RONA MS 150 Bike Tour - Leduc to Camrose - Day 1

So, last weekend Ed and I rode in the MS Bike Tour, a total of about 160 km over 2 days. Our friend Alan was part of Team Pronto, so we sort of hung out with some of the team members at various times - they seemed a lot of fun. And Alan's friend that he was riding for, Michele, flew out from New York to be there for the start and finish, which was inspiring to see.

First impressions - a bit scary with the traffic jam to get into the parking area, but then registration/check-in was really well organized for such a large event (1500 cyclists). Saturday was a sunny warm day, but not too hot, so it was great cycling weather. I know now that if you want to get an early start, you get there really early and put your bike at the start line first thing - we didn't get to start until about 35 minutes after the official start time of 8 am. Which meant that Ed and I were passing people almost constantly, but particularly at the start and up the first hill. We stopped only briefly at the first checkpoint, and a bit longer at the second so I could stretch my back (as I could feel it a bit).

We made it to the lunch stop at the Wetaskiwin Hospital Grounds by 10:30 am, took a 30 minute break to eat something (but not a full lunch), and were on our way again. Now we were on a primary rather than secondary highway, which meant a much wider shoulder - but that was actually scarier as I think then there were more inconsiderate cyclists who figured they could ride side-by-side (meaning if I needed to pass someone, I had to pull onto the busy highway!) The number of people wearing MP3 players (or in one case talking on a cell phone) while riding on the highway was also quite scary.

We skipped the third checkpoint (other than to stand up briefly and grab a drink at the top of a hill), but again I had to get off my bike and stretch (ie. lying on my back on the grass) at the final checkpoint before Camrose. Ed pulled ahead of me coming into town and probably finished about 10-15 minutes before me at the Augustana Campus, about 12:30 pm. 3hr 10 min for 80.4 km.

Again, it was well-organized regarding check-in and the bike lock-up (other than all the signs seemed to show the other set of dorms to where we were located). We finally found Ronning Hall across the bridge (mini-ravine/creek across the property) - I remember staying in one of those dorms with Nicole for MusiCamrose band camp in the summer of 1986 or so. I'm not sure there's really been any improvement in them since then - our door lock was incredibly finicky to the point of initially not working at all, the main room light didn't work, the curtain was falling off the curtain hooks - lol. Still better than tenting though, especially when it rained that afternoon a bit and a lot in the evening.

We checked to see how Team Pronto was doing (Alan got in at around 2pm), then pretty much napped until dinner. The dinner at the community centre was again well-organized, and afterwards, an early night for us.