With the weather finally warming up, I went out on my second long ride outside. Last week, I rode with Rom where he left me gassed and got chicked. This week was a little different and not quite as bad. We met up at Tim's at 9 am Saturday morning with about 10 other riders from the Markham Tri Club. As I headed to the meeting place, I picked up a roadie and invited him to join us. We were going up to Lake Simcoe and back which was about a four hour ride (longer than he was anticipating).
We headed out as one big group and Rom immediately took off. Other riders commented on how strong he was riding and the winter indoor training had really paid off. That made me feel better as it meant, I was quite as pathetic as I thought. Lisa joined up for part of the ride with her new bike. This was her first outdoor ride and she rode quite well.
As usual, we had a nice tail wind heading up to the lake. There were tons of riders out with many people training for "The Ride To Conquer Cancer." It was actually a little dangerous as there were lots of new riders and they were weaving all over the road. The roadie was riding strong and was keeping up with Rom while the rest of us were spread out. At one point there was a low flying helicopter buzzing over us and I looked up and ran off the road. Luckily I was able to keep the bike under control on the gravel and get back onto the road. We hit Ravenshoe for a rest and Lisa turned back with Gibby while the rest of us headed up to the lake which was another 14 km.
At the lake is a small and very expensive corner store. Normally I would fill up with water at an outdoor (free) municipal tap but it wasn't open. I had four water bottles and drank about half. I figured I should be ok but it was warming up. We headed back south down into the wind but it wasn't as bad as last week. I was able to keep up with the group and managed to hold Rom's wheel. Last week, he was going so fast, I couldn't hold his wheel for more than a minute. By the time we hit Stouffville Road (only 13 km from home), I was out of water and needed a drink badly. The roadie was also out of water so we stopped off at a local golf course for a refill. The rest of the group took off without us. We picked up another guy who did IMMT (even had the same bike as me). Seeing we were close to home and that part of Warden Ave is freshly paved and flat, I took off. I knew someone was on my wheel as I poured it on for a four km time trial. By the end, I was wiped out. My quads were burning and my legs felt like jello. I looked around and it was the tri guy. He thanked me for the draft and wished me luck on Tremblant 70.3 and went another direction. I waited for the roadie and slowly soft peddled home. I was bagged and toyed with the idea of doing a short run. Then all of a sudden, I remembered I didn't have a house key and Tammy took the kids to Mcdonald's for a play date. Uh oh
I got home hoping they were still there but they had already left. I missed them by 15 minutes. I did not want to ride to the Mcdonalds while it was close and was on McCowan Ave and that was a very busy street. I was very thirsty so I went to a neighbour's house to beg for water. The husband was outside and I talked to him for a couple of minutes. He's an undercover RCMP officer (I'm not sure if its a good idea for him to being telling the neighbours what he does for a living). I asked if he was involved the arrest of the Canadian terrorist who were trying to blow up the train. He was. Good work.
Finally I got tired of waiting around and rode to the Mcdonalds. Riding down McCowan was busy but when I got to the intersection of Highway 7, I had a green light while an idiot making a right had turn onto McCowan didn't see me (I'm wearing a white shirt and yellow helmet) pulled out in front of me. I yelled at him but he was obvious). I got to the Mcdonalds and carried my bike in wearing full riding gear. I got a lot of strange looks but was too tired and hungry to care. I found Tammy and the kids and ordered extra large fries, some chicken burger or something that tasted gross. So much for those 2,200 calories I burned off riding. All Saturday my legs felt like jello. Good thing this is a recovery week.
On Sunday I ran for one hour (10 km) with no problem and this morning I went for my first outdoor week day ride. I left at just after 5:30 am and it was almost getting light out. It was warmer than I anticipated but still pretty cool. I wore arm warmers but 10 minutes into the ride, I realized I should have worn gloves. My hands and toes were cold. Summer's coming and soon it won't be a problem
That's all I got
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