On Back in the Saddle

Finally, this long and dreadful winter is nearly over. Sunday I got to ride for the first time since early January. I posted the route below to the Beaches Cycling Club website, which we mostly stayed true to.

Route_Around_City

http://www.bikely.com/

Only one other person came with, Paul M., and the route was shortened a tiny bit, but it was a properly long hard ride all the same.

We set out on damp roads across town, bypassing Dundas around Leslie on account of the construction. When we faced the full onslaught of the wind I told Paul we should start drafting, that did not last long, the first time I drafted Paul I got mud and salt all over my jacket and glasses (and bars and stem and...).

When we turned up Royal York I found myself out of the saddle just to keep up with Paul. A season out of the saddle, moving, has done nothing good for me. By the time we got to Bartor Road, just north of Wilson it was clear to me, and much as this may pain me to say, probably Paul as well, that he's a lot stronger than me... for now!

The ride north was a suffer and grind feast into the wind. When we finally hit Teston I was ready to just fall over. I knew if I had one of those power taps I would have found out I was churning out some insane wattage.

By the time we reached Major Mackenzie I knew there was just no way I was willing to ride north to Elgin Mills again, so we took Major Mack back to Leslie where we had our one encounter with a really daft driver. The guy was honking at us at waving his finger as if we were misbehaving. Then, not long after he passed us, we caught up with him. I waved at him and yelled 'Hello', as I turned south on Leslie. Paul told me the driver was wagging his finger again. (Some drivers really need to learn their place, I guess.)

In any case it was Sunday morning, it wasn't like there was tons of traffic or we were weaving between cars or anything like that. Besides the finger wagging guy, there were maybe four other cars at the red light, Paul and I were riding completely the way we are supposed to, but for the fact that we weren't in a paceline, but hey, in general one should ensure to take up an entire lane on four lane roads. Motorists should change lanes when passing riders, frankly I don't want to get clipped by someones rear-view mirror.

We stopped at the Tim Hortons at Leslie just south of 16'th Ave, not far from my work actually. I bought a hot chocolate and a muffin, which ended up weighing on my stomach like a lead boot. We certainly did not perceive a tail wind going home, at times there was a head wind, but to look at flags and such, there was a strong tail wind all the way home, which may explain how we were able to fly home so fast after grinding for hours just to get North.

Ultimately, by my GPS I did the following, in 4 hours 16 minutes 54 second, I covered a comparatively modest 100.3km (hey it was my first time on the saddle since January - it actually was too far I think, but that's a good thing!). I burned 3747 calories, so enough to justify patronizing Mr. Horton's establishment, I hope! I averaged a very slow 23.43km/h but with a heart rate of 142bpm - so I think I was working a little harder than the speed and distance numbers would suggest. I maxed out at 53.99km/h and 201 beats per minute.

When I got home, to the new house, I had to clean my ride, Jordan was covered in mud and salt, just caked in dirt. I took her apart completely while Dawn, who had just returned from Florida wanted to watch Apollo 13, a trip to the Kennedy Space Centre had left Dawn inspired. So while watching Apollo 13 I took Jordan apart and because I don't have a hose setup yet, I had to wash the bike, the frame itself, in the shower. (Naturally this provoked a few sarcastic remarks.)

Although I am a far cry from finished with cleaning Jordan from my day in the wet, the ride was a good thing, and I am glad I got out. Next weekend, I will have to do 100km at least once, and hopefully twice and as soon as I can, I am going to start riding to work again. I need to get my legs and my rear end back into shape.