I imagined the first 135km would be tough, but I knew the real challenge awaited me on my way back. This is why I biked for 26 hours. I once went to a climbing wall and the people I were with all smirked and laughed that I couldn’t climb more than 5 feet. I climbed 50 feet, right to the top! People will always tell you that you can’t do anything because you’re too fat, or not mentally capable, yet how do people climb Mount Everest? It can’t be purely physical fitness, its mind over matter. It’s believing in yourself past seemingly impossible odds.
List of carry on supplies:
Nikon D7000 (Yeah I know not a supply, but was included in my bag), Sigma 50 1.4 lense. No tripod because of weight issue, all pictures taken hand held.
Camera bag (capable of holding 2 pro cameras and 5 lenses, instead used for drink and food)
I brought a bicycle pump that came with a pressure gage. I brought a spare bicycle tube and some levers. I brought some quality bicycle lube, which I used 3 times during the ride.
Body Rub, which I used between my legs and on my toes, no chaffing, good thing.
About 10 tablets of 500mg acetaminophen, a half a tube of voltaren, 1 tube of heat cream, 1 multivitamin, 1 resveratrol, 3 vitamin D 1000 iu’s. And 1 tablet of Rabax. I took the Robax on the way back, and later I took 2 acetaminophen tablets. I used the heat cream on my lower back and my buttocks (and later on my knee’s which I felt no effect), yet I didn’t feel the heat. I used the Voltaren on my buttocks and lower back, didn’t notice much of a difference in the level of pain I felt.
2 zip locks with 2 tsp Beta-Analine, one for morning around 4am and one for 4pm. Funny thing is the Beta-Analine helped with the butt/scrotum pain, too bad it only lasted about 20 minutes, and the half-life was felt for about 40 minutes. I did not take more than the maximum dosage for 24 hours.
Freezer bag containing mixed berries 600g, about 1 kilogram of pasta, smoked fish, and Chinese cabbage (Gai Lan?) which I still haven’t finished off yet. 2 cans of NOS high caffeine drink (Caffeine helps with inflammation as well), around 750ml to 1L of Gatorade, and two water bottles filled with water, filtered with Brita. I also bought $2.50 of these energy gummies, no idea if they had any effect what so ever. I bought two boxes of Vector protein bars and consumed 8 ½ bars during the 26 hour Iron Butt. It says somewhere not to consume more than two bars a day, yet do they expect someone to bicycle 300+ km, I don’t know.
After riding for 100km and 5 ½ hours later I made it to the turn off to Outlook, yet it was 2am, and even if it took me two hours to cycle, no shops would be open, so I continued to the Gardner Dam (it took me 3 hours). Funny thing is every time I went down a hill (and felt the relief) I thought I’m going to have to go back up it on the way back haha.
Krobinson103: Yes it hurt a lot. The Racking tires did a pretty good job, I don’t think I’d want slicks because at times there was quite a bit of mud and slush and without a tread I’d be on my butt or face whichever came first.
Weatherby: I set the 40km goal for myself so I wouldn’t feel the pressure of doing the full distance, or try to pedal faster to reach that goal. Once I had done 48km though, and it was completely pitch black except for my lights, I thought what the heck.
I did bring a cell phone, I used it to listen to music. No sleeping bag, too much weight (although it would have been a blessing if possible). I’m not fit, the added weight is a big issue. I respect your thoroughness, and your train of thought.
Valygrl: To answer your second question I did bring some mitts ( good to -49’c), they kept my hands warm after about 5 hours of wet (heavy, heavy fog).
10 wheels: Thanks buddy
I didn’t post after my bath because I passed out. Lucky or unlucky for me my bath is not the right fit for me, that’s good because I didn’t drown. The hot water turned cold and I awoke to find I was shivering badly. I could not move a muscle and I panicked for about 20 seconds. I then realized I couldn’t rely on my muscles, so I had to cheat and use momentum to hurl myself out of the tub. As soon as I got vertical again I felt the weighing feeling that I was going to go into hypothermia and pass out again. I B-lined to my bedroom somehow keeping upright enough and made it to my downed bed. I had great difficulty pulling my duvet as my arms numb with cold and exertion, the shivering stopped and I warmed up, I fell asleep soon after.
I have a big bike pad pattern on my butt and its inflamed haha. It’s hard to get up (painful), and managing to walk from one room to another requires planning hahaha.
Now I heard that we’re supposed to put on sun screen lotion even when it’s cloudy right? I forgot about bringing any. My face, my front and back neck is completely red and stings like.. It was constantly dark, I never saw the sun.
After I got to the turn off to outlook and continued for 3 hours to Gardner dam I experienced a remarkable event. I was riding through extremely thick fog, my light couldn’t penetrate more then 5-10 feet. Suddenly I noticed a star, which got me really excited, so I placed my hand over my front light, what I saw was truly spectacular. It was if God/Allah parted the fog just enough so I could see a blanket of stars, slightly diffuse by a light layer of fog. I looked behind myself and saw nothing but pitch black and my diffused red light, it was incredible.
Here is a link to the Gardner Dam website, you can see the 5 cone shaped structures in the provided pictures. Now look at mine and it proves I made it.
Product Detail - Tourism Saskatchewan
Also I have a picture of the bay, sorry it was handheld, I couldn’t do a long exposure, and I didn’t have the time to find a rock to balance the camera on.
The pictures entitled “Ready-to-leave-city” were taken at the new circle drive 4 lane highway bridge. 9 km from home. From there I took a path that lead to Lorne avenue which later became the 219.
The photo entitled “Pitch Black” was taken on the trip there, as you can see there are no lights illuminating the darkness but my own.
The other two photo titles speak for themselves.
And the day photos. It was so dark, at times It felt like it was 5 pm and not 11:30 in the morning. It looked like this the entire late morning and afternoon. It wasn’t until I got the Dakota dunes reserve/Casino when it started raining, and it gradually pelted down until I got home.
