Thursday 30 October 2008

2008 Défi report


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Défi 2008: I've known hunger and I've known pain!

This year for the Défi my family and I decided to do something different. Usually my wife would follow me in the car all day long but my son volunteered to do a big part of this work this year. His girlfriend had given him the idea that they could follow me part of the way on bicycle and thus free my wife from the burden of spending her day on the Défi track.
The week before the Défi I went with Ivan (my son) through the bike path in phase 3 to show him the way that I would follow, so that on the day of the Défi he would know the way and avoid missing me because of a wrong turn. He agreed to meet me at the end of the Pierrefonds boulevard and follow me most of the way. It would be a big help and good encouragement.
So, on the day of the Défi I woke up at 4 am, we left home at 5 am and were there at the Verdun Auditorium a little after 5:30 am. As I had pre-registered I just had to find a free spot and get ready. The day was cold, but dry, very good compared to previous years.
A few minutes before 6 am we went to the starting line. We were fewer this year, the highest number that I saw was 71. M. Fortier gave us some last minute info: we were not to enter the Visitation Island Park as its bike path had been totally destroyed; and we were to do a big detour in the middle of phase 4 because of the construction work going on for the bridge of road 25.

He announced that we would be departing at 6:02 precisely. I said goodbye to my wife and waited with the others. M. Fortier did the fifteen-second countdown and off we went into the night. After a few minutes I got behind a couple of skaters who were going a bit slower than I could go, but considering that the Défi was still young and the night was still dark, I stayed with them for some ten minutes or so, it was a gentle pace, I kept my strength for later.

At a certain point the girl in the couple had problems with her skates and they had to stop to take care of that, so I left them behind. By now I was already alone, so I could go at my own rhythm. I started pushing, not as hard as I could, but harder than those first fifteen minutes and I started passing skaters here and there. It's always a good feeling to pass other people... :-)

The sun came up, the darkness went away and skating got better. At this point I saw a skater in front of me, he should be some three hundred meters or so in front. I was going faster than him but just a tiny bit faster. Our speeds were almost identical because it took me almost twenty minutes to bridge those three hundred meters that separated us. As I finally caught up with him, I saw that he was #12. We went together for a while, chatting all the way. He told me it was his first Défi. We crossed the end of phase 1 together and continued on.
A little later we met up with two other skaters and stayed with them for another ten or fifteen minutes, until we got to a street crossing in Ste. Anne de Bellevue where the pavement had been turned into gravel. Each one took a different route out of that mess and we got separated.
I met skater #12 once again a few minutes later and we continued together up to the Senneville hill, where I did my first stop of the day, to eat a bar and drink some water before tackling the hill. Skater #12 continued on and a few others passed by while I rested.
The hill didn't seem so bad this year, I did it with some puffing and with some huffing but it was otherwise unremarkable. The downhill thereafter came as a relief to my already tired legs.
I felt the beginning of cramps at the 45 km, which is usual for me, I get it almost every Défi. I just had to slow down a little bit and the muscles got better.
There was nobody at the end of phase 2, but the organizers had left a long row of water bottles in the middle of the street, so I took one for me, to replace the bottle that I had just finished.
Unfortunately, I hadn't gone more than one third of the Pierrefonds boulevard when this bottle fell off my bag and I only noticed when it was already gone. With no time to waste and knowing that my son would be at the end of the boulevard with more water for me, I pressed on without any worries.
Two older skaters caught up with me, so I went with them for a while. However, close to the end of the boulevard they crossed on a yellow-turning-red street light and I preferred to stay behind.
My son and his girlfriend were not at the end of the Pierrefonds boulevard. At first I wasn't too worried, because I knew I was going faster than expected, so it was normal that they had not arrived yet. I continued on with the certainty that I would meet them somewhere in phase 3.
Well, the kilometers piled up and there was no sign of them. The thirst started to bother me a bit and there was no sign of a water fountain either. This kept going for many kilometers.
I finally found a water fountain in a park, drank all that I needed, took my third Advil of the day and continued on. By now my problem was hunger. Other than my regular breakfast at 4:30, I had only eaten a granola bar the entire day.
I wanted to find a public phone to call home and try and find out what had gone wrong with my son but there was no phone available anywhere, so I just kept going. I started considering buying something at a depanneur, but even those were non-existent in that part of Gouin.
It was 10:50 when I got to the Pie-IX bridge, where a volunteer gave me another bottle of water. Unfortunately, she told me, the car with some food had left a few minutes before to go to the end of the fourth phase.
Phase 4 was an ordeal to me. I was so hungry I could not concentrate on anything, let alone skate. One or two skaters passed me by, I couldn't compete with them.
The detour near the bridge 25 was what saved me. Due to this detour I went through some streets that I would never even consider in a regular Défi and in one of them there was a small shopping area, where I finally found a depanneur, where I could buy some junk food. I never ate anything as delicious as those Tostitos, believe me!
After having eaten I called home and talked to my daughter. She told me that my son had a flat tire and because of that could not meet me in phase 3.
Anyway, now with the power of Tostitos running in me, I took to the road with renewed energy. Some skaters had passed by the depanneur while I ate; I not only caught up with them but even left them behind without much effort!
It was 12:30 when I got to the end of phase 4. Another water bottle from a volunteer and some more resting under the sun (the sun was shining, it was a glorious day).
Phase 5 was easier this year because we almost had no wind, which is a first for the Défi. Usually we have to face strong headwinds in this part of the event, but not this year. This was a welcome change.
I stopped at a public phone in Notre Dame to call my wife and tell her to come and pick me up. Unfortunately there was some problem with the machine: I could hear my wife but she could not hear me. I tried again, using the last fifty cents that I had and once again the communication was one-way only. I had no way to let my wife know that she should go and pick me up. There was nothing else I could do, so I just skated on.
The rest of phase 5 was uneventful. Other than the hunger that was coming back (well, you know, a little bag of Tostitos will only go so far...) I had a very pleasant ride.
My last stop was at the beginning of Wellington, where I drank the rest of my water and rested to have the best possible finish.
It was 2:55 pm when I crossed the finish line, with a time of 8h53, another silver medal for me! And another personal best. I improved my time by fourteen minutes, which is not so bad, considering that a big part of the way I was running on no food at all.
M. Fortier offered me some fruits and cheese. I ate a lot of them! I was so hungry you wouldn't believe it!
M. Fortier was also nice enough to lend me his cell phone to call my wife. She got there half an hour later and we could finally go home. Another Défi completed for me. Yay!
I would like to thank M. Fortier and his organizing team once again for his wonderful efforts to make another successful Défi. I would also like to thank my wife and my son for their efforts in making this Défi possible for me. My son couldn't fulfill his part of what we had arranged but he should be acknowledged anyway.
I hope next year we'll have as good a weather as we had this year and that I won't feel so much hunger as I did. Maybe then I can do it in 8:30? Who knows...