Mission Accomplished!

I didn't think I'd make it. With less than 100km to go to my goal back in mid-September, I came down with a nasty head cold that turned into a lung infection. That was followed by no less than a month of feeling like...well...you know and the worst cough I've ever had in my life. By the time it cleared up to a point where I felt like I could ride more than 5km, it was late October and the weather had turned past the point where I enjoy riding. It was of course cold and wet, and with a bazillion leaves on the roads, more slippery than I dare to risk. I could have gotten the last 100 in with small rides here and there I suppose, but honestly, I'm just not a fan of cold weather riding.

So going into November, it looked pretty bleak for me to reach my goal of 2100km. Then, out of nowhere, we were hit with this past weekend. The weather was absolutely amazing and perfect for riding. Saturday was sunny and 16*C and yesterday was even nicer. While Saturday was a little breezy, there was almost no wind to speak of on Sunday and the temps got as high as 18*C. What they call Indian Summer I believe if that isn't a politically incorrect term these days.

On Saturday, I set out to do 30k and ended up doing 44, mostly because I felt really good. I wasn't in tip-top shape after the long layoff, but I was surprised that I was in as good a shape as I was. That left me with 50k to go and a great forecast for Sunday.

The weather on Sunday morning didn't disappoint, so I took advantage to try for the last bit of mileage that I needed. I felt OK at the start, but didn't have much after about 30k or so. The layoff combined with lack of recovery from Saturday didn't leave much in my legs. Still I managed to finish out a slow 61k, only averaging 24 kmh, to push me over the top and hit 2111km for 2009... exactly double my mileage of 2008 with 3 extra kilometers to spare.

Believe it or not, today is supposed to be even nicer still, but I think I'll pass on a ride. My legs need a rest day and my mission of 2100 for the year has been accomplished. Barring another stretch of great weather, I think it's time to hang the bike up for the winter and start planning for 2010!

Cheers to all who've followed my blog and tweets and gave me words of encouragement in your comments. I hope you found it somewhat entertaining and worth the time to read.

Doug

2000 KM

A really short blog post this week, simply to say that, with my latest two rides of 68 and 61 km respectively, I've successfuly reached the 2000 km mark for 2009. If you told me at the the beginning of the year I'd ride 2000 km this year, I probably would have laughed at you, but there you go. Looking back it seems like quite a distance to ride, so I thought I'd see if I can put it into perspective. My now 2006 km would have taken me (give or take a few kilometers) from:

• My hometown of St. John's, Newfoundland to Edmunston, New Brunswick
• My current home of Toronto, Ontario to Daytona Beach, Florida
• Los Angeles, California to Vancouver, British Columbia
• London, England to Naples, Italy

At a rough average of 25km per hour, that also amounts to approximately 80 hours in the saddle. Not bad for a weekend rider.

Now, with my goal set at reaching 2100 km, I'm only 94 km short of one hell of a season on the bike.

Another 51k closer

Since my latest ride was really a very short 51k, I'll follow it up with a very short post today.

Given my lack of regular riding lately and the recent leg cramping issues I've been having, I've decided to go easy for the next little while by doing shorter rides. I'm doing this in hopes of regaining a little of my mid-season form before I attempt another long distance ride.

My ride was quite enjoyable actually. The weather around Toronto was fantastic on Saturday and perfect for cycling so I took the opportunity to hit the road and bite off another chunk of my 2100 km goal. In hopes of avoiding any sign of cramping, I took some advice from a friend on Twitter and brought along loads of fuel (food) this time around. I really shouldn't need this advice of course, but I just never feel like eating while riding so it always becomes an after-thought. I basically have to force myself to eat while on a ride.

I brought along lots of drink, energy bars and even a banana and was pretty much empty handed when I got home. Fortunately, it seems to have helped as there was no sign of any cramping. Mind you, it was a pretty short ride but it's usually around the 50k mark that I start to feel the onset of cramps. I managed a fairly good pace of just over 27kmh as well, so I certainly wasn't taking it too easy.

My biggest problem on Saturday was getting started. On Saturdays, the traffic around Toronto is pretty crazy, so rather than ride north from my house, I decided to drive up to my start point where the country roads begin and traffic is much less congested. After about a 30k drive, I pulled into the start area parking lot. As soon as I shut off the engine though, it hit me. No shoes! I forgot to bring my cycling shoes. After banging my head on the steering wheel a few times, I started up the truck and headed back home. Undaunted though, I grabbed my shoes and returned once again to the start area some 30k away. Other than that glitch, the ride was perfect... albeit a little environmentally unfriendly. 51k of riding, approximately 120k of driving. Al Gore would be proud!

Closing in... slowly

Well, another few weeks have passed since my last post. Unfortunately, time and circumstance have prevented me from doing a lot of things over the last little while, including keeping this blog up-to-date. I haven't been able to do a lot of cycling over the last several weeks and as this blog is supposed to be about my cycling exploits, there hasn't been a whole lot to report. In fact, August was pretty much a total write-off in terms of cycling.

I am happy to report that I am closing in on my second mileage goal for the year, albeit very slowly. If you recall, I reached my first goal of 1200 km back on June 27th and at that time, I reset my target at 2100 km by the end of the cycling season. Here it is now, more than two full months later, and I'm at just over the 1800 km mark (1825 to be exact). Only a little over 600 km in more than 2 months. Not so impressive in retrospect.

My last two rides, separated by two full weeks, totaled 55 and 65 kilometers respectively. Neither ride was remarkable and worthy of much comment really. The first started as a group ride scheduled for about 100 km, but having suffered out a couple of cramp-fests in previous long rides, I decided to peel off the group after about 30k and solo back home. I actually found it to be a very enjoyable ride. Riding a sensible distance (given my lack of recent conditioning) at my own pace sort of reminded me how much I enjoy solo cycling. The long cramp-filled rides before had started to discourage me a bit and I more or less decided that I'd rather enjoy a short ride than suffer a long one.

I stuck to that line of thinking for my most recent ride of 65k just this past Saturday, but unfortunately couldn't avoid the cramps again. With about 15k to go, the first sign of cramping in my quads started and I struggled home from there. I could blame it on a lot of things, but mostly I think it is simply a case of poor conditioning with such low mileage recently. I also think it's time to switch back to a more specialized electrolyte drink like Gu2O. Mixed Gatorade just doesn't seem to be getting the job done.

The best news out of my recent rides is that I finally fixed that annoying click in my crank set. After 2 months of listening to that, and a overhaul of my bottom bracket that didn't solve it, I decided to turn my attention to my pedals. I removed each, coated the threads with lube, soaked the bindings in Jig-a-loo and it seems to have done the trick. Not a click to be heard on my last 2 rides.

With nothing else noteworthy to report, I guess I'll end this post with a couple of pictures from my most recent ride. My favourite route takes me past a rather nice horse farm and I can't help but stop and enjoy the scenery there when the horses are out. There are about 7 or 8 foals with their moms and they are really quite remarkable to watch. They even came over this week and let me pet them, which I found kind of surprising. I thought the foals would be more cautious with a stranger. Maybe I have a little horse whisperer in me. Anyway, without further ado..

Catching up

Wow! I'm way behind on my blogging. From the looks of things, my last post was July 20th, and today is August 17th. Almost a full month. I'm surprised all of my regular readers haven't revolted. Regardless, it would appear I've got a fair bit of catching up to do.

To be truthful, I think I've only been on my bike twice now since July 20th. In fact, I was looking this morning at my account on Twitpic, and the day I uploaded the photo proclaiming my success at reaching the 1200km mark was June 27th...50 days ago. Since that milestone, I've only put another 500k in on the bike. Not very impressive after getting off to such a good start for this year. So, let's see what excuses I can come up with for my lack of riding.

Availability of time certainly isn't one. I thought that following my layoff in mid-July I'd get in tons of riding considering that my weekdays are now pretty much wide open. Having said that though, maybe they aren't as wide open as I thought they would be. I've been pretty actively looking for a new job and find that that is taking up a pretty good portion of my days. Not quite sure though why I spend so much time at it. People haven't exactly been lining up to give me an interview, much less a job. Either way, unfortunately my cycling has become a bit of an after-thought at this point.

I can always use vacation as an excuse. My family and I spent about 10 days in St. Charles, MO (just outside St. Louis) visiting my sister-in-law. That accounts for 10 days of no riding, with no access to a bike.

Hot summer temperatures could be used as an excuse too I suppose, although it has been much cooler in Toronto this summer than in previous years. It's really only within the last week that we've had the oppressive temperatures and humidity that we usually have here during the summer months. Being from Newfoundland, riding in scorching heat is not something I'm naturally accustomed to.

That kind of leads me to a recap of my two latest rides. After an 18 days layoff, I hit the road again a week ago Friday for a little run. It wasn't particularly hot that day... mid-20's celsius... but obviously the layoff had a terrible affect on my legs. I was going along great until the 40k mark and then without warning my legs burst into flames on a short but relatively steep hill. By the time I got to the top, cramps had completely taken over and my legs were shot. Unfortunately, I was 40k from home, so I struggled the rest of the way back to finish out at a little over 80k. The next day, I could barely walk.

After another full week off the bike, I set off again yesterday with the Toronto Bicycle Network, looking to do a short 66k run that was posted on their schedule. When I got there however, only 2 other riders were doing that route, so I opted for a bigger group and the longer 84k ride. Turns out though that that group was actually doing a 104k route. Yesterday was blazing hot and humid, so in retrospect, I should have peeled off after about 35k and finished out a shorter ride on my own. But my eyes being bigger than my legs, I stuck with the group to the rest stop at the 65k mark. I was actually starting to fade at about 60k and dropped back a bit, but of course caught up again at the stop.

Some drink, a bite to eat and a reload of my bottles later, we hit the road for the final 40k. It wasn't long though before I knew I was in trouble. I could only manage the pace for about 5k and then at about the 75k mark the first signs of cramping started to appear. I backed way off but it didn't help. Once I start to cramp, that's it for me. I struggled back, fighting off perhaps the worst leg cramps I'd ever had, and must have taken a good hour and a half to finish the last 25k. And that didn't include the stops I had to make when my legs completely seized up. In short, it wasn't pretty. I've always had trouble with cramping as I tend to perspire quite a bit. I even remarked at the rest stop how some of the other riders looked so fresh while I was practically drowning.

I try to drink as much and as often as possible, but there's only so much fluid I can carry. I need about 6 bottle holders on my bike, but that, in addition to looking ridiculous, would make my bike too heavy to ride.

Anyway, I guess the lack of riding lately and the heat did me in this time. Hopefully things will improve, but to be honest, the cramping really takes all the fun out of cycling for me. I think until the fall at least when some cooler temps return, I'm going to have to limit my distances.

Two rides in one

This week's recap is actually a bit of a 2-in-1. The main reason for that is that last week, rather than writing about my Sunday ride, I decided to put in a plug for the MS Bike Tours. So this week I'll start with a recap of that ride first.

This first ride was another group ride with the TBN, and actually followed the same route as the one I did a few weeks back when I totally bonked and barely made it home. This time around however, things went much better, but I can't say it was totally without some adventure. First of all, I came much better prepared, with lots of food and liquids in hopes of avoiding the dreaded dehydration that led to my previous bonk. It's probably a good thing too. Unlike the previous ride, this one for some reason started out much faster, with the group pushing a pretty high pace right from the get-go. I was fine with that as I like a little higher pace than we had done on the previous ride.

What I didn't like was getting another flat and losing the group at about 40k in. What was unusual about this flat was that it was most likely the result of a pothole I hit at about the 25k mark. Once again, I hit it pretty hard and thought for sure I would flat immediately, but it didn't. It wasn't until I was going downhill at about 45kmh much later than the air finally let out. I certainly didn't hit anything, and the tube damage had all the earmarks of a pinch puncture typical of a pothole hit. Anyway, I was left alone with no way to catch up to the fast moving group after a 10-minute repair stop.

I checked my map and realized that if I cut-off the top part of the route's loop, I just might be able to rejoin. My shortcut trimmed about 5k off my ride total, but I couldn't have timed it better. Just as I reached the crossing point, sure enough the group was right there. I hopped back in and finished out the ride at a pretty steady 30-35kmh pace. In all, 109km in 4h06. Perhaps the most notable moment of the return ride was that I fianlly made it non-stop over the dreaded "Weston Wall". I've been up that thing 3 times now, and this was the first time I didn't have to stop for a breather. I also learned that the "Weston Wall" is actually called "Strawberry Hill". That certainly sounds a lot less daunting, but it is still brutal none-the-less.

4-fifths of my TBN group heading south back towards Toronto

Yesterday's ride was also a TBN group ride following a different route to the northeast and a little town called Mt. Albert. The morning sky was very grey with a cool breeze, and I actually went back to my long sleeves for the day. This kind of cool is almost unheard of in and around Toronto in July. Normally it's low 30's celsius and 90% humidity. The cool makes for great riding, but a lot of people are starting to wonder if we'll ever get a summer. I think maybe it's time for someone to give Al Gore a wake-up call too.

This turned out to be a great ride and pretty well paced. Nothing eventful of note to speak of, other than climbing a hill next to a shooting club and listening to the pop of gun fire. We were just hoping they were shooting in the other direction. Unlike the Tour de France, we cyclists shouldn't have to worry about getting shot at. After a short stop for a bite to eat in Mt. Albert, our remaining group of 5 headed back south towards Toronto and I totalled out at 103k in 3h45. That now puts me just over 1500k for the year.

I should have no trouble reaching my next goal and perhaps even a bit more. Now that I am unemployed again, I've got no shortage of time for riding. So much time in fact that I've decided to turn pro. Sure there's not a lot of money in it at my level, but at least I can fill in the gap on my résumé with a job title until my next paying job comes along. By the way, if there are any pro teams out there looking for a domestique, I'm currently accepting offers.

GearingUp for MS Bike Tours

As a participant back in June in the Becel Ride for Heart, and having seen first hand what cyclists can accomplish for charity, I thought I'd start out this week with a little plug for some other upcoming cycling events created to raise awareness and much needed financial support for a very worthy cause.

Since 1989, the RONA MS Bike Tours have combined fun with fundraising as cyclists of all ages and fitness levels ride to end Multiple Sclerosis. In the years since that first event, the RONA MS Bike Tours have raised over $50 million for the MS Society of Canada. The various Tours include food and beverages, rest stops, cyclist support vehicles, first aid, basic bike repair services, and a finish line massage and barbecue.

This year, there are five MS Bike Tour events on the calendar throughout Ontario and a total of 21 events right across Canada that are expected to attract more than 10,000 cyclists from coast to coast. The local the RONA MS Bike Tour here in Toronto will be held on Sunday, September 13th and offers routes of 30 and 55 km, perfect for cyclists of all levels of ability. Rides will start and end in Centennial Park in Etobicoke and will be followed by a barbecue lunch for all participants.

Canadians have one of the highest rates of MS in the world, with three more people being diagnosed each day. Women are diagnosed three times as often as men. For people living with MS and their families, your fundraising and participation in the RONA MS Bike Tours may be life-changing. Proceeds of the Tours will fund world-class research into the cause and cure of multiple sclerosis, as well as innovative programs and services for people living with MS. More information is available at www.mssociety.ca.

The MS Society of Canada has also launched a great new blog called Gearing Up, offering news and tips about the RONA MS Bike Tours and cycling in general. You can visit it at www.gearingup.ca.

So if you're looking for a great cause to ride for this summer, register for the RONA MS Bike Tour nearest you today. In exchange for your fundraising efforts, you will be awarded with various prizes based on fundraising total, including a very nice Louis Garneau semi-relax cycling jersey.

Choose a Tour. Choose a distance. Choose to end MS.