You’d think there’d have been some fuss. That I’d have made a bigger deal. I thought so too. Somehow we were both wrong.

Though this blog has been relatively silent on the topic since the first 1000km rolled by, our Gentlemen’s Wager to see who would be the first to 3000km has continued unabated. For most of us. No mentioning names but a rider – who’s name rhymes with Salberto and is spelled q u i t t e r – quit riding shortly after he passed the 1000km mark saying something about having a life. As a married father of three, I have no idea what he’s referring to, my time consumed with potty training, mess-cleaning, how on earth did you get that up there?? emergencies and an endless stream of he/she said/did fights. The rest of us and a late entry continued to ride on.

I have to admit a sense of accomplishment of sorts. What started out as a desire to ride my bike to work spread through the office, drawing first Adam, then Chris, Alberto and finally Jon last year. This year saw Johan – who’d always claimed to ride, but was never seen on a bicycle make the journey from beyond Sarcee. Admittedly it was just once but he still managed to do it until the mornings became too dark though it might also have something to do with the looong climb from Edworthy park all the way up into Coach Hill at the end of a long day. The late entry Trevor stumbled across a bike in much the same fashion as I – not looking for one but it fell into his lap. Trevor picked one of the longest routes for his first ride and racked up a 44km round trip. To his credit, after some navigational improvements, he made the trip a couple more times before he let his inertia fall away. I may have harassed him daily about his 4-wheeled conveyance, which is nothing short of annoyingly smug I’m sure, until he acquiesced and agreed to ride again. We’ll see what tomorrow and the promise of a 2’C morning brings.

So in the Gentle’s Wager, Race to 3000, herein after referred to as GW-Rt3K, there are 7 names. Mileage not being limited to commute-rides only, everyone has racked up more than a single commute which is, in my mind, a tremendous accomplishment for a facility that had none in 2010. It’s almost 20% of our employees. That’s pretty cool.

However…the GW-Rt3K is officially over. It ended Friday evening when one of the seven – me – finally put a nail in it. With Adam and I swapping the lead position a couple of times over the last few weeks, it was time to put it to bed before he decided to. With 2800km on the board Monday morning, I had a slight lead over Adam. The slight part concerned me as he’d proven himself more than able to put 100km down in a single ride so a 100km lead was not what I would have considered solid by any stretch. When I sent the message that I’d crossed the magical mark, there was part of me that steeled itself for an “I finished a few minutes ago” response…which I got. I was split between belief in his earlier assertion that he wasn’t going to push on after I told him I likely would, and the knowledge that he’d had exactly enough time to get it done. He didn’t leave me hanging for long. “Nahhhh. How about first to 4000?”. So there it is – I managed to be the first to 3000km of our group of seven.

And so it continues. The truth is that Calgary’s weather could wreak havoc on this latest round. Having a bitterly cold Thanksgiving weekend is as likely as a balmy Remembrance Day, a -20 Halloween night or a +20 Boxing day. We don’t know when the end of “reasonable” riding weather is going to rear it’s ugly head or how loose the definition of “reasonable” might be if the onset of winter is slow and gradual. I guess that means it’s time to get it done. If you’ll excuse me…

Three thousand and one point one five…or so.