Training Rides

I must say - it will take some getting used to blogging on a regular basis. I am not doing a good job with keeping up. I find I'm often thinking about what I will be posting, but I never seem to find the time to get around to typing. In my defines, I am pretty busy with all sorts of things while preparing for this trek. 

In any case - just wanted to chime in on the various training rides I have been engaging in. 

Besides my regular commute into the city (30km+ per day), I have done a few lengthier runs. Around mid May, I did my first lengthier ride - 140K from Dundalk, ON to Toronto. I went up north with a friend by car, thinking that it was too soon for both directions. I ended up only leaving around 2pm, as we were busy tinkering with some mods for my bike. It seemed like a perfect day for cycling. Not quite. Turns out his place was very much sheltered from the 28km+ wind, which ran directly against me for several hours. It felt quite crappola. As a result, I had to gun it without many rest stops, as I really did not want to ride through the dark. Ended up pulling in at home around 9:30pm, exhausted.

When I woke up the next morning, I cycled over to the YMCA slightly earlier, so I could do some stretches in the steam room before a yoga class. The yoga class was an experience in futility. My muscle tissue was clearly inflamed, and I simply could not get my legs to co-operate. Alas.

My next major training ride was a trek from Toronto to Rochester Hills Michigan. The purpose of this trek was to pick-up a bunch of bike part upgrades that I had purchased months earlier, and had shipped to a friend in Michigan. Also - I wanted to get my muscles conditioned to riding with a heavy load, so I packed heavily (with things I did not need). Just as I was getting ready for my early Monday morning departure, I discovered late Sunday that my passport was going to expire in about a week. As such, bumped the departure date to Tuesday, so I could renew my passport on Monday, and thus have it for my cross-Canada trek (just in case). Unfortunately, this resulted in my no longer having a valid passport (the old one gets clipped), so I could no longer enter the US. Fortunately, my friend agreed to drive things over to Sarnia. This also allowed me to watch Game 7 of the Leafs VS Bruins, which as we all know, ended most bizarrely. In many ways, I'm thankful that I left the next morning - no chance to sulk after such a painful choke.

This trek also served as a opportunity to use the Warm Showers network. I contacted hosts in London and Sarnia, and secured a place to spend the night during my trek. I rode out of Etobicoke along Burnamthrorpe until it ended, then made my way south to Dundas, and rode south-west for a lengthy period. I had never taken this route before, and my GPS seemed to insist that I take something different (that was 40K longer). I persisted. The ride to London was quite cold. I was in fact quite lucky that I did not leave on the Monday, as it was even colder! 

I arrived at my hosts place somewhere around 9:30pm. It was a great experience. My host was originally from Holland, now working in London. We chatted for several hours about a wide range of things. Just before going to bed, I noticed that I had broken a spoke on my rear wheel. I wrapped the broken spoke around the others, and decided I would deal with it in the morning. Fortunately, as my host was an avid cyclist, he had the tools needed to remove my cassette, as well as a replacement spoke. We got the wheel back into relatively decent shape, so I packed up, ready to proceed to Sarnia. 

Spoke breakdown west of London ON

While it was a nice sunny day, the headwind was also strong. Even worse, not far out of London, another spoke broke on my rear wheel. The wheel was in pretty bad shape. I cringed. The irony was that one of the items that I was picking up in Sarnia was a stronger triple-cross wheel-set.

Turns out I was considerably lucky with where I stopped. As I was inspecting my bike, weighing my options, someone pulled into the driveway of the place I was stopped in front of - which was an Animal Care Centre. The driver was Gertie, who owned an operated the centre with her husband. I explained my problem, and she very kindly offered (no doubt quite used to helping out strays) to give me a ride into Strathroy, dropping me off at Doug and Marion's Bike shop. 

When I arrived, Doug (who handled repairs) was busy elsewhere, but Marion was kind enough to let me work on the problem myself. I put my bike into the repair stand, removed my wheel, removed the cassette, and installed a replacement spoke. For anyone who has worked with me at Bike Pirates, it is no secret that my wheel truing skills are mixed at best. I puttered around with my spokes using the truing stand, silently cursing myself for not having a copy of the diagram that I would often use while at Pirates. Fortunately, Doug jumped in and gave me a hand, and had the wheel back in amazing form in lightning fast speed. When I explained my plans to travel across Canada, he highly recommended that I look into obtaining a bike trailer. I loaded things up, and continued my way towards Sarnia.

My hope that the headwind would settle was crushed. It increased to 30K or so against me. This, combined with the spoke delay, posed a serious problem for my intended render-vous with my friend in Sarnia. The plan was for him to drive over the boarder and meet with me right after he finished work. My friend was also in a rush due to other commitments, and could not hang out and wait for me. Both the conditions and the delay made it certain that I would not be able to make it in time. Fortunately, my host in Sarnia (whom I had not yet met) was able to help out big time. He agreed to have my friend meet him at his work, and receive the items. What a life saver! 

I arrived in Sarnia exhausted. As my host had a dodgeball game to play that evening, I opted to unload my bike, and headed to the Sarnia YMCA for some steam-room, sauna, jacuzzi stretches. Words can't describe how good it felt. When I returned, we chatted for a bit, and I soon went to sleep. Did not even have the energy to look over the various items that were dropped off.

Cold setting my frame on a front lawn in Sarnia

The next morning, I looked over things, and began the process of upgrading my bike. The new rear wheel that I obtained had a 135mm hub, and I knew that I would have to "cold set" (stretch) the rear drops of my bike. Fortunately, I had read up on the process from the late great Sheldon Brown, and even practiced on a junk frame from Bike Pirates. With the help of my host, using the awesome power of 2x4, some string, and a ruler, we bent the rear drops, and I installed my new rear wheel. 

My original plan after Sarnia was to head north along Lake Huron, eventually reaching my friends place in Dundalk for the long week-end. While in Sarnia, I realized that MEC's Toronto Bikefest was happening on the Saturday, where I had agreed to volunteer for safety checks. As such, after finishing modifications that afternoon, I packed things up, and headed back to London. I contacted the host I had stayed with previously, and he agreed to take me in for one more night. Amazing. I left Sarnia somewhere around 4pm-ish, and while the wind was not on my back, it was not against me. I made it back to London just before 10pm. 

Heading back to Toronto

The next morning, I left early, knowing that the London to Toronto stretch would be long and more challenging as it was my 4th consecutive day of cycling. When I rode through Woodstock, I could not resist popping into the Woodstock YMCA. Enjoyed some stretches in the co-ed sauna, swam a few laps in the pool, took a shower, then got back on the road. Things felt good for awhile, but after a few hours, I felt like I was dragging bones. Was ecstatic when I made it to Cambridge, and stopped at the Timmie's to fuel up. I opted to take a different route back, which proved to be much more challenging at various points. Eventually, I made it to where Derry Rd. starts, which I rode all the way into Toronto. Good times!