Happy Long Weekend - eh!!!

Tired

80K. Speeds of 32-38 kph for at least 2/3 of the ride trying to make up for lost time on someone's bad flat early in the ride (it sent them home, in fact - tire was shot). Calf still hurting (even with pre-ride Advil). Now hands are hurting (where the hell are my new handlebars????). Sweaty and gross. Now showered at least. Meal post-ride: 2 scoops of soy protein powder in water (perhaps I should invite friends over next time I have that feast). Time for bed. Thinking about phoning the place someone recommended for ART tomorrow. Sigh. It's come to that. I'm going to put my already sore body through more pain. What am I thinking?

An evening in the life...

OK. So, tonight I went out for our almost regular weekly gats ride with Ruth. I brought my camera, as clunky as it is. I wanted to get some shots of the park - it's so nice. And I wanted to get some shots of just regular cycling stuff. I only ended up doing half the ride because my calf was seizing up on me a few climbs after Pink and I had to leave Ruth to do the rest on her own. :( After I turned around I came right up on a black bear crossing the road!!! I've heard others talk of sightings, but this was my first. WOW! Unfortunately there was no time to take a shot - even with my camera sitting in my shirt pocket. With my sore, seizing calf muscle I took it easy on the way back and took the opportunity to snap lots of photos (partly to not feel down that I wasn't finishing the ride). So here they are...


Ruth after she filled up her water bottles at the Gamelin parking lot.

Pink Lake Lookout.
The sign at the top of Pink's hill - steep decent ahead (which I'd already climbed earlier).

Cycling back - some riders ahead of me.

Hey look! It's me! ;)

The mandatory ride banana.

Poor thing got a little ugly since I didn't eat it on the ride.

Walked past the car window and saw a photo-op. My stuff piled into the car.
Don't you just love my cute polka-dot water bottle?
I know faster riders do - they've told me so when cycling past me. :)

The banana's ride home.

Rideau Lakes Tour

I did it! My first Rideau Lakes Tour. It was pretty amazing. I'm sore - I started the tour with a stiff right calf. I know, I know - I should have either done yoga or gotten a massage when I felt it all week last week, but I had no time. I had to travel for work, as usual. So, whatever, I got through it. Took some Robaxacet last night and stretched as much as I could. Luckily, being surrounded by >2000 other cyclists, nobody found it odd that I stretched my calves every single place I found myself idling for a more than a couple of minutes. Saturday was hot, but not as humid as I heard it was at home (thank the forces of the universe for that!!). With people starting at different times and from different locations and 4 different routes, we ended up having a lot of road to ourselves. Picked up a couple of people for parts of our ride. Our core group was 10 and we were thankful for that on the last 40K or so into Kingston when we had a pretty blustery headwind. Luckily with so many to rotate through, I didn't have to pull for long.

This wannabe morning chick got up at an ungodly 5:40 AM this morning and 3 of us snuck in the back door of the university dining hall for breakfast (the lines were completely insane and I brought my own oatmeal, pb and ryvita anyway - I just needed 2 bananas and some muffins). Today started out cooler, having had some rain up in cottage country overnight, but the humidity was up. Still tired from my early morning rise and the previous day's ride, my right calf muscle seizing up on me in certain positions, with a little asthma kicking in to make it all the more interesting, I had a bit of a rough start and wondered if I could do another leg today. After the first hill just outside of Kingston I didn't think I'd make it (it's all rolling hills with a few steep ones in there for good measure from Kingston to Perth). Brian gave me a pep talk and told me the first one is always the hardest. After about an hour of riding I was feeling better and we dropped a guy who had joined our group and had us up to 32kph (too fast for us to keep up for the whole tour and particularly in the hills). We got a more normal pace for our group and the hills started feeling good for me because I could get my breath a little easier - also the humidity started to subside a little. I felt so good that I stood up on a climb and passed everyone in my group except for our strongest (Diane - who was way up ahead of everyone and said she was pleasantly surprised to see me coming over the hill first). They all cheered me on as I passed them. :) That was so nice. They are an awesome group to ride with. Which was proven when we arrived at our destination and every single one of the various people who popped in and out of our pack during the ride on Saturday sought the group out to thank everyone for allowing them to tag along for a bit and for being so nice. On a long ride I don't tend to talk the whole way... I mean, come on, even I don't have that much to talk about. Something I like about long group rides is having the ability to just zone out - it's a form of meditation I think. Today I thought about things I've never been grateful for - things I take for granted. They may sound silly, but things like having blue eyes, and being good at math. It's good to remember the gifts you are given as just that - they are gifts. So, that was my cycling meditation of the weekend. Combined with the accomplishment of completing my first large-scale, long-distance, organized tour. I should also mention that I'm grateful for such great friends to cycle with. I wouldn't continue to grow in the sport without them.

PS > I've completely given up on trying to control my tan lines. I'm no fashionista anyway. If I don't look cute in things that show off the lines I'll get over it.

MTL & RLT

Just back from a quick trip to MTL. It was a really good meeting and we had some fun too. We went to the Time Supper Club. Apparently one of the places to be seen in MTL. There were dancers/contortionists and a magician who entertained us. Pretty cool. I left before the 'public' was allowed in for the dance bar to get started - had to get some proper nights' sleeps in before the weekend. I'm off to do RLT tomorrow. And I'm really excited!!! I got a shorter stem this week, and I expect it will help a lot with my comfort doing the long distances, particularly back-to-back. So, not much time to post now - gotta run and get packed. This wannabe morning person has to get up at the crack of dawn. ;)

The Weekend...

Jello shooters (they were insanely strong!! And I think Stef had - ummm... I lost count!)

End of the night - the kid who served us said it was nice how we stopped yelling once we got food. This is my favourite shot of the night. I think she's saying: "I want pizza NOW!" Ha, ha!

No explanation for this one.

For those of you who read here, you get the nice shots. I have some others that might be used as blackmail material in the future. ;) That's what bachelorettes are all about, isn't it?

The Gats

I had to post about my ride tonight. I went out with Ruth to the gats. The two of us seem to be doing this one a lot together so far this season. It's great. Ruth is a lot stronger than me, but I go down the hills faster because I'm a lot bigger than her - yeah, she's tiny. So after I go down, she catches up on the uphill and passes me and then I catch up on the flat, or sometimes at the top if I'm feeling strong (or if she slows down - lol). She only has to wait for me at the hardest points - mainly at Fortune Lake, and typically at the top of Pink. Tonight proved how much stronger I'm getting though, because I was pretty close behind her on Pink - and I've been having a lot of asthma issues the past week. I got my fastest speed up Pink tonight - about 2 kph faster than I typically do it!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!! And I passed other people when I was going up! Wow! Ok, well, I have passed other people on like mountain bikes and stuff before, but these two people were on road bikes and by the looks of their calves they are in good shape. He, he! God - the things that go through your head on the bike eh? Anyway, lots of success tonight. And I'm pushing through... I had 2 asthma attacks last Friday trying to tackle the park in the smog. Not good. I couldn't do the loop. Tonight the weather was way better for me - nice and cool. But, as was pointed out to me, there was a lot of pollen - actual green dust collected on our bikes. As a result I got home and coughed a lot of crap out of my lungs. No asthma attacks during the ride though. Breathing was challenging at times, but I prevailed. Progress. :) It helps to have someone so encouraging to ride with. Ruth always tells me how great I'm doing and if I tell her I'm tired or my legs are done she reminds me to just keep pedalling. I told her tonight that I LOVE the last hill coming back to the parking lot. You have a really nice decent and then you can stand up and climb this quick one. I love it because I look down every time to see I'm going 30 kph UPhill. And then every time on the last flat after that hill I think how amazing it is that I did the loop yet again. Especially after a night like tonight, when I quit on myself like 5 times during the ride. I still did it. I'm not that self-defeating every time. Mostly when I can't breathe. Sometimes when I'm tired. But then you remind yourself that you've done this many times before; you think about what's left ahead on the route (especially after Fortune - then you know all of the hard stuff is done); and you get to the end, and you did it... that's when you remember why it's so great.

Leftovers

I couldn't fall to sleep last night. I'm not sure why. Well, there was the fact that every muscle in my body was feeling tight and eventually I caved in, got up, and did a whole bunch of stretches. Only then did I fall asleep. So, I'm sitting here getting the last of my work done for the day thinking how the Green Door isn't open on Monday and it seems Monday is the day I most frequently don't want to make dinner. And then I remembered: MizB phoned me up last night and we headed out for Thai food and I have the leftovers in my fridge! Thank you to the leftover gods!! Yes!
I can't believe my good fortune... this week I have no evenings to work! I won't even say the 'c' word. I think you already know what I'll be doing! ;)

I'm a bonehead

I always put sunscreen on before cycling. Yesterday I forgot and was a bit rushed... it was overcast and during the ride I convinced myself it would be fine. I already had a base anyway. Duh - overcast is the worst kind of burn weather. Of course, it was my first time going sleeveless (thought I'd work on getting rid of the lines across my biceps - they look silly). Well, now I look even more silly because I'm burnt (and I had to protect my burnt shoulders today and wear sleeves and re-instate the bicep lines - doh!!!). I'm obsessing a little about tan lines since in three weeks I will be wearing a nice dress at my friends' wedding and you'll be able to see all of my upper back. Hmmm. Dilemma. I may have to go to a tanning bed and cover my arms and get my back tanned so I don't look weird. <I should have flexed my back for the picture to make Jess proud of the work she's done with me this year> ;) I can worry about the lines which are bound to be well-established in October when I have to look good for my sister's wedding at that time. Luckily I don't have to worry about the ones on my legs. He, he! I also bought some new-fangled sunscreen spray. They should have a warning label: do not spray in confined spaces. I think I inhaled more of it than got on my body this afternoon. Cough, cough. Geez! That can't be good. And I'd forgotten why, last year, I'd bought 'non-greasy'. Yuck! I think I may be making another trip to the store to find the one I'm accustomed to - if it still exists. Who knows with these products. They're always changing.

I'm still behind where I want to be in terms of kms on the bike. I've had to work evenings a lot in the last 4 weeks and it's been cramping my style. We had a really great ride yesterday, sunburn aside. Today though, I needed more rest and didn't feel up to heading out with the group. It was nice to go out on my own this afternoon. I decided to explore some other routes I've been wanting to figure out. There were quite a few really courteous drivers on the road today - and I'm not being sarcastic. It's true. I know it's often hard to believe, but some drivers are quite diligent about being careful around cyclists, and they deserve some credit for that. I've started waving at people a lot. I think it makes them feel happy and makes them watch out for me. Maybe I'm doing it a bit more since the accident - even though it wasn't a car that hit me, you know, it makes you a little more cautious.

There is a really cool tool on the web now: MapMyRide. You can get the elevation and everything. I mapped out a 90K route from my front door into Gatineau Park, the whole loop of it and back. I'll try to do that as often as I can as I get further into the season.

Ouch #3 (I think)

For some reason (likely not enough stretching on my part) this week my legs were really sore. So I finally broke down and went to yoga on Monday night. I've been telling myself that I need to go for, oh I don't know, 10 months or so. I used to go much more regularly. So I bought a package and I'm committed now. I've got to keep my muscles flexible. Unfortunately I had let it go too long though, and ended up at the massage therapist on Wednesday night. I got a new massage therapist since my regular one changed offices and, well who knows, I just didn't wind up going there. So, this guy used to work on the Russian Olympic team or something, recommended by boyko, who is an insane runner now. My hamstrings were all glued together I guess. Ouch. It hurt. I hope to get in two good rides this weekend. My asthma has been bad this week tho, so I need to listen to my lungs. I also bit the bullet and am really, seriously looking at getting my bike fit sorted out. My wrist is in a lot of pain and I've had this instinct I need smaller handlebars. As well I learned today that I need them a little closer to me - shorter stem. So that's in the works.

Next week my job changes a bit and I won't be traveling the whole of Eastern ON anymore. I'm grateful for that. But of course, with new reps joining the team, there is a lot to do in terms of transitioning work. So I'll be traveling a bit in the next 2 months for work, as well as for cycling. The first cycling trip is only 2 weeks away. So cross your fingers for me that my asthma starts to settle down and the exhaustion I've been feeling this week subsides.

(JFF - Check out one of my new Shebeest tops)