Toronto to Montreal - Day 4 - Johnstown

July 31, 2007

Mileage: 111.41 km
Total to Date: 405.27 km
Avg Speed: 27 kph
Max Speed: 51.3 kph
Time: 4 hours, 7 minutes and 12 seconds

This day is not a very spectacular day. Sort of like driving through the Praries. Other than Bill missing a stop sign and almost getting himself killed at the last break stop it was a pretty tame ride. Barb came in with the sweeps today...as she does pretty much everyday. She came in late. I had already set up tent, showered (laked), relaxed, read, chatted it up before she came in. All that time on the saddle has to be hard on the bits. Betty was nice enough to relinquish her massage and give it to Barb as she is in too late to sign up for one. I didn't need a massage other than just because it feels nice so I gave mine up to Betty.

I feel bad for Jeff. He's pretty frustrated that he can't ride. All that effort in raising money and training. I'd be pretty frustrated as well.

Patricia and Kelly beat me in today. Actually they beat a lot of people in which is amazing. Patricia told me that her motivation was that she would have done anything not to finish behind me. LOL It's a great feeling beating someone who can normally kick your ass with one leg tied to the frame.....:) kidding. Great work ladies.

I've been tracking a Travel Bug that I'm going to drop off in Montreal.
Looks like there's some interest by a couple of people and I will have company dropping it off. What's a Travel Bug and what am I going to do with it? Check out www.geocaching.com

Toronto to Montreal - Day 3 - Kingston

July 31, 2007

Mileage: 52.80 km
Total to Date: 293.86 km
Avg Speed: 29.8 kph
Max Speed: 52 kph
Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes and 41 seconds

Heat Stroke, Air Conditioning, Pizza

HOT! I wanted to get out of the heat as fast as possible. Thing with going fast on a hot day is that it only makes it hotter. Last year I broke 30k avg on my mountain bike so I wanted to do better this year on my road bike. Not to be. I guess the winds were a little more favorable last year. I don't remember it being this hot. I should have easily made 30k but the group I rode with slowed down a little. I tried to pick up the pace when I lead but wasn't able to do it. Not much to speak of on the ride. It was a short day relatively speaking. We hit Kingston pretty early and had a nice little surprise waiting for us. The dorms this year were different than the ones from last year and this time we were air conditioned. I can't imagine what it would have been like had we not had air conditioning. Kingston is a nice little town. The plan was to do a little shopping but after washing our clothes at a local laundry mat the heat was just too much and I gladly hit the sack for a little snooze. I came back to the dorm and had a nice note on my cell phone from Linda. I miss her :(. I wonder if she's been giving Meeks the chicken strips I left behind. I look forward to feeding Meeks those chicken strips together.

The team went to Atomica for pizza and pasta. I had a chicken and spinach pizza. YES! After getting back, everyone went to bed but I was restless from taking that earlier nap so I hooked up with a fellow rider and we went over to a bar where other riders were at. A beer and a small chat later and it hit me. Off to bed and ready for day 4.

Toronto to Montreal - Day 2 - Adolphustown

July 30th, 2007

Mileage: 126.25km
Total to Date: 241.06km
Avg Speed: 27.1 kph
Max Speed: 51.2 kph
Time: 4 hours, 39 minutes and 36 seconds

Ohhhhhh my Shoulder!!!!!

12 kms more in 10 minutes less time. Much better day for me.....not so much for Jeff. Poor bastard took a nasty tumble about 15k from finishing today. Gravel was the main suspect although knowing Jeff a little horseplay or the intent of horseplay should be considered. :)

The day started with my television debut. Breakfast television was in Port Hope this morning and Jeniffer approached me and asked me a few questions.

The ride was so much better than yesterday. We had a nice wind from behind and the hills smoothed themselves out a bit.

I rode the whole day with the same person. Bill is a team member and we ride at about the same speed. He's older than I am. I think he's in his 50's and he can put me to shame on the hills. Drafting sure helps make the ride faster and easier.

Toronto to Montreal - Day 1 - Port Hope

July 29th, 2007

Mileage: 114.81 km
Avg Speed: 24.1 kph
Max Speed: 50.4 kph
Time: 4 hours, 44 minutes and 53 seconds

The Wind

Throughout training, all 1400 kms of it we never had one single day of easterly winds. Day 1 however was into the wind. If I were a sailer or kite flyer I'd be pretty happy with the wind but cycling into it for 144 kms isn't as enjoyable. I was looking to try averaging 30 kph every day to Montreal but that goal was quickly extinguished with my end of ride 24 kph average. The one benefit of the head wind was the ability to keep us a little cooler. It was a hot day. Little did we know what the next 5 days was going to bring us. I found today to be a lot tougher than the same day last year. The heat and wind really took it's toll. Even with the horrible average I was able to get to Port Hope relatively quickly and was one of the first to arrive at camp. Pickings were good and I grabbed a scenic spot over looking the lake.

We are camped at a farmer's field so there are no showers here and we are bussed to the local YMCA. A hot shower is in order and it will be the last one for a couple of days.

This time away is long coming and I'm looking forward to the next 500k to do nothing except pedal and camp. My head needs clearing. Work has been stressful and I need this time away from my world in Toronto.

As I'm writing this I'm looking over the cliff and into the water and there below is a naked dude. Argh. I'm guessing hoping for a naked woman is pretty much out of the question this week. :) Maybe home is OK afterall.

Today's start wasn't great hearing that my sister-in-law's father had a stroke and is not doing well.

3 more sleeps

yes!!!! 3 more sleeps and 609kms to go

Riding in the Rain Sans the Rain

On track to hitting 2k by the end of the ride. Rode 63k today ending the weekend with a total of 161k on wet roads but never actually riding in the rain. Seems the rain was just ahead of us the whole time. Rain would have been welcome today. I averaged 27.6 kph which has been my fastest this year but still didn't keep up with the lead group. Seems they drink 93 octane to my Gatorade. Hills are still my weakness and will probably be for a while but I am happy with my average as it was pretty hilly today. All in all good fun, good dirt. I only need to ride another 140k in the next two weekends to hit my goal of 2k by August 3rd. Cake. Last week I broke 1000k for the year....mileage on both my bikes. Today I broke 1000k on my road bike. yippee for me

Can I get 2000k in before Aug 3rd?

My goal of 3000k isn't looking so good. With the warm weather here (well most of the time anyway) there i so much to do and riding for 4 hours on a weekend isn't always feasible. I have about 1150k's now and if I am diligent the next 3 rally training rides I should be able to hit 2000k's by the end of the bike rally.

This past weekend I went camping with my buddy. Initially the weather was supposed to be great and even on the day of the weather report was promising. Not sure why weatherpeople are employed. Their forecast should be renamed to just a suggestion. 30% rain shouldn't mean 30% sun. I was able to get about 50k in and around some trails. I had forgotten how much fun trail riding is. I'm even thinking about getting the knobbies back on the mountain bike and mixing it up a little with the road biking.

As much as the weekend weather stunk the weekend was actually pretty good. Ate lots of junk, read a bit, even got in a couple of episodes of Prison Break on my iPod.

Monday turned out to be the surprise day of the weekend. Had dinner with my wife at my new favorite restaurant, Moxie's and had a nice rest of the evening doing nothing. It was a special evening. One that ended the long weekend too quickly.

According to the summer long weekends the summer is half over. My next long weekend will be spent partly in Montreal and partly in Toronto. I'm hoping the weather cooperates. A week of what I just had wouldn't be so great.

Rides are getting easier and easier

Rode 103k today and found it relatively easy. Mind you the ride was relatively flat and the weather was perfect. The same ride last year was incredibly hot and I didn't think I was going to make it. I broke 1000k this year. I'm at 1089k where I was at 1061k same time last year. Considering I already had about 350k this year by the time I started riding the same time last year it's a little disappointing. 3000k might be tough considering there's only a month to train and if I do the same as I did last year I pretty much hung up my bike after the ride to Montreal.

How many bike computers do I need?

Did an easy ride of 73k today. Not too hilly and the winds were calm but man was it hot. I ended up buying a new bike computer to replace my waterlogged HRM. I ended up sending my HRM back to Polar to see if there was any chance in getting it replaced. Being that it was my stupidity that I wrecked it I thought there was no way. I told them I got caught in a rainstorm and they bought it. I guess there was no soap residue. :)

Next week's ride will take me to Cape Cod and Martha's vineyard. I'm really looking forward to next weekend. The weather so far looks like it's gonna be real nice. 8 or so more weeks till I ride to Montreal.

Broke 100k today - broke my Heart Rate Monitor too.

I broke 100kms today. Yee haw! It was a pretty easy ride and I'm starting to get used to the hills. The weather was perfect. I was planning to do the 50k qualifying ride tomorrow with the Bike Rally group but after laying tiles in my friend's basement this afternoon I've decided a nap is in order instead. I'm hoping that in the next couple of weeks that I will break 1000k. Had a bit of a mishap when I did the laundry. I forgot that I had my Heart Rate Monitor in my jersey pocket so it went for a swim. It got filled with water so I took it apart and took a blow dryer to it. It works....sorta. The sound is messed up so uploading my info to my PC doesn't work but it kept all my settings and beloved miles on my legs. I'm thinking of getting it replaced. I never loved the idea of a wireless computer so I may go back to a trusty Cateye and a separate HRM that I can wear like a watch. Pissed away 200$. Damn. Oh well, I was reminded that we are all human and we all make stupid mistakes so I'm not going to dwell on it. Got other more pressing issues to deal with.

Finally bumped up to 26 kph average.

Today looked deceivingly like a nice day, sun shining, light wind. But then we got on our bikes. It was the first time this year that my feet were actually cold. The wind was merciless. If it's going to be windy it's nice to have it against us for the first part of the ride because it makes the second half so much more enjoyable. But that wasn't the case today. Yes we had the wind against us on the way up but the wind changed direction when we started heading east and switched directions again when we started heading south. Then there were the hills. I swear that we ended up at Coffee Time at a higher elevation than when we met there this morning. The surprising thing is that my average speed went up a notch and hit 26 kph. I've been hitting about 24.5 kph average this year so it's nice to see that maybe my fitness is improving. I'm looking forward to seeing how my average fares to Montreal new road bike and all. I'm hoping the weather will be much as it was last year. I'm not sure if I will be riding it again next year. There may be new challenges that I want to take on. My wife made a comment about riding which made me think she may want to ride a little.....baby steps of course. I would hate to turn her off. That would be amazing to share these experiences with her. I'm tired and need a nap.

S-Works...she's a sweet ride

I decided this morning to leave the road bike in the garage and ride the mountain bike. She's not unfamiliar with the training rides as the two of us did all our rides together including the jaunt to Montreal. It was a leisurely ride only averaging 23.3k but the weather was almost perfect. A slight easterly wind almost got me sweating. The terrain was flatish so it was nice to take in some of the view and chat it up with friend Jeff. I'm pretty impressed with Jeff. 3 years ago he had trouble riding down the block but in less than a year (10 months) he's racked up about 1700k. Biking has been very good to him. Not just because of all the exercise but his bike helped him meet his girlfriend which now gets him some of the horizontal kind of exercising. He met his girlfriend at last years ride. WTG Jeff.

I've learned today that wireless gadgets aren't always that great. I have a wireless bike computer and it wouldn't work for shit if I had the GPS on. Seems it gets all confused. Not even sure why bike computers need to be wireless to begin with. Damn technology. You wanna impress me? Create pipeless plumbing. Now that would be impressive.

Tomorrow is another ride. Weather will probably be a little cooler but the ride itself will be more challenging. 70-80k rollercoaster. Lots of hills. I'll be leaving old S-Works behind and riding the road bike for this one.

I just want to end this by saying how much I love my wife. It's not important that she reads this but feels it in her heart. Thanks Linda for being you and teaching me that there are a whole lot of flowers that need smelling. XXX

It's easy to be more environmentally friendly when gas is at $1.05

I've been driving around in a truck for the last 10 years and it has served me very well taking me places where no car ever could. However it is time to get rid of it and buy me something new. I've spent the last 5 months deciding on what I want for a next car and have been going back and forth between another truck or a car. Being that $1.05 gas is now costing me about $100 a week just to get to work and back the decision to be more environmentally friendly was made easier. During the summer I ride my bike to work a couple of times a week. It's an excuse to get some exercise and keeps the gas bill a little lower. Oh ya and there's the bit about saving the environment. Unfortunately I will always need a car so I am on the hunt now. It's been a while since being in the market for a new car and they have gotten a little expensive in the past 10 years. Buying new seems ridiculous as far as how much one loses driving it out of the lot but finding exactly what I want in a used version is turning out to be an almost impossible task. I will keep looking until I find what I want and when I do I will post it here....with roof racks of course.

Riding with Doctors and Worms

Last week I took on an extra ride on Sunday up in Richmond Hill with a bunch of hospital staff and decided to replace this week's Bike Rally training ride with another ride with the docs. I prefer longer rides and the Rally rides are a little short this time of year and in the middle of traffic. I had the open road to myself today and only shared it with my fellow riders.

My brother decided to join us today and it was his first ride this year so he was out of shape. Good thing too because it was all I could do to keep up with him. We rode 60k today and will probably take in another 40k or so tomorrow. The weather cooperated today. It looked like it wanted to rain the whole ride but it held off to some minor misty rain towards the end of the ride. The worms were out enjoying the weather too.

I've been enjoying the rides this year. I'm shy of 500k and looking to better my 2300kms of last year. So far I'm at 171k for April and last year I only rode 78k. Not a bad start. Let's see if I can keep it up.

Riding Legs and Pilates

Ride #2 is complete. A short jaunt of about 39k. Compared to last week this ride was a breeze. It was about 20 degrees warmer than last week and there was not dreaded Cummer Hill. The only problem today was dressing for the part. The morning starts a little cool so a jacket is in order. I even wore arm socks and fingered gloves. About 45 minutes into the ride it got too hot and the pain of having to hang your clothing off your waist began. I'll be more comfy when I can start the ride with the same clothing as what I'll be wearing at the end.

After the ride I took advantage of a free Pilates class. This was the first Pilates class I have ever taken and at the beginning of the class I thought it was going to be a breeze. 10 minutes into it and that thought quickly disappeared. Thank you to Inner Hero who is providing free (once a week) classes to all Bike Rally teamsters for the duration of the training rides. My core should be solid by the time I start on my trek to Montreal.

Tomorrow I will be doing another 40k or so ride with another group that I plan to ride with regularly. Should be another sweet day.

Why is the shortest training ride always the hardest

So we rode our first training ride today. A little nipply but once we got started and the hands went numb it was pretty good. I'm really going to like our team this year. Last years was OK but I already feel like a tighter group this year and I've only met a handful of the riders.

So I rode my new road bike for the first real ride of the year. All I can say is sweet. What a difference from riding on a mountain bike. Even with the thin slick tired on my mountain bike the difference is night and day. My road bike feels like it's riding on glass. It just wants to keep going. The only place that I preferred my mountain bike over my road bike was the climb up Cummer. That was nasty. My heart raced at 105% of my maximum HR. Another % and my chest would have exploded.

Overall a good ride and looking forward to getting a lot more mileage this year. Hopefully it will warm up soon as well.

Bike lanes as viewed by Rob Ford

How's this for brilliance!

An article in the Toronto Star March 8, 07 on the city's burgeoning debt crisis contained the following nugget of wisdom by Etobicoke councillor Rob Ford of Etobicoke:

"I can't support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day."–Rob Ford

source: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/189595

My Sweet New Ride

"The word Fuck and how it affects sales." Ever read this book? Apparently neither did anyone at Pedal Performance (http://www.pedalperformance.com/).

I hit the 2007 Bike Show today and had two wildly different experiences all within 15 minutes of entering the building. First experience.....Walked to Pedal Performance (see website above) and one of the sales reps, who apparently was the owner, tries to sell me a Specialized S-Works Carbon which is 2 sizes too big for me. It was a nice bike, priced well but at the sacrifice of good components. Either way I was not going to buy it because it was just too big. He tries to convince me that I am wrong but I had my brother along who has been in the business for 20 years riding or working with bikes who agreed as most competent bike reps would that the bike was too big. I'll let you decide as well. I'm 5'7" and he was trying to sell me a 54cm bike. Yes I understand that sizing a bike involves more than the down tube height but the fact that the top tube would have been rammed up into my groin was enough of a decision maker. Seems this tool didn't like to have people disagree with him and he told us to go Fuck Off. Pedal Performance at http://www.pedalperformance.com/. Needless to say he was close to getting a warm batch of knuckles but instead I will make sure to remind him of his stupidity by writing in my blog as well as a number of forums where people looking for bikes are looking for opinions.

At the other end of the spectrum and not 2 minutes away from the Manager of the Year award winner I walked into Dukes (http://www.dukesonqueen.com/) Salesmanship was a class act and on top of that I scored a sweet deal on a 2006 Cannondale CAAD8 R1000. Regular $2300 on sale for $1200. Full Ultegra groupo with Mavic Ksyrium wheels. I've always heard good things about Dukes but I have now experienced it and I highly recommend them on their customer service alone. I will be going back to them for a set of pedals next week.

Yeehaw and I can't wait to ride to Montreal on my new wheels.

Help Me Help the PWA

How long does one continue trying? Until......

I've been pretty much non stop thinking of ways to make money for my ride. Last year I was able to collect $3400 in pledges. Considering how much I don't like asking for money I was happy with that accomplishment. Needless to say this year I'd like to raise more. It has become something of a hobby to figure out how and for how long. In this first week of raising funds I've raised over $600.

If you would like to help me you can pledge on-line at https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/StartUp.aspx?SID=1331783

You can also view information on the ride at www.bikerally.org.

peace out.

Friends for Life - Part 2

They say that a mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory. I have no doubt that this years ride will be even more victorious.

On July 29th I will be riding my bike from Toronto to Montreal to help raise money for the People with AIDs Foundation of Toronto. It's a 6 day, 600+ km ride that takes us along Lake Ontario where we camp overnight and wake up at 6 the next morning to do it again.....6 days in a row.

The idea of this blog is to journal my trip from beginning to end. The jouney begins now.