Suddenly Seymour

Over the past weekend, I had decided to try my hand at randonneuring. For those that don't know, randonneuring is ultra marathon cycling. A sort of sadistic way to pass many consecutive hours with a bicycle saddle jammed up somewhere uncomfortable, eating gel energy shots, and drinking carb sports drinks resulting in pitstops like the below:

The Suddenly Seymour Route is a 205 km ride called a brevet, the first in a series of rides that gradually increase in distance to 300km, 400km and 600km. The point of the ride is not to race, but to finish within an allowed amount of time. The 205 has to be completed within 13.5 hours to qualify.

BC Rando: Suddenly Seymour

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Dave and I set out with a group of about 30 other riders at 7am on a route that took us from Vancouver up to Alice Lake, then back down to North Vancouver, where we climbed up to the Seymour Demonstration Forest, and back down to Vancouver. There were control points where we either had to get a stamp, write down some information off of a sign, or count picnic tables -  a way to prove that you had actually ridden the route.

It was a pretty gruelling ride, but at the end of the day you can see that Dave and I were still smiling pretty hard after 11 hours in the saddle.

The next ride is a 300km on July 24th through some parts of the US  - The Whatcom Wambler. Still on the fence on whether to ride it