Interlakes 400
Organizer's Report - Ride Date: May 27, 2017
by Bob Goodison

There was an extremely low turnout of only two riders for the Interlakes 400- just me and Graham Fishlock. That's a shame, as conditions were near perfect. Minimal winds- more often favourable than not, a low of 7 C and high of around 32 C (despite the 36 C my Garmin registered while in direct sunlight). Road conditions were much better than I remembered, except for a short, very bad section of frost heaves near Bridge Lake. Lot's of climbing (3611 m or 3817 m depending on whether you believe Garmin Connect or Strava, big, exciting descents and beautiful scenery, with too many lakes to count. Traffic was light, and we encountered nothing but courteous drivers . We saw very little wildlife, but lots of birds, the highlight being three blue herons. Our elapsed time of 20:20 makes it sound tougher than it was. In reality, my on-bike time was 17:25. We spent a lot of time sampling food and testing benches and picnic tables along the way. The Interlake Market, at the junction of Horse Lake Road & Hwy 24 has a great deli section. Their macaroni salad with cheddar and bacon was exactly what I needed. Of particular interest to those riding the P to P series- the 70 Mile General Store makes a delicious and enormous egg salad croissant, and has really good ice cream. The icing on the cake was the spectacular display of northern lights as we rode the last 15 km in the warm, dry evening.

Thanks for the company, Graham! For those who missed it, you might get another crack at it next year.