My First 600 km Brevet.

I stopped in Holland, Manitoba.

I have been planning this ride for several years now. It has taken a while to get in shape for this ride, This was the first year with the Quest. It's been a great year. I have gone from the old guy who finishes last to the guy who can finish hours ahead of everyone. We started the year doing 200 km Brevets, then 300 km Brevets, then a 400 Brevet and finally the 600. All our routes so far have been South, North and East of the City of Winnipeg. This route was to the west. A little further west than I have traveled before by bike.

Here was the planned route :600 km Brevet route.

Because we were a small number and had a new member, we decided to stay together for the ride. We were 5 only. Three regular bikes, one recumbent and one Quest Velomobile. We were planning to do it in one non stop ride. There was to be 10 controls because of the way the route was planned. There was to be night driving. I have never driven all night before in the Quest. I follow Peter's Blog and he recently did a non stop 26 hour 600 km Brevet. Something to be Saluted. I knew we would not be so fast traveling in a group. I looked at the weather forecast.  High temperature of 20 C and a low of 10C, with no wind. It sounded too good to be true.
             I have prepared a list ahead of time and packed and prepared it. I was  ready for anything I thought. Six o'clock was our starting time. We met and left a couple of minutes late. Candy who was our lone female rider got there just in time.

On the Road at 6 am.

The conditions were great. It was about 12 C. and no traffic at this time on a Saturday morning.

First Control in Carmen

We arrived at our first control in at town called Carmen at 8:43 am. The distance was 77 km.

Happy Randonneurs!

Our group was happy and ready to go. We left Carmen and headed west on Highway # 3. Along the way I took this picture of this weather vane. It is a real car up there and it moves with the wind.

Weather Vane for wind direction!

The distance to the second control was 71 km but it was to have the most climbing sections as well as the highest elevation point of our Brevet. I am the first to admit I suck at climbing.  Well I got lots of practice and I got better at it that day. I followed at the back of our small group as no one could draft off the Quest XS. The first slope I had to grind up at a slow speed in the small chain ring and got left behind. After that I would look ahead and take a high speed run at the slopes. I still had to gear down to climb some of them but I wasn't getting left too far behind.  Some of the rolling stuff I could fly up and down the slopes.

                                    Wind Turbines on the high ridge.                                                        

As we approached the highest point of elevation I noticed the ridge was covered with wind turbines in all directions. Even with such a calm day they were all turning. I know this may be a common sight to my Dutch readers, but this was new to me. They are quite large when you get near them.

                                                    Wind turbines to my right....    

                                                 And more Wind Turbines to my left...

                                                             Control 2 Manitou 148 km
This was our lunch stop. We got there at 12:05. The service at the Burger Shack was slow but the burgers were great tasting. From there we headed west on the loop we had to do. First west on highway 253, and then north on highway 5 to our next control in Glenboro.

                                                     Control 3 Glenboro 247 km.
Glenboro was our supper stop and we ate well. Our stops were getting too long at this point and it was starting feel like a fun bike tour. We left Glenboro at 18:33 and headed east to our next control.

                                                                  Holland Manitoba.
On our way to the next control we passed though Holland Manitoba. I had to stop and take a couple of pictures so I could say I went to Holland this weekend! It was a fake wind mill.

                                                       Control 4 Rathwell     301 km
At this control everyone put on their lights for the night riding. Of course all I had to do was to flip a switch. At this point I didn't know if my lights would last the night, but I had two spares that I could attach to my helmet if the battery went dead in the Quest. With all the climbing I realized I had brought too much stuff and food. It was a good thing for someone else because I had a spare to loan them when their light went dead.

                                                                             Night riding!
I was surprised  this photo turned out at all because I shot it in the dark. The camera really made it look brighter.   Just after we left Rathwell my Garmin quit and I had to charge it up. I didn't restart it until we got to Mordon, so I lost 80km of slow night driving data.     Here is the link to the data from the first half from
 My Garmin     This portion of the night driving was part of a loop and we had to re-climb some of the slopes we had done earlier in the day. After a while I decided to hang back a long ways and watch the others tail lights. That way if they were climbing I could take a run at it and build up speed to get me up the slope easier. The group had to stop many times as people were getting sleepy and cold. I loaned my rain jacket and leg warmers to Candy as she was getting cold. It was a good thing I brought too much stuff. I was warm with just my shorts and jersey in the Quest. When we got to Manitou again we turned east this time and headed down hill. On this long stretch it would have been easy run at 55 kph for me and leave everyone far behind, but I stayed far behind. My MP3 player quit along here as it ran out of charge. I was feeling quite sleepy when we got to the coffee shop in Morden.

                                                            Control 5 Morden 383 km
After getting some food and coffee a bunch of drunk kids came in from the local bar. They were quite loud and funny to watch. Sam snapped this picture of us before I could wake up. That coffee tasted real good at that point. We left that control at 2:35 am. Just before Sunrise we decided to stop along the side of the road and sleep. Pete had a Bivy sack with him to crawl into and the others just laid down in the grass. I pulled out my cover for the Quest and covered the Quest. It was like a bug proof tent then and i slept well. After an hours sleep they woke me up and we continued on.

 

                                                              Control 6 Morris 456 km 
 After more coffee in a truck stop in Morris we left at 7:00am. We headed east and the south to St. Malo. More breaks along the road slowed us down. We left St. Malo and headed North and then east to  Control 8 (535km ) in Steinbach. Control 9 (561 km) was then west and north a bit. And back to Winnipeg to finish at 4:40 pm.

The weather and wind was perfect. We had no flats, and only 3 people had sore seats. But I don't have to tell you which 3.  I learned a lot. The Rice cake recipes tasted good and were easy to eat while riding. I brought too much stuff and will need to be lighter next 600 or 1200 I do. And the most important thing was we all had fun...

Recovery Week

Recovery Week,
After a couple of weeks of long days of work  I got a recovery weekend. We took the Huskies and packed up the camper and went camping. July 1st is Canada Day. It falls on a Monday this year so we had a 3 day weekend of rest. No Quest, No bike riding , just rest.

Camping with the Huskies.

The picture caption says "Camping with the Huskies". The picture only shows two dogs. The smart female was inside lying under the air conditioner. It was about 30 Celsius when I took this picture. Being Canada Day we had our flag taped to the front of our 34 year old camper.  I can not remember such a quiet weekend for me. Lots of rest, good food and lots of dog walking.

           The rest did me some good. My average speed for my daily commutes is up and my legs feel stronger. The poor Quest sat at home in the shop all by itself. Actually it only spends time outside when I'm riding. At work it hides under cover in my locker area surrounded by buses.

Safely parked indoors at work.

 

 

 

 

6 am in the Bus Garage.

The Camping weekend was good but coming home was not so good. Our 12 year old hot water tank sprang a leak while we were away. We came home to no hot water and some very wet carpet in our basement. It's a good thing we had the camper to shower in the next morning. My week involved putting in a new gas hot water  tank and lots of carpet cleaning.  It's just hard sometimes to balance rest, training and work. Not so much FUN to write about this week but the 600 km Brevet is coming up soon and I think I will be up to the challenge...

Life and Work has been Busy

Our Provincial Bird - The Mosquito. 

Life and Work has been Busy.

I have not had much free time lately. I have been working two shifts at work filling in for my afternoon counterpart who is on holidays. On top of that we have had a lot of moisture lately. With the moisture comes the hatching of our provincial bird -  the Mosquito. Thankfully the carbon fiber body of my Quest gives me some protection from being bitten by these Mosquitoes.

               My FUN for the week was completing my 400 km Brevet. We were down to just five riders for this Brevet. Three DF’s, one recumbent and one Quest. One of the riders was our new guy. We stuck together for the entire ride and I found the pace very easy.  I made the extra effort to charge up the few hills we encountered. On this Brevet we crossed the US border and went to Roseau Minn.for lunch. We got to the border and showed our passports. The border agent checked the passports in their computer and sent us on our way. I was last in line when he told me to wait. He had an ear piece in his ear and someone was talking to him from inside the station. A moment later a female agent came out. She wanted to take a picture of the Quest for her Face Book page and ask a few questions about it. I had to speed up a bit to catch the group. Crossing back into Canada was just as good after lunch. We crossed back into Canada at a border stop called Piney. At this point I could have easily speed up to my normal cruising speed and have got home a couple hours sooner, but I stayed with the group. I think I enjoy the social aspect of doing the Brevet as well as the physical and mental challenge. I feel great when I say I did 400 km on a bike in just one day. 
           Even though we crossed from one country to another and back, Yellowmobile has me beat by crossing 3 states in one day. He even took some pictures, while I still have not bought a new charger for my camera. He also posted a great video as well. Take some time to check out his blog.
          I have to give the Quest the weekend off. We are packing up the motor home and dogs for a long weekend of camping.  The Quest will stay home safe in my man-cave (shop) while the other bikes will get used. Next week everything should be back to normal if I survive the Mosquitoes....

Going fast is FUN, But...

I am having too much fun with my Quest. Every day I get my photo taken by people I don't know. People I don't know stop to talk to me about my Quest. I even have women in cars follow me home to see and talk about my Quest. It's a good thing I'm not shy!
         Part of the fun is I can ride it more. It keeps me warm in the winter and I ride more. It keeps me dry in the rain and I ride more. It goes faster in the wind and I ride more. And because I ride more I am getting in better shape and going faster. I do not train like Robert-Jan writes about in his Blog. I would get faster if I did. No, I just commute to work and go on a couple of group rides each week. I do use a heart rate monitor with my Garmin 500. I keep my records on a program called "Cyclistats". It records rides and data, along with maintenance records and weight records. It allows me to see the data in graph form. When you see the average heart beats per km on a graph you see how you body is getting stronger.

 

As I get stronger My heart beat less for every km I go. Again this would be influenced by the wind but when you average it over a month it show the improvements.

          Also useful is your average speed showed on a graph. It show how your average speed increases as time goes on. The only problem is group rides are slower than my average commuting speeds so a graph might show lower than what I do normally. But it makes me see I am improving.

Now if you were to read Robert-Jan's Blog and read the comments you would read Wim Schermer's comment about training with a power meter. A power meter would be a better way to train and measure improvements, but it would cost more money. Having the only Quest around this part of Canada means I have no other Velomobiles to race against like Robert-Jan.  So I will just skip the training for now and just keep riding, commuting and having fun. 

           Next week my fun will include helping out at the Bike to Work day BBQ. Bike to Work Day is an organized event where we try to get more people to ride their bikes to work. We have people running "Pit Stops" around the city on the bike routes giving out free coffee and Muffins to cyclists. In the afternoon we have a large BBQ in the center of the city for an after work party. That is one day I take off work to help out and set up the BBQ.  And the next Day is Saturday and my 400 km Brevet. If survive all that FUN I will have something to write about next week...

My second 300 km Brevet.

My second 300 km Brevet.

 This was my second 300 k Brevet for this year and I was excited to do it. My first 300 went well. I am really enjoying being the first one to finish this year instead of the last one. I know a Brevet is not a race but it still is fun to finish an hour or more ahead of everyone else.  I was really looking forward for this Brevet. My average speed goes up each week as I get in better shape. I got lots of sleep and took Friday off to rest my legs. I was ready to burn up those 300 km. So I was really disappointed to see only 3 people at the start. A local road race was happening that day so there went some of the regulars. And the strong wind forecast scared off the others. Mark, who was the most experienced one of the group asked me, if I could stick with the group to help the new guy finish. The new guy was only doing his second Brevet. He was young and is good shape but riding a new bike that was just fitted to him this week. This made for a longer ride as the speeds were a lot slower. There was lots of stops for adjustments on his shoe cleats and to stretch his sore muscles. But at the same time I got to look around and see more of the country side.  It was still fun, but in a different way. At the end of the day he finished his first 300 km Brevet. He was one happy tired fellow. He was going to be very sore the next day. I went home and took the Huskies for a 5km run. Our next Brevet is our 400 km on June 22. That should be a great test for me and the Quest.
            When I decided to buy a Velomobile I decided on the Quest XS and it was fortunate that BlueVelo was making them in Canada. The other model that is soon to be available in Canada is the Milan. I have been following the build for a while at Velomobiles.ca    and  I am now following the assembly of another in Milan in Nico's blog Milan - sl . I find the building very interesting but I am glad I bought mine complete as I am having a great time riding it.  Check out those blogs if you are interested in the building end.
            That's all for now from my part Canada....

Rain, Rain and more RAIN!

Not much to write about. We have had lots of rain, which we needed some. I have been commuting to work in the Quest and stayed dry of course. I bought my wife a recumbent trike this week. It's a folding model with all 20 inch wheels. Of course we had to go shoe shopping to get her some cycling shoes. After just two shops and trying on LOTS of shoes we found her a pair. Women are more fussy when it comes to shoes. I won't say any more in case she reads my blog. After the Brevets are over we should get out cycling together more.
            We did our first 300 km Brevet on Saturday. It was our south route. A small group of just 5 left at 6:00 am in the rain. We had a head wind of course. The group was all experienced riders except one lady who was doing her first 300 km. I stayed with the group until after Lunch at the 150 km control. After that I went at my own pace. I got back to the last control at 7:08 PM. The Garmin tells me I did 10 hours and 38 seconds of riding. The rest of the time was used up at controls or eating. I didn't get any pictures as I forgot to charge the camera battery. Next week we do the second 300km Brevet on the North route. It was fun doing the ride in the Quest. I was dry, the ride was easy, and I had my music to listen to. I have to eat and drink more next week as I ride. I was down 3.5 pounds when I got home.
             That is about it for this week.
Greetings from Canada....
               Kevin

Coffee, I discovered my Quest really runs on COFFEE!

Coffee, I discovered my Quest really runs on COFFEE! 
Last week I did my first 200 km Brevet with my Quest XS. It was great! The day after I did a club ride (more coffee and buns) of about 70 km and felt great. And my speed is getting faster as the week goes on.

             I did my second 200 km brevet on Saturday May 11 and the weather conditions were far from good. Cloudy, and very windy. A cold north wind at 50 kph gusting to 65 kph. I didn't have my riding partner from last week as his knee was still hurting from that ride. I stayed with the front group until the Lunch break (Coffee and toast) and then picked up my pace and left them behind. The wind was very tricky and I had to keep my speed down. My time was very close to my first Brevet with my average speed up a little bit. When I got to the coffee shop at the end I had some coffee (and more coffee)  and waited for the group to catch up. After waiting for over an hour(even more coffee)  there was still nobody there. Finally a girlfriend of one of the riders showed up to wait for him so I gave her my card to hand in and went home. Our route was mostly flat and open but we had one small ridge to go over. I shot some video so you get to see something that is not flat. Link to my Video
          The camera I used is new and the laptop is also new.  So I am slower to post as I am just learning the new programs on the laptop as well. The newer laptop edits faster but the program works a little different. I still have to figure out how to embed the video from Youtube.
Until next week, Greetings from the center of Canada....