This is being written in Dec 2023 as I think back to the beautiful and challenging 200k brevet I rode in March 2022. I believe it was either my third or fourth 200, and I still have not ventured to longer brevets. I’m not sure if I will or not!
I rode to the start which was about 7.5km, starting around 6:20am for the 7am start. Those who know me, know I’m not really a morning person but I can manage it if I need to. The biggest hurdle is usually that I need to take Dodger, our Australian Shepherd, out for a proper walk before I can leave.
It was a good turnout, and shortly after 7am we were off, downhill on Main St which is busy during the day but nearly deserted at this time on a Saturday. The route took us along Stanley Park’s beautiful seaside road and then over a bridge out to Horseshoe Bay. This road is picturesque with rolling hills, and we double back on the same road.
I hadn’t made any firm plans to ride with friends who were also participating, as my fitness lagged behind theirs. However, for the first 50km I had pushed my pace faster than typical and was not struggling to keep up. I actually had quite a few PR’s on the first 50k, and you can imagine where this is going.
The second 50k wasn’t too bad either, and we kept together. It was around the 135km mark where the power in my legs quickly started to taper off, likely due to poor fuelling. I struggled to get out of Richmond despite being completely flat, in part due to winds which we’d been battling all day.
I encouraged my riding mates to leave me behind, but selflessly they kept wait for me and helped tow me out of Richmond and across New Westminster. We passed the 100 mile mark, around which time I was able to convince the rest of the crew to push on without me, so I could doddle my exhausted legs as slowly as I needed to.
The next 15 or 20 km were very slow, but I did regain some strength in the final hour towards the finish and was able to finish feeling pretty good, despite the final miles being a climb.
My finish time of 11h07m is to-date my slowest 200k, although my fastest is only an hour quicker. The winds and hills were part of it, coming out too fast for the first half of the ride was definitely part of it, and I likely did not keep my calorie intake where it needed to be either. All good lessons, but despite the mistakes I had another brevet in the books!
Noting that my elapsed time was 60 minutes longer than my moving time, I probably had about 20-30 minutes of stopped time that could be trimmed down, as well.
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