To back up, since the Kennedy Zoo loop, I've been out to Meadowvale, around Pickering and up to Lake Wilcox.
The Medowvale ride is easily the ugliest training ride that we do. Most of the ride is spent in the industrial wilderness of Mississauga. I didn't take any photos of that ride but I do have a photo of me sporting a pair of knitted arm warmers I made. They had their debut on the Meadowvale ride. They're made of sock yarn and are very effective for keeping off the morning chill.
Speaking of debuts, the Meadowvale ride was also the maiden voyage for my new bicycle. It doesn't have a name yet but it's a red and black Devinci which is a Canadian bicycle company.
I realize that the whole blog thing is called Life with Bryn but she's not in the least bit jealous and is quite thrilled with the new sibling. While the new bike's first ride was lovely and warm, last week was threatening rain and as I'm not entirely confident on the slim tires of the road bike, I took Bryn out for the ride around Pickering. So you see she's not forgotten. I'll still use Bryn for getting around Toronto as she's great on potholes and can carry loads with panniers and the trailer.
The new bike is a lot lighter than Bryn and generally takes less effort to move (a good thing when riding 100km or more!).
The new bike was out again this weekend for the ride up to Lake Wilcox. It was 50 km in total and the day was lovely. There was a good headwind in places but it didn't slow me down too much. The worst part of the Lake Wilcox ride is a long and grueling climb up Bayview near Richmond Hill. I had doubts about my ability to make it as I'm still getting used to the gearing on the new bike and was unsure if I could find an easy enough gear to get up the hill. I managed it, it was slow but I puttered along humming a peppy tune. I learned last year that a peppy tune really helps take the mind off of long slow climbs when you just need to move your legs and not think too much. I also find that looking up into the distance doesn't help because all you see is more hill. I'm usually someone who looks well ahead for potential hazards but thankfully the hill was pretty quiet (of car traffic).
There certainly were a lot of us out for this Saturday's training ride. I do occasionally feel sorry for motorists who are anywhere near the beginning of our training rides. I would guess that there were about 60 or 70 (maybe more) of us setting off at about 9am on Saturday. Here are some of us milling around at the start. The break was at Grandma's Bakery and it was certainly a popular spot for cyclists. Our group wasn't the only group stopping for a break. I suspect that the folk who run the bakery are used to hoards of spandex clad customers.
Well I'm off on holiday for a while so I won't have an update again until June. Thanks for checking in.
