The big race day approaches and with this stupid foot condition there has been ZERO training in the running department. It is starting to look more and more like I will be winging it next weeked. Oh well, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. In the meantime there has been lots of cycling so far this summer on the Argon 18 and I’m starting to feel that this is where I will excel (not only in Wasaga, but everywhere I decide to ride).
So I headed north with Steve-o for the Labor Day long weekend with the goal being that we get good big rides in. Yeehaw! We rolled into the cottage Thursday evening after my ball game, had a couple of beverages and sat on the dock watching the sky. Or should I say the shooting star and the CRAZY DISAPPEARING UFO. That’s right kiddies there was a fear of being probed in Muskoka last night. This blinking object was travelling across the night sky when it promptly VANISHED. It then reappeared in a totally different area going in a different direction. So all those peeps who are reading this saying it was a plane… BITE ME.
We woke up at a decent time and loaded up the bikes on the Red Rocket and headed to Highway 69. It took about 30 minutes to get there so this would be new territory for me. We hopped on the bikes and started out towards a dead end that would give us the extra distance for this ride to clock in at over 50km. Made the turn around and headed back down 69 to the McTier turn. 69 is a great road to ride, freshly paved with an 8 foot wide shoulder. Awesome.
We rode through the lovely burg of McTier (which had some nice rollers and people who were very conscious of cyclists. Great place). We went through McTier and hooked back up with 69 and rode that for a long way. We hit the turnaround point and headed back down 69 (staying on the highway instead of riding through McTier again) and it was crazy how many hills there were. Now they weren’t crazy steep, but for the love of crap they climbed for 2km+. We got to the 30 ish km point (Steve said I was riding unbelievably fast and that he had to dig deep to catch me), but my foot started to really kill. The cleat for the pedal was in the exact spot I was having most of my pain. I looked over and told Steve I didn’t have 50Km in me…
Then I got my head right and said F@CK IT I’M DOING 50!
We hit some more big climbs (big is the wrong word, they were really long) and I lost Steve. Not unusual as his speed and my speed are different so I was a-ok with it. I wasn’t giving up though. Hammered past the starting point, back down 69 to the first turnaround we did (surprised Steve who was coming back on the other side halfway there) and just kept the pedals moving. I set a goal to do 50Km in two hours. Sadly, I missed that one by 40 seconds… 40 freakin seconds…
When it was all said and done the ride clocked in at 52.92Km and took two hours eight minutes start to finish (with no breaks or stopping in between. I was clipped in and moving the whole time). Total calories burned was 3501 and the average heart rate was 158 BPM. The max hit 171, but that is still way below some of the numbers I’ve hit.
Can’t wait for the Barrens on Sunday…
Beez
