On Thursday July 1st, I took my restored 1960 Flying Scot up to Fort
Langley to ride in the BC Randonneur's "Canada Day 137 Populaire". The
Canada Day Populaire celebrates the birthday of the Canadian federation
of provinces and the length of the ride increases by one kilometer each
year to coincide with the increase in age of the confederation. This
being the 137th anniversary of the birth of Canada, the 2004 ride
distance was 137 kilometers.
The randonee was a West - to- East - and - back ride, going east on a
route on the north side of the Trans-Canada Highway through Clayburn and
then up, up, and up to a control point at Straiton. From there we
plunged down a very steep hill, before turning east and zig-zagging our
way to Vedder. We returned from Vedder to Fort Langley, via Yarrow,
Huntingdon, and Aldergrove on the south side of the highway. The whole
ride was on good and mostly quiet roads. We had 9 railroad crossings to
pay attention to, some of them multi-track, but they were all relatively
smooth and easy to negotiate.
It was a beautiful ride. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the views
of the foothills east of Mission and Abbottsford, and the Mount Baker
region were spectacular. In addition, in the flat sections where there
are acres and acres ( shouldn't that be "hectares and hectares") of
raspberry farms , the air was permeated with the smell of raspberries
for many kilometers. On the other hand, as we rode through the areas
where there are cattle farms, the smells were reminiscent of those we
encounter on the West Snoqualmie Valley road.
For me, the toughest part was on the flat section from Yarrow to
Huntington. It should have been a breeze, but turned out to be a blast!
The blast was a very strong south-west wind that was blowing. It seemed
that no matter which direction I went, the wind was in my face. The
harder I pedaled, the stronger the wind became.
Every aspect of the ride was very well organized. From sign-up in the
morning to the finish in the afternoon, it went like clockwork, and
included a wide range of different kinds of great snacks at the controls
The Flying Scot did great. It looked and worked as great at the end of
the ride as it did in the beginning (Can't say the same for the rider!)
For the last few kilometers of the ride, the new B17 saddle began to
make its presence felt, but not enough to be any problem. I guess my
body was pre-programmed for a 137K ride and since (as you will read
below), I actually did 148 K, my rear end was protesting against the
additional distance that it had not contracted for.
Just to make the day complete, when I arrived back at Fort Langley, and
was approaching the finish line, a Pipe Band started up playing
"Scotland the Brave". I thanked the BC Randonneurs at the finish for
going to all that bother to hire a band just to greet me. None of them
had the heart to burst my bubble, and let me know that the Pipe Band was
part of the Canada Day celebration and would have been playing,
regardless of my presence or absence.
There was great interest in, and admiration for, the Flying Scot and the
beautiful restoration job. At the start, at the finish, and at every
control point people were inspecting it and asking questions. It was
nice to be among a group of people who had empathy for the tradition,
and could relate to the workmanship that went into the original build,
and into the restoration. When I told people that Bob Freeman and the
people at Elliott Bay Cycles had done most of the restoration work, I
was quite surprised at number of people who already knew about the great
work that they do. I should already have known that would happen.
My elapsed time for the ride was not too good because of several actions
on my part.
The first action was really stupid.
The day before the ride, I got myself fully hydrated, and totally
waterlogged. Then, on the day of the ride I got up, got my breakfast at
4:00am. Without even thinking, I did what I do every day before going
to work, I took my blood-pressure tablet. Then I began the early
morning drive to Fort Langley. Well, the tablet did it's thing, and as
a result, I had to stop at a couple of Freeway Rest Stops on the way up
(Three to be precise, north of Marysville, south of Lake Sammish, and
just before the Border crossing). By the time I got to Fort Langley, I
was dehydrated to the max, and was as dry as the Gobi Desert. It is
nice to know that the tablet does what it is supposed to do. But,
starting out on a long ride in a dehydrated condition is not a good
idea, as I found out later on. The irony of this situation was that
the BC Randonneurs had thoughtfully arranged that there would be
Restroom facilities at all the control points, and here was me, unable
take advantage of their hospitality. I felt so bad about not being able
to make a contribution, after all their effort.
The second thing that affected my elapsed time was that somehow while
looking for a shop that purportedly sells absolutely super ice cream, I
missed a vital turn, before the Huntingdon control point and screwed
around for about thirty minutes before I got going in the right
direction. Every time I stopped to ask someone for directions, it
turned out they were visitors from somewhere else, out celebrating
Canada Day and had no idea. So I earned a few bonus kilometers as a
reward for not paying attention. I rode 148K rather than 137K. Which
raises the question, "Since I have already done 148K, am I exempt until
the year 2016?" I cannot tell you whether the ice cream was as-good-as-advertised, because I never found the ice cream shop.
The last and happy reason for the long elapsed time was that the BC
Randonnuers who operated the control points were so friendly, and
interesting to talk too, I spent much more time talking at the various
control points than I should. But, it wasn't a race, so it was worth
it. I met a lot of very nice and interesting people.
I enjoyed the ride. I hope to be able to do it again next year. All birthday celebrations should be as good as this one.
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