Fired up to coast

It started with ladies night, doesn't it always start with ladies night???? It was a fun night at Joyride 150 and Shannon had a blast. For me the bike park is always fun. There was very little riding actually done on my part, more of a social visit and when a chance to get on the pump track or skinnies arouse I did so. For the women that didn't go, you missed out. It was extremely successful from what I saw and I wouldn't surprise if they do another one before the end of the winter.

Now as for me, well the time I did ride it helped get me fired up to ride my bike with actual forward movement. The trainer is great, ok I'm lying, coasting is where its at. This brought on the idea for Saturday morning. The weather was absolutely perfect for outdoor adventures of the two wheeled kind. -8 and sunny with only a slight head wind. The roads were clear, so clear and clean that I left old faithful winter beater in the basement and pulled out the pimped out cross bike. For what I had in mind it seemed like a better choice. A quick phone call to try and twist the arm of someone else to ride with meant at least one extra stop on the ride.

Found myself taking the hilly route south, up to Vasey line and continuing south towards Mt. St. Louis ski resort. Yep some pretty good hills heading this way and with a training mindset still working lots of low cadence up the hills at tempo pace. Much easier than pushing the increase button on the vomit machines display. Well at least better scenery. There were lots of snowmobile trails in this area and an uncountable number of waves from them. An hour and a half after starting a quick stop to persuade someone to ride with me. I felt like a little kid calling at the window, "Can *$@^($ come out and play????" No he has chores to do on rollers.

Next stop came an hour later for a quick top up fluids and energy at a store that doesn't sell Giant's even though they make their bikes. Some jealousy of the fact that I was riding and I was. To this point the ride was completely uneventful. Clear roads, nice drivers, etc. The sketchiness came getting through town, with many drivers focusing on anything but driving. To be expected, most are not expecting to see a cyclist on the road in February. The real thrill of the day came as I made my way on a out of town concession.

What is the thrill of honking at a cyclist as you pass him? Are you hoping that I will wobble and crash? Have you ever thought of the results of what could happen? What if it was a young kid that panicked? Some inbreed redneck hillbilly jack off in a burgundy mid 90's Chrysler Cirrus with a shitty rear window tint job did this. Yes I know your plate number too. Of course I wasn't able to give him the finger because of my dam mitts, the whole hand just doesn't give the same affect. I did give him the big hands in the air with the "What was the point of that" expression. The stop sign was approaching fast, a short sprint was made to try and catch him. Unfortuantly a normally busy intersection was not at the time and the little punk was able to turn away before I caught him. HMMM but I know where you roughly live.

I continued along and looking at the time knew I would be short of my planned ride. Many extra lefts and rights were made adding in distance. This seemed to be the hardest part of the ride. The intensity dropped a little, I was slowed because of in town congestion. This also brought on the cold feet. To this point the body kept pretty comfortable, the sun warming what needed. The clouds had rolled in, the slushy wet roads showed up and my body started to get mad at me starting at the toes. From there it was the bottom of the right foot, quickly making its way to the top of the foot. As the minutes needed counted down the pain threshold started to drop also. Cooling down took a whole new meaning.

Success, I rolled into Shannon's driveway at the 4 hour mark. A trip from Waubaushene to Innisfil complete. The rundown, 2200 feet of climbing, most of that in the first 2 hours of riding, lots of good tempo time put in. Distance is limited because of winter speed, 90 km in 4 hours. This is easily a sub 3 hour ride in the summer. It was great riding outside again, it will make jumping on the trainer this morning a little harder. After more coffee of course.