pulled up along side us. I thought we were in for some trouble, but the driver rolled down the window and asked us about the event. I told him what was going on, and he drove off with, "Have a great ride!" :)

For some reason, I have no recollection of the first control. I must have been doing fine, and able to get whatever I happened to need there. At some point after the first control, the rain began ... just a light drizzle ... nothing much to worry about. Or so I thought. Also at some point after the first control, I started riding predominantly alone.

I rode into the second control, at the 100 km point, by myself. It was located at a small country store where I was able to purchase one of my favorite cycling foods ... salted almonds. And it was a "manned control" which surprised me. In my brevet experience, with the exception of my father who mans some of the controls on the local brevets, it's rare to find volunteers on a 200K. I chatted with them a bit, and then rode out with a couple who were on their first brevet, I believe ... or at least one was on his or her first brevet.

We rode along chatting about brevets for a while, then rounded a corner and came to the top of a steep descent into Duncan, located south of Chemainus. It looked like farm or construction equipment had recently been driving up and down the hill. Then the light drizzle raised the dirt they had left behind. The hill was covered in whitish mud.

I eased my way down, trying to pick my way back and forth across the road to where the grade was less steep, and there was less muck. But the last 100 metres or so was straight down, and it was slippery ... I could feel myself skidding a bit. There was a 4-way stop at the bottom of the hill. The couple riding with me shot through the 4-way stop, and I was about to do the same when vehicles pulled up from all directions. I had to make a sudden decision ... do I blow through the stop, and hope that the vehicles all saw me and would stop, or do I assume that they haven't seen me and may hit me. I assumed they might not have seen me, and hit the brakes.

I only remember bits and pieces of what happened next. I remember seeing my front wheel turned back toward me, and thinking, "That's not good!" I remember falling to my left and landing on my left hip. My next thought was, "That's all right, I'm going to be OK" ... followed quickly by "MY HEAD IS GOING TOO FAST!" I tensed up, but then there was a loud crack and everything went white.

My vision cleared and I tried to sit up ... but immediately had to lie back down again as everything went white again. I was able to sort of sit up on the second try. Meanwhile, two of the vehicles pulled up on the road beside me, and the occupants rushed over to me. The first question the man asked me was what hurt. "MY LEGS!" was my response. Both my legs ... from the hips down ... were screaming in pain. "Do you think you've broken your legs?" asked the man. I didn't know what broken legs would feel like, but I moved my feet and the pain didn't get any worse, so I said I didn't think so.

The man and woman carried Machak (who was on top of me) off the road, and while I was sitting there, I noticed that my almonds, the ones I had just purchased, were all over the road. I felt terribly disappointed about that!

The man and woman helped me off the road, and I sat on the gate of the man's truck feeling rather nauseated. My legs hurt, but I figured they were just badly bruised and scraped. I had a headache just before the crash, but it was gone. That was good.

While I was sitting there collecting myself, the man suggested I check my helmet. It was cracked through. He told me he didn't think I was getting up from that crash, apparently it was quite spectacular! Both he and the woman kept suggesting I go to the hospital, but I didn't want to go. If I went to the hospital, my ride would be over! I was sure they'd never let me keep going.

I walked up and down the road a bit, took several deep breaths, checked Machak over to make sure he would still roll (I had to bang the brake levers back into position), and then decided to keep going. I figured I had a few hours of adrenalin to work with before any real pain would set in. The man drove behind me for a ways to make sure I'd be OK, and wouldn't fall over right away, and then he went on his way.

I couldn't ride up the first hill I came to, just up the road. I was still pretty shakey and just didn't have the strength, so I walked it. And after that, I rode very easy for a while.

I had called my father and he guessed that he was about 20 kms up the road from me, waiting with the van. It was actually more like 30 kms. I stopped at the A&W where he was parked, and went across the road to a pharmacy where I bought some bandages. Both legs were giving me quite a bit of trouble, and I thought maybe if I bandaged them up a bit, it would help. I sat outside the A&W and did the job.

Both legs were scraped from my knees to my ankles, my right knee had a hole in it, and my left knee was ripped apart. But I didn't take any painkillers. I figured if something suddenly started hurting a lot more than it already was, I'd take that as a hint I should maybe consider calling the ride quits.

I continued on my way to the control where I chatted briefly with Ken Bonner who was manning that control. I also stopped in at the outhouse and had a look at my left hip. A bruise from the top of the hip almost to the knee. Well, that might be why my hip was giving me trouble.

Thankfully the rest of the ride was relatively flat ... manageable. I wasn't moving at any great speed, but I was plodding along relatively comfortably above the minimum speed. As I approached the end, I even stopped to take a photograph of the wooden bridge we had crossed on the way out.

I rolled across the finish line in about 12 hours, and received my little pin.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

The 300K brevet started early in the morning, but I was sleeping. I had planned to ride it, but after the accident halfway through my 200K, I thought it would be best if I skipped the ride. I heard later it was a deluge!

I spent the day resting and cleaning my bicycle. Poor Machak was covered in white mud.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Shored up with bandages and painkillers, I presented myself at the start of the 400K. I didn't feel too bad, so I was going to make an attempt.

There were fewer riders out for the 400K than were there for the 200K, and it wasn't long before they all dropped me. I was plodding! I just could not get any sort of speed up. But some ways into the ride I began leapfrogging Mitch, and a little further we started riding together.

We stopped at a convenience store along the way ... not a control, but sometimes it is necessary to stop elsewhere as well. We rode along the ocean for a while, and that was beautiful. I stopped very briefly to take a couple photos, but I couldn't stay long as I was struggling to keep up any kind of pace at all.

Our first control was an Information Control out in the middle of nowhere. Information Controls are used where there aren't convenient stores, restaurants, etc., and usually involve asking a question on the brevet card which the riders have to answer based on something we see in the area, to prove we were there.

Our second control was also an Information Control, but was near toilet facilities and a place where we could get a bit of food. I was starting to feel some pain, so I topped up the painkillers. My father was at this control to check up on how we were doing.

Up till then, the weather was nice, the scenery was beautiful, and the roads were good. After that point, the wind started to pick up, and it rained a bit, and we started riding on one of the main highways which was a little scary at times. This stretch seemed very, very long, and it was a great relief to see the Tim Horton's, the next control, come into sight. Donuts, especially those sold at Tim Horton's, are fabulous sources of energy for cyclists!!

My father was also at this control, as was another cyclist who had decided to DNF.

We continued on back to Chemainus where Mitch changed into warmer clothing. I would have liked to do the same thing, but did not have the keys to my room. However, I did have some clothing in my bag so I put it on. The temperature was starting to drop.

We had been on the road again for maybe an hour, and the sun had just set, when I suddenly flatted. By the time we were finished changing my flat, it was pitch dark ... and the worst part of the ride began.

It was dark, we were climbing, it was chilly, the road was rough chipcrete, and there was a headwind. We were managing 9 km/h. That was all!! And I was in pain. I couldn't even describe exactly where I hurt, I just hurt, badly, all over. We slogged on and on and on and on .......

And finally, just when I had about had enough, we arrived at the next town. We had a bit of difficulty finding the control. We had come into this town on the 200K too, but from a different direction. My sense of direction was all turned around. After riding around in circles a little while, we located the gas station, and my father's van. This control was 258 kms into the ride.

I was done. I tried to see myself continuing, but it was freezing out there, and I hurt so much. I could not get up the enthusiasm to go on. Mitch decided to pack it in there too, and my father returned us to Chemainus in the van.

For me, Hell Week was over. I had hoped for a different outcome, but I guess when you crash on the first day ....... I found out later that my crash resulted in a concussion, a separated shoulder and some badly pulled muscles in my shoulder area, as well as a deeply bruised left hip, in addition to my other scrapes and bruises. No wonder I couldn't pinpoint one pain spot ... they were all over!

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

We toured the area (by van) a bit, and went up to where the 400K route passed along-side the ocean. Then we packed things up.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Homeward bound! At least we got a break from all the snow!!