Newsletter - 2000 Archive

BC Randonneurs Cycling Club

Next--->   

It didn't really seem like a real randonnee ride - it wasn't pouring rain or threatening to snow - none of that. And I didn't even have to have my own bike there. All I had to do was show up in Haney a little early and help with registration and everything else was taken care of.

8 people registered for the 200, 4 for the 300, and 4 for the 400. The routes followed the same course through Mission and down Highway 9 until Sedro Woolley where the 200's turned around, the 300's turned around at Concrete with the 400's continuing out to Arlington, Mount Vernon and around Lake Samish before heading back to Haney. The weather was great for everyone and there were no casualties.

And personally, my ride was spectacular. This was my tandem debut (yes - another tandem slut in the making). John Bates and I had borrowed a tandem from a friend of his, John did some work on it and made some adjustments, we had a trial run out to Horseshoe Bay and up Cypress (about 40 km) and figured we were ready for the 400 - why not? We needed to do a 400 anyway after staying overnight in Whistler on the D'Arcy ride, what the heck? - let's try it. I figured we would either do fine or not be speaking to each other by the end of the ride.

Well, it turned out great. We started later than everyone by about 45 mins because we were doing the registration. John seems to like doing that anyway. I think it is because he then gets to talk to everyone as he motors on. And that is exactly what we did, gradually catching up with everyone, chatting to them and at the same time, getting used to the tandem. John had never captained a tandem before and I had very limited experience as a stoker. But we got the hang of it quite quickly and also started to realize why people like it so much - it's fun.

We were lucky that our route did not include the Chuckanut as the 600's did as that construction might have provided us with a challenge, but otherwise, the route was straight-forward and things went really well. We jockeyed back and forth with Barb Henninger and Keith Fletcher between Sedro and Mt. Vernon, but in the dark we had the advantage and ended up finishing up ahead of them.

That 400 was definitely my favourite ride of the season and I am looking forward to doing "not a single ride" in 2001.

See you on the road!

_