2007 Défi report

As they are no longer publishing skaters' reports in the Défi site, here it is, my report for 2007.

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It's silver! It's silver!

For this year, I'm doing a double report: the long one, that you guys are used to and the short one right beside, for those who don't have a lot of time for reading. I hope you enjoy it!

The weather was great! I improved my time by an hour and a half!	I) Intro It was all due to the temperature: in previous years the temperature in the day of the Défi was usually close to the freezing point, it was always very hard to skate because it was difficult to keep warm. But this year we had an absolute great weather with us, the temperature was around fifteen degrees Celsius most of the time, which allowed us to spend our energies on skating and not on keeping warm. I was amazed at how much of a difference the temperature made. In my case I was able to improve my personal best time by almost one hour and half! Up to last year my best performance had been 10h32 but this year I did it in 9h07! And I can say that it didn't feel as tiresome as in previous years. But let's go in order, shall we?
Many accidents during the summer... In one of them I got hit by a truck!	II) Summer preparations: too many accidents This year was specially bad for me in terms of accidents during the training period: 1) in April I went down on some late snow while biking back home and broke a rib; I had to stop all exercise for a month and go on a diet of painkillers to bear the pain in my chest; 2) in July I had a minor accident at the Vieux-Port, my left elbow got scratched and bled more than I like to remember (for me any accident involving blood is a big accident, even more when the blood is mine!); 3) in early September a small pebble brought me down on Guy street below René Levesque: shoulder and chin bled quite a bit; I didn't skate for many weeks while recovering, which put a dent on my preparations for the Défi; 4) and finally, in late September I got hit by a truck while biking to work! Fortunately we were both going very slow, so we were able to avoid the worst; but I got really shaken! It's not fun to see a monster vehicle like that coming on to you...
Long range weather forecasting is a joke! And I get the first hint that people read my reports.	III) The great day finally arrives Someday, someone will write a thesis about how useless long term weather forecast is. Me, I have this same experience every year: two weeks before the Défi I start checking daily the 14-day forecast at the Meteo Media website and every day it's a different story. It looks like those guys roll dice to determine what will be put on the site, there is no logic! One day the forecast was of full sun the entire week of the Défi; then the next day it turned into rain all week; then it went to cloudy all the way! There was no rhyme or reason! Anyway, it rained a lot on Friday night before the Défi, so we all knew that the pavement would be wet. But the forecast was sunny for the entire day Saturday, so we would be mostly ok. My wife and I woke up at 4 am and were leaving the house at 5 am; we drove to the Verdun Auditorium and were there before 5:30 am. I got my race bibs and t-shirt from Mme. Fortier, went to a corner and got ready for the event. While I was doing this, skater #65 (Nathalie Trépanier) came to me to let me know that she had read my previous reports and that they had been a good inspiration for her to take part in the Défi. Wow! We went to the start line where other skaters were already warming up. It's always a wonderful sensation to be there with the small crowd of fellow skaters waiting for the 6 am signal to start the Défi. This year M. Fortier must have been a bit behind the schedule because he didn't have time for his usual words of wisdom to the skaters. He just started the one-minute countdown and at zero, we all departed for the big event.
It was dark. And windy. I had my first fall of the day.	IV) Phase 1: Creatures of the dark As usual I started slow. My biggest concern in the very beginning is always not to cause an accident. Can you imagine someone falling at the very beginning? At least a dozen other people would be involved in such an incident! I surely don't want to be the causing factor of this! :-) It all went pretty well after the countdown, the fast skaters were soon far away and the vast majority took care and went on without much problem. I met Melissa Vézina and her sister Paméla after a minute or two of skating. At my first Défi in 2003 I met Melissa and a friend close to the end of the day; in the intervening years she has done much better than her initial 11h30 time, she has even gotten a gold medal! This year, however, she said that she was with her younger sister, so she would go just for the fun, she would take her time. I met skater 48 (Sophie Lachance) for the first time at this point. She was easy to recognize: both her and her bicycle friend were wearing a yellow t-shirt that could be seen from afar. We crossed our paths many times during the day. Some places in the bike path had big water pools created by the rain of the previous night. Fortunately I didn't get my feet wet. It would be horrible to spend the day on wet socks... I had my first fall of the day while it was still dark. It was right after the Mercier bridge, the pavement was wet, full of leaves and it was dark, a perfect combination for an accident. Fortunately it wasn't anything important, I only had to stop the fall with my hands (always protected, of course) and stopped at a garbage can. Not a great way to start the day, but I have had worse falls... For the next kilometer or two I skated on the road because the bike path was full of leaves. I only returned to the path when we crossed the Lachine canal. The wind on this first section was quite something. When we got to those areas where the river was fully in view, we would get gusts of lateral wind that were enough to destabilize me, I had to fight to stay on. The areas where we were protected from the river by houses or trees were easier to handle, but still you could feel the wind. Less than a kilometer before the end of phase 1 I passed by a skater who had had a bad accident. Some volunteers and other skaters were there to help her. I got to the St. Jean checkpoint at 7:32, eight minutes before my scheduled time. And I wasn't so tired as in previous years. I even felt that I could have done better. But with the dark and the wind it's better not to go too much beyond your abilities. I met my wife at the parking lot at the end of phase 1, rested for ten minutes or so, took my second Tylenol of the day (not that I felt I needed it, it was just a preventive measure), drank some water, chatted with my wife about the event so far and then I left to tackle phase 2 after agreeing to meet my wife at the end of phase 2 by 9h30.
Way faster than I expected. Senneville moon landscape. The Senneville hill, always a challenge.	V) Phase 2: Way faster than I expected. I met skater #20 (Ariane Croteau) at the beginning of this phase. She was accompanied by three people in bicycles! So many people without anyone to help them and she had three! Wow... :-) While she and her group were with me I almost fell. It would have been bad because two of the bikes were right behind me. Fortunately I got a grip of myself and kept going. She was going faster than me, so she and her group left me behind after a few minutes. This phase was mostly uneventful for most of the way. I met a few other skaters here and there but other than that it was a quiet phase. I did my traditional stop before the Senneville hill to drink some water, eat a chocolate and rest a bit. Some skaters (including our now famous backward skating wiz) passed by, I cheered them on on their way to the hill. The hill was as hard as I remembered it, but it was ok. A volunteer was there at the end of the uphill to cheer us on and say that the rest of the way is flat. I felt the downhill right after more dangerous than in previous years. In my first Défi I had a bad fall here, so now I'm always very careful not to gain too much speed. The problem is that I have new breaks that are not yet properly worn, so it was difficult to control the downhill. I managed to do it, anyway, not without some scares, but I did get to the bottom of it unharmed. Senneville is always Senneville. It has gotten a bit better over the years, but it is still a moon landscape, totally horrible to skate on. I skated most of the time in the middle of the road, because the yellow line separating the lanes was the only spot that was more bearable on that horrible road. It's always a good feeling getting to Gouin and leaving Senneville behind. The surface is much better, we can actually skate here. However, it can also be discouraging: Gouin is such a long avenue, it crosses the entire island on the north, so we stay on it quite a while. It's also at this point that every year I get the cramps. But miraculously, this year I didn't feel anything. I kept skating and my legs didn't hurt at all. It was a great feeling to be able to complete phase 2 without suffering with cramps as I always do. Again, I believe this is due to the weather. When I got to the end of phase 2 I asked what time is it, people told me it was 9:10 am! I couldn't believe it, I was a full twenty minutes ahead of my revised schedule and half an hour ahead of my original schedule. I was really impressed with myself. Of course, my wife wasn't yet there, so I kept going, I couldn't wait for her.
People really read my reports!	VI) Phase 3: People read my reports! I met my wife in the boulevard Pierrefonds a few minutes after completing phase 2. She was going to our meeting spot, she saw me and turned around to stop at one of the intersections. She was as surprised as I was at my performance, I had shaved half an hour off my original schedule and I wasn't that tired yet. Again I rested for a few minutes, changed my bottle of water, ate a granola bar and then I continued my way. I met Pascal Roy and his group at this point. He recognized me (I guess from the pictures posted on the Défi site), introduced himself and told me that he read my report from a previous year; he even mentioned its title! I was impressed: people read my reports! I stayed with them to the end of the Pierrefonds boulevard. When we were about to re-enter Gouin I almost had an accident with one of them: we crossed the boulevard at different angles, he got a bit unstable and we almost crashed into each other. Once again I was lucky and we were able to avoid the worse. I was feeling strong, so I left them behind before entering the Lalande boulevard. A group of skaters was right behind me, it felt great to push and push to stay "in front"... :-) I met my wife at a tennis court place right after bridge 13 at the halfway point of the Défi. It was 10 am. Usually I get here close to 11 am! I was almost one hour in advance to other years. After some rest, I took the road again. Some parts of the bike path are in parks, with lots of trees, which means wet pavement, leaves, branches, a whole mess. In one uphill spot I had to stop skating and walk sideways to be able to get to the top of the bike path. One day I'll do a completely dry Défi. I have been telling myself this for the last five years... Anyway, this phase also didn't feel as bad as it had in previous years. I remember that I suffer a lot in this phase, I'm always hoping to see the Pie IX bridge at every curve. This year I was amazed when I got to the Sophie Barat school. I asked myself: I'm already here?! Wow!! When I got to the Pie IX bridge and asked the volunteer for the time, it was 10h58 am, one hour better than my previous attempts.
Lunch break. Phase 4 is short. Some fun with fellow skaters. Second fall of the day.	VII) Phase 4: Ok, now I feel the pain... I kept going for two kilometers more to meet my wife at a small park where we always have lunch. I remember last year I was trembling so much due to the cold that it was hard to eat. This year it was sunny and agreeable. I had my biggest break of the day, ate well, rested well, it was great. And I still left the place before 11h30, a time at which I'm usually not even finished with phase 3. However, not everything was flowers. My skates had started to grate my legs, I was now feeling some pain from the effort. And, I can't deny, the piling up of kilometers was beginning to weigh down on me. Fortunately phase 4 is the easiest beause it's the shortest, so it's not so bad. I met skater #48 once more with her fellow yellow biker friend. We spent a few kilometers together passing each other many times in the way. It was funny: on the smooth surfaces, where sheer strength was king, I would leave her behind; however, on the hard spots, where you must rely on technique rather than muscle, she would pass me by... :-) I had my second fall of the day here: again wet pavement, leaves, branches and I had to stop my fall with my hands. Nothing major, just annoying. I met my wife once again at the park near the 87th street. Here I took out my skates to apply Bloodstop to my legs, a product I had recently bought at the pharmacy. I wasn't sure it would work, but it was worth trying. It didn't work: my socks by now were soaked with my sweat and washed away the product before it could help me much. I had to endure the pain the rest of the way... The rest of phase 4 was totally uneventful. Gouin has some bad pavement at this point, it's not an easy ride, but I have done this so many times that I'm used to it. I met my wife at the end of phase 4 at 12h27, one hour and a half before my usual time. Even with the pain in my legs I was still gaining time over my previous years. It was clear to me at this point that I would get the silver medal I had been after for so long, so I could rest here in preparation for phase 5, which is normally the worse one.
The wind! The pebbles! The pain! Some "train"ing. I couldn't break on the Berri downhill. No water is no fun. 9h07, new personal best!	VIII) Phase 5: the wind, the wind! I left the Avadeo restaurant at 12h40 with Pascal and his group (yes, the same guys I had met at the Pierrefonds boulevard). I kept with them for a while, but when we got to the Notre Dame avenue after Georges V they stopped to talk to some friends, so I continued by myself. Notre Dame is always the hardest part of the event because your energy is already all drained and you have to face the unbearable headwind all along the long avenue. It's decided: for next year my training will include skating in a wind tunnel!... :-) This year was slightly better for me because I could see some skaters a hundred meters or so in front of me, so that gave me the incentive to keep going. And I even eventually caught up with them, we formed a small train for fifteen minutes or so. Any help is welcome at this point... The other problem that we faced this year on Notre Dame was the ridiculous amount of pebbles on the pavement. In some spots I went to the area reserved for cars because it was really hard to skate on that surface full of pebbles. I stopped at a street light, got disconnected from the "train" and could not catch up with them anymore. Then I stopped before Pie IX to eat my last granola bar and drink some water. I could see that I would have a problem on that front for the finish: my water bottle was running dangerously low, I wouldn't have enough for the rest of the way... After crossing Pie IX I didn't meet any other skates until the end of René Levesque. When I passed under the Jacques Cartier bridge I saw that it was 2:25 pm on the giant clock of the Molson brewery. I knew for sure it would be silver, so I took it easy, there was no reason to force anything now. Going down on Berri with all the pain in my legs was very difficult. I could not manage to break properly to stop at the street light, so I had to do an emergency right turn, continue a few meters and then stop completely to resume in the proper way. It wouldn't have been any fun to have an accident this late in the event... By this point I had no water anymore and I was really needing it. Fortunately for me, my wife and kids were going to the Auditorium to pick me up, they passed by the de la Commune street, saw me, honked and I made a sign for them to stop. My daughter brought me the water I needed and I could continue without a problem. The rest of the way after the Vieux-Port was pretty uneventful, I was going real easy, making sure nothing bad would happen. The clear and sunny day at the end was very welcome. I finally got to the finish line at 3:07 pm, with a total time of 9h07, my new personal best, 1h25 better than my previous best time. I'm sure it was the good weather that allowed me to improve my time by so much. In the previous years it was usually cold and rainy, the weather was always against us. But this year we had a great day to skate and so I had my best Défi ever.
Thanks to M. Fortier and my wife.	IX) The usual words of thanks I would like to thank the members of the Academy... Hey, wait, wrong speech! :-) Many thanks to M. Fortier and his team of volunteers who once more made our lives so much easier in this grueling event. Last year M. Fortier had mentioned that he wanted to retire as organizer of this incredible skating event, I'm happy that he has decided to continue with it. Of course, many thanks also go to my wife, who was there to greet me at our many meeting points during the entire day and to give me the water and food that I needed. Without her to ease the way for me, the Défi would be ten times more difficult.
We'll do it again next year!	X) Next year, we'll do it again! I'm already counting the days for our next meeting. I hope to see you there! Thanks for reading.