On Winter

Alright, let me be frank. I lack the words to describe how much I thoroughly detest, despise and dislike winter. The roads are slick, bikes cannot stay clean, riding in snow is dangerous, sun rises late and sets early and it is damn cold out.

Enough of Winter!

Recently I found a way to escape winter for a short while. I got out Google Maps on the Blackberry and followed Warden road north all the way (via Civic Centre) to Lake Simcoe. I miss riding up to Simcoe, the warmth, the green open space, the fresh air, the near total absence of automobiles. Yes I think it is safe for me to say my favorite route is the Lake Simcoe return ride. (I've said that before have I?)

A week or so before I had that horrible crash that nearly killed Erin I did the Ride for Karen, a charity ride that is supposed to be about 160km. Except, since I started and finished at home, in my case the ride was about 220km. I do not believe I ever wrote one salient detail about the ride. When I was at Queensville Side Road and Woodbine (about 2pm) Lesley called me. She asked where I was and when I would be home. I told her about three hours, Lesley nearly had a heart attack, We had an appointment for that afternoon at 5.

I started to head home thinking about routes I could use to get home faster. I climbed a hill with a bunch of other people and without even thinking about it, I accidentally dropped them. I looked back and saw how far back they were and realised I need to get home a lot sooner than they do. I remember thanking my lucky stars the wind was from the North as I hammered home with an average speed just less than 40km/h. From Queensville Side Road to Danforth and Warden in under two hours, according to Google maps, only 54km. What Google does not factor in is the time I had to waste at traffic lights, oh sure I ran a bunch of them out near Pine Orchard and Lemonville but Warden and Highway 7 is not an intersection you enter against a red light unless your life insurance is paid in full and you have no rides left to do. I guess my point is, I was very happy with my performance on that particular sprint down Warden.

On further thought it occurs to me, one of the reasons I was so happy about how fast I went is, sure it was only about 60 km from Queensville and Woodbine to my front door via Warden, but what that 60km does not include is the previous 160km that I had already put on my legs that morning. I will never ride in the Tour, I doubt I'll ever even enter a serious race (well some ITTs but nothing where my hand eye co-ordination, or total lack thereof, will make me a threat not only to myself but everyone around me) but I can take pride in the knowledge that I can do in a single day on my bike what most people would be happy to do in half a day in car, and best of all, not only did I not use half a take of gasoline to make my ride, I did not use one drop of gas. This was a ride fueled on carbs, protein and sweat.

Speaking of carbs, protein and sweat, I have decided I want to ride to Rochester again. That said, I am going to do things better this time. Is it not the human condition to strive towards self improvement? This time I am going to take the afternoon before the ride off, this way I can get everything ready and go to bed early the night before, I will stop, probably at a Tim's in Grimsby and buy myself a sandwich, the hunger I felt last time was almost as awful as the fatigue. For the return, I will ride, weather permitting, from Rocherster to Niagara Falls, but upon my arrival in Niagara I will take the Go Train home. Yes normally I don't approve of transporting a bike, bikes should be ridden not driven, but given that I will have covered something like 500km (or about 300 miles) in the previous 72 hours, I think a train ride is not going to be too big a violation of my bizarre ethical code.