Back in June I proposed a challenge, measure how much distance was done using fossil fuels and how much was done using a bike. I have a confession to make, I stopped recording driven distance, principally because in mid July I was sent to London Ontario (over 200km) for work and then had to make a return trip the same weekend, for a total drive in one weekend of almost 950km. I am working on changing things around so I will not be doing that much driving going forward but for now, sadly, I need to keep buying oil by-products. On the other hand, because I drive a beat up old diesel that does not even have a working air conditioner, my 950km of driving resulted in the consumption of an entire 45L of fuel. Still it was a lot of driving, not a good thing.
Anyway, Sunday, September 19, there was a race, the Queens Park Grand Prix, which is just a fancy way of saying a Criterium at Queens Park Cres. Among the competitors include Michael Barry and sixth fastest man in the World (fastest in North America) on a bicycle, none other than Ryder Hesjedal. One would think the results would be a foregone conclusion, they were not. Now don't get me wrong, that a Canadian is the fastest cyclist in North America and has a real shot at a yellow or pink jersey one day is totally about the most awesome thing for Canadian cyclists to look to but that some guy, Jeffrey Schiller, from London Ontario won, is even more cool because it means that Ryder is not a one off thing, that just maybe we have more great roadies coming down the pipeline? If only car drivers would be considerate, we - Canada - might actually be able to put an entire pro tour team together one day.
Speaking of rude drivers, I have decided, the most annoying thing motorists do, for now. I am hammering away, for example, this morning, I am booking it on Queen Street west bound towards Coxwell, now Queen is a 40km/h zone and I was clocking 48km/h according to my GPS. So would someone please explain to me, why, if I am in the right lane and a car is in the left lane the driver has to do 60, cut me off and then make a right turn, rather than go at the posted speed limit and make the turn in safety behind me. The number of times I have been cut off by right turning cars in the past three days is disgusting, and they don't even get anywhere, if they just went behind me it would be safer and they would only be a second or two slower than by doing things dangerously.
As for riding, well this weekend I rode on Saturday and Sunday with Thi from the BCC. Both were published rides but on Saturday there was also a ride to Stouffville and Sunday was the Crit so I guess most people had other ideas. Anyway both were good rides. On Saturday Thi had to get back home in time to open his shop we had to turn for home early but I took a little detour and ultimately rode 100.5 km in 3 hours, 27 minutes and 20 seconds, I burned 4440 calories and averaged a heart rate of 135 bpm, my top speed 56.72 km/h and despite an awful head wind at times and a lot of traffic lights we still achieved a 29.08km/h average speed. (I did a few extra hills too.)
On Sunday we took a very scenic route around South Eastern Ontario, we covered 134.6km in 4 hours 24 minutes and one second, I burned 5457 calories and had an average heart rate of 133 bpm, my top speed 56.47 km/h and this time, with another brutal head wind still pulled off a 30.59km/h average speed. It was a very hilly route and as the green of summer turns to amber and crimson of autum, one of the prettiest rides I have done. The full route is here, or see below. The one thing is, I wonder if Westney is a good road from Taunton to Highway 7, if we could use that and bypass 7 completely that would be a good thing. Still this was a very nice route and enabled us to bypass Oshawa while still getting all the really good hills packed in.
Search with Google
Custom Search
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment