When my father and I set off in the morning, the wind was blowing stronger than I would have liked at that hour of the morning. Usually mornings are calm. And it was south-east so it was against us. Still, it wasn't too bad and if it hadn't been for all the hills, we would have kept up a reasonable pace.

My 300K is designed so that it is quite hilly - lots of climbing, and several of the hills are quite steep - for the first 120 kms or so, and then the intensity of the hills eases off. There are still hills all the way through the ride, but later in the ride they are generally more gradual, often the type that go on for several kilometers at a low grade. So it is not unusual to arrive at the first few controls with just a narrow margin before the cutoff time, but later in the ride, the time can be made up ... usually.

My father and I rode along fairly well to just before Delbourne, our first control, and then we were into a headwind. The speed dropped and we fought our way into town. Still we arrived with 36 minutes to spare before the cutoff so that wasn't too bad. It was 10 kms more south before we were to turn west, and those had to be the slowest 10 kms of the entire ride. Not only was there one tall, steep hill to climb, and several smaller ones, but we were right into a strong south wind. We considered ourselves fortunate if we could get up to 12 or 14 km/h ... pedalling on the downhills.

The turn west was a welcome relief and we made it to the next control, the Ghostpine store, with 28 minutes to spare. The Ghostpine store is in a big barn-like structure out in the middle of nowhere, which mainly services the campers at Pine Lake, and by Pine Lake was where I was headed next.

My father was heading back into Red Deer because he intended to do only a portion of this ride, and I was continuing on. He ended up doing 128 kms in total ... not bad for the week after doing a 200K.

Off I went, south down the Pine Lake road ... up the steep hills, and into the wind. I was really pushing the pace because I wanted to make up some time. I figured that when I hit the road going west into Innisfail, 10 kms later, the wind wouldn't be so much of an issue and I'd be able to rest from my efforts up the Pine Lake road. So I was reaching whopping speeds of 16 km/h (when I was pedalling downhill) on this stretch of road!!

Just before I reached the road to Innisfail, I noticed something. The wind had changed ... it was now coming from the west. My heart sank ... there would be no rest period. And I heard from my father later that by the time he left the Ghostpine store, where he was taking a bit of a break, the wind was from the west, and he rode into it for about 30 kms to Penhold.

So instead of having it relatively easy on the 32 kms to Innisfail, I slogged into the wind while climbing more hills. And now I really had to push the pace or I wouldn't make Innisfail in time. My legs burned, like they do when I'm doing a weights workout. My knees and ankles started sending signals that they didn't like the effort I was putting in. And I was very tempted to stop, curl up in a ball in the ditch, and call home. But I kept pushing and arrived at Innisfail with 13 minutes to spare.

I grabbed a coke, drank about 1/3 of it, and continued riding. There was no time for a break ... I was still heading west, into the wind, and would be for 75 kms more.

I like the new portion of the route which I incorporated this year. The old route took riders onto a fairly main highway with little to no shoulder, and last year when we rode it, part of the lane was breaking off and falling away, making it very narrow. With the high traffic, it also made it rather frightening. This year I sent riders (well, me) onto a side road which has very little traffic, more trees, and more scenery ... including the Dickson Dam. There is a bit more climbing on the side road, but I think that's better than taking our lives into our hands.

The trees provided occasional relief from the wind, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. And there were two short sections heading north in here which were brief, but very welcome, reliefs. My legs were still burning, and my knees and ankles were still in pain. I was also starting to notice some odd hip pains coming out to join the fun. And then I was in Spruce View with 20 minutes to spare! I bought a bottle of water to refill my bottles, and a bag of chips of which I managed to eat half, and then took off as quick as I could. The flags were still straight out, and everyone going into the store was making comments about how nasty that wind was. I knew intimately how nasty it was.

For about 5 kms out of Spruce View the road isn't great, and then all of sudden there's a good shoulder and the scenery changes to be slightly more ... foothills, or pre-mountains ... with bigger hills, although the road didn't necessarily go up and over them, more pine forests, and of course the view of the mountains not too far away. It's a pretty area, and on I slogged through it against the wind.

Just before Caroline, I saw an older gentleman on a bicycle wearing a reflective vest and a cowboy hat. I caught up to him and said "hi", and sailed past down the hill into Caroline. I think he called after me asking where I was going, but I had actually picked up some speed just then, finally, and had to reach the Caroline control. I arrived with 13 minutes to spare, stopped in the parking lot of a church to call my parents and let them know where I was, tried to eat some of my potato chips and drink some of my coke (but I was starting to feel quite nauseated), and then I left.

10 more kilometers into the wind, and then I turned north. That was wonderful! I covered 40 kms in 2 hours flat, including the slow slog during the first 10 kms.

Starting just before Caroline, and continuing to just after Rocky Mountain House, the ground was covered in snow ... fairly deep snow. They had been caught in quite a snowfall just a few days ago, and while the road was bare and dry, the rest of the area wasn't. And the temperature dropped. I was actually getting quite chilly. There were also ominous clouds around which were obviously raining or snowing. One such cloud caught up to me just before Rocky Mountain House and dumped a few minutes of rain on me.

I had in mind that if I arrived with some time to spare in Rocky, I would get a hamburger, but the road turns a bit just before Rocky, and I was back into the wind again. I just couldn't face going all the way to where I might acquire hamburgers so I just rode into town a little ways, stopped to place another call, found a bottle of Ensure in my bag, and left.

Heading back into Red Deer was much faster with the wind behind me, although about halfway through the 80 kms, it died. Nevertheless, no wind is better than a headwind! I pushed as fast as I could along that section (with my legs still burning) ... I just wanted to get home. Partway along, my father met me and checked up on me for the rest of the trip. It's comforting to have someone out there, especially after dark.

For that whole 80 kms, all I wanted was to see the lights of Red Deer, to decend into Red Deer, and then to lie down. I had not really taken a break for the entire 300K. Most of the breaks at the controls were 5 minutes or less, and I think my longest breaks might have been about 10 minutes at Delbourne and the Ghostpine store early in the ride. Otherwise I was giving all my effort to make it around the route. I also knew that I had not been eating or drinking right - I didn't have time, and I had been fighting nausea from about the halfway point.

Finally there they were, lights like a glowing jewel in the valley below, and down I went ... bumping into the bits of gravel on the road which my lights weren't picking up for some reason. Nevertheless, by the time I rolled in, I had done the whole 303 kms in 17 hours and 45 minutes.

I had hoped to make a double century out of it, but just couldn't face being out there another hour. I could hardly walk my legs were twitching so badly, and everything ached. I was also absolutely frozen. I had a hot shower, tried to eat and drink, but that didn't work at all, so I just went to bed, completely and utterly exhausted.