Sunday, September 16, 2007

Autumn days

Fall is one of the best times of the year in Canada. Cold, clear mornings and bright, sunny days. The temperature dipped below 10 degrees twice in the past week and that was more than enough for now.

Today I opted for my wind trainer to avoid the hassle of calling a taxi to return to the city after my beautiful new bike pump lost a key part. I have no idea where though I suspect it might be in Turkey.

In any event, I managed two hours on the trainer. Had a break and some breakfast, then returned for another hour and three quarters. So 3:45 on the trainer and most of it at a much steadier pace than Saturday's Donut effort.

The Donut Ride (there's a wikipedia description) was as advertised in many ways. It is a road cyclists peloton approach to chaos. One moment the pace was about 25km/hr and the next it was 40-plus.

I still don't quite understand the reasoning for the lack of discipline but it is what it is. As less fit cyclists dropped away, the lead group powered on and hit a series of hills.

My key challenges were trying to determine which direction we were headed and how close to the pack I should ride. [I opted to sit at the back because I wasn't really sure of the riding experience of anyone else.]

I got dropped about 50km into the 90km ride. Dropped is a relative term from my perspective. The group climbed a hill and then turned right and dropped the hammer. I hadnt' anticipated the move and was caught flat footed. I managed to recover somewhat after another right turn and a flat section where my time trial skills proved efficient.

I'll attempt the Donut Ride again next weekend though I'll aim to ride a bit before the 9am start. I must admit that is one other aspect of the ride that I simply don't get. It's light outside at 6:30am and there's a lot less traffic then too .. even at 7am or 8am. But in any event, the Donut Ride appears to be the only option in this part of the city and so dunk the donut!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Next step


In a few hours we will catch a flight to Zurich and change planes to go to Amsterdam. Turkey has been more than expected.

Training has been testing. Still I managed two very solid long runs here and managed to complete several long swims too including one earlier today.