Conditions could not have been better for the Interior "Controle Freak" 300 km brevet. Sure, it was cold when we started, but with clear skies meant we knew it would warm up. Thermometers vary and lie, but mine said 3 degrees C as we rolled east on Hwy 1. For a nice change, there was no headwind, and Richard and I were quickly spit off the back as the other six riders disappeared in the distance. I caught up with Peter Nickerson and Paul Van Wersch at Chase and we spent the rest of the day together. Paul has obviously not read the manual that says recumbents climb slowly. It was all I could do to stay with him on the climbs. By the first control at Blind Bay it had warmed up enough to remove jackets, and the rest of the warm stuff came off at the Silver Creek Store controle at 107 km.

The Silver Creek Store was overwhelmed with cyclists. There were only three of us, but there were at least two other groups there at the same time. I need to figure out how to recruit these riders. I've never seen so many riders on these roads when there wasn't an organized event happening. Passing the now closed Salmon Valley Junction Store brought back fond memories of the cinnamon buns they used to serve.

This was a new route, inspired by Bob Boonstra's Shuswap Highlands route. My intent was spend as much time on quiet rural roads while keeping the climbing to a reasonable level. To do this the route sheet was two pages long, unheard of by Interior standards, and featured seven controles (hence the name). Unfortunately, Richard had some navigational issues reminiscent of my Jinglepot Road adventure from last year's VanIsle 1200, and got lost in Enderby. He eventually gave up and called it a day. The route is scenic and fun, and will be run again in the future, but I will attempt to add some more landmark references to the route sheet to avoid this.

The lack of wind continued until Salmon Arm at about 200 km. We resisted the lure of the Barley Station brewpub and instead settled for a refueling stop at the Husky across the road. Tailwind time! A short stretch of highway, then a rolling cruise through Tappen Valley, the the last information control. The gravel section was in reasonably good shape, and once through it we descended to the control at my house. We dawdled there longer than we needed to, but there was really no need to hurry on such a beautiful day and Susan had made some amazing chocolate espresso cookies. Can't EVER lose that recipe. I had not been looking forward to the last 60 km of highway to the finish, but the traffic had lessened, and the strong tailwind continued pushing us along at a high rate of speed. Obviously, not as fast as Ian, who I figure averaged around 40 kmh from the last control to the finish.