Logan’s Run & Three Flags Classic – Epilogue

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A great adventure to say the least.  So much emotion and energy at the finish, not to mention the relief of making it to the finish fully intact.  The remainder of the afternoon of the arrival day was spent catching up with those who took different routes.  Heard about their adventures through mud, wind, rain and even snow on some of the routes.

The Coveted Belt Buckle

The next morning, after 2 weeks of early starts, my brain woke up my body at some unearthly hour with my body screaming at me  “what on earth are you doing? Today is a down day, why are you waking me up!?”  I did manage to drift back off to sleep, once I figured out what city I was in, what day of the week it was and what time of the day it was.

My wonderful sister and brother-in-law were going to take me out for breakfast, however, the universe had other plans for us.  Traffic managed to eat up a fair amount of their time so we opted to have breakfast at the hotel I was staying in.  At the restaurant we were wave over to the table where some of the group were sitting.  I wasn’t sure that combining the sense of humour of my sister and brother-in-law with the sense of humour of this group was one of my sanest ideas, but we did it anyhow.  I’m pretty sure that the calories the breakfast provided were more than offset by the energy used up laughing.  I learned that the perfect timing meant placing food in the mouth just as someone started to speak and before they got to the punch line which allowed one to swallow without, without…, well you can figure it out.

The Swag

Couldn’t help but chuckle as I went out to hop on the Starship Enterprise and go visit our daughter, dozens of endurance riders who just did 3,500 kilometers in three and a half days, couldn’t stay off their rides for one day, and like my self, all had reasons they had to  ride off somewhere to do something with somebody.

A brief but wonderful visit with “the daughter”, back to the hotel, relax a few minutes, off to the group photo, which Molly managed to sneak into as well.  turns out that my new twin brother Brian, has a travel companion also,  I can’t wait for Molly and Jack to meet.

Then off to the closing banquet and awards ceremony.  What a class act.  A bagpipe band marched in to open banquet. One of Canada’s Finest was present in her full Red Tunic.

Molly and one of Canada’s Finest

The food was terrific.  Then Gonzo, the main organizer introduced those who were “First Timers” and continued counting up.  The number of riders who have done this gruelling Three Flags Classic Endurance Event multiple years was stunning.  The most active individual has participated in 40 of the 43 years.

Some of the many volunteers

Of the entire population of Canada, Mexico and USA, only about 225 of us had the courage to participate.  Endurance riding is not for everyone and is definitely not for the faint-of-heart or weekend warrior riders. Of the registered riders, about 8 did not show up at the starting point.  Of the 91 Canadian riders, 68 were from Alberta vs 54 from California.  13 riders did not make the finish line for a variety of reasons from mechanical failure to exhaustion.  Of those who did not complete, not one was the result of crashing.  There was one encounter with a black bear.  The bear ran off very frightened and the rider continued to the finish checkpoint minus one foot peg.

One event that needs mention is the chance meeting of a great couple in Puerto Penasco who happened to know one person in the city of Edmonton.  When I asked the name, I could not believe that I knew the name.  After a couple more questions as a cross reference, we were all stunned that on the other side of the continent, a purely chance meeting and we know the same person.  Well, after the banquet, I saw this character walk into the lobby, did a double take, and it was my old 4 wheeling buddy Steve, who is the person the couple also knew.  30 seconds later, the couple also appeared. Spookular or what?

Steve and crew

Wednesday morning after a leisurely breakfast, Larry, Deryl and myself had a fairly easy and relaxing ride back to Edmonton.

So, 1 private home,  3 deserts, 3 countries, 4 international borders,  7 states, 1 province, 6 liters of ice cream, 9 motels, 28 liters of water, 29 fuels stops, 1 set of tires, and 7,000 kilometers later, Molly and I are safely back at home.

Big thanks to Gonzo of the SCMA and the dozens of volunteers for putting this great event together.  It was well organized and I could not imagine what could be done to make it run any smoother. Thanks to all of the True North Team. Thanks to Deryl for taking on the daunting task of looking after so many of the details for our sub-group. And Deleyne for trusting us with your home. Darryl for sharing your experience and knowledge.  Jim for your unrelenting sense of

humour.  And last but by no means least, Larry for being a great riding partner, educator, student and for your unwavering faith.

And one last thanks to Colin and the guys at The Bike Shoppe who prepped my Starship Enterprise and several of the other rides for this adventure.

Molly’s next adventure starts on September 20th, 2018.