Blue Skies

June 21 : 120 k

Last Saturday gave the final opportunity for a good long practice ride. Eritia and I got up early (ok, not so earlier, but earlier than my work days!) on a Saturday morning, loaded up our bikes into our respective cars and drove to Thorold. We set off along the beautiful Welland Canal towards Port Colborne.

The weather was great, we had blue skies and a sunny day. We followed the Greater Niagara Circle Route, a nicely paved recreation path that saw us go from Thorold to Welland to Port Colborne to Fort Erie to Niagara Falls. Technically the route would have taken us to Lake Ontario and around to Saint Catherines, but once down the escarpment past Niagara, we cut West to shorten the ride from about 150 k to a more managable (for the sake of time) 120 k. Check out Eritia’s blog for a map of the route.

No  problems with nausea this time around, although again I was pretty beat at 90 k. Fortunatley, a short stop at Niagara Falls for photo ops gave my body some time to come up with more energy.

Also last week I had a nice 50 k ride to Freelton and back, incorporating a ride up Sydenham Road and a 68 km/hr ride down Rock Chapel Road. No time for such things this week; the bike is at the shop getting a tune-up before the trip, and I’m spending more time looking at lists and paperwork to make sure everything is good to go.

In other news, I’m at about 95% of my fundraising goal. I can only thank God for providing the funds to reach a figure that seemed unreachable in December. The exact figure is a bit shakey due to a backlog of work at the Sea to Sea office, but it appears set to rise in the next couple of days anyways.

Fundraising / Exercise Update

So exciting news! A week ago I finally broke the 60% mark, leaving a mere $4000 to go!

In other news, I finished my last session at the gym where I was doing strength training. I’ll still be heading in once a week to keep the upper body workouts going, with a few leg presses and squats to maintain the legs thrown in. This also means that I’ve freed up another day of the week to go cycling, so I’d best take advantage of that.

I went for a stellar bike ride today; the sky was blue, the sun too bright to look at (just like a good sun should be, right?), and there was a bit of a breeze. The trip that Eritia and I took to MEC a week and a half ago is paying off, I’m enjoying the greater gear selection immensely. No more feeling too cold on a ride, or having to do laundry constantly (I did that?) due to all my bike shorts being dirty. I also picked up another pair of cycling shoes last week since the ones I had turned into swimming pools whenever the road was wet. Unfortunately, they’re not quite right since they make my toes go numb after about 30 minutes of cycling. I’m hoping they will improve once I’ve gotten them broken in and stretched a little bit.

Smits on bikes

As some of you may be aware, my parents are currently busy in China, teaching at a school there. They’ve apparently decided to utilize a very popular mode of transportation in China, the bicycle.

A few days ago, we got this picture of them with there new Giant bikes :

Lucky for them, they got them at local prices too!

I guess our family has had a fairly strong history with the bicycle, from flying down the streets assisted by training wheels, to cycling circles in the drive when bored while living on the farm, to a trip my father and I made in the Netherlands, cycling around the country when I was fourteen or so.

Another interesting thing about bikes in my history… as a kid, I just couldn’t seem to get the hang of the things. I got to look jealously on as my siblings rode around, but I couldn’t get the whole balance thing down. Then one evening I got really fed up with not being able to do the same, and I tried it again. I ended up falling off the silly thing, but got up, got back on, and I’ve never had a problem since! I’ve even adapted to using clips within one trip, and without the dreaded falling over!

Warmer Weather!

Here’s another quick picture; yesterday was warm enough, that no jacket was required! The double T-shirt was still somewhat necessary, which is actually comforting since the temperature is sure to be significantly warmer in Ontario when we pass through in August.

First bike trip of the year!

So on Monday, Eritia and I went out for a bike ride, up Wilson Street escarpment access, through Ancaster, down to highway 52, and back again. This was my first excursion on my new bicycle, and the first excursion since I started regular workouts in January.

Despite any misgivings I had on starting out, the trip went great! Made it up the escarpment without being short on breath or feeling that my legs were tired. My knees felt it by the time the trip was over, but that was a bicycle seat height issue that I fixed once I got back.

Here’s a picture from when we’d just returned :

The weather was cloudy and somewhat wet as you can see, but it was quite mild out, and the cycling shorts didn’t feel too cold, although you can see how red my legs get.

I also learned how to deal with foot clips (without falling over!), and after some trial and error found out that my left leg is the one to free up first, since I use it to stabilize myself when stopped. That way my right leg is ready to provide the initial power to get going again.

Wednesday Eritia and I went out again, going along Cootes Drive to Dundas, up Governor’s Rd, Weirs lane, and then down the highway 8 escarpment access. Word to the wise, Wiers Lane isn’t fun if you aren’t used to long, steep, twisty climbs. Eritia made it up without stopping, but I confess I walked the last bit.

Flying down the escarpment mostly made up for the Wiers Lane experience, though. Cold day, however, which wasn’t so great. Knee warmers may feature in my inventory some time soon.

My New Bike!

So last week I picked up my new bicycle! I’ve been waiting on this for a long time, having originally ordered it in September. It’s a Trek Pilot 2.1, and I got it from The Bicycle Shop in Brantford.

Getting Ready

Now that the implementation of my Internet presence is complete, I figure I’d let you all know what I’m doing right now to get ready.

Last September, I ordered a new bicycle (Trek Pilot 2.1, click here to see it on the maker’s website). Today I got a phone call letting me know that it has finally arrived! I’m pretty excited about this, given that I’ve never had such a nice bike before, and its only a little cheaper than my used Civic cost me. Unfortunately, given the weather outside, it will be some time before I will be able to take it out on the road.

A few weeks ago I also signed up at a gym in Hamilton (Family Fitness, Upper James and Rymal). I’ve been getting about two cardio sessions in a week, and have two days of weights and machines to build muscle in my core, lower, and upper body. I even went to the extreme of getting some sessions with a personal trainer, which has been a huge help in becoming more comfortable with the gym and the machines, motivating me to push myself, and getting an idea of the exercise routine I’ll need to keep up in order to be in optimal shape come June.

Last week I found out that another member of my church, Mark Brouwer (click here to see his Sea to Sea profile), is also coming along on the trip, bringing the number of Zionites to three (Ed Gringhuis is also going), and the number of Sea to Sea cyclists that I personally know up to four.

Once Spring breaks, expect to see me on weekly group rides for several hours each Saturday.

I’ll let you know how my next gym session goes! (My legs still ache a bit from the last one… )