My pal Dallas' take on his crazy 700km race a couple of days ago:
700km off road ride - Timeline of events
- 7:00am - Official event start - GPS on. Pumped, nervous, prepared.
- 7:05 - Dallas leads out the group (maybe 40 riders?)
- 7:10 - Keith Bayly attacks
- 7:15 - Ryan Correy counters
- 7:20 - Dallas follows two guys for 50km
- 9:30 - Dallas passes Ryan, then Keith
- Raining most of the time off and on, but no road dust
- 12: ish - Dallas breaks front shifter - can no longer switch from Big to little ring. Have to use barrel adjuster and manual cable pulling for rest of event to switch front derailleur.
- 1pm - thunder and lightning - praise Odin
- 2:23 - Arrive in Nordegg @ Km 176 - realize GPS is not turned on. Ryan Correy skips 6km detour to Nordegg feed zone and continues on route, passes Dallas. Also there's a power outage in Nordegg so I had to eat Mr. Noodles with cold water. Saw two long time best buddies in Nordegg.
- 2:40 - out to course, see Keith riding into Nordegg, looking strong
- 3:00pm - pass Ryan Correy having a break
- 11:20 ish Cateye headlight blows the bulb - down to backup light for the rest of ride (yes I have a backup headlight) (was not using my Radical-lights as there's only 3 hours of darkness this time of year)
- 12;00 midnight, get a flat tire. Getting tired, dog##### the tire change.. look behind me and see a cycle headlight, don't know who it is.
- 12:01 - drop the hammer
-2am ish - two huge owls fly and scare me from road side sitting on fence post - thought they were pterodactyls or something
- 4:am ish @435km - riding through Morley Rez - get chased by rez dogs on cue - I take the sprint.
- 4:30am - +3 temps and major headwind into Canmore as sun rises - thinking about A&W Ham n Eggers
- 6am - get to Canmore - A&W not open, this is bull####, cry a little bit. Go to Macs - spend $27 at Macs. Check messages and Tracker page.
- 7am (24 hours ride time) push my bike up the Spray Lakes hill, just cant ride anymore with sore knees, tired, broken shifter issues, push, push, push
- 8ish- see Eric Harvie and friend up ahead, they keep jammign it so I cant close in. Ok then. See bueaty nice black bear eating grass, we have a smile and a wave.
- 8:30 - feeling tired. Sit in a slump on side of Spray road for 10 minutes, feels good. body relaxes a bit.
- 11am - get to Hwy 40 towards Highwood Pass - struggle to ride. my smallest gear is a 34 - 25, and its hard to push. So I walk alot, alot, fall down in grass, sleep 10 minutes, walk some more. Look back and see two cyclists coming up the road, "it's Ryan and Keith?".. drop the hammer over the Summit. - it was actually Eric Harvie and his friend, I think.
- 2pm - get to Highwood House - it's closed, fill two water bottles in the Highwood. Start gravel grinding again, sun is out, it's really hot. I've been awake for 33 hours.
- 4pm. hating life. this road sucks. gravel on gravel on gravel. dip my head in some creeks. forge on.
- reach summit of whatever this place, very beautiful scenery - Livingstone River, Oldman River, creeks upon creeks... gravel.
- lots of walking - have not realized GPS went out again. thinking about food, saw an elephant in the bushes and it really scared me.
- 6pm - More gravel - 35km to go. lots of walking. lots of gravel.
- 9pm ish - roll into Rum Runners and Coleman - 39 hours travel time. Buddy Gord Mounce is there to greet me. Buys me a beer. Life is grand. Commence ordering deep fried pickles, wings and large pizza. Awake for 41 hours.
- 1st Place.
