Arriveé en Montreal

We`ve finally arrived in Montreal! Yes, this photo could have been taken anywhere, but obviously not in Calgary - there`s no snow! ;) After a great cruise along the water on the island of Laval (NW Montreal) we went house hunting and had dinner with our wonderful hosts, Patrick and Cricri. Might be doing our first race tomorrow...or securing a roof over our heads.

Driving to Montreal

Nick and I are escaping the cold, driving east to Montreal finally...only Mother Nature has other ideas and is throwing us a curve ball during our Minnesota traverse...so we've holed up in a tiny town and having pizza , and what luck, wireless internet!

Stretching video

Recently came across this video on the science behind stretching:

http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TVO.woa?videoid?24639991001

It's quite long (45 minutes) and doesn't provide a lot of black-and-white answers, but it does have some great points to consider and is well presented, hence being a Best Lecturer finalist in 2009.

My take-aways from the lecture are:
- for cycling performance, stretch muscles that help to get into a good position on the bike (e.g. hamstrings, lumbar spine)
- for everyday health, I expect I would need to stretch my hip flexors...but until I stop racing, I'll skip that and just concentrate on holding good posture when I need to stand :)

Redlands race report

Redlands Classic, big time US pro cycling race, handed me my arse and sent me packing.

And now for the unabridged version of events... Racing kicked off on Thursday with a 5km prologue. With a kicker in the middle, and a brutal climb for the last kilometre, the field was pretty evenly split between road and time-trial bikes. Given that my beater road bike is a tank, my TT bike is both more aerodynamic AND lighter, so it was an easy choice.

I was first up from our team, near the start of the field. I arrived a couple of hours early, so after some sitting around in the team tent, and oggling the women's teams and massive team buses, I knocked off a warmup and then headed to the start ramp. The commentator who was announcing each starter, "Joe Smith, national TT champion", or "John Citizen, stage winner at the Tour of the Gila", didn't have much to work with for me; I think he went with "Lachlan Holmes is up next, he's had a number of top 10 finishes...". ha Then I was off, suffered through 11 minutes on the course, and then possibly the even more torturous wait for results. I ended up 113th out of 205 or so, not bad. Our team hill-climber extraordinaire, Sebastian, placed an impressive 30th, making him our top GC man for the weekend.

Get yer suffer on!
(Photo: Claremont Cyclist)

Day 2 was the first mass-start race, a 200km road race. It was another "welcome to the next level" deal for me, with all 28 teams having cars in the caravan following the race, a three-lane highway closed to traffic, oh, and the first 10km of the race being done at 55kmh (we averaged 45kmh for the first lap, which included a KOM climb)! Attacks were actually going off the front - I latched onto one guy's wheel as he launched, and we were doing at least 60...I thought 'I'm in trouble if he wants me to take a pull!' but we were caught when we hit a hill, and I spent the next 20km trying to recover.

Inevitably, there were crashes. A very good reason to fight to stay near the front of the peleton. You're inviting trouble when you sit mid-pack or further back, but it's hard to tell yourself to go FASTER when you're thinking about the hundreds of kilometres left in the race. Sure enough, I was sitting mid-pack as we passed through the start/finish line to begin our second lap, and a crash occurred right in front of me. I jumped on the brakes to avoiding plowing into them, but in doing so, locked up my back wheel and BAM, it blew. Trying to remain calm, I jumped off my bike and started taking out the wheel, and a minute later my team car arrived and Jeff, who was wrenching for the weekend's races, ran up with a spare. He changed it, gave me a push, got back to the car, and they got in front of me to pace me up. I was going full-gas - in the draft, so it was pretty fast, about 60-65km/h? Unfortunately, having no experience with any of this, I wasn't exactly sure how it all worked, and in hindsight, I should have been a lot closer to the team car. After a couple of minutes, the team manager, who was driving, yelled out that we weren't making ground fast enough, and he had to leave.

From there, I was left to TT by myself. I could see the caravan half a kilometre away, but barring a miracle, wasn't going to catch them. The rules for most big races are that if you finish more than 10% after the winner, you are given a time but can not continue racing the following day, akin to a DNF. Pretty soon I was doing the math in my head: approximately 4.5 hour race would mean a half hour time-cut. That gave me 4 hours to solo the remaining 150km. However, there was also the possibility that if I went hard enough, I might catch a groupetto (a bunch of dropped riders), and between us we could make the time-cut. Eventually I saw a rider in the distance...it was a teammate - bummer! We worked together a short while, but I knew we weren't going faster enough and left him behind. Same with another guy: "They don't have hills like this back in Tennessee!" haha The announcer had me at 17 minutes down after 3 laps, but by that time I was in a world of hurt, cramping and running out of steam, and after a 90km solo effort, I packed it in.

So that was the race done for me. The DNF meant I couldn't race in the next two races, which was really tough to acknowledge. The next day was my birthday...not so happy birthday! ha

We had a couple of DNFs each day/stage, and by the last day H&R was down to 2 riders. Seb was racing really well, and in his element - a hilly road race. After being in the lead pack for almost the entire race, he had a flat, and with the support vehicle being behind a chase group a few minutes back, it basically put him out of contention.

Overall, though, it was an amazing experience. I was happy to have learnt a ton about racing at the pro level, wasn't beating myself up (too much) since there was quite a bit of bad luck involved in my DNF, and had a great time bonding with fellow Block bros.

To end on a lighter note...I was flying back to Calgary on Monday, and I had arrived at the airport early. Security wanted to confiscate my peanut butter from my carry-on. I couldn't talk my way into taking it through, but a guy like me is on a pretty tight budget, and can't being throwing things away needlessly. So I ended up asking to go back through security, where I ate the last half a jar. Straight, with a fork. I figured it was roughly 3 billion calories, mostly fat...and this was on top of the can of sardines I had just before going through security in the first place...yum! Living the dream! :)

Block Bros on our way up Big Bear

Redlands this weekend

Nick and I made the big drive to Redlands, California, yesterday, but understandably received no sympathy from the guys that raced in Vancouver Saturday and Sunday, then got in the team van and drove non-stop for 24 hours to meet us there!

It's been great to hang out with the lads and get to know everyone. We've received more new gear, including a replacement for my old and fugly blue helmet. Lots of eating, joking around, and stretching the legs on the bike in this beautiful location...I can see why so many millions live here.

DS Mark and mechanic Jeff have also joined us here. Everyone that knows of my amazing mechanical skills understand what an asset having Jeff around will be to not having my bike fall out from under me!

Godsend: Jeff

Training races

I always have a hard time really believing that a race is actually purely a training race. But this year, with some REALLY big races on the calendar, the little local races really can't at all detract from training for the focus events. Last weekend's TBC was supposed to be a tune-up for Redlands (next weekend!! Woop!!), but was big enough to have results listed on Canadian Cyclist & Pedal (can I please put after my race result "was just treating this as a training race"? ;) ). Of course, I say that, but really, how much difference would a full taper and no taper make, you know?

Road-trippin', Lockie-style: beans and canned fish

So this past weekend, I drove up to Phoenix for a pair of crits. Real "local race" situations, where they were impressed I drove *all the way* from Tucson (under 2 hours). Even still, 25 or so guys lined up for the San Tan Pro/1/2 race. I was flying solo this weekend, so I had my hands full covering attacks. There were 3 or 4 teams there with a number of guys on them, and they certainly worked like teams - it was non-stop attacking. This was my first crit experience in the US...not including the Race Day DVD I've watched a bunch of times. :) I thought to myself, I can't keep this up...maybe I should just try to go with every second attack.

Of course, the very next attack stuck. Crap! I could tell almost straight away the peleton was going to let it go...we weren't hitting it to chase them down, and the break had the right mix of big teams represented. Another racer attacked to bridge, and I knew that was a big chance to catch the break. But by the time I maneuvered out of the pack to give chase, he was too far away. I gave it everything, solo in no-man's-land for 2 or 3 laps, before I started losing ground to the break, before sitting up to wait for the peleton.

The rest of the race was pretty frustrating. I could tell I was seriously out-gunned for a sprint finish by all the big butts on the guys I was following in the peleton, and the only bigger team not represented in the break didn't appear very motivated to pull them back. I attacked a few times, but was always pulled back. Finally with 3 laps to go, I got away with 3 other guys. One of the guys got dropped, leaving two guys to crush me like a bug in the final 200m and out of the cash.

LESSON 1 of the weekend: You SHOULD cover every break. Suck it up, princess. If you're hurting, other people probably are, too.

That night I stayed in a one-and-a-half star hotel - not a terrible thing by itself, except that there was a problem with the online booking, and the last room they had was a smoking room. Mmmm...stale ash smell. To top it off, I forgot to clean out my car before bed, and was welcomed to a sardine-and-banana-smelling car in the morning!

For, Sunday's Honeywell Hungry Dog crit, I was determined to not let a single break go without H&R BLOCK representation (that'd be me). Unfortunately the wide streets and open corners made it effectively a donut-shaped course, so very high speed and hard for breaks to succeed. It was good experience for positioning, but tactics-wise, not so exciting. I was second wheel when the '5 laps to go' announcement was made, and the guy in front of me attacked. Being another solo rider, I figured a) 'hey, why not support the underdog and let him roll away' and b) that the big teams would roll him up anyway. 4 laps later, he was still off and clearly going to take the win! I launched with everyone before the last corner, but couldn't match the guns of, oh, about 20 guys.

LESSON 2 of the weekend: if you're not a sprinter, don't wait for the last 200m. Attack! If you blow up or get caught, at least you gave yourself a chance.

Threw down another sardine-and-banana post-race recovery snack, did a cool down spin, then drove back to Tucson.

Disclaimer: I built the Race Day link using Amazon Affiliates. I figure if everyone who reads this blog buys 7 copies of the DVD, I'll make what I used to get paid for an hour's work! ;)

Canadian Classics Season 2011

The Classics season is here, and along with the Paris-Roubaix comes Canadian Roubaix Madness in Canada!! I need to figure out what I do after a successful/woeful Redlands and subsequent return to Canada. Gravel is so fun (first word that popped into your head when you saw the photo above? "fun", right?), although it's possible too much sun down here has fried my brain. Anyway, I'd like a reset before another ramp to the next big race. Given that I don't know what part of the country I'll be in for each week of April, I might as well prepare for any eventuality. Here are the options I've found...any others you know of??

Here they are, west to east:
Local Ride Barry's Roubaix, 10 April, Pitt Meadows BC
Speed Theory Pre-Roubaix TT & Prairie Roubaix RR, 16 & 17 April, Calgary AB
Ottawa Bicycle Club Paris Roubaix, 16 April, Ottawa ON
Tour of the Battenkill, 10 April, Cambridge NY

Tucson Bicycle Classic

Just finished a weekend of intense racing at the 2011 edition of the Tucson Bicycle Classic.

Things got rolling Friday with the prologue, a 3.2 mile (5km) TT, on a neat little narrow, winding road called McCain Loop. It's a really challenging course to pace, starting out with gentle downhill for the first half, then rolling up over two hills, and finally a short down and up. I found out in training that working hard for the first half was wasted effort, as precious watts were burned pushing wind at high speed, but how easy is too easy/easy enough when it's the first 2km of racing for the year?? I also wanted to small-ring the hills, but changing into the big ring mid-race on the TT bike is a gamble, so I planned to use the small ring just for the second, big hill and leave it there for the finish.

When it came to the race, I blew through the first hill so easily, I couldn't believe I was hoping to small ring it, and left it in the big ring for the second hill too. Unfortunately, I didn't have that searing lungs, heart and legs, visions-of-god level of suffering, so I could tell I didn't have as good a time as I was capable. Would that place me last? Mid-pack was as much as I could hope for.

Online, results were "expected by 7". At 7:30, that changed to "expected by 7ish" haha. Finally, the waiting was over...I placed 43rd out of 55. Not awful, but close...

On Saturday morning came the road race. 80 miles/130km. Felt super-jittery as I went shoulder-to-shoulder with pro's and cat 1's, the 60 of us squeezed along the narrow road. Moving through the pack was really hard - everyone had the same plan of moving into good position in the pack (10th is safe, top 4 was best to be really serious about going with attacks). Nick, coming off two years in racing in Europe, did a great job of being up near the front, so I felt the pressure to get up there to cover my half of the attacks. The Mexican team, Specialized, had a good-sized squad, and seemed to sent a guy hammering off the front every five minutes, but current GC leader, Phil Zajicek (Fly V Australia) and a number of other guys did a good job of chasing them down to keep the peleton together. Stephen was invaluable as our team feeder...this dry desert air had me polish off my first bottle in 30km, and another shortly thereafter. Lots of suring in the final kilometres. I had a bit of gas left with 200m to go, but was poorly positioned behind way too many dudes and followed them across the line for 21st.

Nick and I on the front, coz that's how we roll

The peleton was down to 30 or so riders by the end of that race, but lots of guys who'd beaten me the day before had fallen off the back, so I moved up to 29th overall, affirming my suspicions I should have done better the day before, but I was pretty stoked to be finishing in the right half of the field.

To round out the weekend was Sunday's circuit race, held on a 10km loop in town. "Only" 90km and all the bickies on the line (an Australianism?) meant an insanely fast race - a crit, really. By half way through the race, guys were going crazy hitting it in the last couple of hundred metres of the lap's climbing - trying to hold onto a strung out line of riders, then match the downhill speed, had me wishing for an 11 at the back, and perhaps an extra set of legs. Still, I was maintaining better position, and Nick and I were working together well, and coming into the last corner Nick was on my wheel, as was the plan. Unfortunately I was squeezed to the side at the final corner, and Nick moved past me as I lost position in the pack. The final km was non-stopping crazy attacking, but I was going backwards by the final 200m, finishing 24th. Nick cracked the top 10, congrats dude! And thanks to Bill, our impromptu feeder!

In GC, Zajicek narrowly kept his lead over the sprinters, who'd picked up time bonuses for podium finishes. Pedal Magazine had been highlighting Nick and I as the Canadians in the results (1, 2), but I guess seeing Nick and I side-by-side in 20th and 21st respectively made them realize by the last day I was actually an Aussie! haha

First race!

Very exciting weekend coming up...I'm racing in the Tucson Bicycle Classic. It's not a focus race for me or the team, but mentally it's a huge race for me for a host of other reasons:
- First race of the year
- First race with Team H&R BLOCK
- First race as a cat 1...I'm racing in the Pro/1 category!

No pressure, though! haha It's my second race in the States, and after a really fun, eye-opening experience (which could also be called "a beating marked by massive disorganization" ;) ) last time, I'm expecting some very fast competition.

I don't expect to have enough time to give a daily blog summary of how it goes, but I'll try tweeting (@lachlanholmes) the results each evening.

Cycling Northern Tucson, part deux

I've been finding that some good use of Google Maps can scope out interesting, mountain-side communities, complete with winding, baby-bottom smooth, road surfaces. This occasionally means negotiating gated community security, but fortunately their methods appear to only be intent on barring entry to car-based trespassing.


Based on this, I mapped out a route that took me up Dove Mountain (Tortolita).


View Larger Map

Turns out there are some super-impressive houses out there, built on some super-impressively steep roads. And of course they have a golf course or three.

Then my route took me west out to, well, desert. Around Avra Valley, gas stations, houses, and frankly pavement, all become fairly scarce. Luckily the Google Maps car and "google maps street view" has been to many of these places, and a little research prepared me for this off-the-beaten-track part of my adventure. But until that point, I was treated to a neat road that appeared to stretch forever into the desert. Did I mention it was really, really hot?


At the north-western-most point of my route, I came to the junction shown below:


Although it might seem somewhat crazy to leave a nice(ish) paved road and head into the dust and dirt, you might see from the photo/map that the road doesn't really head directly for a booming metropolis, or any guaranteed supply of water. At least not any time soon, when travelling by bike. So the dirt road is actually the precursor to me staying within the realm of civilization. You see, at this point I'm two flat tires away from a long, hot walk back to town, given that I have only one CO2 cartridge (the pump is on order).

So now that I've taken the road less travelled, and feeling pretty hardcore, you can imagine my surprise when I came across this sign:

Exactly how many bicycles come out this way? Apart from the general lack of pavement and water, I must imagine the gun-toting, cattle-guard-sign-shooting locals are also deterrent.

The rest of the ride went fairly smoothly. I did have a small meltdown as I arrived back at the first gas station, walking in like a ghost, typically salt-encrusted, and then proceeded to sit outside with a 2 litre cup of oh-so-sweet-and-cold pop, but apart from that, made it back barely after sunset.

Cycling Northern Tucson

I've moved to new digs for a week, giving me a good opportunity to explore a different end of Tucson.

So Tuesday, I rode out to Biosphere2. I managed to get in a four hour ride, do the tourist thing, save the money for gas (for the car I don't possess) and get a sunburn all in one fell swoop!


The first thought I had was, what happened to Biosphere1? Turns out Biosphere1 is earth. Oh, got it. The interior of Biosphere2 is the size of three football fields, and has 5 different climate zones: rainforest, savanna, coral reef, mangrove, and desert. Super neat. It was actually used back in the 90's to test closed-system ecosystems and potential space colonization methods! A handful of people spent two years living entirely on what they grew and raised (and apparently at one point, this was mostly bananas).

The grounds and buildings are currently used by University of Arizona for a plethora of research, including insulation strategies for house rooves, as seen below with the miniature houses. Turns out the best material is a garden.

Crazy, urban MTB race

VCA 2010 RACE RUN from changoman on Vimeo.

From the 2010 Valparaiso Cerro Abajo race through the narrow, mountainous streets of Valparaiso, Chile.

Cycling Mount Lemmon

The last time I attempted cycling Mt Lemmon, I was with Trev, Tom and Paul, and we instead ended up on a steep dirt road with impromptu shooting ranges on either side. This time was the real deal.

I met teammates Brad and Nick, and fellow Albertan Cody, at Le Buzz, a bicycle-friendly cafe conveniently situated a couple of miles (I have to acquiesce to imperial units eventually) from the start of the Mt Lemmon climb. The day was supposed to be very warm, a nice change are Sunday`s `winter storm`. People were driving down, as we rode up, with snow on their rooves...the guys said the locals are so fascinated by snow, they go up to the snow line and put in on and drive back down. Weird.

The riding itself was pretty straight-forward. Engineered grade - I guess it`s about 5% almost the entire way, but the crazy bit is that this goes on for 45km (28 miles)!! Beautiful winding roads, stunning views from the saddle (so no excuse to stop!), and a good climb up to cooler temps. Occasionally, tour-guide Nick would point out the road we would eventually make it to, thousands of feet above. Pretty neat, but I think I liked looking down to the road I just rode/I would be riding soon!

We reached 8,000 feet, which is about 5,500 feet of climbing, at which point the road starts rolling down to Summerhaven beforing finally climbing to the summit at just over 9,000, but we'd heard the cafe there was closed today, and I was out of food and water by this point, so we clicked off some happy snaps and pointed out wheels downhill.

I was warned that it would be bitterly cold on the descent, and I did lose feeling in my shins and a couple of fingers on the way down, but hearing that Calgary is experiencing a -31 (I realize I`m switching back and forth between units...please bear with me!) cold snap right now gave me reason not to complain. :) At the bottom, it was back to Le Buzz for croissants and coffee, and baking in the 30 degree heat.

Mavic bling

My Mavic Carbone Ultimate tubular wheelset just arrived...serious bling in a package that weighs less than my fully-loaded saddlebag :)

Tucson Shootout

Kris taking advantage of our sweet digs after yesterday's long ride

Breaking usual habits, I was up at dawn today, to meet fellow teammate Nick for the famous Tucson Shootout group ride. It's somewhat of an unofficial race, with visiting pro's and wannabe's duking it out, like Victoria's Wheelers/Burnside ride on 'roids. First the old dudes left, and half an hour later our group of 50 rolled out out. Apparently they often get up to 200, but there was a crit this afternoon in town.

We cruised out of town for about 30 minutes, before the standard street crossing signalled a start to the action. A serious headwind made life hard at the front and for all the attacks. In one breakaway when it was my turn to pull, I was hurting pretty bad - I looked down to see I was doing around 400-500 watts, youch!

The fast pace lasted about 45 minutes, and ends with a sprint atop a small (but actually deceptively longer than it appeared) climb. I wasn't hitting it 100% on this first time out, but nearing the top the road was littered with blown up riders and I reeled in a few spots as I nearly exploded myself.

After that, there's more cruising while the pack got back together, up to the turn-around for the short version (still totalling 80-100km) and the turn-off for the nut-jobs looking to do Madera Canyon (for a totally of 150km). Today I was one of the nuts.

This part of the ride has a false flat for about 25km, before kicking up for a "4 mile slut of climb", as another rider described it. Nick, Troy Wells who I hear is a pro MTBer and brother of a CX superstar, and another guy eventually dropped the rest of us, but we all made it to the top before heading back, including a Victoria tri chick, who I suspect did not pay for her championship stripes or Shiv.

Now that we'd turned downwind, we easily hit 85kmh down the hill, and averaged around 55kmh all the way back into town. I made it back just in time to have a bonk-induced brain shutdown, miss my turn, and give Nick and I a few unneeded km's. Still, great day on the bike - I earned the beer festival trip this arvo. :)

Moving out and south

Holy, this had been a crazy week! Enjoyed my last Speed Theory rides with the lads and lasses and got back Tuesday morning. Had until Thursday evening to pack up and clean my house, put everything in temporary storage, and catch my flight to Tucson.

I spent the first two days not knowing where to start. Thursday morning my neighbor, Nina, came over and saved the day. Thank you, Nina!! Long story short, we packed and cleaned like a whirlwind, and I caught my flight. Nina and her housemate are coming on the weekend to finish the cleaning, and they even took Sherman, so he has a home for the month!

So when I got my two bikes on the plane, all for the price of the second and third bag charge, I was on the moon: 1) I had officially made the flight in time, and 2) I saved the $100 bike charges. Love Westjet!

Now I'm down at Stephen's house in Tucson again. Fellow H&R teammates Dustin and Kris are here for spring break, so I joined them today for my first H&R team ride. Dustin took us along a route that included a short diversion on what we think is some guy's drive way. Starts out with a little steep gravel, then it becomes paved and kicks up to, get this, 45%! according to Kris's SRM powermeter. We rode about 50 meters to the first switchback, then bailed and continued on with our base ride.

Here's Kris and Dustin heading back:

Last Speed Theory rides

Got out to Victoria, BC, last weekend for some stellar weather, 7 degrees - almost as warm as Ottawa! but better than -20 in Calgary. More importantly, dry and sunny. Did a solid day on Victoria hills on Friday, which was apparently Marcy's first group road ride! Wow. Ran a flawless leadout on Saturday to avenge last year's loss on the Wheelers/Burnside ride and did a huge day Sunday to Jordan River, much of which was on the sweet Galloping Goose path system, pictured below.

Free stuff!

I have a bunch of stuff that I'd like to give away in the next 24 hours. I'll be posting it on Freecycle shortly.

• *taken* Computer desk
  
  
• *taken* Well-used trainer (Tacx Sirius)
  
  
• *taken* Short clip-on aero bars
  
  
• Rock climbing shoes, would suit mens size 6-8, never used
  
  
• Lycra arm warmers, size XL, RBC Whistler Gran Fondo, never used
  
  
• Backcountry Avalanche Awareness book
  
  
• *taken* Table & four chairs (similar to this Ikea product)
  
  
• Microsoft .NET certification books
  
  
• *taken* Chest of four drawers (this Ikea product)
  

I'll add to the list through the day, and might put up some photos, time permitting.

Between jobs

I had my last day at Online last Tuesday. So no desk job until at least September, when my contract with H&R BLOCK ends. Wednesday I slept in, just barely started my morning workout in the morning, and made crepes in the afternoon. So far the new lifestyle is agreeing with me.


Free banana for anyone who can guess the five toppings :) (shipping not included)

Winter volume in Alberta

I've been trying to get plenty of volume in, cycling-wise, and thanks to a passing chinook, it was a gorgeous day this past Saturday in Calgary. I was bummed about missing the hardmen ride leaving at 10am (by a mere two hours), but eventually concoted a comparable plan for a ride, thanks to Google Maps:

So, I threw my weapons in the car and drove out to the start. Those of you familiar with chinooks will know that although they bring respite from the freezing temps, they also come packing a serious breeze. So once I parked, broadside to the wind, and feeling the wind having a good shot at trying to flip my car, I momentarily considered bailing. Just for a second though. I decided to ride north first, and if I was lucky the wind would abate in time for the westward leg. One of these days I'll learn to leave early on chinnok days for my winter expeditions!


So I set off. I had about 500 meters to warm up, before I was out of the seat, slogging uphill, in my smallest (cross-bike) gear. Then it got even steeper, and I had to sit down, to get enough traction. Uh oh... Fortunately this was steepest hill on the whole ride.

Part of my preparations included listing the township roads/range roads I needed to use to navigate the tricky section to get to Water Valley. Unfortuntely it turned out there were no street signs, so I had to "go by feel". Suddenly my two-lane wide, packed-snow road turned into a track with a foot of unpacked powder, used only once by a snowmobile in the past days/weeks. And that wasn't enough to pack it down - yes, I tried. I figured that there could be sections I'd have to shoulder my bike and run...but before attempting that, I thought I'd check out the turn-offs I saw back on the road first. The first road I tried eventually curved around to the south - scrath that. The next was more promising, and I continued to make good progress (turns out, better than good...).

A short while later, I arrived at a gate. No signs on it, but some pretty serious barbed wire atop and on the sides. I climbed around it, and on other side there was a sign saying "Private Property - No Entry"! Huh. First gate I'd come across, mind you!

I'd left my third water bottle in the car, reasoning that two would be plenty to get to Water Valley, where I could stock up again. Unfortunately a short way into the ride, I saw I was missing one of the bottles...damn, must have been shaken out by the corrugated road. Then when I got to highway 579, I turned left, thinking Water Valley would be just a kilometre or so down the road. A couple of kilometres later, I realized it must have been right, not left...but that would mean wasted time and distance... I kept going. Later, I discovered that not being able to salivate from 5 hours on the bike and serious dehydration makes it hard to eat peanut butter sandwiches. But they still taste quite good!

Still, despite getting lost, I made good time getting to my half-way point at hwy 579/Water Valley. Things were looking up. Turning west though, I realised I'd been assisted by the aforementioned gale-force wind. But I like to think I have two styles of riding, 1) into the wind, or 2) well. :) Later I would also discover that Water Valley is only a third of the way...

I slogged into the wind for what seemed like an eternity, but still, the sun was out, it wasn't too cold, and it was all good training. However, in the back of my mind, I was hoping to make hwy 40 in half an hour, although expected an hour. By an hour and a half, I was getting worried I'd missed (another) turn. About that time, it was getting closer to dusk and I was passing a farm house. Considering I'd seen 3 cars in the past 3 hours, and fewer houses, I decided I should take advantage and double-check my direction...I knocked on their door. Long story short, the awesome women who answered the door told me I was going the right way, but was still 20km from hwy 40, offered to take me there, and I accepted. She bundled her adorable little daughter in the truck and we got there in no time. I missed doing some fun, winding descents, but given that the surgeon said I'm not even supposed to be riding my bike for another month and a half (let alone on icy roads in the middle of freakin nowhere) it was probably for the best.

Awesome. Now just a little jaunt down highway 40 and I'm done. I still had 40km to go, but the wind had died, and there was no route-finding to do. By the Richards Rd junction, the road was even paved. Too easy. I got back to the car, texted Trev and Arunas to let them know that I'd safely finished, in spite of my usual unrealistic planning, and thus the high probability to the contrary. :)

Epilogue
An hour later, I was at Arunas's birthday celebration...the perfect way to end the day! (yes, those are chocolate-covered strawberries. Mmmm!)