Date: Saturday, September 9, 1995
Location: Vancouver, BC
Distance: 146km
Time: 6h 13m rolling, 10h total
Average Speed: 23.3kph rolling, 15kph total
Maximum Speed: 58.5kph (yawn)
Yet another example of a leisurely little ride turning into something unexpected. The plan was for a ride to Fantasy Gardens (in Richmond) for a game of mini-golf to celebrate a friend's birthday. I invited Curt Sampson to come along with his bent so that I wouldn't be the only one in the group. Anyhow, we got to Fantasy Gardens, and waited for an hour, but the people running the mini-golf never showed up. Eventually we gave up and went to Dairy Queen for lunch and ice cream cake.
Ok, so the planned events ended there, and everyone except Curt headed home to whatever else they had planned for a normal Saturday afternoon. Curt and I decided to head east for a loop through Fort Langley, which I last visited on Century II.
We headed east on the Westminster Highway to No. 6 Road, and from there north to River Road. River Road was partly under construction (sewer upgrades I guess), but traffic was light and most of the time we cruised along with no other vehicles in sight. From there it was on over the Alex Fraser Bridge (my first time on that one, it was rather strewn with gravel and broken glass) and into Surrey.
On the east side of Surrey, we hooked up with the Fraser Highway. We hit our trip max speeds on a nice hill here -- Curt made it to 62.5kph, but the seat of his short wheelbase bent is somewhat more aerodynamically canted than mine, and besides, he was working harder at it. As usual, after a downhill, there was a following uphill, at the top of which was the Esso I stopped at in Century II. After stopping for water there (seems like a popular cyclist stop, not surprising given its location), we headed northeast on Highway 10 to Fort Langley.
I'd like to spend a bit of time wandering in Fort Langley some day, but today wasn't to be that day, as we pushed straight through onto the Albion Ferry and over to the north side of the Fraser. At the north side ferry terminal we met a group of wedgies out for a ride and chatted with them about bents and other things for a while. After this it was out onto Lougheed Highway for the slog back into Vancouver.
This time we took the available bypasses rather than the main route. The Haney Bypass wasn't much to write about, but the Mary Hill Bypass was quite nice. At least this time I didn't get stuck out on the north side of SFU on 7A. Between them, we stopped at a 7-11 for munchies and other glucose related products. After that it was pretty much a straight push down Lougheed Highway through its transformation into Broadway and home.
A successful ride overall, and it left me (and Curt I believe) feeling confident about next weekend's Second Sock Sentury.
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September 9, 1995: Almost an Imperial Century