2020 Alberta Rockies 500 Special Edition

Ten months ago I had ACL reconstruction surgery on my left knee. We will call that my “new knee”. The surgery consisted of harvesting one of my hamstring tendons and anchoring that to my femur and tibia. Voila…new ACL. The rehab was long and much of the time was spent strengthening the hamstring and other knee stability muscles. Lucky for me, cycling was a large part of the recovery.

Busted up knee

Recovery was going well and the doctor said after nine months, I should be good to start getting back to normal activity. The Alberta Rockies 700 (AR700) is normal activity, right? The AR700 bikepack race is typically 700km long. This year was reduced to 500km due to COVID-19 and interprovincial camping restrictions, so it was called Alberta Rockies 500 Special Edition. It is a mixed surface race with a combination of gravel roads, pavement, doubletrack, and singletrack.

Alberta Rockies 500 SE Route

About four weeks before the start, I decided to do the race and see how the new knee held up with some big volume. I had been riding regularly as it was part of my rehab and was starting to do some longer rides. Once I decided to do the race, I started doing some bigger rides. One test two weeks before the race was a ride between Lake Louise and Jasper. I had ridden that stretch several times before and I wanted to see if I could do it stopping as little as possible. My goal was to finish in under nine hours total elapsed time with my geared road bike. 

Lake Louise to Jasper roadie machine

I rode the Lake Louise to Jasper ride and everything went really well. I managed to hammer hard and finish in 8:13 total elapsed time (12 minutes stopped time). The new knee felt great! But the next day riding with Kristin around Jasper, my new knee started screaming. There was a sharp pain at the top of the kneecap. Uh oh, did I overdo it with that long hard ride?

I had two weeks before the AR700 and I did a couple of hill training rides on the single speed. The kneecap started to flare up again, so with my past experience and 20 minutes of intensive Google research, I diagnosed myself with quadriceps tendonitis. So, I decided to rest as much as I possibly could before the AR700. The quadriceps tendonitis is an overuse injury, and since my rehab for the new knee includes a lot of cycling, I’ve been increasing volume gradually over the past 7 months, but since I decided to do the AR700, I decided to increase my volume a lot really fast. I think that’s what flared up the tendonitis.

Weekly hill climbing machine

The week and a half before the race I tried to ride as little as possible, but I still had to ride everyday because of the Ride 366 2020 Challenge. Aside: I started a challenge where you need to ride every day of 2020 for at least 15 minutes. My last day off was December 8, 2019. It’s Ride 366 2020 because it’s a leap year. I also iced it as much as I could and took ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation. I thought I’d let it heal as much as possible, but I expected it to hurt during the race. I figured the most amount of time I rested would reduce the amount of discomfort during the race.

Race Strategy:

My primary purpose for the race was to test the new knee. I hoped to ride the whole distance in one go while stopping as little as possible. I brought just enough gear for emergencies: puffy coat, long sleeve base layer, base layer leggings, raincoat, chemical toe warmers, and an emergency bivy. I didn’t plan on stopping to sleep so I only wanted to bring enough in case I got into trouble and had to hole up somewhere. I could put on all my clothes and huddle up in my bivy. I had some basic tools, bear spray, and other essential items too. The rest of my space was filled up with food. I did not want to buy food anywhere along the route since that takes time. I wanted to keep pedaling as much as possible at a gentle pace to save the knee and eat on the bike as I rode. I wanted to ignore the other racers, keep a slow steady pace with no stopping, and see how the new knee felt at the end! Whatever my finish time was, was what it was. 

Bike Setup:

I was riding my RollingDale Cycles titanium single speed bike with a gear ratio of 32x18 and Maxxis Ikon 2.35” 29” tires. That ratio on paved, easy portions I spin comfortably at 20-22 km/hr. If I spin like a madman, I can spin up to 26 km/hr, but I can also climb a decent grade of hill comfortably. I thought that would be a good mix for this race.

Bike is short for Bichael

Race day came and we drove out to Canmore the night before, had a big pile of pasta from Boston Pizza and drove out to the start in the morning.

When we got to the start, there were a few cars scattered around with cyclists. I knew Tim and Trish and Joanne. Monika showed up a little bit later. I packed up the bike, got ready and took off. Kristin was the official photographer for the start and Joanne was the announcer for the start of the race. Kristin took a socially distanced group picture and Joanne yelled us off and we were off down the dusty road.

It seemed like everybody was riding at a reasonable pace. I chatted with Tim a little bit and met Shaun from South Africa who now lives in Calgary. We just kept a nice, gentle pace on the roads. It was a gradual uphill for the first bit. As I expected, the guys on the gravel bikes, cross bikes, drop bars, and gears all started to gradually pull away. And over the next two to three hours I would only see them on hills in the distance.

I didn’t want to overstress my new knee in the beginning, so I kept a nice gentle pace without pushing super hard to see how it felt. Over the next few hours, both knees had aches and pains that would come and go, which is actually quite normal for this kind of event. I was nervous that the new knee would hurt on top of the kneecap, which is where I felt the most pain recently, but it never seemed to hurt very much there. Great news so far, but I was still feeling cautious.

I happened to see Tim again and we talked a bit more. He mentioned this was the Ghost of the Gravel route. We chatted a bit more and he pulled away into the distance again.

Whole lotta this for the first 130 km

I kept riding and saw one guy stopped on the side of the road and asked if he was okay. He said he had a puncture, so I kept on going. I almost took a wrong turn because the route loops around and comes back on the same trail. I almost took the wrong right, so I corrected myself and kept on riding.

On the start of this first loop the road surface was pretty good and the temperature was nice. It was around 12 to 15 degrees and there were not very many vehicles on the road.

As the morning passed into afternoon, it started to get a little warmer. I started to see more RVs and campsites. I reminded myself to stay at my pace and started eating on my schedule. Now I seemed to be all by myself, as these races go. Later in the afternoon, I actually saw a rider ahead of me! I was catching up with somebody! I crept up and it was Shaun. We talked a bit and the temperature was starting to get hot, around 25 degrees. We just talked about how hot it was and how he didn’t train very much for the race, just his daily commute. Good for him for testing himself with this race! Eventually I started creeping away from him.

I took a last sip out of my CamelBak and realized I was almost out of water, so I started looking for water sources. I saw one creek, but it was slow moving and brown, so I decided to wait. I found one that wasn’t too bad a little bit later. I filled up there and I had to wait 30 minutes for the Aquatabs to work before I could drink it. But I was happy because I didn’t have to stop until Cochrane to get water.

I rode past the staging area again at the start and I was happy to have the Ghost section behind me. Later in the afternoon there was more traffic and more dust on the gravel roads. I felt like I ate a pound of that white gravel dust! I passed the start point after the first loop and I was wondering if I was passing a bunch of people who were going back to their vehicles for resupply. 

That's not fog, it's dust. Blech!

I kept riding and was now in the paved section which was nice due to less vibration. Eventually I saw Tim’s smiling face beside me. We chatted a bit, then he kept riding ahead of me. I expected everybody to pass me again because now we’re on pavement and maximum comfortable speed I could go was 22 km/hr. Tim passed me then a couple of other guys passed me too.

It was starting to get pretty hot, about 28-30 degrees and I had this bad tasting creek water. I decided to either go to the Ghost convenience store which was off route or go to a gas station in Cochrane. I couldn’t remember how far the Ghost store was so I decided to go to Cochrane. I stopped at the edge of Cochrane to check my phone and see where the gas station was. There was one a kilometer down the road so I went to that one. Since I was super thirsty, I ended up buying too many liquids. I filled up the CamelBak and my water bottle, drank a Tim Horton’s drink and a cranberry juice, and I put a small 750 ml bottle of water in my frame bag. I rolled away with my overstuffed Buddha belly full of water and I got back on route. The route followed bike paths through Cochrane. It was nice being away from traffic.

At one point on the bike paths I felt humiliated because I had to walk up a paved hill. Hey, it was really steep! The route went up a steep road out of Cochrane on the other side of the riverbank and I was back on gravel roads.

These gravel roads were on farmer’s fields so the traffic was a lot lighter than in the Ghost area. I did a quick Facebook Live video to update people including Kristin. Was wondering what Powderface Trail was going to be like. The gravel roads turned onto a paved road as I crossed under Highway 1. I was riding up a hill, looked up and saw Niels at the top of the hill! It was great to see the support! He was on a ride in the area and saw I was nearby on Trackleaders. He walked alongside me as I rode my bike up the hill. 

Photo by Niels Van Ommeren

We chatted a bit about the route and he mentioned I’d be walking a lot of Powderface Trail because of a lot of steep pitches. Once I got onto Powderface Trail, I saw Niels was telling the truth! I walked quite a few hills. 

Beginning of Powderface

The surface was nice and the hills were steep as the sun went down. It was amazing the temperature change! Within an hour the temperature went from 27C to 10C as the sun went behind the hills. I rode up quite a long, steep hill, and took a short break at the top. I heard some gravel crunching nearby and saw another racer! It was a guy with a Fox t-shirt, who I thought was in front of me. We talked a bit and he mentioned he was going to stop and camp pretty soon. We started riding down the hill, leapfrogged a little bit, and eventually he wasn’t behind me anymore. I guess he stopped.

I rode up to the campsite where the aid station was and realized I didn’t know which camping spot to go to. I looked at my phone to see if I could text Jonathan, but there was no service. I remembered there was something in the email, so I looked at the email and found the aid station. Upon arriving, I said hi to Jonathan and his family. I was looking forward to getting some water since I was pretty much out. I was surprised to find out that I was the second one there! How did that happen? Dave was the first one there and was still there. I started filling up with water and bananas and got rid of my garbage. I think my arrival and reluctance to sit down spurred Dave to leave more quickly, so he was off right after I got there. I left probably maybe 10 minutes after Dave did and was wondering if I would see him again.

It was a slow climb up to Mount Romulus. This was the beginning of the summit of the route at 2236 meters. This was a transition from gravel roads up to this point into trail. Now it started to become more of a mountain bike trail. The trail surface from the aid station to Mount Romulus was fun and not very steep. At one point I saw Dave again who was off to the side of the trail. He came up riding behind me and said he went off route for a little bit and started climbing strongly ahead of me on his cross bike. I was walking up the steep section that he could ride and eventually he started walking too, but then got back on his bike and rode away. I didn’t see him again for a long time.

The trail kept going up and up and past Mount Romulus and started getting more rocky, rough, and steep so I was walking quite a bit. Eventually I got to the summit at Tombstone Lake. The stars were amazing so I took a minute to look at the stars and was looking forward to a smooth, fun descent that never came…

It started with a short descent and then turned into a very rocky trail that slowly climbed. The trail consisted mostly of babyheaded rocks that were difficult to maneuver, so I walked a decent amount of it and it seemed to stretch on for a very long time. I started to think of the Arizona Trail where there’s a constant question of if I should try to ride it or just walk it. Many times I tried riding and I would have to stop after 10 meters so I would have to get off again. This repeated for a while as time passed into the middle of the night.

The trail started to trend down towards Highway 40. It was a descent, but it was a technical, rocky descent where you had to be careful not to crash. I wondered how Dave was doing on his cross bike. Lo and behold, Highway 40 appeared and it was on a fast, paved descent in the dark. The trail turned off onto an easy pathway through the trees toward Boulton campsite. I was looking forward to riding this part because I was familiar with the paths from riding them before. The paved paths wound through the campsite and saw headlights in the distance. It was Dave! He mentioned the trail ahead was closed and we talked about what to do. I wanted to see for myself so I rode up and there was tape across and the area was closed due to bear activity. We spent some time trying to find a reroute. There was no cell service so I had to use my Etrex to try to find a new route. Etrex works for this, but it’s very slow and clumsy so it took a while to find a good route.

Can't go this way!

We rode together on a road that bypassed the closure area and met up with the route again. We kept riding for a while until we got to the High Rockies Trail (HRT) and I knew Dave would be faster so he went first. He took off like a shot down the trails.

The HRT is a singletrack mountain bike trail that is well built and had good flow. I did however expect it to be easier. Leading up to the start of this section, I imagined something quite different. I imagined a singletrack trail that gently climbed hills, flowed through the woods, as I expended very little effort riding carefree through the trees with a smile on my face. Maybe there were even birds chirping and butterflies floating around me in my delusion. It was not that way at all.

It was about 4 in the morning when I started the HRT and it began with a climb. The trail was smooth at first, but it was like a little roller coaster so it would be going up and down, up and down, with the ups being a lot higher than the downs. So I could ride some of the trail, but I would have to get off and push the bike…a lot. I had flashbacks of the Arizona Trail again. Again, I had to decide if I wanted to try to ride something or just walk it. When I tried to ride, often I could only ride for 10 meters and I would hit a steep hill and I had to walk. 

Famous HRT suspension bridge

The trail trended uphill at times and I walked a lot of that. But then it would trend downhill and it would be fun because it would be a fast, flowy singletrack trail. I knew the HRT was about 50 km and as the first hour went by, I realized it was going to be a long night and possibly morning. The process of walking steep sections and riding the fun sections down repeated all night. When dawn arrived, I was about halfway done.

The HRT caused conflicting emotions. First, despair. I was very tired and my legs were pretty worn out. I didn’t have much punch left to power up the short, steep sections. At these times, I couldn’t wait for the HRT to be over. Second, glee. This trail was a blast to ride! As long as it was flowing downhill. It was such a nice trail that was so well done and so much fun, I wish I had more energy to enjoy it. 

Glee and despair

At one point I saw a little sheep on the trail. He was walking along the trail too and we walked together for a while with him staying just ahead. It was a surreal experience! It was nice having someone to talk too… even if they were not talking back. 

My buddy the sheep

As the sun rose and the trail got further north, it got rockier, so it was a little more challenging technically. Due to my sleep deprivation, I started to realize I could trust my hearing and vision less and less. I’ve had experience with this before. In other races that I’ve had in the past, I’d get auditory and visual hallucinations after about 30 hours of exertion, and from what I’ve heard this is common in ultra-endurance events. Since I have experienced this before, I know how to deal with them and they don’t concern me too much. I knew hearing voices in the woods and seeing things moving out of the corner of my eye were not real and to just ignore them. I started to realize that the things I was seeing in front of me also couldn’t be trusted. There was one time I thought I saw a large whale on the trail and I pondered, “Why would I think a whale is more plausible to be on the trail than a large rock because obviously it’s a large rock and not a whale.” At one point during a fast descent, it appeared there was a bear in the tree out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn’t look at it because I had to focus on the descent and I thought it probably wasn’t real anyway. 

I'm pretty sure he's real!

As I got closer to Banff, the trail started to get busier. There were a few hikers, a few bikers and I thought, “Please let the end be here soon.” Much to my relief, the trail crossed Smith-Dorrien Road and went down to the bank of the Spray Lakes Reservoir. I knew from that point on the nastiness was over. The trail might be a bit rocky here and there and there might be some steep climbs, but nothing would be sustained for a long period of time. Everything would be short-lived.

I reveled in riding the trail along the Spray Lakes bank. I crossed the dam and went back onto the HRT for the portion that connected to Goat Creek Trail. I had ridden this a couple of times in the past and I knew it was fairly easy. Spirits were high! As my speed increased because the trail was easier, it was still rocky and my feet were feeling the pain the most. The impact of riding on the technical trails made my toes really sore, so I was doing my best to sit in the saddle to take pressure of my feet. But with the fast descent still on portions of rocky and rooty sections, I still had to stand on the pedals and endure the foot pain.

I knew once Goat Creek was over, my challenge would no longer be riding difficult trails, it would be to ride safely while being very tired. After Goat Creek the route is about 100 km of fairly easy pavement to the finish. I knew that in my sleep deprived state, riding the technical trails kept me engaged, but riding on the pavement in the heat would make me relax and would make sleepiness a major factor. When riding the single speed on the easy pavement, I can’t push a pace. I just coast a lot, so it lowers my heart rate, I get comfortable, then tend to feel sleepy. I knew this would probably happen and it made me nervous for the finish.

Once I got to the end of Goat Creek, I stopped at the garbage can to empty my garbage. I checked my phone to see where I could fill up with some water. By this time it was midday and about 30 degrees. I found the Shell on Banff Avenue and stopped there. I was feeling the heat so I had a popsicle. I got some water, some juice, and some chocolate milk. For some strange reason, the juice was lukewarm so I ate the popsicle, drank the juice, filled up my CamelBak and water bottle. I started to drink the chocolate milk, realized I was too full. Didn’t want to overfill my belly like after Cochrane so I only drank a quarter of the chocolate milk. Plus, milk products and the heat can sometimes go very wrong…

Oh yeah, my new knee! About in the middle of the night, I forgot that I was worried about it and realized it wasn’t hurting at all. It was totally fine! Aches and pains would come and go as they do in this type of racing, but no major issues. I brought a lot of ibuprofen and pain killers anticipating that I would be taking a steady diet as the race progressed, but I never took any. As mentioned before, my feet really hurt and I was debating taking some ibuprofen for my feet, but I knew with the long, easy pavement ahead, I would be drowsy and I didn’t want to take anymore ibuprofen to make me more drowsy. I’m not sure if that’s a side effect, but I didn’t want to risk it. Plus, I thought a little bit of pain would keep me awake.

So with my liquid tanks (belly included) all filled up, I headed down the Legacy Trail. Almost immediately I started feeling drowsy. I was debating whether to stop and take a nap. My personal rule is if I start to feel like I’m going to nod off, I stop and lie down and usually that gets me out of the drowsy state. It’s better to stop than to ride unsafely. As I was riding down the trail thinking of the best place I could stop and take a nap because I felt so drowsy, I saw Tim Johnson’s smiling face riding towards me. I said hi and he turned around and started riding with me and rode with me all the way to Canmore. The conversation we had while we were riding woke me up, totally removed the drowsy feeling and really saved my bacon. Thanks, Tim! 

Photo by Tim Johnson 

Tim and I parted ways in Canmore. I started following some bike trails toward Highway 1A and to my surprise I saw Guy Stuart! It was another encouraging moment to see his smiling face.

Photo by Guy Stuart

I continued riding on Highway 1A knowing this would be a particularly stressful stretch because it’s a busy road with virtually no shoulder. I did another Facebook Live video while there was still a shoulder to give people an update and began the stretch that never seemed to end until the turnoff to go north to the finish line.

It was about 57 km of a stretch with no shoulder and it helped with the drowsiness because I had to focus so hard on riding in a straight line so the cars could pass safely by. About every 20 to 30 minutes I would stop on a pullout and check my phone only just to break the cycle and stay alert. The kilometers seemed to pass by incredibly slowly. At one point someone drove by with Saskatchewan plates yelling indistinctly, jerking their hand up in a sharp, upward manner and I chose to believe they were cheering me on saying, “Great job!” There was one other time somebody was honking at me and it felt like an angry honk. I chose not to let it bother me. Another time I heard some honking from way behind and I felt like it was an encouraging honk and it was my lovely wife driving by cheering me on through the open passenger window.

The kilometers went by very, very slowly while taking breaks trying to stay alert on the edge of drowsiness, trying to stay safe and just waiting for the shoulder to come which I knew came at the Ghost Campground. I was about to stop at what I thought was another pullout and then realized that was the shoulder! I was elated!

I took a drink off my CamelBak, realized it was dry so I decided I had to stop at the convenience store at the Ghost campsite. I pulled in knowing exactly what to get after overbuying at the last two stops and bought 1.5 liters of water to fill up my CamelBak and a Starbucks Frappuccino. It was a long wait in line at the convenience store, but the air conditioning was nice. I saw an angry camper buying liquor who didn’t seem to be appreciating the air conditioning during the long wait in line. He was very rude to the cashier and I thought that was sad. I bought my water and Frappuccino, said thank you and stepped outside back in the heat. I drank the Frappuccino, filled up the CamelBak and was happy to see the last 30 km ahead of me.

There’s a strange phenomenon that when you’re going back along a route that you’ve previously travelled, it seems to go faster. I rode out this way the day previous in the afternoon and now I was riding back so I knew some familiar landmarks that were coming up and I was looking for those. I knew there was the Ghost Fire Hall. There was the Waiparous Creek gully. There was one or two steep but short climbs to do. I had my mind focused on those, so this section went by much faster than the Highway 1A portion. I have a feeling the Frappuccino helped with my alertness because I didn’t feel drowsiness at all. I tried to keep a solid pace and the kilometers seemed to go by quickly.

I reached the final steep climb that I expected and with my broken legs, I couldn’t make it up, so I started to walk. I walked up to the top of the steepest section, got back on the bike, and started pedaling again. Just after I got back on my bike, some blond-looking man in a small car yelled, “Go Dean!” I wondered if that was Dave.

As I was riding to the end, I was not looking forward to the short gravel section because my feet and hands were sore and I knew it was very washboardy. I was happy to see the parking lot in the distance once I got on the gravel and then tried to ride strong to the finish. I rounded the corner, saw my lovely wife and was happy to be done.

The race was complete and I was happy with the result. I rode according to my plan and actually came in second! My knee felt good so I’m confident it’s healing well. I wonder what will be next…

Race done!

2017 Hurt'n Albert'n 550 and the Triple Crown

Neil's dot still bounces to this day
Source: www.trackleaders.com/hurtalb17
Map data ©2018 Google

This was the third race in the Canadian Triple Crown: the Hurt’n Albert’n 550 (HA550).  The first two races were the BC Epic 1000 and the Alberta Rockies 700 (AR700).  Tom DeVries was the first to complete these three races in 2016 and that was my goal this year.  My knees took a bit of a beating after the steep climbs in the AR700 and it took a few weeks to recover…mostly.  James at Active Physioworks in St. Albert said that I strained my tendons at the front of my quads and they were still sore from time to time.  That was my biggest concern for this race.  I wasn’t sure how my knees would feel after a big effort.  We’ll see!

Justin and Trevor, the organisers, determined the campsite at Beiseker was going to be the start, mid-point, and finish of the race and it worked out great!  We arrived the night before the start and were able to catch up with some of the other racers while we set up our tent.  They also planned on having a BBQ for the riders after they finished the first loop of about 320km.  Squirt the skunk was the start and end point.  It was fantastic having a place to park your vehicle for the duration of the race.  My family was with me, but there were others that were riding alone.  It would be a big relief to finish the race with your vehicle waiting at the end instead of having to shuttle back to the start.  We set up our tent and got to sleep.  My goal for this race was to be efficient as possible and keep my stopping time to a minimum. 

Day 1

The night’s sleep was pretty good in the tent.  There was a moment when a train went rambling by.  I heard it from a ways away and it just kept getting louder and louder.  It sounded like it was going right through the campsite.  In the morning, I saw the tracks and they did go right beside the campsite.  Other than that little intrusion, sleep was good.  I wanted to sleep well because I planned on riding the whole route straight through.  I got up and started getting ready.  Justin and Trevor made some wonderful breakfast burritos so I had a couple of those.  I got my bike ready to go the night before so I just had to get dressed and eat.

All the racers lined up at the skunk for some photos. 

It was good seeing Mike at the start line.  I met Mike at the 24 hours of Adrenalin a few years ago and this was his first bikepacking race.  He was a strong rider so I knew he would do well. 

We rolled out of the campsite on the pavement on a neutral start.   It was a chilly, foggy, and very beautiful morning.  I had a chance to talk to Adam, who won the AR700 a month or so earlier.  We turned the corner onto the gravel and the race was on!  Adam took off like a shot!  It wasn’t too long that I couldn’t see him anymore.  I wanted to ride at a steady pace to stay near the front of the pack, but not too hard to burn out.  It was nice, fast riding all the way up to the foothills.  I brought enough snacks to sustain me for the whole ride.  I was trying to avoid stopping at stores, but when the store at Water Valley appeared in the distance, I succumbed to the temptation of a cold drink and stopped.  I also bought some cold water to refill my dromedary in my frame bag.  Mike and Ryan were there too.  It was a quick stop and we were off again.  Ryan left first and Mike and I rode together for a short while until he pulled away on the hills.  He is a strong hill climber!

The temperature started to increase and I settled into my “forever pace”.  Not too hard, but hard enough that I didn’t feel like I was slacking.  As I rounded the corner to turn onto the Trunk 40, I saw Justin and he had some ice-cold Cokes!  I happily grabbed one and kept on riding.  Best Coke ever!  Just after I got the Coke, one of my hamstrings started to cramp.  That had never happened before!  I had to stop and let it relax.  I decided to take some old electrolyte pills I got in Salida on the 2016 Tour Divide.  I kept riding trying not to activate the cramp in my hamstring.

I stopped for water at the Waiparous Campground. There was a sign saying the water had to be treated so I put in some tablets.  As I continued, my stomach didn’t feel right.  Nausea.  Another new thing to happen to add to the cramps.  Maybe it was the really old electrolyte pills.  I knew it would pass eventually so I kept on riding.  Lows always give way to highs on these rides.  I made sure I kept eating and drinking even though I didn’t feel like it and pushed through the bad feeling.  I started to lose energy, but kept on pedalling, although at a slower pace.  On the paved section around Waiparous Village, I saw Megan taking pictures.  It was nice to see someone who knew about the race and lifted my spirits. 

After Waiparous Village, I continued to feel nauseated so at one point, I stopped to take a quick nap to see if that would help.  It helped a bit and I felt things were coming around.  The organisers left a water cache at a creek and I made sure to take advantage of that.  I filled up and continued on, happy that my nausea had for the most part gone away.  Low gone, on to the high!  The sun started to fall and the sunset was beautiful.  Sunrise and sunset are my favorite times during these rides.  I approached HWY2 and saw on Trackleaders that Adam and Niels had stopped nearby.  I crossed the highway, but didn’t see them as I rode on past the construction and back onto the gravel towards Beiseker.  As the darkness set in I saw some strange animals for the area.  First was a family of racoons!  I didn’t think there were racoons in AB.  Then I saw a dark lizard on the gravel.  Strange, but cool.  I pedalled on waiting for Beiseker to get closer, thinking about the burgers on the grill. 

I got to the campsite about 11:30 PM and headed straight to the bathroom to clean up. I felt great, nausea was gone, my face was clean from the sweat, and I was going to have a burger! I stuck around for about half an hour.  I stuck my head in my family’s tent and said hello and enjoyed a burger.  One regret I have is not having some of Trevor’s microgreens on the burger. He was offering a salad, but I never thought to put the green on the burger until I was back on the road.  I found out Adam and Niels had to pull out of the race so I was in second!  Ryan had taken off so I was motivated to ride on as quick as I could.  I rolled off into the night in good spirits. 

As I rode on, the wind started to pick up.  It was a SE wind so it wasn’t directly a headwind, but it was a challenge at points.  I started to get a bit tired as I do after having a big meal so I laid down at the side of the road for a short nap.  It didn’t take long before I felt sleepy again so I had to take a couple more naps over the next couple of hours.  After those, I felt more awake.  I had cell reception so I was able to check Trackleaders to see where Ryan was. It’s nice to check, but it can also be a distraction that slows you down.  That’s what happed to me.  Every 20 minutes or so, I would stop and check.  I started to force myself to just ride and not concern myself with where Ryan was. 

When dawn appeared, I checked Trackleaders and found I had passed Ryan in the night while he slept.  I was out front!  My mind now shifted to how I could stay there.  The wind was getting stronger so when travelling East, it was a big headwind and when travelling North, it was a big tailwind.  Since I was on a single speed, I knew the geared bike would be an advantage on the flatter sections with no wind or a tailwind.  All I could do was keep moving and be as efficient as possible with stops. 

The sun was rising and the badlands appeared.  The scenery was cool with the river valleys cutting big troughs through the flatlands.  When I rolled into Wayne, I needed some water.  I saw a campsite and asked some of the campers where I could find some.  They offered bottles, but I wanted to stay true to the rules and find the commercially available water.  The stores were still closed, but I found a spigot to fill up with.  I filled up, dumped some garbage, refilled the feedbags and was ready to finish the ride.  I hoped it was a quick enough stop to stay ahead of Ryan.  As I crossed the North Saskatchewan River, and got up on the flatlands, the wind really started to howl.  Sometimes it was a nice tailwind, and others, it was a sidewind where I had to lean my bike to go straight.  At one point heading to Drumheller, I lost sight of the gpx track.  It didn’t follow where the road was.  I tried several roads, and ditches trying to find the intended trail, and eventually got back on track. 

Off to Drumheller I rode. 

I was looking forward to buying some cold water since the temperature was increasing.  I stopped in a store and checked Trackleaders.  I saw Ryan had taken the highway straight into Drumheller and skipped part of the route.  I hoped he was okay.  I had mixed feelings.  I was happy that I probably would keep the first place position but was enjoying the challenge of staying out front.  I accepted the circumstances and kept pedalling on.  Along one section, my Etrex was zoomed out a bit far and I found I was riding on the highway when I should have been riding on the frontage road.  I turned around and rode to the frontage road to make sure I stayed on course.  I wasn’t too far and the day was nice so it was no big deal.

I reached the end of the river valley and started the climb (or walk) up the steep hill to the flatlands again.  The home stretch.  As I pedalled along I didn’t have that sense of urgency of Ryan chasing me so my mind wandered.  The heat increased and I started to feel tired.  I had been riding for about 30 hours so I was eager for the race to be over.  I was looking forward to having the SE wind become a tailwind, but around noon, the wind changed direction to a SW wind. Now it was a headwind again.  Great.  All I could do was pedal and wait for the finish to come.  I started to get really hot so when I saw a slimy green lake of water, I decided to dip my jersey in it to cool down.  I tried to find the least slimy water, soaked the jersey and put it on.  It was a nice relief from the heat. 

Eventually, I came to the last really long straight stretch of road to the finish.  40km of rolling hills covered in deep, freshly laid gravel.  The downhills were nice, but with the loose gravel, my momentum died before reaching the uphill.  I had to start pedalling and many times, I was walking the section near the top.  Mentally, this was the toughest part of the race.  I was tired, the hills never seemed to end, there was a headwind, and I wanted to be done.  What else is there to do but keep pedalling…slowly.  It felt like the longest 40km of my life.  But like every low, it ends.  I reached a corner!  That meant I was almost done.  I upped the pace in excitement of being able to finish the ride.  As I approached the finish there was my family and a group of others.  So often in these races, the end is anticlimactic with few or no people at the end so this was great!  The Triple Crown was done and I actually got a first place finish! 

2017 Hurt'n Albert'n 550: 1 day 11 hours, 57 minutes

1st place over all; 1st place single speed

Canadian Triple Crown Men's Record: 7 days 15 hours 35 minutes

Photo credit: Brian Kennelly

2017 Alberta Rockies 700

Source: Trackleaders

Eleven days after the BC Epic 1000 and I was at the starting line of another race. This one was 740km from Coleman, AB to Hinton, AB.  Kristin drove me to the line at about 6:30 am.  We got some breakfast at the Tim Hortons down the road after a long wait.  The Sinister Six, an ultra-running race was scheduled the same weekend and many of the runners were there for breakfast as well.  We got to the Rum Runner early enough to set up the bike and talk with some of the other riders.  It’s nice to get to know some of the familiar faces at the start.  It seems there are others with the same mental problems of enjoying riding your bike for hours and hours so a lot of the same people do these kinds of races.  The bronchitis I had during the BC Epic seemed to be better for the most part.  I had a small cough, but nothing too serious.  The doctor gave me a steroid inhaler that I took a puff from at the start, but I didn’t use it for the rest of the race.  It didn’t seem to do anything.

Grand Depart at The Rum Runner in Coleman, Alberta

Day 1

We took a group photo and we were off.  I changed my gear ratio to 34:22 because I knew the hills were steep, and there were a lot of them, from my ITT run of the course the previous year. It was going to be an experiment on how slow I was going to be.  On the flats, I would only be able to spin up to about 18-20km/hr, but I should be able to ride all of the hills.  I walked a lot the previous year.  The theory was, if I could stay on my bike most of the race, overall I should be faster. 

Right out of Coleman is a big climb.  Up, and up we rode.  I stayed somewhere near the front and just tried to keep a steady pace.  On one descent, we were speeding down the hill at about 40km/hr.  I looked up and saw a big cloud of dust.  Rabih had flipped over his handlebars and crashed on the gravel at this high speed!  Jonathan and I stopped and helped him pick his stuff up and to see if he was okay.  He had some road rash, but didn’t seem to be in too bad of shape.  He kept encouraging us to go on and keep racing.  It looked like one of the bags on his fork had flipped around and got stuck in his front tire.  His back tire got bent so he was out of the race.  What a shame so early, but it was good he was close to town.  I heard later he got a ride back to Coleman.   I was glad he was okay.

Highwood Pass - the highest paved pass in Canada

The riders spread out as we climbed on the gravel roads toward Highwood Pass.  There was a store at the base of the highest paved pass in Canada so I stopped for a drink and snack.  I didn’t want to stop too long and my plan was just to get water, but the temptation of a sandwich and cold drink was too great on the hot day.  I saw Tim and Katrina leaving just as I rode up and I wondered who was out in front.  I left and started climbing the pass.  The temperature was climbing, but it didn’t seem as hot as the BC Epic the previous week. The views on the climb were great!  At one point near the top some sheep were on the road blocking the oncoming traffic.  They did not seem to care at all that they were right in the middle of the road just standing there blocking all of the cars. Silly sheep.  Richard caught me on the climb and we leapfrogged each other after we crested the pass.  The fast descent was a blast!

At the bottom of the paved pass, the trail went back onto the gravel.  Hot, dusty, dusty, dusty gravel.  There was a fair amount of traffic on the Smith Dorrien Trail all the way into Canmore.  I kept looking back to make sure I wasn’t in the cars' way when they drove past.  Every once in a while I would see Richard up ahead, but I never quite caught him.  The washboards were brutal on this stretch!  At one point near the Goat Creek trailhead I saw a little black bear on the side of the road.  I blew my whistle, but he didn’t even flinch.  He didn’t care about anyone who was around him.  I followed a car down the steep hill into Canmore and got absolutely covered in dust.  It was in my mouth, nose, ears, and eyes.  I was very happy to see the pit stop at Rebound Cycle. 

24-hour pit stop at Rebound Cycle
Photo by @bikepackcan

I had a burger, drink and got cleaned up at the pit stop.  I wanted to make my stop quick, but again, the temptation to take it easy and talk to the people there was too great so I hung around for a bit.  I rode out with Katrina and we stopped at a store on the way out of town to get some food.  The ride out of Canmore to the Ghost Lake campground was all paved and pretty flat.  Katrina stayed with me and I felt like I was slowing her down.  With the easy gear ratio that I chose for the hills, flat pavement was pretty slow going.  We ran into Richard again and he passed us and rode off into the dark.  We got to the Ghost Lake campground around midnight and we were both ready to stop for the night.  We cruised around the campsite and it was full of loud and drunk RV campers.  I didn’t want to stay there since I thought it would be quieter on the side of the road somewhere so I moved on.
Later I found out that Katrina moved on as well since it was too loud and rowdy.  I stopped on the side of the road a few kilometers up and made camp.  It was a hot, humid night and I managed to get a good night’s sleep.  I was in bed by 1am and set my alarm for 4am hoping to get a jump on the other riders.

The bivy spot

Day 2/3

I woke up to a beautiful, clear, foggy morning.  The sunrise was awesome.  The road was pretty flat and paved for the first while and then turned into gravel.  I stopped for water at a creek and Kyle rolled up.  He mentioned that he heard me ride by in the morning and rushed to catch up.  Ugh!  I have to remember to camp ahead of other racers in the future!  We rode the gravel together for a short while and then he started to slowly pull away.  Richard approached from behind as well and started to ride away with Kyle.  Their paces were similar and they ended up finishing the race together. 

I kept plugging along at my pace wondering if anyone else was going to catch us. I knew this stretch was a lot of steep climbs so I was happy with my gear ratio.  It was, however, too easy to stand and pedal.  Whenever I stood, it felt too easy and my speed dropped.  Most of the climbs consisted of sitting and grinding out slow rpm.  The day went on and it got hotter.   Trucks and RVs would pass every so often.  It was nice when they would give a little honk to let me know they were approaching.  I would have a chance to get to the side and let them pass.  Cooperation goes a long way to keeping everyone happy on the road.

At one point in the afternoon on a climb I started to doze off.  I stopped to take a quick nap and thought I would check to see if I had service so I could check Trackleaders.  I did have service and saw that Katrina was only a few kms behind!  That woke me up out of my stupor so no nap needed!  I got on the bike and started climbing again.  I saw Kyle and Richard were a few kms ahead and I wondered if I would catch them.  There was a bit of a break in the climbing and I came into a flatter section.  I was riding into a bit of a headwind and all of the sudden there was Kyle and Richard.  They were on the side of the road getting water.  I happily gave them a wave as I rode by.  When would they catch up to me, I wondered.  After a short while nature started to call.  I was approaching the campsite that I stayed at in 2016 and decided to stop.  Actually, it was more of a necessity than a decision.  I got of the bike and frantically rushed to make a deposit.  I figured Kyle and Richard would pass me, and after I got back on the road, I saw they did when I spotted their tire tracks.  The climbing started up again and for some strange reason I was really enjoying myself.  It must have been the scenery and cooler temperatures later in the day.  I started counting summits to climbs.  I remembered the steepest climbs were south of the North Saskatchewan River so getting past the river was my small goal for the next while. 

After riding for a while, I stopped seeing Kyle and Richard’s tire tracks.  I wondered if I passed them.  It became a game in the dimming light to try to see tire tracks in the road.  Sometimes I thought I did, and others I didn’t.  The doubt was dispelled when they rode up behind me.  They stopped for a few minutes at one point and I rode past.  Just as I got a bit ahead, I heard an expletive and crash.  Richard had gotten his foot stuck in his shoe and fell over.  I looked back and checked if he was okay.  He seemed fine so I kept riding.  I found out later that he was wearing road cycling shoes.  I just got a road bike this summer and the only crashes and scrapes I got were from falling over trying to get out of those tight cleats. 

Richard's stuck shoe

We started the descent to the North Saskatchewan River when it was getting dark.  The road was sandy gravel on switchbacks so it was kind of slow going for a steep descent.  I pulled away from Kyle and Richard and crossed the river.  I was hoping they were going to camp at the campsite there, but as I climbed out of the river valley, they pulled up beside me.  We stayed within a close distance of each other until we reached Nordegg at about 12:30am.  I was happy they were looking for a place to bivy and was wondering if they needed to resupply in the morning.  I brought enough snacks for the whole ride when I started to avoid stopping for resupply so I was good until the finish. 

As I rode down the gravel toward Robb, their lights eventually stopped following me.  I was on my own for the evening.  I didn’t feel too tired for the first while, but after an hour of riding or so, I started to nod off.  My rule is to never ride while nodding off so I stopped for a quick nap on side of the road.  After a five minute nap, I was on my way.  This process continued for the next 3-4 hours where I would need a nap every hour or so.  Staring at a light on gravel lulls me to sleep I guess.  My big light started to blink whenever things got bumpy too.  It might be getting worn out after 1000’s of kms of bumpy roads.  Eventually the sun came up and the road started to get smoother.  With the smoother road came lots of logging trucks.  I had to keep looking back to get out of the way when they came rolling along. 

Then the hallucinations started big time.  I had a few riding in the dark when I imagined someone riding beside me, but they weren’t too vivid.  This time they were very vivid.  I felt alert.  I wasn’t nodding off at all, but I started seeing things in the trees.  Different wooden shacks would appear and I even saw an RV with a guy under his canopy doing something.  Full colour images!  I would stare at them and I knew they weren’t real, but they sure looked like it.  Oh well, just keep riding I would tell myself. 

I stopped to take a quick nap with about 100km to go.  After my nap, I got cell reception and was able to check Trackleaders.  Kyle and Richard were about 40km behind and on their way.  I decided I had better keep moving as much as possible.  I decided to try keeping my riding intensity up and count down the kms.  Keeping my mind busy and heart rate up seemed to work!  I rode the smooth downhill pavement into Robb with no nodding off.  Good thing because I was on a busy highway. 

I didn’t stop at Robb and turned onto the last stretch of gravel to the finish.  The sleep monster hit one more time and I napped for about 10 min in some tall grass.  After that, I was able to continue to the finish.  I kept pushing hard and counting kms.  My knees had started to hurt over the last 24 hours and I was taking ibuprophen every 4-6 hours to keep the pain down.  It’s pretty normal for different things to hurt in this kind of racing so I wasn’t too worried.  Eventually the drugs stopped working and by this point now, my knees were protesting heavily.  Keep moving, almost done.  The road was mostly rolling hills that weren’t too steep so the riding was pretty good.  There was one spot near the end where they were wetting and grading the road which made it soupy and hard to ride through, but it didn’t last long.  I counted my kms until about 15kms to go and then it was all downhill.  I screamed down the road into Hinton happy I was about to be done.  I followed the pink line to the end and then it disappeared.  The strange thing was I was in the middle of the road…somewhere.  I knew the end was at the Hinton Visitor Centre, but didn’t know where it was.  I rode in circles for a while checking Google maps with my phone, but I was too disoriented to figure out where to go for a while.  Eventually I found it and was greeted by my wonderful family.  They drove in that morning to pick me up.  Adam, the first place rider, was waiting as well!  It was great to meet him and awesome that he stuck around (for 6 hours!) to see me finish.  Done!  

The finish line in Hinton, Alberta

2nd place

"Dean the Machine (Daddy)"
Photo by Carlene Anderson

With 1st Place finisher,
Adam Hooson

With Kyle and single-shoe Richard