600 km Ride Complete - Qualified for Paris-Brest-Paris

600 km done - feeling great, both physically and mentally.

What started at 5:00 am on Saturday morning finished at 6:46 pm Sunday, well within the 40 hr cut off time for this 600 km Brevet.  All smiles after completing my longest bike ever and knowing I am officially qualified for this year's Paris-Brest-Paris the world's oldest cycling event, dating back to 1891.

After a full day at Infinit, I packed up my gear, had dinner with Brea and headed off to Bye The Bay - Bed & Breakfast in Rondeau.  I was joining 5 other riders: Tim, Brenda, Dick, Charles and Mike.

Arriving at 9:30 am, the place was quiet, all asleep, except Mike from Welland - quickly got my Infinit bottles mixed and in the fridge - I was all set.  Had a few cookies that Joanne put out for us, figured I would be ok with the extra calories at this point.  The right thing to do at this point would have been to go right to sleep, but hopped on the computer to watch the last quarter of the Raptors game - nice win, nice way to go to sleep.

I never did meet Lloyd, who runs the bed and breakfast with Joanne - they recently bought the property - this place is great, location is amazing and the service/care they take - unreal.  Imagine a bed and breakfast that would provide a full on breakfast with fresh (each morning) baked goods, all served at 4:20 am, so we could get out on our ride fully nourished.  This is what Joanne did for us with big smiles - so grateful, what an amazing way to start each day.

Epic route that Tim put together - very familiar territory, spent lots of my youth in these areas.

The first day was 366 km, a big loop that headed northwest to Dresden and then Wallaceburg to travel

Nothing like riding from dark to dawn!

along the St. Clair River onwards to Sarnia where we had our second stop (Control Point) where we enjoyed Subway.  for the first 120 km we had favourable winds, either giving us a bit of a push or neutral - once we started heading east we had some pretty heavy winds, after a brief stop at Tim's in Grand Bend - it was fairly tough until we reached Alisa Craig - then we had winds at our back it seemed until we got back to Rondeau.  All in all this day's ride was uneventful - finished up at a few minutes before 11 pm.  These things are all about efficiency and keep moving - Dick Felton is a master at this, learned a lot from him this weekend.  Quickly got my bottles prepped and battery charged, showered and was asleep by midnight - up at 4 am, feeling quite rested and surprisingly good.  In my clothes and put bike out, ready to rock - now let me at that breakfast - leisurely breakfast and then we rolled out just a few minutes after 5 am.  For me the second day and specifically the first few k's were what I was most anxious about, I have covered several 400 km brevets but I had never hopped on a bike to ride long 6 hours later.  Instantly I knew I was going to be ok - actually felt good, now we have 235 km to go.

My two buddies - Brenda and Tim (got me into this madness)

We followed the shores of Lake Erie all the way to Port Bruce - we found 30 - 40 km/h winds for 100 km, never have I experienced that.  I broke it down into 10 min blocks and eventually I had the Fish Perch & Chips from the Sand Castle Cafe in front of me, that keep me going.  Shortly after leaving our second last control point we started heading westward - nice to have more favourable winds.  To
be honest they weren't as strong in land a bit, had visions of cruising at 37 - 40 km/hr, at least we were at 30ish.  We put a foot down on the outskirts of St Thomas, all worried about what we had left fluid wise - we decided to head on without going off course 2, to 3 km to replenish.  We figured if we didn't come across a gas bar or convenience store we would stop at a farm house.  Exactly what happened, near Dutton we saw a house with a few cars in the drive way, they hooked us up - filled 2 bottles each for us, complete with ice.  Was great - I took an opportunity to have Cold Brew and filled another bottle with Infinit Power - this was perfect to get me to West Lorne, our last control point.  I had a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup, a half a turkey sandwich (Thanks Mike) and bought a chocolate chip muffin for another time.  From here we had about 50 k to the finish.   We rode well together, of course we were getting fatigued but we managed together to keep the group together.  We hit a lot of gravel - likely 15-20 km in the last 50, Brenda wasn't too thrilled - her bike not quite as equipped with 23 mm tires - I however on the new Canyon with 28 mm, didn't mind.  After our last 2 km of grave we were at Kent Bridge Road with just 1 km left - crazy!!  5 of us were together at the end, Charles had powered ahead - he was fighting saddle / comfort issues and we know he was looking forward to getting off the bike.

In the category a picture is worth a 1000 words.  First the look, as mentioned Bren wasn't thrilled with all the gravel and then "Every Day Is A Gift" on the sign, no truer words spoken!

Amazing day - I had already cemented relationships with Tim and Brenda - covering a couple 400 km rides and others together.  This weekend I was able to do the same with Mike and also go to know Dick and Charles - love pushing limits with others.

So my next randonneur ride will be in Paris.  My qualification rides are complete - and I have a new found confidence with this ride behind me, that I will find a way to get through 1200 km in France in 90 hrs.  

200 km - Rando Rondeau

400 km Brevet - Greece

300 km Tour of Detroit

600 km - Rondeau Ramble

Quick note on my nutrition for these brevets.  As was the case for this 600 km, I use my base Custom Blend - 250 cal/serving and Infinit Power 100 cal/serving.  I use both through out, taking at least a serving an hour of one or the other.  I take on some real food at control points - after controls I will always use the lower calorie Power.  Later in the rides I take on Cold Brew - this sits well, gives me lots of protein and I love it.  For this event - I had a huge half chicken dinner at Swiss Chalet - wasn't so much for Saturday's ride as we only had 80 left - was about my recovery for Sunday.  I will take on some simple carbs, cookie, muffin or a bag of chips - having something you don't normally each can bring both value and joy later in rides.

Will let you know how the big ride goes later in the summer.

- Darcy Haggith, President, Infinit Nutrition Canada