Jim and Joel's Victoria Populaire
by Jim Runkel

This was a very special ride for me. My son, Joel, who is 11 years old, wanted to do the 50k route this year. So I got the tandem out and agreed to ride this with him. And ride we did. The day was spectacular and the crowd that came out was enthusiastic. We met at UVIC to start. The volunteers had everything organized and so at 10am we were released. We had an immediate technical issue when one of Joels shoe laces got caught in the chain. Philip had agreed to ride the 50k and so once we got the lace issue sorted we were off and going strong. We soon caught back up to Philip. We were greeted at the first control by Holland. I had Joel look after the control cards to give him a sense of how the process worked. After a cookie we moved on. Joel ran low and gas so we dug out a Vega endurance bar and he ate on the go. Never once were his feet off the pedals and we powered up and down the hills. Soon we made the last control at Matticks Farm...another fuel stop for Joel and then we got the last section done. Back to UVIC we went. It was a great feeling to see my BOY get his first Rando pin (besides his Volunteer pins). A big thanks to Dave and the entire volunteer team for a great event. And Dave you can organize every year as the WEATHER you organized for us was the BEST.

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March 27, 2012