Hardly a Ramble
Permanent 60 Ride Report
by Doug Fox

Well, I’ve made plenty of fresh tracks in new snow over the years, but none on a road bike, so it was a tad tentatively that I headed down the back side of Green Mountain Road in a fresh blanket of the white stuff, all the cars on the road having turned off at the top to head for the Apex lifts. ‘I’ll just try the first steepish bit and see how it goes’ I thought and, after not wrapping myself around a tree, or enlarging the roadside ditch, or making a bouquet of snow angels on the road, I finally found bare pavement again after about 7km of nerve racking tip toeing down the road. Mind you, it was still raining and freezing cold, just like on the way up, so it was a relief to get to the 1st Control in Keremeos where I could thaw my claws into hands again. Nothing I could do about the lost time though, as if that matters.

After the thaw, I headed for the Rollers and Richter Pass, which I duly slogged up (they never get any easier) and arrived in Osoyoos for a welcome coffee and sandwich (and a few sidelong looks from a group of Penticton roadies). A bit of a tailwind made the trip to Oliver passable but then the hills started again (who built this route anyways?) and they had my number today….took an age to get to Twin Lakes and the 3rd Control, where I downed some chocolate milk before heading downhill to OK Falls and then into what was now a brisk headwind; fortunately though, only for a few klicks before a I turned North and headed for home with a (now) brisk tailwind. Tim Horton’s and the final Control was a welcome sight. Awesome day.

Try the route, you’ll love it, but wait for fresh snow.

Ride date: March 27, 2011
Go to: Permanents Results

March 28, 2011