vic2cow

[kaylavandermolen]

The Vic 2 Cow ride on Sunday was incredible.
For me this was my longest ride to date far surpassing the ~120km ride's I've endured. I thought at first I was getting in too deep but knew I could tolerate 5-6 hours in the saddle.
The weather couldn't have been better and I think we all welcomed the fog through Sooke and Shirley and even in Jordan River.
We made quick speed getting to Sooke as a very large group of 60. Apparently it was record timing. I skipped the water station and continued on wards. The climb in and out of Shirley was nothing I had expected, I've driven that road before but the elevations were a surprise to me. I dropped my chain on a climb about 10 km out from the Jordan River rest stop, it jammed in my crank and I watched the group I was with slowly get out of reach. The moto guys were great! I grabbed on to the wheel rack and he towed me back to the pack. My moral would have been lost right there if it wasn't for them.
A quick fuel up and relief then before I knew it everyone had scattered, I left Jordan River solo but soon found a small pack of riders. We chugged along down winding roads and beautiful scenery. Incredible ocean views and towering cedars. I couldn't keep up on the down hill to Port Renfrew but thankfully we were only about 5 km from our next feed zone. I couldn't feed myself fast enough, by that point I had burnt over 2500 calories and the temperature was over 20 degrees. Leaving Port Renfrew 2 things happened, I prayed for no more hills until my legs loosened up and I hoped to have a good wheel. Both came true. I rode km 113-135 with Stephane T, and some other wheeler's jersey's which are now a blur. I hung on to Stephane's steady wheel and the ride was easy peasy. I fell off at the next big climb but that as okay with me. I rode solo until the top of the hot slow switch back up to Lake Cowichan. It reminded me so much of the Metchosin Provincial course, gah!
A small group caught up with me which included Shannon B and Barb B. (yay ladies!) The last 20 km went by so fast. We formed a beautiful pace line and hammered into Lake Cowichan. We were all so tired but managed to push ourselves hard to keep a good clip.
A dip in the lake was just what the doctor ordered. I think we were all covered in salt, it was like swimming in the ocean. It was so refreshing.
The bus ride back was enjoyable but felt too long, the beer was going to my head and I felt like I got too much sun.
I woke up Tuesday feeling as though I had drank a bottle of wine the night before but otherwise my legs felt good enough to do the women's ride on Monday evening.

Memories of the day: beautiful weather, great group to ride with after Port Renfrew they saved my life, Moto tows, fast pace lines, cool down in Lake Cow, the most delicious Tuna (Thanks Liz!), dark beers, great company and compression socks....thank god for compression socks.
Thank you to everyone who volunteered their time to help out; even those who loaded and unloaded the bikes in Karl's absence. Its' amazing the support we get from Volunteers for events such as this.

[Eugenehahn]

Great report Kayla. I agree that Vic2Cow was an awesome ride with great people. I had the pleasure of following Kim and Joe for the first 20km until they pulled off at Jacklin road or thereabouts. As Kim floated past me she clearly said, "let her rip boys!" and that's exactly what we did. The first mini climb of the day was only a few kms away and it seemed like a very logical point to start the fun, so as we approached that little kicker by the Lilydale plant Dave H and I ramped up the speed and seperated a group of about 18 or so that included Stephane, Tom, Dave and me with a host or PCR and a few others. We stayed just pretty much as a group thorugh Sooke and headed out to Jordan river with no stop and quickly eating the kms at about 40kmh. Tragically Stephane flatted before Sooke and with the pace of the group I was pretty sure we wouldn't see him again, and sadly we didn't. Then Dave H turned at Otter Point so that left just me and Tom to fly the Wheeler colours and I would like to think we did with pride! My main fear was the Shirley climb as it's steep and pretty long, so why not attack right? I did get up the climb pretty well and was off the front with Matt from PCR but it didn't seem overly brilliant so we just kept steady until the chasing dozen caught us a few minutes down the road. Stopped in Jordan River for nature break and food and then up the next climb as a group of 12 with no attacks with a pretty steady fast run into Renfrew. Another quick break and back out with our group slowly whittling itself down to 10 as fatigue and heat was taking it's toll. Pretty much unaware of the difficulty of the last 50km or so I kept the pace pretty high and managed to get into a break with Tom and Matt thinking that it was pretty smart. Not so much as Tom warned "there's a pretty buig climb coming up...", but it was a bit late for me. Mark (Musette) and Paul B turned the screws pretty hard on that last big climb and I just couldn't hang on. I was dangling about 20 seconds behind the four leaders at the top (Tom, Curtis, Mark and Paul) but couldn't ramp the speed up enough to catch on so I waited for Andrew, Isaac, Matt and Tony (IRC). We chased pretty hard for another 15 kms but to no avail as though four up front were just little better then we were. With 10kms to go and cramps and setting in I just sat up and cruised, trying to enjoy the last little bit. When I arrived a few minutes in arrears it was great to grab a sandwich and coke and go for a dip. Felt almost like heading out for the big loop but then nah, there's beer on the bus! Awesome day that I am looking forward to next year!

Cheers!