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.

Last Saturday, Eritia and I decided at the last minute that we would join in the group ride at Halton Hills. On Friday, we had discussed going to the ride, but we couldn’t quite figure out how to get both our bikes there without taking two vehicles or utilizing a bike rack that neither of us trust.

However, Eritia woke me up Saturday morning, since she had decided to experiment and eventually managed to fit both of our bikes into her car. Sure that we were going to be late, we headed up, with the knowledge that rain and thunderstorms were in the forecast.

We managed to get there nicely on time, and accompanied three other Sea to Sea cyclists for a great 81 km ride. At the beginning the wind was against us, and there were a number of short uphill slopes as we gradually made our way up the escarpment (which is rather gently sloped in that area). It was well worth it on the ride back, since I ended up beating my previous speed record by hitting 84.2 kph. I was a little unsure of whether to trust my speedometer, but other cyclists reported speeds of mid-70’s, and I passed one or two people, so I think it’s fair.

In the end, the forecast rain held off pretty much completely until the ride home. God instead treated us to a wonderful morning of blue skies and intermittent clouds, and really a delightful temperature in which to be cycling. Within ten minutes of packing up and heading home, we were driving through a thunderstorm!

All in all, the ride was excellent, and a much better experience than the 80 km on Victoria Day. Riding in a group of 5 is an excellent change, and it makes the distances much more manageable. I didn’t really notice any equipment issues this time, although I am now the owner of a pronounced glove-tan that makes it look like I’m wearing white mits everywhere. That should blend in within a few days if I keep up my lunch time walks, though.

On a quick fund-raising update, monies collected have now surpassed 70% of the target $10,000.

Eritia joined me for the ride, up to Cambridge, before heading back. That works out to about 100 km for her; fortunately the wind was with her for the ride back. Meanwhile I headed against the wind for the last 30 km.

Things I learned from the ride:

• I really need to try a different seat. Four hours really lets you know where the pressure is.
• My knee warmers are amazing.
• Two water bottles and two energy bars was almost not enough. (Gatorade in both bottles)
• The last 20 km was as intense a mental struggle as a physical one. I’m hoping this will be easier with other people riding along.

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.

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.

That day I had been somewhat tired at work, and wasn’t quite sure why since I had gotten plenty of sleep the night before. Nevertheless, I went off to my training session that evening. The first exercise was a series of leg press sets. Although I managed to do the weight I normally do, I found the exercise to be exhausting, and felt drained of energy this time around.

The next exercise was lunges. These are pretty fun to do, and I’ve been getting better at them. However, after the second set I all of a sudden felt the need to sit down, since I felt faint and my hearing was starting to “fuzzy”. My trainer told me later that he saw me sit down quickly, but the color in my face dropped faster yet.

At any rate, even after waiting for a bit and trying again, I couldn’t do any other exercises without getting dizzy, so we called the session quits early. The next day I also had very low energy, but after that I seemed to be doing much better.

I guess my body must have been fighting off some sort of bug; successfully, since I never had any other symptoms. I’ve also gotten more sleep in this past week than usual for me, and thats something I hope to continue doing.

My exercise session yesterday went much, much better, so it looks like we’re back on track!

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… )