A Lovely Day for a Ride
Permanent #27
by Guido van Duyn

After seeing the various Permanent results, reports and photos of fellow BC Randonneurs, I decided to organize an Open Permanent for the Sunday [Feb 10] of the new BC Family Day long weekend. The weather looked very promising and as I now live in Maple Ridge I chose the Alex Pope designed route #27 which travels from Maple Ridge to Sedro Wooley via the Sumas border crossing. The weather proved to be exactly as forecast though a little cold in morning as I headed down to the start to meet up with Jeff Mudrakoff. We set off at 0715 just as the sun was coming up and made our way eastward on the Lougheed Hwy and then south over the Mission bridge through Abbotsford via Riverside road down to the Sumas border crossing. The section from Sumas to Nugent’s Corner is very pleasant, quiet country roads and picturesque views of meadows and mountains to the east. Hwy #9 and the short section of #542 have a little more traffic but are still very nice to ride, I noticed the turn off to Whatcom Lake and it reminded me of how miserable I felt riding this section of Hwy#9 north last year during the second morning of the Summer 600. I had been riding with Barry Chase since the sleep stop and he had been bounding ahead and had waited at Hwy#9 and the Whatcom turn off for me to catch up. I’ve been riding long enough now that these roads are becoming somewhat familiar and it was great to get out for a ride on such a lovely February day!

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February 12, 2013