Tryin'
Permanent #203, 209 km
Ride date: November 3, 2019
by Mike Hagen

That took awhile. Two hours of stoppage time! Before we even started I found one of my cleats broken, so a 15 minute delay while I swapped that out. We both had tired legs; me from the gravel permanent Thursday, Dave from a tough hike last week. But traffic stops on the main roads through Vancouver, Richmond, and Surrey really slowed us down.

I routed us along a couple of obscure roads in Richmond: Finn Road west of No. 3 Rd was a grassy track through a farmers field before turning to a muddy dirt road. 'Course, I slipped on the mud and went down, knocking my handlebars out of kilter in the process. So out with the multi-tool to fix that. Monteith Road west of Gilbert also started as a grassy track through a farmers field, but at least it turned to nice pavement.

Most of the main roads that we usually avoid because of heavy traffic proved to be okay. The bike lanes were adequate except for a stretch on 64th Ave in Surrey where the lane was too narrow, and 200th St at Walnut Grove where there was just too much traffic. On the flip side, 192nd St south of Colebrook Road is going to be a gem once reconstruction is finished.

We stopped for a meal at the Timmy's at 56th and 264th. Dave did a lot better after something to eat, and I enjoyed my Country Sausage Wrap - just a fancy name for a hot dog.