Weakened Warriors 2025
2025 Flèche Pacifique
Ride dates: May 2-3, 2025
by Bob Goodison

Earlier this spring I contacted Paul, Dave and Russel to let them know I was not interested in doing our usual route into Washington this year. They agreed, and Paul put together a route for us covering much of the Lower Mainland, with a stop for breakfast at Russel's house at roughly the midpoint. We delayed our start to 7:00 PM because Dave had to work on Friday. Then, Russel had to bow out because of dental surgery just before the ride, but offered to make breakfast for us anyway. We had a new face on the team this year, Thai Nguyen from the Seattle Randonneurs.

All went well for a couple of blocks. Then Dave discovered he had left his rain jacket behind. It was aa good thing he went back for it, considering what was to come. Back on the road again, we were about 60 km in, very windy, but not yet raining, a vehicle pulled up beside and said a cyclist back there was having troubles. We had not noticed we had lost Thai. About a kilometre back, there he was, looking for his dropped control card in the ditch. He had seen it blow away in the wind from a passing truck, and the with the persistent South wind, it could have gone anywhere. Luckily somehow we found it in the dark, and were underway again.

It started to drizzle as we climbed the Vye Rd. hill, so we took advantage of the lighting at a gas station to put on rain gear. By the time we left there it was pouring. Despite the rain, it was a pleasant enough ride through the night. We ventured a bit off route to a 24 hour A&W, and spent quite a bit of time there eating and waiting for the rain to stop, or at least ease up. It did not. We were cold when we left, but it didn't take long to warm back up.

Our next challenge was when we found Burns Drive closed for construction. Looking at the map now, I can see how easy it would have been to backtrack and bypass it, but we foolishly decided to go through. Lots of mud and gravel, some rideable, some not, but we made it through to the other side in one piece. Eventually, the rain stopped and daylight arrived.

We arrived at Russel's house at about 6 Am. He had prepared an outstanding feast for us: french toast, blueberry pancakes, bacon, fruit, and really good coffee. I had a dry set of clothes and changed into them. Dave put his in the dryer. By the time we were done, Russel had cleaned and lubed our chains for us. Wow!

It was now a beautiful morning and met hundreds of cyclists on Marine Drive. Once we were headed east again, we had a nice tailwind. We had an unplanned detour when we found the road closed at the Ruskin Dam, but it didn't change anything that mattered. At Mission we met a young touring rider named Stephen who asked if he could ride with us for a while- which was fine with us. Eventually he dropped off the back We also met someone we had managed to offend in some way, and once he was done with his rant, we continued with our wonderful tailwind.

At Deroche, the Lougheed Hwy bridge was closed due to an accident. It had been closed for hours, and it looked like it would be for several more. We had less than no desire to backtrack to Mission in what would be a horrible headwind. We did remember a road we had used several years ago: a mix of pavement and gravel, that would bypass the closure and take us to Lake Errock. Stephen rejoined us as we were sorting it out. After much riding back and forth, up and down and asking locals (who gave us unhelpful information), we determined we had got the wrong road. The one we wanted was 500m further east. After a fun mixed surface ride we were back on the Lougheed, still with a tailwind, but now with no traffic due to the closure.

Having lost a bunch of time, our anticipated rest stop at our 22 hour control in Harrison Hot Springs did not happen. We signed our cards and headed for the finish, a shower and a great meal at the finish hotel. Another great Fleche done! Already looking forward to next year. Hopefully Russel will join us. One of the things I love about the Fleche is the fact that the team stays together. For that reason it is important to have riders with compatible speeds. We knew Paul, Dave and I worked well together, and Thai proved to be a perfect fit. We all took turns being the slow one of the group. Having the team is also great when faced with things like miserable weather, mechanical issues (we had none this year), or unexpected detours.