Subtitle: The year Ian made it to the end!
Winter is barely over in Calgary, and that means it’s time for our club’s homage to the Spring Classics in Europe: De Ronde van Cowtown. The weather was good, with sunshine all day, unfortunately, we started at -6 degrees and while it warmed up to about 8 degrees, the wind remained cold all day. I thought I would be able to remove layers at the break, but I stayed bundled up. The wind from the southeast was a bit of a challenge all day.
Ian and I headed out at 8:30 to meet Adam at the Arbour Lake bridge over Stoney Trail at 8:45. From there we met up with Paul and then Richard to make our way to the Telus Spark (a mere 22 km appetizer, not to mention climbing up from our house to the bridge).
Once at the Telus Spark, people gathered, and then organized into groups. We knew from years past that the groups would be fluid, especially as people dropped out. There were 62 to start, and only a dozen finished.
We headed out and hit the steep, short hills to start before the bigger, longer hills later. The worst of them is the Mur de Alley, a notorious bit of steep in Bridgeland. Ian managed to climb it this year! Look for him in blue at the end of the video clip. The fellow at the bottom fell as he lost traction, but he was okay.
The ride went well. I was expecting to see a whole lot more ice/melt across the pathways, but really there was only one spot in the tunnel under Shaganappi Trail where I had to put a foot down. The worst/most unexpected part was the amount of snow and ice on top of Nose Hill. There had been snow and ice on the sidewalk heading up Edgemont, but everything was clear on the trail until it turned into this:
We stopped at the gas station in Hidden Valley for “lunch” (half a pizza sub for me, a breakfast sandwich for Ian) and then climbed back over Edgemont and down through Varsity, Silver Springs and Scenic Acres before climbing the switchbacks up into Tuscany.
The ride itself elicits many emotions from all who participate. Chris Roy, one of the BCC Ambassadors, is the main instigator and designer of the course. I had some input on the route this year, but people still think of it as Chris’ ride. That can be both a good and bad thing:
This year, the informal stop at our house became an official stop. Tammy, Miranda and Ian all helped on the Friday to prepare everything for riders arriving in the afternoon. The piece de resistance was a triumphant return of stroopwafels, this time with homemade stroop. Miranda and Tammy worked together to get them done.
A lot of people bailed after this point, or only committed to climbing the last remaining first-category climb: COP. Ian’s gravel bike’s front derailleur had stopped working by the lunch stop, so he switched to his Cube for the second half. Unlike last year, where his body gave up at the stop, he vowed to continue on. I led out a group that had mostly evaporated by the time we reached the top of the Shaganappi Golf Course climb. It was down to Doug, Ian T., Ian B. and myself. Ian’s mechanical issues weren’t over for the day. When we started going down Patterson Boulevard, he heard a loud prang from his bike and stopped to investigate while the rest of us (oblivious) continued down and back up again. It turned out he’d broken a spoke. We did a little first aid and he was able to continue.
The remainder of the ride was the ambling south section, with a few painful climbs amid flatter sections. The last two (36th Ave. and Sandy Beach) tested Ian’s will to continue, but he made it without getting off and walking up.
Ian T. peeled off after Sandy Beach, leaving Ian, Doug and myself to finish by riding to Eau Claire downtown. I’d been texting with Tammy to arrange for a pickup. Neither Ian nor I were in any condition to ride all the way home again. We would have had to stop to get some food and drink because we were out. Tammy picked us up at the Eau Claire Market with Subway sandwiches, lingon berry water and Advil. 😆
In the end, it was 139.5 km and 1755 metres of climbing over 10 hours (8:30 to 6:30). It’s a marathon, and not for the faint of heart. I’m really proud of Ian for seeing it through. He talked a few times during the last stretch about wanting to meet the goal he’d set. When he broke his spoke, he said he’d felt a bit of happiness at the thought that it might be over, but mostly anger that he wasn’t going to finish because of his bike breaking. But we managed to fix it and he made it.
He spent about three hours in the tub after coming home.
There were many, many thank you’s from the riders who stopped at our home on the ride. Everyone was extremely grateful for the stop, and complimentary of the variety of things to eat and drink. There was something for everyone. Some photos that others took and shared on social media:
