Epic… I did the Populaire ride in 5:48, although it’s very arbitrary how they assign your time. The guy who arrived after me got an arrival time of 5 minutes earlier. I started the day by adding a detour of 7km to the route. I was following a bike group out on River Road, caught up to them, starting chatting with them only to discover they weren’t part of the ride. Uh oh. I did a U-turn right in the middle of that conversation. It serves me right for riding without really being awake. So my version of the Populaire was 148km.

After that I paid a lot of attention to the route. It was funny. This big peloton of guys kept catching up to me. They would zip past me and then after the next turn they would all of a sudden be behind me again. Basically, they were getting lost at every turn. Eventually, they got lost enough that I just dropped them. I rode by myself the whole way – except for one windy stretch where a guy, called Francois, pulled me along. Sitting on his wheel in the wind was awesome, but I paid for the extra effort later.

It was very tough to keep going after everyone else finished. Everyone else was chatting and lounging at the finish. I must have looked out of place industriously filling water bottles and eating way more then my share of the goodies. I did enjoy myself riding. My feet felt great, and the new saddle felt as good as 6+ hrs in the saddle can feel. Riding home from Fort Langley to Richmond seemed like a good plan … However, I did find myself thinking, “Who’s stupid idea was this?!”

Especially when I got lost in downtown Surrey. Imagine me sitting on the ground in a shady spot on the sidewalk with the traffic beside me on 152nd. I used my GPS phone to figure out where the hell I was and get out of there quick. The phone paid for itself in that moment. I made it back to Richmond — but not all the way home. After riding for what seemed forever through Surrey and Delta, I called Torbin for a rescue. It was 175km on my computer, and I was still in Surrey. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was but I could faintly see the Alex Fraser Bridge in the distance. I figured I only had about an hour left in me. After mentally setting my sites on 200km, I wasn’t prepared for all the extra km’s that getting lost added.

One hour later, Torbin called me from River Road and Westminister Hwy, saying, “Where are you?” Again my reply was, “I’m lost.” After riding around in circles, I discovered that I was stuck on Annacis Island. Once again, the GPS phone paid for itself way into next year. I had to back track to the bridge to find the confusing bike route off the Alex Fraser, and more importantly off Annacis Island. Ten minutes later, I was in the car heading home. 197.2km – 7hrs 38 min

I spent the evening on the couch, sleeping to Wimbeldon. I feel remarkably good today. Ankles, legs, and ass all OK. Good enough that I brought my bike today, and am planning to do the Seymour climb with the tri-club this evening. It will be a slow one, but I’m up for it.

Seattle to Portland, here we come!