Epic Ride

This morning I set out for another "long ride", expecting to go about 130K in about 4 1/2 hours. I managed to swallow a bug within a block of starting... As usual I headed north on Leslie shortly before 8:00 AM. Unusually, at the Club's group ride meeting point, 30K up the road, there were people! I rode 50K with three women from the Club. I took it pretty easy as I was planning on doing a second shorter loop after they were done. We've had amazing weather the last few weeks, mostly in the high 20's, so the riding has been good. Same thing today, warm and muggy. Felt more like August.

Things got more interesting on the second loop, which I did alone. I had to endure over an hour of torrential downpours! Nasty. Good thing it was warm, although my legs did start to stiffen up a little. Still I felt strong and was finding techniques to take the pressure off my aching butt. I got a bit off-route riding back into town which extended my ride further than I expected. I glanced down at my odometer and realised that I was going to be close to the magic "century" distance (100 miles). When I finally got back into my 'hood I decided to add a short little extension on some residential streets. Did it! I'd done 161K in 5:38. I did feel a little wobbly getting off my bike...

I changed my soaking cycling socks, which had gone from white to dark gray, and head back out the door for a short run. As I reached the end of my run it started to rain a bit again, so I nipped into Enduro Sport, where I get a lot of my triathlon gear, to pick up the street bike I'd bought on sale. The rain set in again, another half our of torrential downpour. I hung out at the store until the rain stopped and I could ride my new bike, a replacement for the mountain bike that was stolen during the Toronto International Film Festival, home without a repeat soaking. Bike design has come a long way since my last mountain bike. This bike, a Devinci St-Tropez, is set up for riding city streets rather than dirt trails. And it has a nice big heavy Kryptonite lock.

I'm pretty tired, but this ride gives me a lot of confidence about my Ironman in December. The cycling leg will only be 20K longer than this ride and will be a lot flatter. Next weekend I'll be doing my first full marathon, so I'll have a test run of that leg of the race under my belt too.

Listening to: Ahead by a Century by The Tragically Hip from Trouble at the Henhouse.