The Calabogie Boogie

A summer view of Calabogie, Ontario

This is strange: I thought that I was tired after Thursday's 15 km race but decided to do the Almonte Bicycle Club's 40 km tt mainly to look at the course in Calabogie, a ski resort area. It is very pretty and meanders through real Canadian countryside, with lots of lakes and trees. It also goes uphill a lot: the out and back course includes 317 m of climbing, or 1040 feet. There is basically nothing flat over the whole course but nothing so steep as to put you into the small ring.

The course I rode is the profile in the middle

We were lucky today that there was almost no wind at all. Because it is 90 minutes away from Ottawa--I got up at 5:15 am this morning-- the number of participants is smaller but these are the really hardcore guys, the 44 km/h average types. I was the only one who had not ridden the course and to my amazement I had a Top Ten finish: my 1:06:10 was good for 8th place overall. At the 60 minute mark I looked down and saw that I had averaged 36+ km/h up to that point, which was pretty good for such a hilly course. The top three guys were under an hour but I was very satisfied with my effort. (And for Sandra in Australia I will freely admit that the 7th place finisher was a woman in my age category who rolled in a full minute ahead of me!)

Our assembly point: the local Tourism Information office

The course is probably the nicest 40 km one I have ever ridden, and the organization was excellent, with everything running like clockwork. Afterwards a group of us went to the local golf club and had breakfast together since the race finished around 10:30 am. I sat with Les Humphreys, who has been a fixture of the Ottawa and Almonte clubs for many years. More personally, he was the man who sold me my Gitane Gran Sport de Luxe, which I have just sold, in 1973 when he had a bike shop in Oakville. It is a small world indeed. We talked about cycling history and had a great time.

I think I like this time trial thing! The 40 km one is run once a month, with the next one on August 12. I'll be there.