I'm Off!

Today's the day... I'm not technically savvy enough to update this blog while I'm on the road so I'm afraid there will be some silence until I get home next week.

Thanks so much to all of you who supported me over the last few months, and especially to those who have recently sent me encouraging emails, postcards and phone calls.

To Montreal!

126 km - Finch to Keswick

"A challenging route all the way to the shores of Lake Simcoe. This ride is essential training – if you can do this one, we know you'll be able to get to Montreal. On these long rides, it's more important than ever to keep your cadence high, especially on hills, so always shift down to an easy gear to save your legs and reduce stress on your knees."

Is it possible for a ride to be uphill both ways? Today for me the answer seemed to be "yes". The good news is I did it and I'm starting to feel like I actually might make it to Montreal. The way out was lovely, quiet country roads not impossibly hilly but a number of slow and steady climbs. The weather was lovely but there was a bit of a headwind. For the past few training rides, the work has always been on the way out, getting home has been super easy. Not so today. I rode with Jessica today and we enjoyed reassuring each other that the homeward trip would be great. After all, we'd just be retracing our steps and weren't we generally heading up? Ha ha I guess we failed to notice those nice sections where we coasted down towards Lake Simcoe. So in the end, the route lived up to its description of being challenging.


In spite of being a challenging and long ride, todays training ride was lovely. The break spot was right next to the lake and there were lovely big trees to rest under. This ride I also got a taste of the wonders of the Road Safety Crew. I was riding up Leslie street and this mini-van passed with someone waving a pom-pom out the window. 'Who drives around with pom-poms in their car?' I wondered. Road Safety of course. They would park their mini-van at various spots along the route and cheer their guts out. It was great and so encouraging. Todd from Road Safety did a bbq at the break (incidentally, Todd and Lynn (of Wellness) have been real heroes at many of the training rides providing water and encouragement. I've come to love the sight of all bright yellow cars, as Todd's car is a very visible little yellow car).

Excitement for departure is building. I really need to work on sorting out what to pack this week. One exciting addition to my packing will be my team t-shirt. All riders are divided up into teams. I'm on the Gears of Joy, here's our logo .



Well this has been a long post and though I probably could prattle on a good deal longer, I've got important reading to do.

117 km - Kipling Subway to Cambellville

"This route around the area outside of Milton provides awesome views of the Niagara Escarpment and the surrounding countryside, with winding roads alongside beautiful streams. The break spot, Bruce Trail Eatery, is a popular stop for the local club cyclists."

Earlier this week I spent a few days in Haliburton with my family (including my sister's four children). Bryn came too and we had a nice ride with my father and brother-in-law. We attempted a trail but I found it too sandy and gravely for my taste. My brother-in-law and I abandoned the trail after a time and enjoyed riding along some north country roads (okay, it wasn't that far north). We got rained on but all in all it was a great little 40 km jaunt.

Upon returning to the city, my motivation for this week's training ride was extremely low. This whole journey has been amazing, I've gone further than I ever thought I could but all the same, it would be nice to have one truly slothful weekend. Throwing off the temptations of a gratuitous pyjamas day and an invite to see the new Harry Potter movie, I made my way to Kipling station on Sunday morning. I am so glad that I did. The day was perfect, sunny but not too hot. The route was interesting and as promised very scenic. My only complaint would be the killer hills. I'm still not a very strong hill climber and if I don't manage to get into the right gear I'm "pooched". I confess I walked a few hills this ride. I started out with a group of four women which was great, we encouraged each other as we went along but I think we were all looking forward to the break.


At the lunch stop I chatted with a couple who were enjoying an ice cream. They were impressed that we'd cycled all the way from Kipling station. As a bonus they told me how to sneak into the restaurant's washroom without having to buy something (helpful people are everywhere). Refreshed, our group of four set out with another woman we met at the break stop. I'm not sure what it was (Sam credits her grilled cheese sandwich and deserves snaps for overcoming the aches and pains of back-to-back training rides) but I felt really great after the break. Three of us moved off and it felt as though we flew home. I'm not sure if it was my peanut butter sandwich or having watched the Tour de France (I think lots of other cyclists were thinking Tour this Sunday, I saw a few team jerseys out there on the road) but the ride back was simply fantastic. We left the hills behind us and enjoyed the flat terrain. As I approached the 100k mark I still felt like I had gas in my tank. Amazing. All in all I was on the road for six hours (including three breaks).

Next week is the last (and longest) training ride before departure. I've heard its challenging.

102 km - Kipling Subway to Terra Cotta

"This route has breathtaking landscapes, passing through beautiful farmlands, nurseries bursting with flowers and strawberry fields. The adorable Terra Cotta Country Store serves up lunch – and yummy ice cream!"


Departure for the rally is just a few weeks away (July 29) so training is getting challenging. I found this training ride really challenging. I'm not sure what it was, it wasn't as hilly as last week's ride but there were some hills that defeated me (had to walk). Perhaps it was the heat of the day, but other days have been hot. I drank lots and was so grateful for the sweeps who watered us along the way. Maybe it was just me; anyway if someone had offered me a ride home at 70km, I would have said 'yes'. I was so glad when another rider came along and stayed with me for the last 40km. He was very encouraging and just talking to another human helped distract me from all the little aches and tiredness.

This training ride was for me a real demonstration of how incredibly nice people can be (yes, in Toronto). To start, I had a flat tire about 45 seconds into the training ride. I picked up a great ugly piece of glass in my rear wheel. It efficiently sliced right through the tire and inner tube, the tire was flat within seconds. Bah! An inauspicious beginning. For the record I can change my own tires but if someone really wants to do it for me, I'll not say 'no' (unless they clearly don't know what they're doing). At the beginning of the ride, I wasn't sure who the sweeps were, so when this guy got out of his car and started to help me with the tire, I just figured he was one of the sweeps. He wasn't. He was just some random guy who felt the need to change my tire. The sweeps (Mike and Wade of Team Big Cog) were very helpful providing a floor pump (it has a lot more oomph and a pressure gauge so that you can get the tire up to the correct pressure). As it ended up, Mike and Wade were very busy with lots of other mechanical problems and crashes. Repaired and back on the road, for me and my bike the rest of the ride was fairly uneventful although I did notice a lot more broken glass on the road.

The second impressive act of kindness really took place in Mississauga but we were very close to the Toronto border. Mike and Wade had set up to provide water in the last 10 km of the ride which was amazing because I was almost totally out. But, being one of the last riders, they didn't have a lot of supplies left. A woman overheard us divvying up the water, went to her car and pulled out bottles of water for all of us. So kind! Fully watered I was able to make the last few kilometres. Needless to say there was a lot of napping once I got home. Today I'm feeling a lot less twingy than I did last weekend so that is encouraging.

103 km - Finch to Holland Canal

"The way there is a little hilly but the Kettleby Bakery provides some respite and the Holland Marsh is as flat as the prairies. Lance Armstrong's teammate, Canadian Michael Barry, used to time trial on West Canal Bank Road and now you can ride it too."

Saturday was my first 100 km+ ride. I confess the 100 km concept was a bit scary but I knew that I could do it. The weather was absolutely perfect. It wasn't too hot and there was a cool breeze. This breeze did become a bit of a headwind in places but I'm finding that headwinds like hills are to be accepted and endured. Speaking of hills, there were a goodly number on the way out but as promised, the marsh was nice and flat. The way home wasn't too hilly either.

I was really tired on Saturday evening and felt some more muscle twinges on Sunday than I usually do. I'm not sure if the muscles were complaining at the 100 km or at the slight adjustments I made to Bryn last week. I went to Cycle Therapy and had a proper fitting which hopefully will fix a couple of little problems I've been having. Bryn is in the shop this week for a major fixing and pre-ride tuning.

Distance (according to my slightly inaccurate computer): 107 km
Av Speed: 20.2 km/h
Max Speed: 54 km/h (I don't really believe this number)
Ride Time: 5:09:45