Iron Butt Association Membership # 8613
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The Trans Canadian Quest, Trans Canadian GOLD, and
Ultimate Coast to Coast are
trademarks
of the Iron Butt Association.
http://www.ironbutt.com
We were departing at a service station next to the hotel which made things very convenient. We were scheduled for a 6:00 a.m. start. As is normal I was not the only person packing my bike at 5:00 a.m. This is always an exciting time. You get to say good morning to your friends in which you are about to share an adventure. You can always feel the excitement in the air. At the service station, riders were getting their witness forms signed by Allan Archibald. Bob Brown the Site Coordinator was there making sure that everything was going as planned. Riders began to roll out and the ride was on.
When we do Ocean to Ocean rides it is our tradition to collect water from each Ocean as part of the ride. I have always been a purist about this and encouraged folks to collect their water after obtaining their starting receipt so getting water is included in the time allowed for the ride. But on this ride I had gone the night before and gotten my water. This decision was reflective of my concern about finishing the ride. I mentioned during the banquet that I had already gotten my water and Will Allender ask why I had done that - What happened to the purist in you? Will was right. I decided that I would go back to the Dartmouth Yacht Club and get my water as part of the ride.
Day 1 of the Trans-Canadian - 1197 Miles
June 2: (1) Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; (2) Dartmouth Yacht Club; (3) Pokiok, New
Brunswick; (4) Edmundston, New Brunswick;
(5) Saint Appolinair, Quebec; (6) Antrim, Ontario; (7) North Bay, Ontario; (8)
Latchford, Ontario
I had decided that I was going to be riding at a casual pace and knew that my friend Dave Hinks would just be out their plugging along. I decided that I would just start out with Dave. We left the station and headed to the Dartmouth Yacht Club. I already had my water from the night before. There was no sand at the Yacht Club so I put a few snails in my bottle. Dave could not find his empty bottle. He searched his pockets, double checked his bike, now bottle. You could tell he was getting frustrated. Just as he decided that he would share my water, he found his bottle. I showed him a convenient spot to collect his water and his snails. He said, can you imagine how bad that is going to stink. I hadn't really thought about it to be honest. But Dave was right. When I got my plaque after the ride and was preparing the water to put in the test tube the smell was a killer. I decided to boil the snails and that made the smell even worse. My wife was not too thrilled about this lack of forethought.
Dave led us from the Yacht Club and we were on our way. Dave! Dave! Where the heck are you going. He couldn't hear me but that was what was going through my mind as he pulled off at the exit that would lead us back to the hotel. I guess losing that bottle still had Dave a bit riled. We jumped back on the right track and now we were off for good. It was raining and Dave was being his normal cautious self. I set the cruise control and tried to relax. It wasn't long that I realized that riding with Dave on this ride was going to drive me nuts. It wasn't Dave or the speed that he was traveling, it was the extra concentration that it was requiring to hang with Dave. I decided to kick it up a bit and ride my own ride. If I was going to fail to finish the ride, I wanted it to all be on me.
The electronic maps for New Brunswick were not accurate. I had ridden that part of the route in 2003 and had gotten lost around Fredericton. I was relieved that the roads were marked much clearer this time and I avoided that costly error. The first Mandatory Stop was in Edumundston, New Brunswick. The mandatory stop in Edmundton is to take riders above Maine so they cannot take a short cut through the United States as the Trans-Canadian ride requires riders to stay in Canada for the whole trip. As I pulled into the station I saw Marty Cook and Jack Dodds. Jack, a young 72 year old rider, was doing this ride and then was headed to Alaska to do some fly fishing before riding the Ultimate Coast to Coast Ride from Deadhorse, Alaska to Key West, Florida. We later learned that Jack was on a mission to ride 100,000 miles in 2004. An accomplishment that few riders have achieved. I gave Jack some razzing as he was packed in like a sardine with all his fishing and camping gear. Although we organize as a group and leave within minutes of each other, it is not uncommon to ride several hundred miles or maybe even a whole ride without seeing another rider. I always cherish these brief encounters. I was feeling really good and was settling into the ride. My confidence was returning and I was now looking forward to completing the ride.
I'm headed south and feeling good but soon realize that I'm going to catch some of Montreal's rush hour traffic. When organizing multiple day rides, I like to use a 6:00 a.m. start time so that most of the folks are in sync with their body clocks. In hindsight, we should have used a 3:00 a.m. start time on this ride. The earlier start time would have put us in Montreal at a better time and would have allowed three more hours of daylight in the mountains at the end of the ride. All in all the traffic wasn't bad. I was soon through Montreal and felt that one major milestone had been accomplished.
The next mandatory stop was North Bay, Ontario. The North Bay stop was not required by the IBA but was added as we were doing a Group Ride and wanted all riders to follow the same route. The North Bay stop forced riders south through Ottawa instead of the alternate northerly route through Val-d'Or. North Bay was about 1119 miles into the 3679 mile ride. A third of the way would be about 1236 miles and since the Trans-Canadian ride allows 75 hours (3 days and 3 hours), I hoped to do at least 1236 miles before stopping for sleep. In fact my hope was that I would make it to Cochrane, Ontario, about 1347 miles.
I saw Marty Cook in North Bay and we headed North on TC11 which would take us over the top of Lake Superior. I was familiar with this area and knew that wildlife, specifically deer and moose were a concern. I was on my Goldwing and cranked up the lights. With the lights on bright, I have four 55 bulbs. Add to that high intensity discharge (HID) lights and it seems that you could light up the sun. I had very good visibility. Martin had the same idea. Although he was not that far behind me, he cranked up his bright lights and his PIAA auxiliary lights. I figured the more light the better and just tried to avoid looking in my mirrors so Martin's lights wouldn't blind me.
Just after leaving North Bay, I saw Jack Dodds filling up with fuel. I honked but don't think he heard me. We are now starting to get into the area where are know we are likely to encounter wildlife. Just as I round a curve a cow moose lumbers across the road in front of me. I hammer down on the brakes. Glad I have ABS. If you have never seen a moose close up and personal, let me just tell you they are one big animal and something in which you do not want to make contact. Ok, that got my attention. I'm now looking out, close, left side, right side, etc. This type of riding takes a lot of attention and energy. Soon, I'm headed down a hill and I see a tractor trailer on the side of the road in the opposite direction. On my side of the road I see something unrecognizable and slow down. HOLY S*#&, that unrecognizable object is a moose that has been hit by the tractor trailer. That's enough for me. I slow to about 45 and decide that I'm just going to take it easy. I guess Martin wasn't so patient and soon he was passing me and on his way. I'm thinking, dang Martin, I know you saw that. Are you crazy?
A short while later I spot a dumpy little motel in Latchford, Ontario. I'm thinking about stopping as I'm at about 1197 miles, just shy of the 1/3 point of the ride. Hey that's Martin's bike. I guess Martin had gotten spooked by the moose as well and decided enough is enough. I pull into the Motel. Martin was just getting his key as I walked in to register. We exchange some comments about the moose and Martin is off to bed. The room was $50 and change per night but hey, that's Canadian. The free continental breakfast was a small muffin that the owner placed in a Styrofoam box as he was handing me my key. There were also two bottle of Sunny Delite in the refrigerator. I was afraid I was going to fall through the floor, but it had a bed and I wasn't going to be there that long. It is now 1:10 a.m. EST and I am going to be getting up at 5:45 a.m. EST giving me about 4 hours sleep.
Day 2 of the Trans-Canadian - 1163 Miles
(8) Latchford, Ontario; (9) Cochrane, Ontario; (10) Hearst, Ontario; (11)
Longlac, Ontario; (12) Thunder Bay, Ontairo;
(13) Kenora, Ontario; (14 & 15) Brandon, Manitoba
As I pulled out to start the second day, Martin's bike was still at rest in the cold. It had really cooled off and was now 36 degrees. I'm very glad that I got my electric jacket and gloves working. As a side note, Will Allender and Dan Huber told me after the ride that they had decided that they would do an Iron Butt Hotel that night. For those that don't know, this means that Will and Dan decided to just lay down on the ground in their riding gear for a power nap. Will said that it was sold cold he couldn't sleep and after about 45 minutes he heard Dan rummaging around his bike. Will and Dan said, it's hard to sleep when your teeth are chattering. I'm glad I decided on the dumpy motel.
Another Personal Struggle
The temperature change triggered my allergies, so there was a lot of sneezing going on. Worse my eyes were watering and matting shut causing me to constantly wipe at my eyes. This is pretty common for me in the mornings, but normally is under control after a few minutes of riding. This day things were different and my eyes and the sneezing continued through the morning. As the sun became stronger my eyes became worse and soon I was having trouble seeing. I pulled over a couple of times just to wipe my eyes. I had left my sunglasses in my other bike and the sun was intense and aggravating things. Every rider has a certain time of the day that is difficult for them to get through, for me this time is 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. when the early morning sun starts to take hold. I was not relating the continuance of my watering eyes to the allergies, instead I was thinking that it was related to the time of day that I normally have a problem with. As the sun got more intense, so did the problem my eyes. I was approaching Longlac, Ontario which was 414 miles and my third gas stop for the day. The gas stops were close in part because of the limited availability of gas in the region, but I really needed them as my watering eyes were registering in my mind as fatigue. I filled up in Longlac. There was a restaurant/donut shop attached to the station. I decided that I would stop and see if I could get things together. It is really unusual for me to eat lunch while riding, but I could barely see and was having a difficult time even keeping my eyes open. I was really confused. I had gotten a good nights sleep. Yes, it was only 4 or 5 hours but that is a lot for me. I just couldn't understand why I was feeling so fatigued. I just thought that it was the decline in stamina that I felt before the beginning of the ride. It was time to make a big decision! Should I get a motel and abandon the ride? As I ate a sandwich and drank some coffee (very uncommon for me on an endurance ride), I'm really feeling depressed with what appears to be the obvious decision. The physical issues had began to become mental issues. That is not a good sign for an endurance rider.
I spot Dennis Powell at the gas pumps and go out to chat with him. Dennis was upbeat and said, "We are really a little bit behind schedule." I agreed with him but was encouraging and said, "We still have a plenty of time left." He did a normal Nascar like pit stop and was off. I stopped off at the restroom and noticed that my pupils were about the size of a needle. No wonder I was squinting and having to work so hard to keep my eyes open. I spotted some of those clip on sunglasses in the service station. Hmmm, I wonder if that would help? It is worth a try. I clip them on my glasses and head to the bike figuring that I would just search for a hotel. However Dennis upbeat attitude has me excited again and the clip on sunglasses seem to really help. I decided that I would head toward Thunder Bay, the third Mandatory Stop and do some more evaluation.
There was a lot going on in my mind but the clipon sunglasses while not fitting very well, seemed to be helping. My eyes were not watering near as much as they were earlier and I am now feeling much better. As I rounded the corner at Thunder Bay, I spotted Dennis Powell again. He was just finishing up at his gas stop. I was surprised as I figured he would be way out in front of me. I stopped and he reminded me again that we were a bit behind schedule and off he went. THANKS, DENNIS. I needed that, you put my mind back on track. There was no restroom at the gas station, so I just filled up with gas and headed out. That quick stop put me back into endurance ride mode.
Recognizing that I was behind schedule and the fact that I was seeing and feeling better, I decided that I should try to stretch out this tank of gas. Based upon conversations on the radio, the road between Thunder Bay and Kenora, Ontario have a high accident rate. There was more traffic in this are and the flow of traffic was pretty fast. There were actually some curves here and the scenery was varied, which made this portion of the ride more enjoyable even with the increased traffic.
Somewhere around Vermillion Bay, there was a construction zone. It was reasonably hot, traffic was not moving, but more importantly, I was about to pee my pants. Remember, there was no restroom at the last stop and that was 239 miles ago and the stop before that was 424 miles back. Oh yeah, that was the stop where I was pouting and drinking coffee. Did I say I had to pee really bad? It is kind of hard to sneak a pee at the side of the road when you are setting in a long line of traffic. Finally, it was time for our escort. We were now escorted over some pretty rough gravel for several miles. When you have to pee, bumps are not the type of terrain on which you want to be riding. I talked to Dave Hinks after the ride. He hit this area in the dark and the construction crew was gone. That meant he had to navigate a pretty nasty construction area in the dark. Even though I had to pee, I think I had the better deal.
My fuel light is now on and I don't see any sign of gas. Unlike there are very few billboards and many of the service stations are not visible from the highway. Finally, at Kenora some 300 miles since the last stop, I decided I was going to have to hunt down a station. There was a bypass loop and it seemed obvious that there was no gas on the loop. I exited the loop and headed into to town. I found a station and a restroom. Guess which came first. I'll give you a hint, it wasn't the gas. After filling up, I noticed that they also had clipon sunglasses. I found a pair that fit my glasses better than the ones I purchased in Longlac and purchased those. My pupils were not yet normal size but were getting better.
Somewhere
I missed a loop and took a route that took me through several smaller towns. I
think it was around Dryden, Ontario. At any rate along the route I ran across
this sign. The first one that I saw, I thought, "What the heck was that." Then I
saw another, figured it out and smiled. Each time I saw one of the signs, I
laughed more and more. How long do you have to wait for a turtle to cross? 1.5
km per hour, how do you go that slow. Finally I had to stop and get a picture.
It is dark when I get to Winnipeg, Manitoba. It appears on my GPS that there is a loop around Winnipeg but my GPS is routing me through the city. Oops, too late. If it was a loop, I missed it. This was a big mistake. Winnipeg is a good size city and there seemed to be a lot of night life. For sure there were a lot of traffic lights. I sure that I would have saved 15-30 minutes if I had recognized that there really was a loop around the city.
As I hit Brandon, Manitoba I'm at about 250 miles since my last fill up and 1163 miles for the day. I need to stop for gas and my problems early in the day have taken their toll and I'm tired. I decided after filling up that I will get a hotel even though stopping was going to leave me with a long third and final day. Since I'm going to have a long day tomorrow, I decide on four hours sleep and a cheap hotel. There are several to choose from close to the station. All have No Vacancy. Finally, I ask at the Super 8 what is going on. It appears that there is a baseball tournament in town and all the hotels are full. I'm really too tired to go on, particularly after spending 15 minutes in shutdown mode looking for a hotel. The clerk calls around and finds me a not so cheap room at Comfort Inn. I don't really care. I just need to get some sleep and get back on the road. It is 12:50 a.m. EST. I ask for a 5:30 a.m. EST wake up call so I can get an early start on tomorrows challenge.
Day 3 of the Trans-Canadian - 1319 Miles
Brandon, Manitoba; Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan; Brook, Alberta; Calgary,
Alberta; Revelstoke, British Columbia;
Merritt, British Columbia; Vancouver, British Columbia
This day is about staying focused and getting down to business. I had a good 5 hour rest and knew that with a 1300 mile day ahead of me that I needed to stay in the saddle and extend my gas stops. I made my first stop in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (272 miles) and the next in stop at Brooks, Alberta (311 miles). My next stop would be the mandatory stop in Calgary, a short 114 mile ride. My eyes were no longer bothering me. I had maintained my focus. And now knew that the ride was going to be successful. I was once again feeling confident about my abilities and was really enjoying the ride.
The ride from Calgary to Vancouver is excellent. It takes you across the Canadian Rockies and through Banff National Park. The Bow River west of Calgary runs along the highway and offers some spectacular vistas. I still have another 600 miles to ride before my day will end and there is no time to stop. However, a mental note is logged into my brain and this is one of the places to which I will return. The flat straight riding is over. I am not going up and down hills, around curves, and through tunnels. I know that I am going to run out of daylight and will miss some spectacular scenery. I have pushed out another 255 mile leg as I stopped to get gas at Revelstoke, British Columbia and have only about another 350 miles to go. I had not eaten all day and decided to grab a diet soda and one of those delicious service station sandwiches. I knew that I would need one more stop for gas. I stopped in Merritt, British Columbia. I thought this was going to be a small town stuck in the mountains. It turned out to be a popular tourist stop and bustling with people. The service station sandwich had not done much to satisfy my cravings to I decided that I would take the time to get a burger and drink a cup of coffee. I had plenty of time to get to Vancouver and was now fully relaxed.
I arrived in Vancouver. I knew from plotting the route that there were several turns to make to get to Kitsilano Beach where I would go to collect water before getting my ending gas receipt. I was not however ready for the size of Vancouver and was not prepared for the traffic. A big thank you to Dan Huber who had purchased Garmin's Canadian maps and downloaded points at all of the turns. I just pointed the bike to the point on the GPS and eventually found my way to the gas station and knew I was only a few blocks away from the beach. I turned the wrong direction and had to make a U-turn. I soon arrived at Kitsilano Beach. It was very dark, but there appeared to be a lot of people on the beach. I saw a fellow twirling fire torches and there was a crowd gathered. Some past experiences started entering my mind. On a cross country trip to San Diego, we stopped at the beach to collect water and ended up at Dog Beach instead of Ocean Beach. Dog Beach was the hang out for the druggies and was unpatrolled. Fortunately on that ride there were several of us and we took turns watching the bikes while we collected our water. Assessing this situation, I was not sure if it was safe to leave my bike and walk to the water or not. I decided to move to another parking area. As I pulled in I had my bright lights and HID auxiliary lights both blasting out light. Bodies were flying everywhere as I illuminated the beach. I killed the high powered lights and folks continued to shuffle and stare my direction. I decided that I had been to the beach but I would wait until tomorrow to get my water. I headed to the service station and got my ending receipt at 12:48 a.m. (2:48 a.m. EST) I had finished the ride in 70 hours and thirty-five minutes. Well under the 75 hour Gold pace.
This has been an important ride to me. I started out questioning my abilities, struggled through the middle of the ride, and then overcame the physical and mental challenges ending with a successful ride and a head full of confidence. I'm finally starting to feel like myself again for the first time since my 2003 crash.
When I got to the hotel I saw two other bikes. They belonged to Will Allender and Dan Huber. That had gotten in an hour or so before me. I did not know it at the time but they were actually across the street having dinner. I went to bed and got a full nights sleep before getting up the next morning for a celebration breakfast. Will, Dan, and Bill Watt our witness were the only ones in the lobby. Bill signed off my paperwork and we went inside the restaurant to have breakfast. Dave Hinks joined us. He had gotten in just a few minutes before the 75 hour mark and had only gotten a few hours sleep.
Will Allender, Bill Watt, Dan Huber, Dave Hinks, Alan Leduc
Dennis Powell had finished ahead of me and had gone to the hotel without a reservation. They had no rooms available so he went on down the road and missed the breakfast. So out of the six riders who had started out shooting for the Trans-Canadian Gold, five of us had completed it. Marty Cook had not one but two encounters with tire problems and would have to settle for the Trans-Canadian Quest. Kevin Healey and Jack Dodds had planned on a Trans-Canadian Quest Pace of finishing under 90 hours and were both successful. A very successful ride for all.