Mainland "make-up brevets" Report
200, 300, 400 & 600 - August 23-24
by Harold Bridge

Including pre-rides, an entry of 33 can be considered a success. The concept of having 4 events on the same routes at the same time is not strictly in line with with ACP rules I believe. But their situation is somewhat different to ours and the idea of staggering the starts by 10 minutes does alleviate the "crime" . At 07:00 the 10 "600" rideirs went on their way, followed at 07:10 by 3 "400" riders, 5 "300" riders at 07:20 and lastly, the 10 "200" riders at 07:30.

The weekend lived up to the weather forecast which meant the "Make-Up" riders mostly missed the rain whereas the "600" riders got a wet Sunday. For several years the MU weekend centred upon the Petro Can on 228th St @ #7 in Haney. But #7 is now very busy and having found the Lion's Seniors' Hall in Fort Langley we dreamed up 4 revised routes that all start & finish there. A big plus was that the southern portion of the "600" returned to the Hall at about the ideal 60% point. Ideal for those who feel the need for sleep during a "600".

To observe the rule about only using a road twice, once in each direction, the Glover Road way out / way in was used on Saturday (or very early Sunday) while the River Road/240th Street was used on Sunday. By using 80th Av & Telegraph Trail early Sunday we just avoided the conflict at 72nd Av & 248th Street. Saturday's route went east on 72 and south on 248. That same corner was used on Sunday with the riders coming SE on Telegraph Trail & turning left at 72.

Unfortuneately, I failed to add a note "NO SIGN" at the 3.4 km point on the route sheet where the route turns off 232 onto 72. But with a clearly marked "Left Turn" lane on th road at the appropriate location, I was rather surprised at how many people missed the turn.

As organiser I tend to think in terms of route sheets and control cards. With a hall in which to leave bedding & food I assumed riders would be lookng after themselves. But luckily, Ali & Roger Holt had a whole pile of left overs from the RM 1200, as well as foamies & blankets.They saved the day I think. I am not in least bit offended that they took my event over! Where would we be without the Holts?

My thanks to Ali, Roger, Keith Fletcher, his sister-in-law June, Tracy Barill and Barry Chase for their assitance in this event.

September 4, 2008