Steve at the Langford control on the pre-ride
Photo: Melissa Haynes

My HAA 300 Pre-ride story ;)
"The Hills Are Alive" 300 km ride-day volunteer on his pre-ride (Vancouver Island, April 13)
by Steve Mahovlic

It all started with a simple email from Jim Runkel:

"I am scheduling a pre-ride for the Hills 300 for Sat April 13. It would be really nice if: ..., Graham, Steve and Philip could join me for this.
We would then have enough support to put a man at each control
.....
Steve you do Millstream
.....
Anyway give it some thought and if you can commit ... If you were not planning on riding this 300 but still want to help at the control I put you on, let me know that too..."

A manned control close to home? I took the bait

You will enjoy it they said. A few quotes from our little ride from Wilson St. (Esquimalt), to Sidney, to Duncan, to Sooke and back.

"It will be sunny" & "You see, I helped you along" Jim.
"You're riding it with Jim and Philip? They stop at the best restaurants" Denise.
"Look at all the stars", & "It is coming off the trees" Philip.
"The effect is the same" Graham.
"I am barely hanging on" Steve.
"the only real rain we had was in Sidney for about 12 min and 20 sec." Jim

Through a clearer lense:
Yes Jim, it was sunny, for about 37 min and 12 seconds, but who keeps track of that? The push up the hill when I got in your way was appreciated. ;^)
Sorry, Denise, you were misled; Mac's Convenience, Mac's, Timmy's, Timmy's, & Subway. Apparently there is a caveat about 'high end' availability. :^(
Philip the sky cleared too late to extend Jim's prophesied sunshine. :^p
Graham was right, water delivered from on high still just gets you wetter and colder. :^|
Jim, I was referring to the internal battle between common sense and determination. As usual common sense thought it was not worth fighting over and left me alone with determination. (Explains why you see so little CS these days)
"real rain" - an island euphemism for water being driven at you sideways. For those of you struggling with the concept try standing in front of a firehose

As always the best part of the pre-ride was the company. :^D

Post HAA 300 event quote:
"totally good Karma" Melissa (the committed vicarius volunteer)
Referring to the quality of the organizing and support, the fact all riders completed a tough 300.

Come to think of it, they should rename it the Downhill 5,000 (meters that is). We all like bicycling downhill, Maybe even more riders will turn out..

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April 21, 2013