*Part 1 Vancouver-Winnipeg:
*My support crew for this first leg, (2375 km) of my Guinness Record attempt consisted of my three nephews; Juergen, Wes and Kevin. I chose to go with one vehicle (RV) only for this first leg. The size of an RV following behind me disrupted the traffic too much, so they would drive ahead a few km and wait for me. In ultra-cycling we call this leap frog support. Since I had only one vehicle, they needed to be awake when I was. Juergen and Kevin had plenty of crewing experience. This crew would complete their responsibilities in Winnipeg, and since I expected to get there in under 5 days, I did not feel sorry for them one bit. Suck it up boys!
As we left Vancouver City Hall, my anxiety level was pretty high. The uncertainty of what lay ahead weighed heavy on my mind. Vince and his daughter escorted me for a few km and Matthew rode all the way to Mission with me. Thanks. We complain about too many traffic lights in Winnipeg, but by the time we reached Maple Ridge (50km) I had* stood still*waiting for green lights for close to 30 minutes already. I needed to be on the bike * riding *around 20 hours per day, so sitting at a red light this early into the event was not helping my state of mind.
Once you are on the Lougheed Highway between Mission and Hope, there is no alternate route. About an hour east of Mission, we ran into a traffic jam. A little red sports car was wrapped around a tree, and the highway was closed for 5 hours both ways. Traffic lined up for miles. What to do? I backtracked for about one km until I found my support vehicle also deadlocked in traffic. We decided I would try to get through by bike and they would go back to Mission, taking #1 Highway to Hope instead. This highway was off-limits for bikes in this part of BC. I did get through. The driver of the red car had been airlifted and the RCMP was busy measuring skidding distances, etc. I don’t think they ever saw me when I rode right past them. Three hours later, my support crew found me. I had mooched four bottles of water from some German tourists, so I was okay.
By 3:00 am, 19 hours in, I had reached Sicamous (515 km). I showered, ate and then slept for 120 minutes. By 5:30 am, I was back on the bike. Things were going great.
This pattern repeated itself over and over again. Day two had a lot of climbing, but for a prairie boy who considers the Disraeli overpass ‘a climb’, I held up well. We had great weather, with temps in the mid-twenties and no rain. In Alberta and Saskatchewan I had a lot of crosswinds, but little direct headwinds. Overall, wind direction was in my favor.
Sleep started to become a major factor for both my crew and me. Whenever I got a hand-off from the motor home, I could only see two guys now. The third one was sleeping in the back. I envied him. My worst need for sleep stretch was from Whitewood, Saskatchewan to Moosomin. It was getting late again and we did everything we could think of to stay awake. There was no traffic at 2:00 am, so the RV could drive beside me for stints. I asked my crew to tell jokes. They were not very funny at 2:00 am. We did math quizzes, we told stories, nothing helped. Juergen told the story about how Ruth, my wife, had to retrieve my teeth from the ditch in Alaska during my first ever ultra-bike race. I had to throw up so bad, that my dentures went flying out. We even did some live video streaming at 2 am, knowing that nobody was watching anyway. My two hours of sleep in Moosomin were appreciated and well- deserved.
Winnipeg was in sight and we had generated some media interest by now. I always find it interesting how I am expected to predict an exact arrival time by bike. When we went through Virden, MB, still some 300 km away from Winnipeg, people wanted to know when I would reach the Legislative Buildings in Winnipeg. I finally made a prediction of 6:00 pm – 6:30 pm. We got there at 6:30 pm. It was a lucky guess on my part.
After Moosomin things began to change. My legs started to retain fluid, and I had developed a boil about the size of one of those mini Easter eggs. It did not matter how much I shifted on my seat, that boil was in the wrong spot. The honeymoon was over and reality began to set in. I call this the beginning of the middle third syndrome. This is when I am too far into an event to turn back, yet there is no light at the end of the tunnel. I could not even imagine doing this for another 8 or 9 days. This is when a ‘Dream Big’ idea quickly turns into “What was I thinking” nightmare. In an event like this, this middle third syndrome can last days, and it did.
Just outside of Winnipeg I was joined by CMU, the 2010 Hot Pursuit team. We rode in together. Great stuff. Thanks guys.
Here are my Vancouver to Winnipeg stats.
| Day | Distance | Riding Time | Riding Speed |
| 1 | 570km | 21h 7m | 27.0 km/h |
| 2 | 490km | 20h 18m | 24.1 km/h |
| 3 | 524km | 19h 47m | 26.5 km/h |
| 4 | 525km | 19h 40m | 26.7 km/h |
| 5 (8h 30m to Winnipeg) | 266km | 8h 30m | 31.3 km/h |
| Total | 2375km | 89h 22m | 26.6 km/h |
*Vancouver to Winnipeg: Leg #1*
My average per 24 hours: 545 km
Record average per 24 hours: 452 km
My riding time avg per 24 hrs: 20 hrs 29 min
Things had gone very well. I was over 22 hours ahead of the calculated record pace. Since I did not have the actual time station splits from the record holder, I could only calculate the average split times and use that as my gauge. In order to have a chance at breaking the record, I knew I would need to be significantly ahead of pace in Winnipeg. *I was, but reality would set in… and did it ever. Continued in Part #2 *
