H2V Update: Like Riding Between Two Black Curtains
New Brunswick is done and man was it the craziest cycling experience.
Rider Van 1, consisting of riders Kyle, Keith and Willie did the night thing right through New Brunswick. Putting up with a three hour ride at race pace is one thing but not being able to see anything was a totally different ball game. We road from 11:30pm to 8:30am and man was it dark. As we road into Quebec we were riding into clouds so even a little light from the moon was non-existent.
It was like riding with a Clydesdale's mask on and the only thing you could see was your own light on the van in front, your shadow from the lights of the van behind and the ever present flashing lights of the van every half second blinding you. At points we became a little motion sick as we were unable to tell if we were going up or down the terrain. What was even more irritating was that the secondary routes we took went all the way to gravel roads. At one point Kyle should have been on his mountain bike as the pot holes were relentless and the gravel road went on for at least 10km. Thank god for our new Specialized Armadillo Elite tires! New Brunswick needs some money so they can get some road work done.
These were some lonely rides but despite our weird conditions the boys really hammered New Brunswick and even averaged around 100km each. Really very good.
Anyways, we are really looking forward to the daytime rides as at least in rider van 1 we feel we deserve them. As we speak, Matt and Richard are rolling an amazing pace through a very flattish section of Quebec on our way to Quebec City. Things are right on pace...maybe even ahead.
