So here is the 200 km road ride I did. The day was perfect, perhaps a tad too hot. But the scenery was spectacular, and sure makes me glad to live here. I started early (6 am) on 4 hours sleep after getting home from the Fireworks after midnight. Leg cramps after nearly 8 hours, 200 km, and 7000+ feet of climbing mean I didn't get to complete the full hill climb Finale. Someone suggested salt tablets to keep the cramping down. So here's the scoop:
- Deep Cove to Horseshoe Bay along Dollarton/Main Street/Easplanade/Marine Drive - nice ride, flowy with with up-and-down intervals. I cut through the lower-level-connector/1st St/Welch through the Squamish Nation lands, and under the Lions Gate Bridge, and then ride behind Park Royal for about 500 ft of dirt and cut into the Ambleside doggy walk to Bellvue and then rode Bellvue out to 31st Ave (just after the train bridge over Marine Drive). I like riding close to the water and beach and Bellvue has much less traffic than Marine Drive. West Van is basically country roads with breathtaking oceanfront vistas.
*Took the route behind Park Royal/Taylor Way onto the bridge. Did 3 loops of Stanley Park on the road. I actually hadn't planned to do 3 loops, but with no cars at 7:30 am on Sunday it was good fun reeling in those 3 loops. Amazing scenery didn't hurt either.
*Rode Pacific Avenue along English Bay and the Burrard Bridge and then Cornwall to the Endowment Lands.Took the beachfront road (Marine Drive). Climbed the hill near the Chan Center, and then Marine Drive out to Granville Street. Turned around and took Marine Drive and a favourite route up Dunbar to 37th/Camosun/29th and through the woods on Imperial to 16th and then to Blanca and onto Chancellor and Chancellor back to Marine Drive and down the hill to the beach, and back to Stanley Park. I just missed being part of the Gay Pride Parade, as I rode down the Parade Route on Pacific a few minutes before the procession to cheering throngs.
*From Lions Gate to 3rd St/Queensbury and then up Grand Boulevard to the end of Lynne Valley Road and few hundred feet of dirt to the Demonstration Forest. Did one loop (mostly to add some kms and cool off) and then rode back down to Mt Seymour Blvd on Lilloet Road (a bone-jarring washboard ride on a road bike - not recommended). (Sorry Lee, I won't do it again, but the new Kenda tires held up beautifully - some cobblestone-riding French guy assured me that Lilloet Road was OK on a roadbike).
- The final leg was a hill climb up Alpe D'Seymour. New Definition of "Bad Idea" - 200km road ride ending with a 1200m/12 km hill climb. As you can see, it really brought my average speed down. I hit the Wall here, climbing up at a pathetic pace (just a little faster than I do on my DH bike) and started cramping out between the 9th and 10th km of the climb, a little over 2600 ft. I figured that between the slow progress and leg cramps it was worth ending it then and there and ripped home at a 70km/h clip. Next time I'm trying salt tablets. (I drank about 2 litres of Gatorade along with about 3-4 litres of water over 8 hours).
The total ride:
Distance: 201.6 km
Ride Time: 7 hr 59 min 58 sec
Altitude Gain: 7382 feet
Average Speed: 25.3 km/h
Here's the route:
Here's the profile:
Coming later this Summer, Stage 2 of the Tour De Shore - the Mountain Stage!
I would like to thank Sony/BMG recording artist Bruce Springsteen, Reprise Records Green Day, Warner Brothers Red Hot Chili Peppers, Warner Music Canada's Blue Rodeo and Apple Computer's i-Shuffle (1 Gb model which goes at least 9 hours on a single charge). I couldn't have done it without any of you.
Shoots with Nikon D2H
