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

Notes on the commute

I've finally got my bike computer to work. I think its reasonably accurate although I did have to do some math to get it set up (so take all numbers with a grain of salt).

Total distance: 27.34 km
Average Speed: 20 km/h
Max Speed: 41 km/h
Ride time: 1 hour 22 minutes (but I think the computer stops when I do [like at red lights] so it actually took a bit longer to get to work)

Not bad considering I have to ride fairly slowly through a few residential areas. It'll be interesting to see if the numbers are similar on the way home.

In other news, tomorrow is my first 100km ride. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do it, it'll just take me a really long time.

Road Trip

This week I packed up Bryn and headed for Kingston. I was attending the annual ACA conference (Association of Canadian Archivists). I ended up with Wednesday morning free so Bryn and I went for a nice little 40 km ride. No official training rides this week.

87 km - Kennedy Subway to Musselman Lake

"A rewarding ride out to Cedar Beach on the shores of beautiful Musselman Lake. The route meanders through the charming little town of Unionville on the way back to Toronto."

This week I did Sunday's training ride because I had the pleasure of spending Saturday celebrating my nephew's 6th birthday (in case you've been counting, I'm up to three nephews. I also have a niece but her birthday isn't until October).
The theme was turtles so auntie was asked to ice the cake to look like a turtle (my sister had done all the hard work of baking the cakes). It was a quick job and perhaps not my best work but my nephew and his friends were impressed (kid cake tip: anything with candy on it is impressive to small fry).



Back to the training ride: Sunday was beautiful and sunny. Heading out to Musselman Lake there was a significant headwind. I was riding along thinking that even though I was heading downhill, it was taking a great deal of effort (too much cake?). Thankfully someone came up behind me and mentioned he was finding the wind a challenge. Someone at the break compared the ride out to riding through quicksand so I didn't feel so bad about my very slow progress. By the time I got to the break I was ready to stop and have a rest.


Cedar Beach at the lake was very pleasant. There were lots of folk enjoying the sun and beach. I was assured by my fellow riders that the way back would be much easier. I left the break hoping for the best.

The way back was fantastic, it was primarily downhill and had a tailwind. It felt like I flew part of the way back. As promised Unionville was cute and charming.


Although it was quite hot, I didn't find the heat too bad (I drank lots of water and sports drink) until I got closer to Toronto. As I got back into the city it felt like the heat was coming up from the ground. By the time I got back to Kennedy subway station I was very glad to be finished but proud that I'd survive 87 km. I'm beginning to believe that I can do 100 km.

To update you on the commuting. I rode twice to work last week and it went really well.

Under the weather but over the moon

I wasn't feeling my perky best this week. As a result I decided not to do the Saturday training ride. Today (Sunday) I was feeling a lot better so I did a shorter ride (only 60 km) as a dry run to work and home again. The ride was reasonably nice and not too arduous but I need to tweak my route a tad. I did have to stop and consult my map on a few occasions but I find it so much easier to get back on track in Toronto than out on the training rides. I'm going to attempt the commute tomorrow.

On a really happy note, I've attained my fundraising goal. All thanks to you! The rally requires that riders raise a minimum of $2000. When I started this process in March, I never thought I'd get to $2000, but if you take a look at the thermometer on the right there, you'll see that your generosity has pushed my total above $2000. If you haven't donated yet and are thinking about it, don't worry, they'll still accept your money even though I've reached my goal :)

72 km - Finch Subway to Aurora

"Explore the lovely countryside in the vicinity of the charming town of Aurora. Some hills but mostly gently rolling terrain."I am quickly learning that when the route description says "gently rolling" it means hilly. I was very anxious about this ride and did find it a challenge. But I did it. By the time I was getting worried about how long the route was, I was already on my way back to the start (the benefits of riding a loop). The heat was fairly extreme but I suppose that its good to get used to riding in heat (the rally is after all July 29-August 3). I drank all of my liquids (two water bottles) and refilled both once. By the end of the ride you could have stuck me in a farmer's field and used me as a salt lick; although I doubt the animals would have enjoyed that as I was also slathered in sunscreen.

The break was in Snowball. I think our group overwhelmed the shop owner, he didn't seem too pleased when I presented him with yet another $20 for one doughnut (chocolate coconut, sorry I ate it before taking a picture but some people tell me I take far too many pictures of food). He was willing to refill my water bottle which was very nice of him.
The air quality wasn't very good for this ride. The only benefit of smog I can think of is that the haze obscures the view of more hills in the distance.