February Flood Route
Permanent #216 "Chilliwack Flood Route", 200 km
February 17, 2023
by Karen Smith

Permanent 216
Feb 17, 2023
200 km
10 hrs 49 min

Feb 17th seemed like my last chance for a February Permanent before the forecasted "increasing rain then colder weather" was to arrive.
It was to be cold in the morning, but the rain was supposed to stop by 0700 hrs. I have become a fair-weather cyclist, but I could do a cold, dry day...
I woke up to snow on the ground! Oh no! Do I still go?
To make it worse, it was 1 degree and raining...
The beauty of Permanents is that you can pick your day.
I would not pick this day!
But I thought I'd try it, it's going to be much colder next week, and if it was unsafe or if I was too uncomfortable, I'd turn around and come home.

So I cautiously set out just before 7 am on snowy roads.
I didn't have any slippery spots until 1.5 hrs in, on Ballam Rd, where I had to walk about 50 metres in thick slushy snow.
The snow was gone from the roads after about 3 hours.

Early in the ride, I had some beautiful scenes of white fields with low lying white foggy clouds against a white sky. All various shades of white.
Sounds boring with all that white, but it was really serene and beautiful and I was riding in it!

Remember the rain was supposed to stop by 7 am.
But it rained on and off ALL day, and was more ON than off!
I wore wool tights, and Gortex socks.
For the first hour my thighs were cold. I should have worn my Gortex pants!
I came home twice for Controls. The first time I said to Michel that my arms were wet.
Why aren't you wearing your new Gortex jacket? he asked. I forgot!
I switched to my new jacket and stayed completely dry.
So really, I was quite comfortable all day.
Maybe I won't be such a fair-weather cyclist in the future.

The worst part of riding in the rain, is how dirty your bike gets. Mine was filthy!
And, I had forgotten how difficult it is to take off Gortex socks...

Traffic was light.
No flats or mechanicals.

: )
K