First of let's start with Saturday. Got up early to finally, or so I thought get the hitch install in on the work truck. You have no idea how frustrating it's been. It's only a Honda Element but the clowns at the place I was getting it done have messed this up 3 times and it's been over a month since the first appointment. Only one guy at that store has a brain in his head. Unfortunately he doesn't work weekends.
Drop the truck off and had an Anthem in the truck. Planned on meeting up with the Saturday ride which would be pretty low key. It was raining. What's new. Started to head towards the downtown by ways of the trail that runs behind the high school. Yep I'm getting old because I don't remember it looking like this.
Gave me a chance to work on some cross skills. Ok maybe not. I won't vent about the shit show that happened with the truck, lets just say that I had to race back to the store, empty the whole thing which someone could have given me the heads up the first couple times it was in reinstall everything after my ride. Oh and I went to put a ball on it today and it it hits the bumper. They didn't even check. Trust me when I say I'm pissed. It's not brain surgery.
Anyways, done venting, on that at least. Still made it downtown before 9 and waited patiently. Yes I can do that, sorta. Ok no I kept riding around. No one showed. Well lets just start riding and see how I feel. Body was still mad at me so it turned into a ride a little stop and visit random shops then ride a little more eventually ending up at Georgian Cycle. Ever since I moved to Waubaushene I don't get over to see Dave as much, I've worked on my bikes more in the last year than sine Dave started helping me out with gear. Things are good over there, season is trimming down. He had to pull out his own bikes to hang on the wall so it didn't look so vacant.
Of course this came into conversations about what I'm doing for bikes next year. I'm keeping both Anthem's. I like them way to much. I did have buyers for both. Sorry guys. Big reason is I want a new road bike for next season and possibly a hardtail. Out comes the catalog. Yep it's picked.
In the end the ride was about 3 hours but maybe half of that was actually moving. My body hinted for me to take it easy so I did. Spent the rest of the day napping and watching movies and drinking beer. That was the last ride on the Anthem's till Michigan.
Today was a different story. Woke up after lots of rest, good breakfast and I was off with a route in mind. It was cold, it was the cold that had me wearing arm bands, leg bands, a vest and full length gloves. Wonderful. It felt more like late October than late August. I saw two signs promoting fall fairs on my ride. Not impressed.
Made my way through to Penetang and then headed north to Awenda Park. I really do enjoy this loop. Steady climbs, quiet roads, good pavement.
The rain came on and off not enough to actually get wet, just enough to let you know that it was coming down. The wind on the other hand let you know it was there the whole time. Regardless of the weather, I was smiling. My body seemed to be back to normal. Heart rate was matched to the effort. I guess the beer did the fix. I was climbing the way I normally do which made me smile.
Coming out of the park was great. It's a 40 zone and I was able to tuck in behind a car. More smiling. Turned right and headed towards the water and Tiny Beaches road. Great winding road which led me to Balm Beach. A quick stop to top up my bottles. The place was dead.
The store owner said that the place has been dead most of the summer. I guess not just the cyclists have been having a crap summer. Continued south making my way to Elmvale by way of the long route. At the 3.5 hour mark I stopped at Coffee Time for a coffee and a cookie. MMMM cookies, as for coffee, if I could have coffee in my water bottles I probably would. Ok I can but it would be cold and cold coffee is gross.
To this point I had some rollers for about 20 km's of the ride. My plan was to head to the hills of Oro Medonte on all that fresh new pavement. Let the hills begin. Body still felt great. Zigged and zagged to get as much climbing in as I could without back tracking to much. Some good steady grinds.
Of course this also meant I was getting closer to home. It was looking at the time to hit the number I wanted. Rolled back into the house with 5 hours in and 153 km's. Kept things on the low side of zone 2. Body felt great, the right tired not the way I felt on Thursday to Saturday. My training decisions seemed to be the right ones.
Some interesting stats on my ride. 15 runners and one cyclist who happened to be a triathlete. I saw her twice and both times I debated about turning around after her. Then it was the thought of a triathlete, sorry to those I just offended. She was cute. I was shocked at how many people were out running. It's so painful compared to cycling. Oh and I get to coast going down hills.
Am I disappointed about not racing this weekend. Not really. Watson called me lazy, actually I put in twice the hours on the bike today than I would have if I'd raced. I was a little productive around the house. The next two weeks I'm barely around and all those domestic things still need to be done.
I'm feeling more confident in my fitness for Michigan after this ride. The countdown has begun. There was even more happening this weekend but my fingers are tired so check back in tomorrow.
Congratulation to Lee for winning our division today. Also to Andrew, check out his site for the run down. I'm assuming Jacob and Ben will have something up also. Peter?? Not sure. Jeff, Kris
2 comments:
ahhh what happen to mentioning your wonderful gift from your loving sister...aren't i blog worthy :)
It's so good that I'm doing it's own thing tomorrow morning. Thank you again.
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