Golden Triangle 2005

Well it's the week before this years Golden Triangle Ride. I am a excited about this ride even though I did it two years ago. I haven't been putting as many hours on the bike and I wanted to because of life getting in the way... Needless to say I have been exhausted lately with two jobs and still tying to train!

I have my ride to the event arranged, thanks MOM!! Luck would have it that she has a convention in Banff. I still haven't figured out the weather, I am going to pack my rain pants but hope I don't need them, if didn't bring them I would be wishing for them :)

I am going to take my Palm to type in my journal at the end of the day and hopefully just paste it to this page... we shall see.

Decided to pack less on the bike this year mainly because I didn't need it then why now. Some people had joked that this ride was an excuse to eat because about every 30ish Km is a food stop. If I am not careful I could end up with 5 meals in one day... still trying to find the problem with that... Oh yah I am trying to loose weight!

My goals for this ride are simple. Practice with the aero bars, try to go for a run even if it ends up being 5km, and have one hell of a good time!!

Day1

Well what a start! I forgot my helmet on the kitchen table, the luggage driver suggested I speak to Deb the event Lady. She luckily had an extra one because this has happened before. The weather has been interesting, Rain, Snow, Sun. That has created some amazing views of the mountains when with the clouds and sun. At one point I followed ok I found a sucker to Draft off and was covered in mud. I had a wheel issue that made riding the bike similar to a Jackhammer. I felt like I just rode the spring classic Paris-Roubaix which is famous for hits mud and cobble stone roads. I have noticed that bikers need to learn to shoulder check, more than once someone crossed the white line to pass another cyclist to get a horn blast from a car. At one point I watched a guy try to pass three ladies riding side by side... How he didn't get killed is beyond me. Oh yah I almost forgot we saw two black bear cubs in different places, they were very close to the road. I even stopped for a photo, Yah yah I know I shouldn't have but least I didn't try to feed em.

Survived climbing Sinclair Pass and coming down on the ridiculously insane horrible disgusting shoulders to get to Radium, definitely looking forward to the hot springs. As I pull in I realize I don't have my lock. All GT'ers have a bright yellow ribbon on their helmet and a orange band on the wrist. So when I saw a couple with the same problem, no lock, we tried to find a solution, out walks another GT'er done with the hot springs. I walk up and ask to rent his lock he laughs and hands it over. We have two hours till we have to meet at the food tent to return this lock. Thanks... Jim?? The three of us took off and the lady had a bit of a crash in the parking lot... went a bit too slow when clipped in :)

Got the tent up and I am using the dome tent that I had in High School just so I don't win the smallest tent award again. But their is a strap missing to hold the fly onto the tent.... more about that later :) Once again they were serving a pasta night but this year I don't know if they overcooked it or what but it was not so great. Our mechanic I found out has some tires for sale so I bought a new one to fix the thumpity thump thump. It turns out that the rim tape has worked it's way up the side of the rim so the tire will not seat properly hence my bumpy ride.

I have discovered that this palm will reset when bat low so keyboard will not work. That would suck in France, glad I found out now.

Day 2

Holy wind batman!!!!! I don't think many slept last night. Breakfast was excellent but this tent sucks! I don't plan on using the fly if the wind picks up in Golden.

My back felt much better in am thanks to Advil (insert advertisement). There was a wonderful tail-wind to help us go downhill towards Golden. I bumped into a group from Grand Prairie and Melissa worked with my Uncle Howard small world! I Got a flat between snack & lunch. That seems to be the trend this weekend someone always seems to have a flat just before a food stop. I stopped to help Pavlov before snack #2 on Day 1. There was some crazy Rain at lunch. I had just finished eating when it started, I was wet already so I stopped long enough to turn on my rear flasher and kept going. I am surprised that my knees don't hurt like the did the first time doing the GT. The supper was a nice meat and potato meal that was much better than last night. That pasta sucked. I was a few numbers off from winning a prize. Took vitamin Advil & had a nap in the sun in front of my tent I think I am ready for tomorrow. Oh ya this Palm sucks, I wish the keyboard would work!

Day 3

I slept right through the trains that go by the campsite. This morning was very cool and the clouds don't look too friendly but the wind is in the right direction, two days of tailwinds SWEET!!! I was packed up and ready to stand in line (many lines this weekend that annoyed some but I think I did good with no evil thoughts) I think I was about #20 to get in for food. When I left the line was huge! I don't know why but I remembered Golden differently, I thought their was more hotels and businesses at the top of the hill. Golden is much larger than I thought as well, nice town. Oh that hill that is not a fun way to start the day, that thing was steep!! I spent a fare amount of time in the granny gear today. I dragged myself into the first snack and filled the belly trying to ward off the Bonk but it arrived anyway. 10Km before lunch life got goofy I desperately needed food. I knew my tire would give me trouble with no rim tape and of course it went flat before lunch a guy stopped because he passed me yesterday when patching a tire so he gave me a tube and changed my tire for me. Then I came across Ted from TeamX fixing his flat tire, this new Road Morph Pump is getting its workout this weekend, glad I bought it is a really good pump.

Arrived at lunch in Field and spent about an hour relaxing and filling my belly with good, cycling fight the bonk, food. For some reason I was expecting the climb out of the spiral tunnel viewpoint to be hard like getting out of Golden. I got to BC-AB border and knew it was mostly downhill from there. By snack #2 I was feeling great and got a last chance to say goodbye to some friends. As we got closer to the finish we found out their is a bear in the area so we kept a group together and the Bag Piper was at the corner to pipe us in. Mom was there with Juice for me and had already picked up my luggage. She had her own adventure this weekend and I was very happy to hear her tell me about the great time she had.

Aftermath:

As one can expect doing 330Km takes a beating on the body. I haven't suffered from the ride so much, but trying to keep up with my two jobs has been an exhausting adventure. With 5 meals a day I expected to gain weight on this trip but I lost a few pounds! I am starting to worry that I will not get a chance to fully rest before this weekends Triathlon, I skipped this weeks swim classes I hope that will be enough. But that is the next chapter in the life of Randy

Cheers!!!