|
The next leg of the journey traveled through the big valley next to Big Valley, another Red Deer
River crossing. I've driven this route, but have never cycled it, and I forgot one thing . at the
bottom of the 9% grade decent is a one-lane wooden bridge!! That made for a hair-raising moment or
two! The climb out of the valley was quite something too. I just about kept pace with a heavily
loaded semi who was crawling up the hill with his 4-way flashers on. I nearly blew a gasket on that
climb . I was way overdressed so I was overheating badly, and I was absolutely covered in
mosquitoes, which had me flailing around trying to get them off.
Mosquitoes continued to be a problem for the rest of the ride, and I rode with my base layer zipped
to my throat, and my entire body liberally coated in OFF. Still, I was surrounded by a cloud of
them for most of the ride.
This valley, and the next two on the route, are all very similar to the Drumheller area. If you
aren't familiar with Drumheller, think dinosaurs and Flintstones. Dry Island Buffalo Jump is in the
same area. http://raysweb.net/dryisland/ It's fascinating and quite beautiful. You almost expect to
see a pterodactyl fly over or a triceratops to come round a corner.
I wanted to make a longer stop at my next control but a group of loud, bored teenagers, boasting
about smoking joints, parked themselves on a picnic table near me and my bicycle, so I decided it
was time to move on. As I left the town, I heard something behind me. I glanced back and
discovered I was being followed by a cyclist! A cyclist ... way out in the middle of nowhere!!
Another big valley with a stiff climb out, another barren southward stretch of road into a headwind,
and the third big valley. I was now getting very tired of the big climbs, but thankfully they were
finished. There were, however, many, many, many smaller climbs to come.
Darkness fell in Three Hills, and my father and I got ready to head into the night. He had arrived
in his van shortly before Three Hills and would drive near me, leap-frog me, for the rest of the
night. He and I both feel uncomfortable with me cycling alone at night. You just never know.
I have to say that while I am rethinking much of the route because of the quantity of hills, wind,
and rough roads, I actually enjoyed the night portion of the route. The road was very good, with
almost no traffic. It also seemed quite bright out there . I had a good moon, and the quantity of
farms and oil derricks provided areas of light here and there.
I was worried about the dog situation because it seems that Albertans tend to let their dogs
(usually border collies who want to herd me) out at night, but I had only one dog encounter . a very
friendly, yet large, German Shepherd pup. It wasn't aggressive, it just wanted to play. My father
distracted it with a hamburger and I made my get-away. While playing with the pup, we could hear
coyotes howling in the distance . and so could the pup. If you've never heard coyotes howling, it
almost sounds a bit like laughter.
I was actually able to make some time after dark because I was heading north, and finally had a
tailwind. It was a great relief after all the head and crosswinds I had dealt with during the day.
I got into my 7th control at the 400 km point (home) at 4:30 am after cycling for 23.5 hours.
Unfortunately the first thing I was faced with was the news that some moron had smashed the
windshield of my car with a baseball bat about 45 minutes earlier. GRRRRRRRR!! While I was getting
things ready for the next leg of my journey, my parents were talking to the police. Not the most
relaxing break I've had on a 600K. Nevertheless, I did get a couple hours sleep.
7:30 am I was on the road again for the last 200K of the ride. I had forgotten how hilly this
section was. In fact, I thought it was basically flat. I was wrong!! I don't know how Alberta
manages it, but they've got hills here that just make you want to curl up in a ball and die.
The hill starts gradually, and up ahead, you see the road get steeper ... and then there's the
crest. So you cycle up the gradual part, put a bit more effort in to get over the steeper part,
fully expecting a downhill, but as soon as you can see over the crest, you see that the hill
continues with a gradual part at first and with a steep bit in the distance. OK fine. So you top
that crest to see ... the hill continues with a gradual part with a steep bit in the distance.
This goes on and on and on ... at the top of every crest you think, there's got to be a downhill!
But there isn't!! Once in a while there might be a downhill, but it is a mere dip in the road ...
and then the uphills continue again.
The wind was still from the south, and of course, the first 40 kms of this final 200K loop was
south, after that it was a crosswind. The roads in this final 200K loop were also predominantly
chipcrete, slowing me down all the more. I could not seem to gain any time, and was crawling into
the controls with only about half an hour to spare.
What was interesting, and a bit sad to see, were all the broken branches from the trees. We had a
storm come through here in the middle of the week before this brevet that dumped nearly a foot of
heavy, wet snow. It melted fairly quickly, thankfully, but left a lot of damage.
As the day was heating up I arrived in Dickson, a tiny Danish village restored to look much like it
did back in about 1930. It's a cute little place, and I want to go back there again to spend more
time.
Unfortunately, not long after Dickson, just as I was starting to make some time because I had a bit
of a tailwind, I flatted. There is so much debris on the roads . too many people throwing beer
bottles out of their vehicles!! I took quite a while changing the tire . it was my first real break
in the 100 kms since I left my sleep control. However, I was now pushing the time limit!! And to
make matters worse, the wind switched and grew stronger while I was changing my tire. I had a
headwind again.
I had to work to get to the next two controls . my poor aching quads were faced with even more
climbing including the Medicine Hills, a series of three good-sized climbs through some pretty
scenery. Thankfully, the wind gradually shifted ever so slightly to become a crosswind, but just a
bit from behind.
From Bentley, home of Bentley Cycle and Trading Post http://www.freewebs.com/bentleycycle/ a bicycle
shop with very interesting array of rather unusual bicycle choices, all the way to Lacombe, I had a
tailwind!! I pushed it, even though my quads were protesting, and was finally able to make up some
time!!
I had some extra motivation though . right from the time I was changing the flat, the clouds were
gathering in the west. When I got to the Medicine Hills, they had collected themselves and were
producing quite a bit of rain off to the south, combined with flashes of lightening. As I rode out
of Bentley, I started to hear the thunder. I was really hoping to be able to out run the storm, but
as I reached Lacombe . the rain began. By Blackfalds it was pouring and I couldn't help but notice
the occasional brilliant flash.
Totally soaked and very tired, I rolled into the finish area at 39 hours and 30 minutes.
For whatever it's worth, I mapped the route on Bikely and the total ascent on this route was about
9460 ft. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but it is probably ball-park.
A big "thank you" to my father who supported me on a good portion of the ride.
And I have to say that I felt the best I've ever felt on a 600K, with the exception of my quads.
I'm not sure what made the difference, but whatever it was, I'm pleased!
| 
