Kennetcook - South Maitland 200km Brevet: 24.05.08--200km

200kms is one of my favorite distances and this was a very pleasant ride. I'll put up a map and some pictures when I get a chance.

2008 Fleche - 24 hour endurance ride in Ottawa: 17.05.08--429km

(making up for some lost posts)..

I decided to join Randonneurs Nova Scotia this spring and the first ride we did that was over 100 miles happened to be the Fleche. A Fleche is a team ride, it is over a course of at least 360km predetermined by the team and must be done in 24 hours. There are some more rules you can read here.

There were only two of us in NS that wanted to do this this year and the rules state a minimum of three so we joined two more in Ottawa.

We took the ride at a much slower pace that I am used to but not having done this distance before I was happy to take it easy. Despite the slow pace by the time darkness fell I did not find it easy. I found myself wanting to fall asleep and with nothing open in rural Ontario I couldn't get a coffee to help keep me going. Eventually I found a gas station that sold energy drinks with kept me going for about a half hour, then made me crash far worse.

Eventually we made it, but in retrospect if I do another fleche I'll want to do it in a more populated place during the evening and have an evening start so that when we are at our most tired point the sun will be out and shops will be open.

Here is the ride report from Ottawa Randonneur Peter Grant:

Ride Report - Ottawa Fleche Team PGDM 2008

Our Fleche 2008 almost did not happen. In late winter, Guy Quesnel and I (Peter Grant) agreed that it would be good to ride a Fleche of 400km or more to qualify for the Shenandoah 1200. We just needed 1 to 3 more riders to form a team. As winter ended and riding started in Ottawa we asked friends if they would like to join us, but found no one who wanted to ride a 400+km 24 hour ride. We slowly prepared for the ride which we wanted to be as self supported as possible, without really knowing where to find a team. In mid-April an email from David Ross of Randonneurs Nova Scotia changed everything. He and Michael Godwin would like to ride a Fleche, but had no team in Nova Scotia. Was there a chance that they could join a team in Ottawa? There was very good chance indeed that they could join a team in Ottawa!

A focus on the Fleche returned. Some thing that I wanted to do different from the past 2 years was to be self supporting in the middle of the night. We have used drive through windows at 24 hour Tim Hortons to get hot food at night. The staff of Tims manning the drive through has been willing, some times with reluctance to serve us, but they and we have been subjected to harangues from a back room manager wanting us gone with no service. A strategy which I discussed with Guy was to carry a camp stove and cook a midnight dinner along the road. Guy had a stove and our plan was formed.

The second almost end of the Fleche came at the end of April when a close relative of mine died suddenly in Winnipeg. I rushed off and forgot about registering our Fleche until long past the deadline. My request to the Randonneurs Ontario board of directors for permission to make a late registration was accepted and Peter leiss generously approved my plan 5 days before the ride. Thanks to the board and Peter. I wont do it again.

The team met the evening before the start. We had planned a 6:00AM departure, but the weather forecast was for a cold front to pass Kingston at noon. To try to avoid the rain we moved our start time to 4:00AM. Our planned route would leave Ottawa and approximately follow the Rideau Canal to Kingston. Then we would ride east along the St. Lawrence River to arrive in Brockville about dinner time. In the evening we would continue east in the farm lands north of the St. Lawrence until a road intersection 20km north of Morrisburg where we would turn to the north west and start back to Ottawa. Route scenery would be about half woods and granite hills and the other half would be farm land of eastern Ontario.

We departed Ottawa at 4:00AM with calm wind but temperature of maybe 5C. We were four cold riders who arrived at Merrickville at 75 km shortly after sun rise and stopped for breakfast. With the sun up we left Merrickville in rapidly rising temperature and rapidly rising wind as we headed south west to our rendezvous with a cold front. The wind soon had flags standing straight out and snapping. We worked hard for the next 100km. Our new friends from Nova Scotia proved to be strong riders as we faced head winds of 30kph and more. Come back and ride us again guys. Our strategy of an early departure did not seem to have been early enough, but both we and the cold front were late getting to Kingston. We were just finishing lunch when the first rain started hitting the restaurant windows. We delayed departure until the rain was just a light steady rain and started east for Gananoque. The next 2 hours were in light rain with gusty winds that never really seemed like the good tail wind we wanted. I have a new randonneuring bike this year. It has permanently installed fenders and a rack. The fenders kept the back of my shorts dry. It felt like a luxury as we were on wet pavement for much of the afternoon.

After our freezing start in the morning and an even lower temperature forecast for the night, we made a stop in Gananoque at a Canadian Tire store to shop for warmer clothes and gloves. Then we were on to the 1000 Islands Parkway for the ride to Brockville. It was a pleasant ride with a light tail wind and gradually drying pavement.

Pavement was completely dry and rain seemed only a memory as we pulled in to an East Side Mario's for dinner. A fenced in patio was completely deserted and we used it as a bike parking lot. We were seated immediately in the restaurant and almost as immediately, through the widows we saw torrential rain pouring down. It is hard to believe, but we had the only 2 strong storms hit exactly when we were inside eating. Amazing!

Leaving Brockville we stocked up on extra water and put coffee in a thermos. The plan was to not need any support for the next 150km of night riding. We were again on wet pavement and after a short stretch of city riding were out in the farm lands. We enjoyed a pretty sunset as the sun sank into a line of thunderclouds to our north as we made our way to North Augusta. By Spencerville it was completely dark. The gas station/convenience store was open which would made a good last stop on a future ride of this route. About 23:00 we were at the farthest point in the south east of our route, a cross roads in a forest. We turned north for home looking for a dry place to stop for a late night meal.

We soon found a spot under a hugh maple tree at the side of the road. Illuminated by 2 bike headlights, Guy brought out the camp gear and set up the whisper light stove. In about 30 minutes he had 4 plates of hot spaghetti Parmesan. In much less time, the spaghetti was consumed, the stove packed up and we were on our way again. No cars passed by in the 45 minutes we were stopped. The country side was amazingly quiet. The moon was almost full and a light wind, unfortunately a head wind, sometimes blew. The temperature was cool, but never descended to the levels we had feared. It was a beautiful ride across the farmlands of eastern Ontario. We rode back to Ottawa making a few short stops for snacks. The morning head winds had hurt and we did not achieve our target distance of 443km, completing instead 429km.

I hope that everyone on the team enjoyed the ride as much as I did. Thanks to David and Michael for driving from Nova Scotia and riding with us. Thanks to Guy for hauling the dinner and cooking a hot meal in the middle of the night.

Peter Grant
May 21, 2008

Halifax to Eastern Shore Century: 02.04.2008--170km

Tried to take the same route as in January but took a few wrong turns (as always) ended up at about 170km. Windiest century to date 20-30km/h winds with gusts up to 70km/h and despite that it was one of my quickest. Took about 5:25 ride time to get to the 100mi mark and about 6:30 total time (stopped into work and the bike shop along the way). So I am back up to my usual summer pace at just below 30km/h average ride time (29.8 this time). Reached a max of 72km/h, fastest I've gone in the province (got up to about 78 in up state NY).

The map (didn't change the picture here but I created a new mapmyride map):



The pictures:

Halifax Century Loop: 19-03-2008--160km

No need to post the map again; I took the same route as in February except clockwise this time. There was a strong headwind going north-west (it was going the opposite direction) up RR#1. The same wind helped blow me home down RR#2. Ran into a co-worker that lives in Brooklyn at Reid's Meats Clover Farm (general store), a little unexpected. Got home just after dark with about a 7.5 hour total time. Oh, and since it was very sunny and my other bike was out of commission, I decided to take my litespeed out for the first time this year.

Halifax Century Loop: 08-02-2008--162km

I almost didn't get out of bed for this one, I was getting over a cold and the forecast turned out to be a little chillier than expected (-6C[21f] to -2C[28f]). I didn't leave the house until about 11. This turned out to be my hardest century to date, it was the heaviest, coldest, and sickest; I felt like giving up less than a quarter the way through but pressed on and got it done in 7 1/2 hours (about 1 1/2 hours shorter than the last). Nothing exciting happened, I tried listening to an audio book for the first time and it kept my mind entertained, it didn't get dark until I was into Bedford so I didn't get to find out how well my new helmet mounted Fenix L2D worked, and I tried out my Carradice Barley for the first time and was quite pleased.

I took the counter clockwise route:

Halifax to Eastern Shore Century: 01.01.2008--170km

My new years resolution this year is to do a century-a-month so I decided to get January's done on the 1st day of the month. You can find more information about the challenge on the long distance forum at bikeforums. The basic idea is to ride at least on imperial century (100mi ride) in every month of the year.



Normally this is a 60km trip, but to make it 160kms (100mi) I went through Lower Sackville, Nine Mile River, Shubenacadie, and Middle Musquodoboit.

I stopped using my Lightspeed for the year and I built up my winter bike using an Aluminum frame and mostly used components. I has been working fine for commuting so far but about 20kms out it developed some gearing issues. There was little I could do to fix the rear shifting problem at the time, so the entire ride I had only a few gears available to me.

Most of the roads were fairly clear with just a few patches of snow here and there, the weather was between -7C (21F) and 0C (32F) the entire day and since it was New Years Day, there was little traffic.

I had no problems until I reached Shubenacadie, where I thought I was on the correct road but somehow ended up going in a loop. After searching for the road for some time and asking for directions I cost myself somewhere between an hour and hour and a half meaning I'd be cycling in the dark. I took a shortcut in Middle Musquodoboit which turned out to be a lot longer (more of a shortcut) than I had thought and it may have cost me more time as the road was almost completely covered by snow.

I left at about 10:45am and arrived at about 8:30pm and was riding for a total of 6h43m. The total distance was 170.63kms (106mi). This was my first century since August (apart from a metric with two good friends, Adrian and Jarvis in September) and I'm feeling it today.

Well here's a few pictures from the beginning of the ride (before I got scarred of cycling in too much darkness):











The final destination is the house where I grew up. I have a few days off I can spend with the family.

Halifax to Toronto: 18.08.2007-23.08.2007--1350km

I'd been thinking about doing this ride or one similar to it for several months, only after I trained enough to do more than 300km in a day, was confident with my gear, and got two weeks off work that I decided I would do it. I decided to take to shortest route possible which would involve a ferry ride from Yarmouth to Portland Maine and cutting across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York to Lake Ontario.

Here's the actual route taken:

Gear:

Clothing:

Two pairs of cycling shorts

White cycling jersey

Cycling shoes

Two pairs of smart wool cycling socks

One pair of smart wool hiking socks for sleeping and cold days

Fleece hat for sleeping and cold days

One pair of cycling gloves

One pair of wool cycling tights

Water resistant cold weather cycling jacket

Cotton t-shirt
Helmet

Night Gear:

Four wrist/leg band reflectors

BLT front and rear doppler lights (very bright and run on household batteries)


Reflective patches included on my bags and clothing

Sleeping Gear:

Black diamond light-sabre bivy

Silk sleeping bad liner


Emergency bivy sack


(slept in tights, hiking socks, t-shirt, jersey, jacket, shorts, hat, sometimes shoes)

Entertainment/Electronics:

Casio Exilim camera


Sandisk Sansa mp3 player with arm band


Two spare camera batteries


Several spare AA and AAA batteries for mp3 player and lights


Spare SD card

Personal Care:

Travel size (compact) toothbrush


Very small tube of toothpaste


One small razor (stepped on it outside Yarmouth by accident and left half of it behind)


Emptied small tube of toothpaste filled with shampoo (all purpose soap)


Emptied lip balm container filled with sunscreen


Quick dry towel (about 8"x8")

Three bug repelling wipes
Several magnesium pills (for sore muscles)

Tools and Repair:

Multi-tool

Two spare lightweight tubes

Tube patch kit

Frame pump attached to my chainstay

Two tire boots


Needle and thread


Spare cleats

Food and Drink:

Several Cliff bars

Several packages of Emergen-C

Six water purification tablets

(most food and drink bought along the way)

Identification ect:

Driver's license


Birth Certificate


Travel insurance card


Debit card


Visa card


Canadian and American calling cards


Homemade maps

Storage:

Jandd Mountain Wedge saddle bag


Jandd bento-box style bag (sits behind the steer tube and hold camera, money, other often used things)


Bivy and poles stuffed into bivy pole bag and strapped to top tube


Two water bottles


Jersey pockets for food and change

Musett bag for carrying things like a meal to a campsite or whatever

So I had fourteen days off work beginning August 17th but after staying up late preparing the night before I woke up very tired and still not feeling fully prepared, so I decided to wait until the next day. While sleeping in late I got a call from my friend Adrian who I hadn't seen in some time, he wanted to know if I wanted to go out for a ride. I told him about my trip and invited him to come part way. I stayed at his place that night so we could leave very early the next morning.

Day 1: Haifax to Digby (240km)

We left at about 7:00 Atlantic time on August 18th and as soon as we walked out the door it began to poor. Adrian rides a big mountain bike with slicks and panniers, it weighed a lot more and is older so it wasn't in as good of repair, so we took a slower pace than I'm used to. I didn't mind, it was probably good to start with a good warm up. The rain made the ride very cold at times and about halfway there Adrian's bike caused him enough problems that he decided to turn back and get a drive home. I pressed on and got to my sister's house in Digby by 7 or 8:00pm. I was able to get a good rest, good food, get my clothes washed and dried, and hang out with my sister and her husband at their new place.

A good NS road after the rain let up (with hills up ahead)

Day 2: Digby to Yarmouth (and Yarmouth to Portland, ME by ferry) (115km)

I had to be to Yarmouth by 3:00pm Atlantic to catch the Cat ferry which I had booked ahead of time, I meant to leave earlier but I didn't get out until 10:00 but I got there by 2:00pm anyhow. The ferry ride was comfortable (except walking around the hard wood floors in my bike shoes while the ship swayed back and fourth). I didn't get into Portland and through customs until about 11:00pm Atlantic (10:00pm Eastern). I stayed at the Inn at St. John's which was very comfortable and not very expensive.

View from the rear of the Cat Ferry

Day 3 and 4: Portland into the Adirondacks (527km)

I had a good continental breakfast and took off from the Inn at about 9:00 Eastern. I got a little lost getting out of Portland but soon got back on track again. I first got acquainted with the roads though rural US and was very impressed, the roads were for the most part clean and smooth and had shoulders wide enough to drive a bus through. In NS I never ride on the shoulder as if there even is one, it's usually less than a foot wide and covered with debris so it took a little time to get used to but I've never felt so safe on the road. I reached Plymouth NH by about 5:00pm Eastern and decided to stop off at a local health food store, Peppercorn's, for supper. The people there were extremely nice and had really good food and one of the staff members told me she was planning a road trip to NS. I then stopped by Rhino Bike Works to get my bike looked at quickly, all I really needed was a little chain oil. They were also very helpful. I pressed on towards Vermont and for one of the first times left hwy 25 for a shortcut on some back roads. The road I took was pretty much uphill the entire way and at one point stopped for a rest. While resting a nice gentleman stopped to make sure if I was ok, he told me the shortcut I was taking was probably not a good one and could end up a gravel or even blocked road. I took his advice and turned around for hwy 25 again with little direction through Vermont. At about 10pm I reached the colonial town of Fairlee just over the border of Vermont and decided it was time to find a place to camp. I cycled around the town and the most suitable place I could find was a golf course and thought it probably wouldn't be a good idea to set up my bivy in case I had to move quickly, so I got into my silk liner and then into my emergency bivy sack. As the night went on it got colder and colder and after getting somewhere around two hours sleep I decided it would be safer to get back on my bike to keep myself warm rather than staying awake burning energy keeping off the cold and risking hypothermia.

Wide clean shoulders
New Hampshire State Line
More awesome road

This store sold more than sandwiches they had pizza too

I got back on the bike at about 3am and headed westward, not exactly sure where I was going. I moved along fairly slowly and still very cold. By about 5am I reached the town of Orange and stopped at a gas station that had some good food, coffee, and maps for sale. When I took off the sun was just beginning to rise and I past a scene of rolling hills with low lying mists that look like it was straight off the cover of a fantasy novel. I tried snapping a few pictures but soon after my camera turned off and refused to turn back on again or even retract its shudder. That made for the ed of all pictures along my journey, not that I had taken many anyhow. Neither New Hampshire nor Vermont were as hilly as expected, the few hills there were were very steep but very fulfilling to climb, and the twisting roads made the descents a lot of fun. Had a couple of cookies and drink from a couple of young girls running a lemonade stand. I reached the edge of Vermont by early afternoon where I waited to cross Lake Champlain on the second ferry of my journey, on the ferry I got a little cleaned up and had a little chat with a little boy that couldn't figure out me why I didn't take a bus or plane to Toronto. In Essex NY I stopped to eat at a nice restaurant and got directions to Elizabethtown so I could get back on my original map. On the way there I was descending nicely down a hill when I noticed the hill had a 90 degree turn at the very end. I didn't make the turn and flipped into the ditch, but apart from a few scrapes and a bit of dizziness I was fine, and my bike only suffered from a bit of ripped bar tape. So I pressed on. Once I got back on the highway there were once again wide shoulders and the hills really started. At one point I thought I was on a flat and started to panic thinking there was something wrong with my bike or me but after getting off I realized I'd been on a slight uphill for several kilometers and it continued on for several more. It all payed off when I reached the top and had one steep hill to descend reaching nearly 80km/h. There was another big hill into Lake Placid where I stopped off at a local trail and bike shop to get some advice about the road ahead and pick up a map of the area. On their advice I decided to complete the major hills of the trip that day by getting to at least Tupper Lake. In Tupper Lake I got a large sub for supper and started looking for a place to set up camp, I must have passed by the site mentioned to me by the guys at the bike shop and found it difficult to find a good place. At one point I stopped to look at my map when I young man in a pickup asked if I needed directions. He pointed across the road and told me that the building there was an old pump house which is rarely used and no one would bother me all night. It turned out to be perfect, well lit enough to set up my bivy and good grass to make for a comfortable night.

The last few pictures taken:

Day 5 (and four hours): Adirondacks to Toronto (470km)

I got in my bivy by about 11:00pm and got going the next morning by about 7am. I had camped somewhere between Tupper Lake and Cranberry Lake. When I reached Cranberry Lake some locals told me the road ahead was under construction and may have sections of gravel, I had been panning on taking a shortcut around that section anyhow and they told me it was a good one. I reached Watertown by the afternoon and was not impressed by the city, it was very run down and the very first person I saw was a young man holding a golf club, he didn't look like much of a golfer. I decided to get out without stopping. Highway 12E was a pretty terrible road to ride, narrow and in disrepair, it only got a little better as I approached Cape Vincent. In Cape Vincent I waited for a few minutes to get on the ferry to Wolfe Island ON CANADA! The cost was 2$ and was a very short ride. Wolfe Island was about 10km long and was able to catch the ferry to Kingston at 4:00pm. This was a free ride but longer and I got to get cleaned up pretty well and get changed in the restroom. I was standing behind Bruce Cockburn on most of the ride (I didn't talk to him, I don't really like his music so it would be a bit [even more] awkward). Got a bit lost trying to get out of Kingston but when I did I stopped at a gas station for some food and started talking to the man behind the counter, we estimated the distance to Toronto from there to be somewhere around 250kms, it was about 6:00 at the time but I decided I was going to try to press on through the night as long as I could. I increased the amount of coffee I was drinking and lasted until somewhere around Brighton where I decided I should take a nap. I stopped at a grocery store which has closed for the night and got in my silk liner on the lawn for about an hour long nap. I continued on to somewhere around Port Hope where I had about a half hour nap directly on the grass of another store which was closed for the night. At one point the sky began to flash and I thought I might be hallucinating but soon I realized it was lightning but there was no thunder or rain. The sun came up when I was just outside of Oshawa and became the most difficult part of the ride. My knees began to really hurt and traffic became heavier and heavier and I got into more populated areas and closer to rush hour, drivers pass very close and I was too tired to try to keep up or figure out a better riding position. I reached my friend Victoria's flat by 10:00am Thursday morning making my ride 5 days 4 hours in total and 1350kms. Also the ride from Portland Maine to Toronto was approximately 1000kms and about 73 hours which is under the 1000km brevet time limit of 75 hours which I wasn't trying for but am glad I accomplished.

Stay in Toronto: 9 days

When I got into Toronto I was extremely tired, hungry, and dirty. It was difficult to figure out what I should take care of first so I ended up ordering an extra large pizza which I ate in the bath until I fell asleep. I woke up completely shriveled, cleaned up a bit more, and ate the rest of the pizza. I found some jeans and a pair of sandals in the house the fit me and later went downtown and bought some new clothes. From then on I went out almost every night, ate lots great fatty/sugary food during the day (including one day where I spent several hours going from bakery to bakery eating a new pastry at each one), and I hardly rode my bike at all. From the time I left Halifax until the time I returned I actually gained five pounds. I saw some great bands (and a few lousy ones) and met some great people. I decided to fly home and found a flight for about 185$ but otherwise spent whatever I felt like. When I did get home I found an unexpected cheque in the mail for a job that just ended for about 340$ that covered a lot of my costs.

Costs (travel out):

Ferry to Portland $127.67 + Ferry to Essex NY $4.72 + Ferry to Wolfe Island $2.10 = $134.49

Accommodations: Inn at St. John in Portland $103.91

Food and Drink (plus calling card and unaccounted for): $108

Parts and Repair: New rear light $18.78 + approx. cost of wear (tires and bar tape) $43 = $61.78

Total: Approximately $408.18 or about 24 cents per km ($0.40 USD per mile)

That's about all I can think about now, probably more than you wanted to know but that's the nature of a blog isn't it?