May 3, 2003
Gradually the sky lightens in front of us and the birds begin to sing. We're all bathed in a cold gray light, and we start the first set of climbs. These are prairie climbs -- rounded and not very high. One of the other girls and I discuss climbing techniques and try standing for the whole series of them.
All of a sudden, there it is -- the sun. The reddish yellow orb peaks above the horizon in the distance sending the sky into a million colors. It's beautiful!
For the next 50 kms or so, we are out in open prairie, with the occasional farm yard. We appreciate those farm yards because they block the wind a little bit, but that windblock only lasts a few seconds. Then the terrain changes as we get closer to the eastern border of Manitoba -- we ride into a forest and start a long, long very gradual climb out of the Red River valley. Unfortunately the wind has changed direction a little bit and is coming from the South-East. While the trees block some of the wind, every now and then a heavy gust roars down the road between the trees.
At 100 kms we roll into our breakfast stop. I feel pretty strong at this point and suggest that we keep moving, but the rest of the group wants to stop, so I stay. I'm not hungry at all, but I force down a packaged apple danish (420 calories!).
The next 27 kms are wonderful! The wind is behind us and we spin at about 30 km/h. At this point, we part company -- 2 of the riders continue on to finish a 200K, and 8 of us head north to do our 300K. This should be a good section of the trip with the wind pretty much behind us, but it's not. The road is horrible. It is incredibly rough with potholes of various sizes all over the place. We cannot ride in a paceline or too close to each other, and we really need to concentrate because we are so busy dodge holes. The group is very quiet except for the odd "comment" on the state of the road when someone has hit a pothole while trying to dodge another one. The attachments (racks, waterbottle holders, lights, etc.) on many of the bicycles have been shaken loose by the time we arrive at the next control, 26 kms later. For some reason, I don't remember much about the scenery through that section. We spend a bit longer at that control than originally planned fixing things up and rearranging our loads.
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The remainder of the trip to our 200 km control is quite nice. The road has improved and the wind varies between being behind us and a crosswind. The scenery here is quite different from the area right around Winnipeg. The ground is very rocky, so there are small cliffs here and there along the road, and running all along the right side of the road is the Winnipeg river with parks, boats and small floatplanes.
I was a little more hungry here and had a plate of perogies, then we braced ourselves and set off into the wind, on the way back. The next 30km is a windy road through forest, with wind gusts coming from every direction. We regroup at a little grocery store, and set out to tackle the next 40 kms. This is prairie at its most typical -- one long straight road through wide open fields with a strong headwind. The wind has blown so much dust into the air that everything looks hazy and we can see heavy black clouds gathering in the east. I almost wish it would rain a bit to take the dust down. The farmers are out working their fields in preparation for seeding, and we wave as we go by. For this section the tandem and recumbent went ahead because they are faster riders. The remaining 5 of us form a paceline with 2 minute pulls and proceed to tackle the wind. Even with the paceline we are only managing about 15 km/h and have to take two stops to rest a bit. The paceline helps to pass the time and the group is very encouraging.
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Imagine open prairie -- virtually no trees or anything to obscure your view for the next 20 kms. Now imagine how funny it must have looked to see 5 riders lying in a ditch by the side of the road doing yoga stretches! Then later, when the three girls (including me) had to use the facilities, we chose a bridge over a small creek for shelter.
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When we finally roll into the next control and stagger into the restaurant the tandem couple and the recumbent rider were there waiting for us . . . and laughing! We looked awful! But then we found out that they had also struggled through that section and had even taken a 15 minute nap by the side of the road. I am absolutely ravenous (very unusual for me), and I order and consume a chicken salad sandwich. Unfortunately after inhaling half of Manitoba, I can't stop coughing, and my abs begin to ache.
For the first half hour after that control, I cruise along at a fairly slow pace with a couple of the riders, and then all of a sudden I get a burst of energy (that chicken sandwich must have kicked in) and I take it up to 30 km/h and ride ahead to catch the tandem. The sun sets in front of us in a blaze of red and yellow. We fly into the last town on the route, stop briefly while the tandem fixes their light, and then we set off down the last 20 kms into Winnipeg, and into the wind again. After a few moments, I notice that the tandem is no longer right behind me but I keep riding thinking that at any moment they will catch up. They don't and I ride into the final control by myself after 17 hours and 40 minutes. The recumbent was the only one ahead of me coming in at 17 hours and 29 minutes.
About 5 minutes later the tandem rolled in. Their light had broken off and had nearly flipped them! They ended up riding the last 15 kms or so in the dark. Within the next 15 minutes all the riders were in.
That was the longest, most exhausting 300K I've ever done. My new bicycle was good
although it could probably use a little bit of adjustment. My new saddle was very bad --
having trouble sitting today -- it was fine for 250 kms, and then it HURT.