Over to the Light Side...
How I was Seduced by the Light Side of the Perma Force
by Eric Fergusson

I was all in in October 2008. It was the dawning of the permanents program, and there was a new award associated with permanents called the BC-12. The BC-12 was meant to encourage year-round cycling by requiring a successfully completed ACP brevet or BC permanent in each of 12 consecutive calendar months. In real terms this boiled down to needing to ride a permanent in December, January and February and maybe one for that scheduled brevet you missed in, let’s say, June for whatever reason.

Permanents were meant to be more than this of course. There was now the opportunity to ride any brevet route (200+), anywhere at any time. But that’s another story. Back to the BC-12.

It was really those three winter brevets that were the core challenge. I committed to get it done in that first year (2008)… then I went for the repeat… then I went for the threepeat… then I set my sights on a five-year run… then ten years… and then I decided to just keep going - “well, you can’t break that big streak now.”

All the while my strength and speed was dropping while my times were growing. The problem was mainly my ongoing spinal issue (first thought to be spinal stenosis, but now the diagnosis is less certain). As time went on 12+ hour finishing times became my norm, especially in winter, which meant facing colder night temperatures and a lot more darkness.

I had to admit to myself that this just wasn’t fun anymore. Another thing undermining my enthusiasm, once covid arrived, was the fact that though my streak was intact according to BC Randonneurs covid ride rules, there were eight “no-ride” months in 2020 and 2021, so the streak wasn’t really a streak in the strict sense. I nevertheless rode on as if it was a real streak. I seemed psychologically trapped in streak mode. I think deep down I was looking for a way out, and just not seeing a graceful, a satisfying exit.

It was at the 2024 AGM/Brunch when Karen Smith, with Michel’s input, proposed the idea of “Permalights”: permanent-like rides less than 200 km that didn’t require night riding. It was received warmly by the club and the executive, so we unofficially adopted the idea. I was fine with it in theory, but not for me as a rider.

From that moment (October 2024) Karen started riding her 103 km permalight route to Bridal Falls, which is a selected excerpt from her 200 km “Chilliwack Flood Route” permanent #216. Month after month she was riding this thing as I looked on from the sidelines quietly thinking “hmmm… you know… maybe… I wonder…” Was I seeing that illusive graceful exit?

I earned my BC-12 award for 2025 in June and later that summer completed my other permanents goal of riding 12 permanents for the calendar year. In early September it felt like I was at a completion moment – a pause and reflect sort of moment. Since I started my permanents streak in an October, I thought that September would make an appropriate, full-circle, finish month. So this was it. I was, at last, ready to surrender to the light side. I was going to leave behind winter 200s and replace them with 100 km winter permalights.

I’ve been riding the same 200 km permanent for several years now - Mike Hagen’s “Take It Easy” (“TIE”), which is permanent #151. My spinal issue was becoming more apparent by late 2020, so I choose this route deliberately because it was an easy route to abandon. It is an urban route, never too far from a translink bus or skytrain station. (Note: I’ve now done this route 54 times, and never used the transit escape pod, though I did abandon once because of a sudden rainstorm that hit while passing too close to home.) Using “TIE” as the base route I created two 100 km permalight routes. They are essentially the two halves of “Take It Easy” with a few changes to make them even easier. I was tempted to call the routes “thing 1” and “thing 2”, but no… I called them “Half Easy” and “Other Half Easy”. (Links to rwGPS.)

   

So here I am three months into the new regime, and in a way not too much has changed. I’m still riding once a month in the winter months, but somehow the pressure is off. I think it’s because I know that the real every-month 200 km brevet streak is finally gone away. Permalights at 100 km are also just a lot easier. It feels a bit like cheating - I get to the halfway point on “Half Easy” and just stop. Or with “Other Half Easy” I skip the first half of the route and cruise through the tougher second half with fresh legs. Much easier either way.

The three permalight routes (Karen’s 1, Eric’s 2) are now actually in the database, but at the moment the entries are problematic. The results are showing up as actual permanents, where they shouldn’t really count. I must look into getting a new category of ride in the database that recognizes the rides, but doesn’t count them towards a rider’s permanent distance. Help please database team!

As for permanents proper (200 km+), I still intend to ride them for as long as I can, just not in the dark and frigid. I know there are things to sort out in the database, but for the moment I’m not going to stress too much about it. This is me taking it easy.