2008 was a rest year for me. There were no 1200K randonnees, and no extended cycling tours. I made the decision to make 2008 a rest year for three main reasons:

1. I needed to focus on my education. I completed a heavy 3rd year of University in April, and entered the 4th and final year of my Bachelor of Education in September. Part of 'focusing on my education' included paying for my education, so I worked 2 jobs over the summer ... which took up time I would otherwise use for cycling.
   
   
2. I have been doing long distance cycling since 2001, and felt I needed a break.
   
   
3. A cycling accident in April 2007, which resulted in a separated shoulder then, has graduated to a shoulder which frequently partially dislocates causing me a lot of pain and discomfort, especially when cycling. I am now working on building up the muscles in the area of the shoulder to help keep my shoulder in place, but it is a slow process.

However, I kept on cycling! I'm not about to give it up!!

I completed the Red Deer 200K and 300K brevets, I was cycling with two touring clubs, I did several short tours, I explored and revisited my local area, and once again I attempted, and almost completed, a "Century-A-Month". Just missed December. But it was a fun year of riding, and best of all was the century Rowan and I did together just before we got married on August 24th! :)

I have written about my first tour of 2008 (Australia, in February) here: Australian Tour.

My 200K and 300K stories (Red Deer, in May) are here: 200K and 300K.

And my 2008 season in general is here: 2008.

The rest of this page are my "big" rides year, complete with a photo gallery of each. The stories are on this page. Please click the links for the photos ...

I am tired!! I feel like a zombie right now ... a rather sore and achy zombie. I'm also frozen solid ... I was OK on the bicycle but since I've come in I'm freezing. I'm sitting here with three shirts, and a heating pad.

I started the ride at 9:10 and finished at 6:55 ... total time 9:55 minutes.

The first two hours were SLOW, and I think the reason that my right hamstring hurts, my hands hurt, and my butt feels bruised is because of the mtn bike. 26 km was all I wanted to do on that bike!! I borrowed my father's mtn bike because because of the road conditions ... they looked as though they could be a little bit icy, and a mtn bike might handle those conditions better than a road bicycle.

But the next little while, on Machak my road bicycle, was fast! I was just cruising out there. At one point my average speed was 24 km/h!! The roads were in good condition and there wasn't any wind. At the 77 km point, the temperature was +2C.

And then ... with 60 km to go ... the wind started. It wasn't too bad for the next 15 km, but then the intensity increased, and I was struggling to stay upright at times. Into it, I was down to about 9 km/h.

I came home with 33 km to go to grab something to eat and drink, and my reflective stuff etc. It was just getting dark at that point. I did one more run through Edgar Industrial Park with my father driving behind me. That was good because there was quite a bit of traffic, and by the time I got there, it was dark. Then I rode up and down and up and down and up and down Johnson's Blvd (on the way into Edgar Industrial Park). It had the driest streets and least traffic, plus the wind was mostly blocked so it wasn't too bad.

I finished with the following stats:

Average speed: 18.9 km/h (not counting the first 26 kms)

Max speed: 49.7 km/h (I definitely didn't hit anything faster than that on the mtn bike!)

January's Century is done!

February - Australian Tour and Century

Click the link above to read about Rowan's and my 2008 tour in Australia. I was in Australia for about two weeks, and our actual tour was 8 days with one of those days being a century (100 mile) day.

Prior to, and after, the tour, we explored some of the area where Rowan lives. During the tour we headed down to Wilsons Prom, a place I had visited before, but wanted to see again. It's the furthest south point of mainland Australia.

March 9 - Birthday Century

At 9:15 am on my birthday I was dressed and almost ready to go. It was -3C out there, and was supposed to warm up to +9C. That's not too bad.

My plan was to do some local loops to start with, and return home after about 3 hours or so, at which time my father planned to join me. We would ride the Sylvan Loop (42 km) together, which would put me somewhere around 100 km, and then I'd finish the ride by doing some local loops.

At 57 km I had been averaging almost 20 km/h on the bicycle, very good for those sorts of temperatures at that time of year. It had gone up to about +5C with a light SE wind, and was sunny. I had been riding up and down some local roads taking in two industrial parks. They aren't bad places to ride on the weekends ... quite quiet and decent roads. My ride was progressing as planned.

With 99 km down, and just over 60 km to go, the temperature was up to +8C, and still predicted to go to +9C ... but +8 felt just fine. My father made it all the way around. He felt it a bit (knees and feet), and said he needed to raise the nose of the Brooks because he was sliding a bit, but otherwise it wasn't too bad. And he said the Brooks feels quite comfortable. It was nice to do that part of the ride with him ... I enjoyed the company.

I decided to do another Sylvan Lake loop rather than up and down and up and down in the local area. My average speed improved with the last loop (to my surprise!), so I figured I could take advantage of the potential speed on that loop and do another 42 km out there, then finish the last 20 km on the C&E trail and in the local industrial park. And that's exactly what I did!

161 km in 9 hours and 10 minutes, with a ride time of 7 hours and 46 minutes at an average riding pace of 20.4 km/h. It was a lovely birthday ride.

Stats:

Distance: 161 km
Total Time: 9:10
Ride Time: 7:46
Average ride speed: 20.4 km/h
Starting temp: -3C
High temp: 9C
Trains: 3
Waves of geese: 4

I was beginning to think I wouldn't get this one in. I was up to my eyeballs in papers and exams in April, so I couldn't do one any earlier ... and I was going on a little holiday (without my bicycle! :eek:) at the end of the month, so later wasn't an option either.

The plan was that I'd do my 200K brevet, scheduled for April 19th, and I organized everything so it would fit in between my exams and job, etc. Ah, but we all know about best laid plans ... and Alberta weather. There was a massive snowstorm predicted for that weekend. April 19th, right in the middle of all that, was supposed to be cold, windy, and very snowy. And so I cancelled the brevet here, and at least two other Alberta brevet were cancelled as well.

Quickly I rearranged my plans. I wrote an exam on April 16th, I had a paper due April 18th ... but on April 17th, I calculated that I might just have the time to ride a century ... and I did! :D

I completed my first loop (55 km) in 2 hours and 40 minutes (~21 km/h). Not a bad pace considering the fact that the wind was starting to blow out there. Because of the wind, I opted to repeat the first loop for my second loop. I figured I'd end up doing a lot more battling with the wind if I went the other way around. The prediction was for the wind to be 20 km/h gusting 40.

The temperature at this point was 13 degrees with the high supposed to be 14, but since it wasn't even noon yet and was 13, I thought it might get warmer. They also removed the rain prediction for the afternoon, and were instead predicting that snow would start around midnight. Well ... I'd be rather disturbed if I were still out there doing a century at midnight ... so I hoped to miss any really nasty weather.

My second loop got me to 112 km, and I was a little bit slower on this lap ... about 20 km/h. The wind had definitely picked up (28 gusting to 45) and was from the west so I was basically straight into it on the way out ... but had a tailwind on the way back. It was still sunny ... hardly a cloud in the sky on this lap. And the temp was up to 17C. It felt great to be out riding, and not feel cold.

My father joined me on the last loop, with only about 48 kms to go, and we covered it relatively quickly despite the fact that on the way out there were places where we were working to do 8 km/h. Almost all the way into Red Deer was great. Suddenly, the wind switched to be from the north-east, and it increased in intensity ... up to 55 km/h. I was glad we were right at the end of the ride and that I didn't have to keep going in that.

My eyes felt like they'd been sandblasted, and I think I inhaled half a field of dust out there.

Stats:

Distance: 161.66 km = 100.45 miles
Total Time: 9 hours and 5 minutes!! WooHoo!! :D I think that's my fastest century this year!
Ride Time: 8 hours and 5 minutes
Temperature: Low: +5C; High: +17C ... very warm day (and no snow)
Wind: 25 km/h gusting 45km/h ... just a tad windy
Amount of dust I breathed in: roughly half a field's worth

And later that night ... the snow started!!

May - Brevets

May's big rides were the two brevets I completed this year with Alberta Randonneurs. Both were in the Red Deer area, on routes designed by my father and I.

My 200K and 300K stories are here: 200K and 300K.

June 21 - Summer Solstice 200K

My father and I set off at 5 am, to a beautiful morning. The first 4 hours of the ride were very good. The roads were decent, and almost devoid of traffic, the temperature was coolish, but nice, and there was no wind. We separated just before Bentley -- my father took one road, and I took another just after Bentley.

The idea was that my father would arrive at Crestomere about half an hour before me, and would browse through all the old cars there while he waited ... but we all know about best laid plans! First, they seem to have moved all the old cars, and the place is for sale. Second, it took me half an hour longer than planned, so he was waiting there an hour.

We continued from Crestomere, and now the route turned really hilly ... up out of Crestomere, and down, and up. And up and down and up and up Hwy 611. And down and up and up and up Hwy 771. And down and up and up and UP and *UP* Hwy 13 ... until we finally descended into Winfield.

We spent quite a while in Winfield recovering from all the hills. And finally continued south back toward home ... but by this time the wind had picked up. It wasn't too bad right when was started the southward journey, but it continued to pick up as we went. Our enthusiasm ... and strength ... were fading.

When my father reached a century (100 miles), my mother picked him up, and I continued on with grand intentions. But it wasn't long before I started feeling like a hamster in a wheel. Pedalling and pedalling against the wind, and not going anywhere.

A few mental calculations and I realized I'd be out there until 2:30 am if I were to go for the double century I had hoped to do.

I also realized that it was doing my shoulder and chest no good at all. (The previous Tuesday, I was diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder ... it was popped back into place that day, but it is still in kind of rough shape. 10 days earlier, I had also been diagnosed with Tietze's syndrome - an inflammation of the joints (or cartilage) that connect my ribs to my sternum.) The shoulder cramped and spasmed, and my left arm went numb. My inflamed chest joints were (and are) also very sore.

So I ended the ride at 214 km.

June 28 - David Thompson Highway 100K

My father and I packed up and headed out by about 8 am. We drove out to Cline River, 44 km east of Saskatchewan River Crossing. We found a place to park and unloaded the bicycles, then set off.

It was gorgeous out there ... blue sky, bright sunshine, and fairly warm. And the scenery was spectacular.

The ride started with quite a serious climb which topped with a herd of mountain goats, including a few babies. :) Yes, of course I took photos!!

And then the wind began. We faced a strong west wind all the way to Saskatchewan River Crossing. We were pedalling downhill at 15 km/h! Nevertheless the scenery was beautiful so we stopped frequently to take photos ... and to catch our breath.

Saskatchewan River Crossing was a nice break. We had ice cream, rested a bit, took off a few layers, and applied sunscreen. Then we headed back ..... and the wind was behind us!!

We FLEW!!

We were climbing hills at 18 km/h ... faster and with less effort than we were doing on the downhills going out. You know you've got a strong wind when ....

It took us about 3 hours to go out, and about 1:45 to return back to the van. My father decided to call it a day there. But since we were at 88 km when we got to the van, I decided to wrap up the day by finishing a full metric century. So I got something to drink, and sailed down the road, with the wind still behind me for another 14 km. Total: 102 km.

I had a great day out there!!! :) :)

July 5 - Lake Louise Bakery Ride

I set off from home just before 6 am on Saturday morning, and got to the start area on the Bow Valley Parkway, just west of Banff, uneventfully at about 9:05 ... driving. Yes, I will drive fairly lengthy distances if it means I get to ride in the mountains. :D

There was one other cyclist from the club there when I arrived, but more came soon after. I got Machak all set up, introduced myself to several people ... then we had the pre-ride meeting, and we set off at approx. 9:40.

We all rode at our own pace ... some a bit faster, some a bit slower ... but regrouped at Castle Junction and at Lake Louise. Interesting concept this regrouping business! I like it. :) I rode with various people throughout the day, and solo sometimes. I also liked that ... it meant we weren't glued to each other hips, but that there were other riders around so I didn't feel all alone out there. I rode about middle of the pack which was a nice change for me, and the ride organizers rode sweep ... a feature I really like about cycletour clubs!!

In addition to our group (there were about 16 or 17 of us), the Bow Valley Parkway was FULL of cyclists. You couldn't go a kilometer without encountering at least one more cyclist not associated with our group! So I really didn't feel all alone out there!!

In fact, at one point I was riding solo and stopped to take some photos. A couple on Bike Friday's stopped too, and offered to take my picture. They did, and then I took a picture of them with their camera. They were so cute. They were both dressed in black and white, with black and white bags on the black and white bikes. :)

At Lake Louise we stopped at the bakery ... a very popular place among cyclists and other tourists. Was it ever crowded!! But they processed everyone quite quickly.

It was cool and mainly cloudy, with a headwind on the way out (it wasn't too bad), and a tailwind on the way back (it was much stronger ... the wind picked up throughout the day). Right toward the end of the ride, the sun came out and it heated up a bit. But there were a few points where we had a few sprinkles of rain.

And the ride was a hilly, 90 km ride. Not bad.

After the ride, I changed and packed up to head into Banff. Just as I was driving down the Bow Valley Parkway toward Banff, I saw that they had a section of the road all blocked off with orange cones etc., and there were people with vests carefully directing traffic past a certain section. In that section was a large mother bear and two cubs!! :) :) I didn't take a photo because traffic was rather congested, and the "flag people" wanted people to move along, but slowly.

I had been thinking of going to Johnson's Canyon to hike, but it is so incredibly crowded now. When I was a kid, we had it to ourselves ... it was wonderful ... but not anymore. :( So I went to Banff (also very crowded) and made my way to the Bow Falls. The Bow River and Falls were full to overflowing!! I haven't seen them so full (of water, not people) in a long time. The falls were sending off spray a long ways away. I walked all around the area and took photos.

And finally I headed home ... although I would have loved to spend a lot more time in the mountains. However, the weather gave me something special on the way home ... a really cool supercell!! I stopped to take photos of that too. :)

And that was my day. :D

July 12 - Ice field Parkway Century

Wow am I tired!!

We were up at 6 am, and on the road about 7:15 am to drive to Siffleur Falls. The drive was uneventful except for the multitude of deer, and the coyote who dashed across the road.

We set up our bicycles at Siffleur Falls (my father brought his Catrike) and set off about 9:45 am. I was able to get a picture of him at the top of the first hill, but then I picked up my speed a bit and slogged off into the wind to Saskatchewan River Crossing.

I didn't stop at SRC, but turned and cycled northward toward Jasper. Along the way I took a lot of photos ... until my batteries died and although I tried all the batteries I had with me, nothing worked ... until the next time I went to take a photo and one of the first ones I tried worked. Odd. But it kept working till near the end of the ride.

I passed the Weeping Wall (yep, I got a photo), and discovered that to cover the distance I needed on that leg of the ride, I would need to climb toward the Columbia Icefields!! The road approaching the Columbia Icefields consists of an approx. 3 km climb, then a drop into the valley, a curve around a horseshoe bend ... and then the real climb. I just went as far as the top of the first climb, then turned around and headed down.

And I discovered why the ~30 km to the turn around point had seemed strangely difficult. The terrain gradually climbs toward the Icefield from SRC, and I had a headwind all that time. I flew back to SRC in no time at all!

Just before I got there, I spotted a collection of vehicles stopped and people wandering around in the road ... can only mean one thing ... animal. And it was a bear. I stopped and took a photo from a safe distance (I figured that if the bear got upset he could maul the people hanging over him rather than me), and then cycled into the SRC parking lot.

On the way to the toilet, I was amused by some tourists who seemed concerned about me being on my bicycle when there were bear around.

My father was at SRC with the van. He had cycled as far as SRC then back to where we were parked at Siffleur Falls (56 km), then had driven the van to SRC to wait for me, and provide support if necessary.

I had a quick bite to eat and refilled my water bottles and headed off ... south this time toward Banff. As the road leaves SRC, it goes downhill, then flat. That lasts for a total of 2 km. Then it climbs, and continues to climb for the next 16 km. The first 8 km is the steepest part, and then it goes into gradual climbs and false flats. After those 16 km, it moves into flat punctuated with more climbs. And there was a headwind. Seems heading south, the terrain gradually climbs and the wind blows into SRC, just like when you head north. SRC is the hub!

My legs were TIRED when I got to the turn around spot, just past Waterfowl Lakes. Fortunately, I was headed downhill with a tailwind, and cruised at 40 km/h for the last 10 km or so ... to try to make up for the ages it took me to get up there.

Another quick bite to eat and I was off toward Siffleur Falls. My father drove the van there and waited for me. I had a blissful tailwind, and covered the 28 km in just over an hour ... including a short stop to take photos of mountain goats. :)

And that was the ride! 162.3 km in total.

July 20 - Markerville IceCream Ride

My father and I had a great ride today ... a ride that has become something of a family tradition over the past few years. We cycled to Markerville for ice cream! :)

The ride takes us down quiet country roads through the prairie, and we have a choice of routes to get there. I picked one that wasn't very hilly, so that was nice ... but they had just laid down fresh chipcrete, so about 4-5 km of the ride was a little rough.

However we got to Markerville in good time ....... and as we rode up, several people sitting there eating ice cream as well cheered us in!!!! That was a bit of a surprise!! :D

Once we got our ice cream, we got chatting to the main cheerleader and it turns out that she is getting back into cycling and just recently completed a tour in Ontario along the waterfront of Lake Ontario (I'll have to look it up). We had a very nice chat.

And then my mother arrived to have some ice cream as well, and we chatted with some people from an area where one of my mother's relatives lives.

Markerville is a cute, friendly little community. You just never know who you'll meet there. :) The Markerville Creamery was once an active Creamery but is now a museum and ice cream place.

My father and I cycled back a different route - a slightly hillier but smoother route. In all we covered 85.2 km. Not bad for a Sunday afternoon.

I created a photo story of the Markerville tradition ... trips to Markerville over the last few years. The last 11 photos are from our trip today.

July 27 - Tour de l'Alberta Century

The Tour de l'Alberta was a really good ride ... very well supported and organized, decent weather (you should see my un-sunscreened arms right now!), and a chance to meet a lot of people.

I re-met several people I rode with last year, and met three people who are interested in Randonneuring and have been reading my site, and Buglady from BikeForums! :) I enjoyed riding with Buglady during the last part of the ride.

The 100-mile riders were set off just a little bit late, about 8:20 am, in a large group of something in the neighborhood of 100 riders. I rode with several people in the beginning, and then settled in for a while with a Dutch guy going my pace. He decided to make a 100K out of it, instead of a 100 mile ride, so he turned off early and I rode solo for a while, but leap-frogged with several riders. When I saw Buglady go by I caught up to her to see if it was really her -- it was ... and we rode together till the end.

The ride was set up with rest stops about every 20 km. There were 4 stops -- we hit 2 of them once, 1 of them twice, and 1 of them 3 times. Efficient set-up! And I took a short break on my own to remove my jacket and leg warmers. All the stops had fruit and something salty. Good choices. The 2nd stop had a French meat pie which was delicious, and a fudge I wanted to take with me it was so good. The 3rd stop, the one we hit 3 times, had peanut butter sandwiches, but the volunteers went out of their way to make me a peanut-free jam sandwich. I appreciated the consideration for those of us with food difficulties.

The route was relatively flat, and took us through the Edmonton-area prairie. Fortunately it was a beautiful day for the ride ... not too hot, and not too windy.

I finished the ride in 7 hours and 40 minutes!!! :D The fastest century I've done in recent years!! And that includes 8 short rest stops!! WooHoo!! The speed has returned!!

August 1-4 - Logan's Pass Hub and Spoke Tour

August 9 - Stormy Parkway Ride

Well ... that was an adventure. Ever been in a thunderstorm for 6+ hours? Fortuntely not all of it was while I was on the bicycle ... but enough of it was!

I got to Siffleur Falls, just west of where I live, near the Icefield Parkway, and set off ... 28 km uphill and into the wind. What a slog!! It took me a full 2 hours to cover the 28 km. But then I turned south and had a tailwind while I climbed the 16 km climb heading south, so the climb wasn't too bad.

Once I got to the top I kept riding with the goal of reaching 60 km. And I ended up climbing Bow Pass (on the Icefield Parkway) to accomplish that. But ... funny thing ... 3/4 of the way up Bow Pass, all of a sudden it was like a voice was saying "Turn Around NOW!" And I was compelled to turn around. Meanwhile, in the direction I was going, and right above me, there was blue sky and I was actually overheating a bit on the climb.

But when I turned around, a whole different story was happening! A thunderstorm was coming up over the mountains ... and moving in fast. I sprinted the 12-13 km back to Waterfowl Lakes campground (fortunately most of it was downhill), and made it just as the sky opened up. I stood in the Self-Check-In booth, under a tiny overhang to wait out the storm. Most of the way back to Waterfowl Lakes, there was lightening flashing all over the place, howling winds, and thunder booming.

While I was waiting a truck pulled up, and told me that 10 km up the road, in the direction I had just come from, hail had completely whitened everything. Apparently it had pelted down, ripping apart branches and everything. Well ... that's where I would have been had I made it to the top of Bow Pass and then turned around!!!!!

Now I passed another cyclist going up Bow Pass ... he was walking his heavily laden touring bicycle, and when I came down the pass, he was hitchhiking. I hope he found a ride or he would have been in all that hail!!

While I was waiting at Waterfowl Lakes, I wanted to duck into the trees behind the shelter and take a quick nature break ... I also wanted to experiment with some photos ... and I wanted to stand in the optimum place under the shelter. But do you think I could do any of that??? Of course not. The place was Grand Central Station!! I only got a few moments there with no one around. The rest of the time people were coming and going like some big event was on.

I made it back to Saskatchewan River Crossing without incident, and set off down Hwy 11 back to Siffleur Falls ... riding as fast as I could because I could see a second storm coming. There was lightening and thunder over the mountains to the right, and as time went on, I could see the rain approaching. With 16 km to go ... the rain hit, and the lightening was getting closer. With 8 km to go the storm was right on top of me ... rain was pouring down and lightening was flashing all around.

Finally, I made it back to the car, and headed for home. I made a stop in Rocky Mountain House for fuel, and then stopped at the A&W for a hamburger. I was going to take it to go, but by the time it was ready, the rain was coming down in buckets ... so I ate it there and then braved the rain to get to my car.

And the storm followed me home. That was my day! And I am tired!! Oh ... 125 km in total.

August 24 - Wedding Century

Rowan made plans to come to Canada for about a month in August 2008 to see me, and then in a phone call in June, he suggested that we get married while he was there. I agreed. Getting married in Canada would allow my parents to participate in the wedding with us, which was important to both of us. We also decided to make the wedding special to us.

Our relationship developed around cycling, and we both love the outdoors and the mountains, so we decided to get married in the Canadian Rockies, on Lake Annette, near Jasper. We also decided to cycle a century (100 miles) prior to the wedding. On August 24th, almost exactly 5 years after we met, we did just that. We woke early, cycled 100 miles, and finished just before my parents, and my cousin and his wife arrived. My cousin is the mayor of Banff, and has the authority to perform wedding ceremonies. We had a lovely, quiet ceremony on a dock in Lake Annette surrounded by the mountains and the ones we love.

The day started bright and early, and quite chilly as we got dressed and loaded the bicycles into the car to drive over to Lake Annette. As you can see in the photos taken just before we set off, we are decked out in jackets, tights, and full-fingered gloves. We decided to do the century in three directions, three legs.

The first leg of the ride took us southish along Hwy 93 to Athabasca Falls and back. We had a great ride out there. There were several good-sized hills to climb, but either there was no wind, or a light wind behind us. When we got there we stopped to take several photos of the falls. The ride back had a bit more wind.

We stopped for a break and snack at the car, and then set off westward on Hwy 16 (Yellowhead) to the edge of the Jasper National Park and back. For some reason, I struggled during the outward bound part of this leg of the journey. We took it slowly and I had some more to eat and drink. By the time we got to the Park Gates, where we turned around I was starting to feel better. The return trip went quite well. For a main highway, it was quite rideable with wide shoulders and surprisingly little traffic.

We stopped for another brief break and snack at the car, and then set off eastward on Hwy 16 (Yellowhead). This time the wind was kicking up and the clouds were rolling in. I was not concerned about the riding part, but I was concerned that it might be like this for the wedding. We fought against the wind for a while, and then turned around and flew back. But we still had some distance to make up to reach a century so we rode up the Maligne Canyon road in the opposite direction from Lake Annette for a while, and back ... and then to the Lake Annette/Lake Edith Cavell area to the end of the road there and back.

And then we were done! 100 miles complete with about 45 minutes to go before the wedding!!

We sat down and relaxed for a while until everyone arrived ... and just before we walked down to the lake for the ceremony, the wind died down and the sky cleared a little, and the weather turned quite lovely.

September 13 - Sylvan Century

8:45 am, +1C, and my father and I were ready to go on the first loop of my September century. My father's plan was to accompany me for the first loop, and then I would complete the next loop on my own. The forecast was for a nice sunny day with a high of 17 or 18 degrees. Good day for a century.

My father and I cycled out to Sylvan Lake and up Jarvis Hill beside the lake. There must have been yacht racing going on there because the lake was full of sailboats. We continued on to Bentley and along the way we passed by inmates cleaning the ditches. That was the first time I've ever seen inmates doing that sort of thing. Normally it is school children. From Bentley we cycled along the southern edge of the Gull Lake park, and then on to Lacombe. There must have been a motorcycling event going on in Lacombe as about 100 of them came out as we cycled in. It appeared to be a busy day!

The temperature reached about 14 degrees by the end of that loop, and was still going up. The wind was light and the sun was shining. A great day for a ride! We had completed 88.2 km at that point.

For my next loop, I planned to cycle out to Benalto and then back through Sylvan. But 18 km up the road, I flatted. I tried to fix it, but couldn't pump up my spare tube for some reason. I thought my pump was shot so I called my father who came out with a floor pump. While I was waiting for him, however, I decided to try the other tube, just to see, and it worked. So I had my tire all changed and back on the bicycle by the time my father came. He topped up the air in the tire, gave me another spare tube, and I continued on. Also while I was waiting, a lady in a car pulled up to see if I was OK. She said her husband was a triathlete and that if he had a difficulty on the road she hoped someone would stop for him, so she stopped for me. Very nice of her, and I thanked her for the consideration.

About 100 metres later ... I flatted again. This time I sat down and meticulously checked my tire. I had checked it the first time, but evidently not well enough. This time I found a tiny little wire sticking into the tire. I removed it, put in a new tube, and continued on my way.

I was still going to go to Benalto, but as I got quite close to it, construction crews were oiling the road so I turned around ... didn't make it to Benalto. It wasn't meant to be. But I did go to Sylvan and got more photos of sailboats! :)

A few short local loops after that and I had my September century ... 161 km.

September 20 - Sylvan Metric

My father and I did a lovely 100 km jaunt out into the countryside around where we live. It was a beautiful sunny day, and all the leaves are starting to change. We rode out to Sylvan, up toward Bentley turning at the Rainy Creek Road, over to Eckville, and back into Red Deer on the newly paved Hwy 11.

Hwy 11 was still a construction zone, and the traffic was, for the most part, moving relatively slowly and were keeping their distance from us. It was a beautiful section of road ... so fresh and smooth!!

October 4 - Rainy Creek Road Century

My father and I headed out about 8:30 am (+2C, calm) and did a 117 km loop together, taking the time to stop to take photos, of course. It was beautiful out there. We cycled past two of the larger lakes in the area too, which I always enjoy. The sky was blue most of the way, although toward the end of that first loop, the sky became overcast and the wind picked up to 18G28SSE. The temperature also got to a high of +18C.

The route was a good one too ... out to Eckville, over to Bentley, to Blackfalds and back in. Very pretty, especially with that fall foliage, which I hope turned out in my photos.

When I headed off for the last bit though, that was wet. However, the wind died off quite a bit. While it was still just spitting and drizzling, I stopped and took several photos. That part especially, but also the first part to some extent, was like cycling in a world bathed in gold. I hope that impression comes through in the photos.

But the rain started with spitting, then a light drizzle, then back to spitting, then a heavier drizzle, and finally for the last 10 kms, a rain.

November 1 - East of Red Deer Century

I just rode my warmest November century in Canada. It was great!!

When my father and I started it was -1C with a windchill factor of -6C. That might have explained our slow start. But when we changed direction so that we had a tailwind, and when the temperature started to warm up, our speed increased. The hills helped with that too.

The first loop was 94 kms and my father called it a day at that point (he hadn't planned to do the whole century). By then the temp was up to +11C, and the wind had died a little bit.

I set off for my second loop ... lots of climbing, but I had a tailwind. Nice, but unexpected. I thought my homeward bound stretch would have the tailwind ... no such luck. Nevertheless it was a good loop too. By the time I finished it, the temp was up to +15C. Very, very nice. :)

Total: 161 kms = 100 miles.

We saw horses, cows, llamas, buffalo, and magpies along the way. And I counted 5 other cyclists besides us out there ... that was the most I've seen in one day all year!! Funny that November 1st should be a busy cyclist day!!

Photos: [url]http://www.flickr.com/photos/14302884@N04/sets/72157602327324870/detail/?page=2[/url] (The first two on this page were from another century, but the rest are from today)

Note the complete lack of snow!! WooHoo!! :D