Cowichan Populaire 2023 Ride Report
(50, 100 and 161 km Routes)
Ride Date: June 10, 2023
by Mark Payten

As late as the evening before, the ride forecast was for the rain to stop by 9 am. Driving over Malahat Drive at 7 am through the rain and fog, it did not seem likely. But I was hopeful.

There were twenty-eight registrants for the first event, the 161 km distance. Six chose not to make it to the start. So, the intrepid twenty-two riders set out in the pouring rain. As a testament to their tenacity, eighteen of them crossed the finish line.

Seventy-one riders had registered for the metric century. Eleven had originally chosen to ride the fifty km route. The riders lists for the two events are difficult to decipher as participants did not show up to start, or switched from the hundred to the fifty km route, either before the event started, or as they passed the Cobblestone pub at the 32 km point in both rides. It is a good reason to keep the routes similar.

Eleven riders registered for the 50 km. Twenty-three cyclists ultimately finished with a 50 km control card. The metric century should have had seventy-five randonneurs. At the end, only nineteen completed the course successfully. Of the 111 registrants, sixty-five finished! Most incredibly, the reactions of the finishing riders were extremely positive!

I would like to thank the seventeen volunteers without whom this event would not have happened. The Island was blanketed with posters in appropriate venues up and down the Island. The riders did not see Rob Nygren in Courtney or Peter Stary in Parksville or Amir Heydari. But they were responsible for distributing posters in their areas. Many of the event day volunteers also helped with poster delivery in greater Victoria as well. They were Dug Andrusiek, Bernie Barreyre, Buddy Bhandar, John Coyne, Mark Ford, Fred Fowler, Melissa Haynes, Stephen Hinde, Carol Hinde, Paul Hovey, Joyce (Rosie) LaRose, Dave Macmurchie, Louise Proulx and Sandy Szabo.

A big thank you goes out to the Cobblestone Pub who gave us the use of the parking lot, our own room for changing, a separate room for socializing and sixty beverage tickets to get us started! Russell Farms and the Glenora Store also provided space and shelter for the metric century and century riders. When you are in the area, please stop in and say thanks!