April 23, 2005
| Cadillac and I drove down to Olds, where we were started our 200K brevet, with his
Cattrike in the car and Machak on the roof of the car. Machak survived the trip. We set off at 8:00 am with a lovely, and quite
strong, tailwind all the way down to Calgary … a fast and uneventful leg of the journey.
In Calgary, we made our way through the traffic to an A&W, as designated on the
route sheet. That was the 80-km point, so while we were there, we ate lunch and then set off north out of Calgary and then
west toward the mountains.
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Being seen off at the start
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| I dropped Cadillac at this point, and rode the rest of the way solo.
(He’ll have to tell you about his adventures.) I was told that this road going west had “A” hill. It should have been
described as "The First Hill of Many". However, none of the hills were really bad. They reminded me a lot of PBP
hills, except that with the PBP hills we went down, and immediately up again. With these we went down, lost all
our momentum on a flat bit, and then went up again. Over and over and over!
The road west was a pretty road because the mountains were quite visible, right in
front of me. I took a photo or two, and I'm hoping they turn out. At this point, the wind had shifted just slightly to be northeast
rather than just north so I wasn't really fighting it, which was a relief!
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Posing at the start
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| And then I reached "The Cowboy Trail" going north. I had been concerned about
the wind on this stretch, but I didn't need to be. There were quite a few trees lining the road which blocked the wind, and I think
the wind started to die as I got further north. And believe me, "The Cowboy Trail" is a good description for that route - you could
imagine yourself being in the old west all the way along there. It was quite scenic and almost amusing with all the named ranches.
However, it started to get a bit long ... from Calgary to Cremona, the next control, was 73 kms with nothing - no towns, no services of any kind. I was getting a little sick of my energy bars and Gatorade and wanted something else. But suddenly, without any warning, there was Cremona! I stopped for about 15 minutes to eat my secret weapon and have something to drink.
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Just about ready to go
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| Aside from sore quads and toes, I felt much better from Cremona to Hwy 27, where
I had to turn toward Olds. That secret weapon is a marvelous thing! But then I turned, and I was into the wind. The climbing
also continued as it had been for the last 100 kms. My speed plummeted and I was happy, in many stretches there, to be
doing 13 km/h. Normally, I pick up speed right at the end of a brevet, but not this time. I just dragged myself into Olds.
I finished at 7:25, 11 hours and 25 minutes in total, and I covered 213 kms. Cadillac came in a little less than 2 hours
after I did (congratulations Cadillac!).
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Father on Catrike nearing Calgary
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Additional notes:
I used a radio for the first time on a brevet. I had horrible reception, but getting the odd song or two was a nice diversion.
Also, this particular brevet had a song, just like most of mine do … a song that repeats itself over and over in my head till I feel like I’m going mad. Today’s song was “Sugar Sugar”.
I have a sunburn! In April! Who would have thought!!
I saw quite a few cyclists out there, especially near Calgary. That was nice too because in Manitoba, seeing cyclists that far out of the city was very rare.
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