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.