June 17-18, 2005

There was a "Heavy Rainfall Warning" for the whole southern loop of the 600K route. Red Deer, the 300K control, and area was put on evacuation alert. And on the northern loop, they just predicted "rain".

But what's a little rain? It's not like I haven't ridden in rain before! So I drove out to Rocky Mountain House to meet "E" and start the ride.

It was, of course, raining when I got there, but we suited up in all our rain gear and set off.

The first 120 kms weren't bad at all. It was wet and cold, but I could deal with that. Then the wind started up, gusting from the left.

And then at about 150 kms we turned to face the wind ... and we rode into about a 50 km/h gale for the next 170 kms. There were times the wind would gust so strongly it would nearly bring us to a standstill. I had to walk two smallish hills because at that moment the wind was from a bit of an angle and kept taking Machak out from under me. On one hill, I shifted down into an easier gear as I descended so that I could keep pedalling. And I would get all excited when our speed would creep up to about 16 km/h because most of the time it was quite a bit lower than that.

E and I would draft each other which helped some, but on other occassions we were both being blown around so badly, it was dangerous to be too near to each other.

And don't get me started on the traffic, especially the larger, boxier trucks that were being blown everywhere. There were numerous times that they would fly past us with maybe only a foot to spare, and we could see them weaving all over the road as they were caught in the gusts.

And the rain continued. It rained for 20 straight hours while we were out there ... and continued to rain. It didn't stopped for two straight days, and the "Heavy Rainfall Warning" was not lifted until the 19th.

Especially when the rain was heavier, it was driven into our faces with a feeling like we were being hailed on. And half the time I couldn't see because my glasses were covered with rain, or they had fogged up, or my eyes were full of water. Walls of water were kicked up by the passing traffic, and E described it as being hit in the back with a wet towel.

The words "soaked through" can only begin to describe out condition. I was wringing a fountain of water out of my gloves at every stop, and even my waterproof-breathable jacket was heavy with water.

But nevertheless we continued on through it all, determined to finish this thing, but when we arrived at Olds, about 60 kms from the Red Deer halfway point our resolve began to diminish. I was nauseated, and both E and I had begun shivering uncontrollably ... hmmmmm ... the early stages of hypothermia? The temperature had been hovering around 10C/50C all day, it was now night and getting cooler, we were soaked and the cold, strong wind was contantly blowing on us.

About 30 kms from Red Deer, I realized that there we would likely make the Red Deer control in time, but that there would be no time for a shower and nap, like we had been hoping ... and that just stopping long enough to get something to eat and change clothes, would make it a push to reach the next control in time. The wind was still just as strong as it had been all day, and we were faced with another 100 kms into the wind before we turned west, so we would be pressed for time on 3 controls. There was no way in that stretch we could make up time.

In addition to that, I was absolutely exhausted. I had slowed to a crawl for that last 30 kms because that's all I had left ... and from what E said, he was in a very similar boat. (Heh ... we should have been in boats!!) But I have never taken so long to do a 300K before, and I have never been in so much pain from a ride that short before ... in fact, I have finished 1200Ks feeling better than that!

So, we pulled into Red Deer ... and packed it in.

Epilogue

-- Sundre, our second control, declared a State of Emergency. Their dyking system failed and the bridge we crossed there was washed out. Many of the residents were evacuated.

-- Airdrie, our third control, got 80 mm of rain in 12 hours

-- Red Deer county declared a State of Emergency, and evacuated several sections. June 17-18 saw a total of 63.5 mm of rain in the Red Deer area.