Newsletter - 2001 Archive

BC Randonneurs Cycling Club

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Eric writes:
Chris Siggers and his son Jay provided great support on the South Okanagan/North Cascades 1000 km in late June. But in randonneuring, even riding support, you can't count on everything running to plan. Sometimes riding support can be an adventure of its own. Here is an e-mail Chris sent before he knew the full story of his riders' safe return.

Chris wrote:
I trust you both (John and Danelle) completed the 1000 km brevet this past weekend without too many regrets? Sorry about the screws that got loose in Bellingham. We hammered our way into Bellingham arriving at the service station on the Southwest corner of 12th and Donovan (aka Old Fairhaven Parkway) around 16:00(?) No sign of Eric, so left a message and plunged on to locate the Royal Fork Buffet, etc. as agreed. Unfortunately, the Royal Fork in Bellingham is only a distant memory; it closed about five years ago, presumably since this form of culinary entertainment is going out of style We hustled back to the service station but the attendant had no news and didn't know of any suitable dining alternatives. An elderly gentleman who overheard our conversation volunteered that there was a buffet diner on Coast Meridian, just south of the Costco Wholesale which we might consider, so we rushed off a second time to investigate. It took sometime to locate it but we did find it and it looked quite suitable so we rushed back a second time and waited patiently until about 18:15, but no sign of anyone! Finally, we decided to retrace our route to Sedro Wooley, which eliminated the possibility that you had become stranded and simply returned to the final control and left your vehicle, etc. Unfortunately, the K&D closes at midnight Sundays, so I drove back after 23:00 and verified that your vehicle had been picked up, etc. so I assume that everything worked out in the end. I suspect that in all our scrambling around to locate a suitable joint for supper we probably missed John and Danelle as well as Eric(?) Similar problems were encountered on the Cross Canada Tour, but that's another story that I will share with you later if you're interested.

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