By Dave Hardie
It is Sports Day, June 1953, and I am running in the Grade 3 footrace on the playing field of the David Lloyd George (4 room) primary school in the south Vancouver community of Marpole. I am laughing uncontrollably as I cross the finish line and looking behind me there is no one and I realize, once again I have finished dead last. I walked, gasping, to my mother standing on the sidelines, with all the other housewife mothers. “Mommy” says all the correct things such as I did my best and there is always next year and doing her best to hide the embarrassment. It was established early in my life that I was not to be an athlete and future checks of the family tree found no “jocks” in my heritage.
Flash forward to September 11, 2010. It is 6:00 a.m. and my wife, Cheryl, has just dropped me off with my bike after a poor night’s sleep at the Lonsdale Quay Hotel. I am standing in the cold and dark on Georgia Street between the old Georgia Hotel and the Vancouver Art Gallery with 4000 other cyclists gathering for the start of the inaugural Gran Fondo Whistler event. I am having a flashback of the 1953 Sports Day and quietly asking myself “what the hell am I doing here?” 57 years later!
The race/ride event starting line is two blocks west at Burrard Street and we have all “seeded” ourselves in a starting corral based on each rider’s best estimate of the time he or she thinks it will take to complete the 122 KM distance to Whistler Village. I have seeded myself in the 6 to 7 hour corral. The event start horn sounds at 7:00 a.m. and with 3000+ riders ahead of me, I clear the start gate at 7:14 a.m.
The sunrise was just before 7:00 a.m. and as we cross the Lions Gate Bridge the view of the harbour and city is spectacular with the promise of a dry day, contrary to forecasts for rain leading up to this day. This “high” is short lived as I contemplate the first significant climb, up Taylor Way, looming ahead. I am not considered to be a strong climber, by myself or others, and have never cycled up Taylor Way. I shift to the small chainring on my Giant Defy Advanced machine and eventually to the 28 tooth cog on the Ultegra 12-28 cassette I added on the advice of Barry when I first bought the bike. (thank you, Barry!) Keeping watch on my Garmin heartrate monitor (introduced and sold to me by Marie; thank you Marie), I set a cadence that kept me under 145 BPM which I have set as my 85% of maximum 170 BPM , also agreed to by my Dr. All of a sudden I am at the top of Taylor Way (with no need to stop, and passing one or two riders!) and turning on to the Upper Levels highway for some continued climbing. There is a good recovery downhill run after the Upper Levels “summit” prior to turning on to the Sea-to-Sky at the new Horseshoe Bay by-pass cut. The unobstructed view up Howe Sound was inspiring and I couldn’t help but think of how impressed all the out-of-town riders who have never travelled this highway will be.
After several minor climbs and recovery descents I am now thinking about the next significant challenge, the Furry Creek hill. It arrives sooner than I think as I am so far riding above my estimated 20.0 KMPH average speed for the event. Again I am happy for the 28 tooth cog and am able to smile for the photographer near the top of the hill. I pass the 60 KM half way sign just before Squamish and can’t believe how good I feel when I pull in to the major Brennan Park aid station. A short stop for a bathroom break, refill my two bottles with more E-Load fluid, a couple of cookies and another Accel-Gel and I am off again. I know, and have been told by others who have ridden the Squamish to Whistler portion, that this is the tougher half. Although not steep by any stretch, the road past Brackendale is a steady, at times almost imperceptible climb for more than 10 KM to the Tantalus Lookout. I feel it, but again complete it non-stop and am still not feeling overly tired. I am now wondering and worrying that this could be true for all riders and racers just before they bonk.
I eventually reach the 100KM mark which, to date, is the longest distance I have done on two or three occasions in the past. I am not feeling as tired as I did on those rides and now am really wondering if and when I am going to bonk. Once I reach the top of the Powerline hill, just before Function Junction, I am now starting to believe there is a strong possibility I am going to complete this event.
As I approach Creekside I hear young women calling my name, blowing their horns and cheering from two passing cars. They are wearing long bridal like veils streaming from their heads, one of which is protruding from the open sunroof of the vehicle. Do you hallucinate prior to bonking I’m wondering? I soon recognize that it is Sandra, Marie, Jeanine and Jean Ann who are arriving Whistler for Jean Ann’s pre wedding bride’s stagette. What a great surprise and a boost for the last of the ride. Just past Creekside I hear my name called again and at the roadside are Tanya and Rachel cheering me on. Rachel had earlier completed the Giro race event of the Gran Fondo and had placed a respectable 17th. She gave me a good push as rode by. I had previously passed the girls in the vehicles due to heavy traffic back-up and they again reached and passed me and Marie yelled at me to catch them so she could take some more photos. I did a minor sprint to catch and pass them and being so close to the finish continued the pace, passing many other riders on the way.
My timing chip tripped the finish line at 1:59 p.m. for an elapsed ride time of 6 hours and 45 minutes placing me in my estimated seeding time. I finished with energy left in the tank and felt I could have possibly ridden on to Pemberton. In my 60 to 69 year age group and in the overall Gran Fondo rider group I finished at just under the 80% point with 20% of all riders finishing after me.
No one was more surprised by this life’s personal best than me. I had many reservations and self doubt leading up to the event as I had not trained as thoroughly as the suggested in the literature provided by the event organizers and form a training book I had bought many months before the event. I only hope my mother, who is no longer with us, was looking down to see me looking back to see several hundred people behind me as I approached the finish. This was my 15 minutes of fame to date and this 66 year old’s equivalent of running a marathon. It made me feel good.
As Local Ride Racing’s team mechanic and technical support I have to give credit to all who have influenced me, and passed on their wisdom these past 4 years. Stevie who recently decided it is best to forgo beer prior to a race (which I did, and something else), Barry who hired me to work at the Local Ride shop in 2004 after a chance meeting at the Maple Ridge garbage dump (!?!), Marie who introduced me to the Garmin unit to monitor heart rate, cadence, average speed, etc, Sandra for her elite world class racer advice, Paul who has always tried to get me to race and provides me with the energy of great Kicking Horse coffee, Tanya who has been a great MTB riding partner on many occasions, most recently the Elfin Lakes ride which was a great pre Gran Fondo training ride, Jeanine who has been elected and condescended to ride with me on several group rides, both road and mountain, and can kick my butt, and many others, on any given day, Mike who many times has told me how it feels to ride hard, feel good and then bonk, and all other race team members past and present to whom I have listened and learned. A thank you to Giant Bikes for developing the Defy Advanced 3 which performed flawlessly, never missing a shift, no sore butt, no flats and climbed like a dream. It all came together on the day.
I thank you all and when’s Beer o’Clock .
