Le Petit Tour de Peace
Peace 300 km - May 12, 2012
by Christine Kraayvanger

Well, I have to say that I learned more in the ~ 50 km of this ride that I managed to complete, than in the 200 finished 3 weeks ago... Things I learned include:

... eating something different for breakfast at 4 am, even if it is a "treat", is not a good idea.
... not sleeping well for the three nights prior to a 300 km ride is not ideal.
... even if I want to try and keep up with the group at the start, so as to maybe have people to ride with in the headwind, I still need to remember to eat & drink (therefore even more important that breakfast goes down well!).
... I need to do more long rides (not brevets), to experiment with what food works. Carrying almost enough of everything (ie. real food & non-food), is too much unneccesary weight.
... the weight of the seat-post mounted rack & rack pack is enough to slow me down (particularly when carrying too much food, and breakfast doesn't sit well). Need to train with the weight & work on food.
... keeping up is probably not worth it.

and...

... it's surprising how good it feels to have a mechanical breakdown to blame your dnf on, when in fact you have large doubts about whether or not you could have finished the ride otherwise.

My bike (one & only road bike), is now in the bike shop 120 km away (it was on my way home). If I'm lucky, the fellows there will be able to heat & bend my rear derailleur hanger back into alignment tomorrow, and replace the broken small front chain-ring, so I am good to go again. Worst-case? A new bike. Even if I get lucky though, I think I have to look at switching from my triple crank to a compact double... the likely cause of the problem.

So there you have it... hopefully I'm a smarter person for the experience. And now I get to go look at the schedule again & figure out where & when I can try a 300 again! My thanks to Wim & Ricky Kok for all the help & hospitality. I'm already looking forward to getting back up to Fort St. John to finish the ride.

Christine Kraayvanger
Quesnel

Go to: Results

May 14, 2012