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October 15 - Defi Report
This year,
the Defi for me started on Tuesday, when I began checking
the weather forecast for Montreal on an almost hourly
basis. It didn't look too good. Rain, rain, and more
rain. I had heard the horror stories of the 2002 race
and decided I didn't want to go through that. On Friday
afternoon, after trying to rationalize a decision to
go, even with rain still a high probability on Saturday,
I finally told myself, "Ray, you want to do this,
stop trying to justify your decisions and just go and
do it; weather be damned."
So that's what I did. I set the alarm for 2 am Saturday,
woke, threw every piece of wet weather equipment I had
in the back seat of my car, and after a quick pitstop
at Timmy's for coffee, set off for Montreal and certain
hardships. Damn the weather!
I was greeted in Montreal by light rain and fog. I was
thankful to see a few familiar faces: Benard Doth from
Roller-Montreal, Peter Doucet, who drove down from Toronto
to cheer on fellow Toronto racer Ed Leung and document
the event for the "Race and Roll" magazine.
Unfortunately, my Defi guide from 2003, Rod Wilmot,
couldn't make it, and Inga Petri, Jan Riopelle, and
Lyle Adams, having endured the freezing rain of 2002,
decided not to come. Mau Pan Lau of Roller-Montreal
was a "maybe" according to Benard.
A TV crew was present for the 6 o'clock start; only
about 50 people this year, significantly down from the
200 that registered in 2003 when I first attended this
event. Dix, neuf, huit, sept, six, cinq, quatre, trois
deux, un, we were off. I looked for a large pack to
join and this year the only decent sized pack was the
lead one. It took me 10 minutes to leap frog ahead to
catch up to these guys, and only 20 minutes to realize
that hanging with them was a mistake. Too much of the
slinky effect meant that I was alternately coasting
and sprinting on slippery pavement, and the pace was
just a little too fast for the conditions. I dropped
back and skated on my own before Mau Pan and Melissa
of Roller-Montreal caught up to me. I didn't recognize
Pan at first, his helmet covered in scotch tape. Melissa
wore a bathing cap. Hey: comfort comes first, fashion
second in this event!
We reeled in two more skaters, another Roller-Montrealler
I think, and a guy from South Carolina. Pan did almost
all of the work up front. My ankles were like wet noodles,
so I was content to sit in the back and let someone
else do the work. Besides, Pan seemed to enjoy it, yelling
out "Whoo-oo-oo-oa!" every time we skated
over some really bad pavement. Melissa dropped back
around the 50k mark, then the skater from Carolina also
dropped back. Pan's frame came loose from his skate
and he hit the ground hard. We stopped, but there wasn't
anything we could do to fix it. Pan joked about having
to do the triple push for the remainder of the race
due to his fubar'ed skate frame, and then told us to
carry on without him.
Then it was just two of us for the longest time. We
reached the checkpoint under the bridge "Pie IX?"
around the 80k mark and picked up two Vermont skaters,
Dileep and another. Benard's wife was waiting there.
She told us Benard had been with the lead pack, but
was now skating on his own. We pressed on. Thankfully,
the light rain and drizzle had let up, but the damage
was already done. Wet leaves made the going treacherous
in places and large puddles greeted us from time to
time. My head had been throbbing since about an hour
into the Defi (too much Tim Horton's coffee I think)
and around the 90k I wished the other skaters a good
race and pulled into a depaneur to purchase some much
needed relief.
I followed the river as I skated alone for the next
10k. Around the 100k mark, the Carolina skater caught
up to me and we worked together for the next 15k or
so as we rounded the tip of the Island of Montreal and
encountered some headwind on Section 5. Section 5 is
my least favourite leg of the Defi. Your legs are totally
exhausted and you are more prone to stumbling and falling,
the pavement is really bad in spots, and the fumes along
the Notre-Dame are really horrendous. The Carolina skater
decided to take it a little slower through this section
and fell back again.
With about 10k to go, I could almost smell the finish
line. I picked up the pace, anxious to get it over with.
Let me be honest with you: I wasn't having much fun
this time around. There was a lot of construction in
the last few kilometres. I stumbled frequently and fell
hard at one intersection near the Jacques Cartier bridge
when I skated into a puddle concealing a large pothole.
I cursed a blue streak, cursed the skating gods, cursed
the Montreal roads & transportation department,
cursed the motorists staring at me in quiet disbelief.
Cursing wasn't going to get me to the finish line any
sooner. I picked myself up and kept going.
The downtown section is fun. Some street skating and
lots of zigzagging, so you have keep your head up and
always be on the lookout for the yellow Defi signs and
arrows. Two close encounters with cars, one of which
pulled a left-hand turn right in front of me. I nearly
became a hood ornament. In the last kilometre, we had
to skate over some mud, walk over some gravel, and then
traverse two puddles, one that completely covered my
skate wheels, and another, no word of a lie, that came
right up to my ankles. Finally the finish line. A finish
line never looked so sweet! And just in time, because
15 minutes later, the skies opened up and it really
started to rain in earnest.
Many thanks to the Defi organizers and volunteers. You
made an otherwise very hard day a little bit easier,
and that can make all the difference. Hope to see you
in 2006!
IF YOU GO: if you've never done the Defi before and
would like to try it next year, three pieces of advice:
1) Skate. Skate, skate, skate. Get as many miles in
as you can before the Defi. Don't worry about going
fast, just get lots of mileage in your boots. 2) Bring
clothing for every type of weather from freezing rain
to an Indian Summer, and make your clothing decisions
the morning of. There is nothing worse than freezing
in a "water-resistant" nylon jacket that can't
keep the cold rain out, or sweating to death in sunny
18 degree weather while covered head to toe in Gortex.
3) Check
out the Defi website. It's full of useful tips to
help you prepare:
