2005 200K - Red Deer Brevet - Fierce, Fiendish Fred

July 9, 2005

The inaugural 200K Red Deer Brevet was held today, July 9th. The morning started a little damp, the aftereffects of a recent rain, but it was clearing and drying, and the day promised to be warm and sunny.

To my surprise, a total of 8 riders showed up! 3 of us were experienced Randonneurs, and 5 were completely new to it. 2 were from Calgary, 2 were from Edmonton, 1 was from Invermere, and 3 of us were from Red Deer. I was quite pleased with the turnout because at one point I thought I might be the only rider out there.

click to supersize The Poster
We started quite briskly, and it wasn’t long before 6 of the riders had disappeared in the distance, leaving 2 of us, Alan and me, in the dust to ride at a more moderate pace.

The ride out to the first control was lovely … good pace, great weather, varied terrain, pretty scenery. My father met us at the first control to sign our cards and to let us know that the other riders were about 15 minutes ahead. I removed my rain jacket, and my father offered to take it from me, but I decided to keep it … just in case.

The route to the second control was even better … still a good pace and great weather, but also some hills and really beautiful scenery. My father met us at the second control as well, and let us know that the others were about half an hour ahead. They were really moving out there! Meanwhile I removed even more layers so that I was riding in jersey and shorts. I can still count on one hand the number of times I’ve done that.

Our pace slowed as we made our way through the third and fourth controls because Alan was struggling a little bit. He needed to eat, and probably should have eaten more earlier on. However, we made it to Rocky Mountain House, the fourth control, well within the time, and had lunch.


Feeling much better, we set off, quite unknowingly, into the most … challenging … part of the ride. A light rain had started and moments later two things happened simultaneously … I got a bug in my left eye, and I flatted my rear tire. We stopped so I could remove the offending insect, and to change my tire. While we were stopped we both decided to add a layer, a vest, to ward off a bit of the chill of the rain, and then we set off again.

It wasn’t long before the rain started coming down a bit heavier … and not long after that before it started coming down in buckets … then sheets … and then … it seemed very hard. I could only see out of one eye which made navigating difficult. I tried to bend an arm and it felt really odd … stiff and numb. Shortly after that I decided to stop, and it was then that I realized that it was hailing pea-sized hail which had collected all over everything, including my cold, bare arms.

We quickly put our rain jackets on, which I was immensely pleased I had kept, and then as I was leaning over to rebuckle my Carradice (not an easy process with numb fingers) a particularly large hailstone nailed me on the back of the head … and I decided it was time to seek shelter. As we crouched under some nearby pine trees, the hail increased in size to “marble”, and just pelted down, covering the ground around us in ice, and knocking the pine cones off the tree.

click to supersize In The Aftermath of the Storm

After what seemed like an eternity, the rain and hail finally stopped and, shivering, we emerged and made our way to the road. The sight was incredible! A few hundred metres up the road from where we stopped, the whole road was absolutely white with ice!! The ditches were full of hail, lying in drifts everywhere. It was slow going for a while as we made our way across the ice to the relatively clear area a few more hundred metres up the road.

We followed the storm the rest of the way back to Red Deer, and watched it seethe and grow. Along the way, we decided to name it because it was obviously going to accompany us … the storm became Fred. Our friend Fred, the fierce and fiendish!

click to supersize Fred the Hail Monster

We rolled into Red Deer after just shy of 11 hours of riding. My father was there to greet us, and had been there to greet the other riders, which they appreciated. The other riders all came in between 7 and 8.5 hours, and had missed Fred completely.

Overall, the ride seemed to be a success. The other riders seemed to have a good time out there and liked having a little bit of support along the way.

The one thing that concerns me a little bit right now is my right knee. I’m having quite a bit of pain, the same pain I was having on my 600K attempt. I hope this isn’t serious and isn’t going to crop up on the Gold Rush … but I’m worried.

On the upside, I used my inhaler when I got in, and within a few minutes started breathing easier! That inhaler is definitely coming with me to California!!