Bike

• 18m
• 8.30 kms
• 27.67 KM/hr

Short commute... Sweetums drove me in to her parking lot near the hospital and I biked from there. She's going to pick me up after work so we can get home on time. We are going to music festival this weekend and are going to be gone most of the weekend, so we want to have a nice supper with the kids tonight.

Riding in town is not so fun... people really don't respect cyclists on the road. So I drove my bike in the middle of all lanes, never giving vehicles an option but to pass safely. Still have some pricks that think they own the road though. :(

No HR info, just a free ride. :)

• Calories out: 3349 From lifestyle:3061, From activities:288
• Health data: Hours slept: 6

Bike #1

• 46m
• 22.80 kms
• 29.74 KM/hr

This morning I reduced the gear by one on the back and spun 42-15 to work. With this gear I spin out on the hills and have to coast, which is good I need a little break from all the hard efforts. On the big climb I downshifted all the way to take the pressure off. Hopefully this will help me to feel less tired during the day (or maybe more sleep will help ;) )

The construction is half done so I'm able to take my normal route past the sub-division... for now. There is still a section to do and that is supposed to be starting soon, and that will force me to take the busiest route to/from work. :(

In zone: 9:01
Calories: 338

Bike #2

• 47m 40s
• 22.80 kms
• 28.70 KM/hr

Tonight we got another dose of headwind... due west and steady, but miserable. Rode thru and kept things as easy as I could... considering the temp was 32*C (42 with humidity). Made for a sweaty ride... but that's ok, I really don't mind sweaty rides. :)

Getting tired a lot, so this weekend will be a rest weekend... I think another 1000 km month is good enough. :)

In zone: 33:58
Calories: 489

• Calories out: 4500 From lifestyle:3000, From activities:1500
• Health data: Hours slept: 6

Bike #1

• 41m 19s
• 23.30 kms
• 33.82 KM/hr

Decided to do some work this morning... single speed spinning. I almost stayed in one gear the entire time... only a couple times did I shift (once to spin faster up a hill with traffic behind me waiting to pass... it was a novelty so I tried to get out of the way as quick as possible). The rest of the time I just spun in the 42-14 gear and tried to keep things moving. I was able to make it over the big hill on Huron without downshifting, but I was grinding up the steepest part. After that I was able to maintain momentum down the rollers to get up the next hill quickly. I topped a couple of the rollers at 40 km/h... this is starting to feel much better. The tailwind helped too, but my legs are responding when I ask them to.

In zone: 26:46
Calories: 431

Bike #2

• 49m 40s
• 23.30 kms
• 28.15 KM/hr

Horrible headwinds coming again tonight...ARGGGHHH!!! Actually it wasn't that bad tonight, the prediction was for 20+ km/h west winds, but it was much lighter. It was still west and a headwind for 2/3 of the route, but I had a bit of a reprieve. I used small ring exclusively and spun steady, trying to keep it easy.
In zone: 25:25
Calories: 463

• Calories out: 4621 From lifestyle:2964, From activities:1657
• Health data: Hours slept: 6

Bike #1

• 43m 30s
• 23.30 kms
• 32.14 KM/hr

Speedy ride to work this morning... pushed a little on the hills, but not much as my legs are still pretty sore from the weekend.

I won't be riding with the club tonight... just too much wind coming and legs need some more rest.

In zone: 24:03
Calories: 403

Bike #2

• 53m 19s
• 23.30 kms
• 26.21 KM/hr

That totally sucked... was a strong NNW wind tonight and I fought the entire way home. I took my normal route which has me heading directly into that wind on the last 6 km... it was brutal. I was climbing the little grade on Wilmot Centre Road in the easiest gear and still struggling (ok, not EASIEST, but I won't go into the triple ring on these roads). My legs were just fried and I couldn't make the bike go any faster. On the flat, well paved section into town, it was hard, but I could keep it going over 29 km/h at least, until I was in town. The last 1 km I just took the pressure off and rolled home... that just sucked.

In zone: 36:12
Calories: 500

• Calories out: 4781 From lifestyle:2998, From activities:1783
• Health data: Hours slept: 6

• Calories out: 3075 From lifestyle:3075, From activities:0
• Health data: Hours slept: 6

Bike

• 3h 40m 34s
• 128.30 kms
• 34.90 KM/hr

The official race report... as I didn't feel like setting up a race on the site. The Tour de Waterloo is a Gran Fondo event (mass start, timed) with 3 distances available --130, 70 & 40 km. All funds go to support the Cancer Centre and local Conselling Services. Very well run and beautiful countryside to ride in (a bit biased, sure... but it's true!)

Had my alarm set for 6:30... but there was no way I was sleeping in that late. Was awake at 5:30 for good and out of bed at 6:00. Took my time getting ready with a good breakfast smoothie and bagel. I did my morning rituals and was ready in plenty of time. Packed up Xena in the car and was ready to go at 7:10... or so I thought.

I was almost at the site when I realized, I had left my water bottles on the workbench... I had time, but wasn't about to turn around. Stopped at convenience store and picked up a bottle of water and Gatorade... not my preferred drink, but will do in a pinch. I got to the parking lot and assembled Xena and got everything ready... only to realize, I had left my wrist band at home as well (for the food afterwards...grrrr :( ). I didn't fuss though... just went to the organizers tent and asked for a new one... one bonus of riding in an event put on by the club. They were happy to give me another wrist band. I then went to the LBS's tent and asked if they had any water bottles... they gave me a couple for free... as advertisement!!! I was more then willing to pay, but she said no! I <3 my LBS!!!

So, I prepped the bottles and was ready to go with lots of time to spare. Mingled with fellow riders for 10-15 minutes then headed to starting chute. Listened to the speeches and then headed out about 10 minutes behind schedule. Perfect!!

The first 4-5 km was a neutral roll-out... that wasn't so neutral! We were all grouped together but moving along at well over 30 km/h. The lead cyclist was the woman, whose husband was killed on Mother's day while cylcing. Was a truly wonderful tribute to them. :) After we finally starte riding hard, the groups started forming up. I was in a LARGE group of 40 riders and we were humping... riding out of town at 40 km/h. It was awesome as we had controlled intersections and never had to stop. :)

I thought these folks were going a wee bit hard on the first section out Weimar line... nasty hills that just keep hitting you... but eventually they settled down. As we rolled along, the group thinned out... and when we reached the 70km turn off, it thinned a LOT. My group of guys was being led by a large team of cyclists from Les Domestiques... a fund raising group from Tour for Kids. They kept the pace steady and never pushed hard up hills. However, the guys I was riding with decided that it was time to get out of their control and we headed out. Once we reached Poole and headed on the road to Millbank (my home town) we had a great tailwind, beautiful smooth road and we started humming along. I think we averaged over 40km/h on that 15 km stretch... AWESOME. I did my share of pulling... in fact I took a large pull of over 5 minutes, which included a little hill at over 40km/h, because of traffic, I couldn't pull off... but I was doing great. Got quite a few compliments on that one. ;)

We then started into the hilly section around Conestoga Conservation area... and things were still going strong, but I was running low on water/sports drink. I knew the rest stop was coming, but I was going to have to stop to refill everything... and no one else stopped. So that was the end of the free ride. Now it started getting difficult. After the rest stop, I put the hammer down and tried to catch a little groupetto that went thru while I was there. I caught them on after 5 km or so and rode with them for a while. We were working well together, until we crossed the dam... into the headwind I was clicking along at 35 km/h expecting they were behind me... however as I started the climb up the rise after the dam, they had fallen off my pace and I was alone. Decided that I was just going to go as hard as I could and try to catch more riders. I had another 2 ahead, so chased them down. These two were from my original group, but on the hills they would fade. We rode together for a few hills, but at the third water stop, they pulled over and I just kept motoring. From that point on I was alone... and just kept up the pace into the wind. Unfortunately, my nutrition was off and I started to fade. I should have been stuffing my face every 15 minutes, but in the heat of the moment, I forgot. At this point it was too late, but I tried to catch up... stuffing my face with bars and gulping my drinks. However, every hill got harder and I just couldn't keep up the pressure.

In Heidelburg, I noticed a single rider coming on behind, so I tried to stay in front of him. Digging deep and turning over the legs. He finally caught me in Waterloo... with 5 km to go... I tucked in behind him for a bit, but he started easing off and looking behind... so I passed him and pulled him along Westmount at 45 km/h. That was all fine, until we turned up Bearinger road and the last little incline... my legs were spent and I had NOTHING left in the tank. I just let him go and ground up that hill. At the crest and with 1 km to go, I just gritted my teeth and let my legs fly... I came across the finish line at 45km/h ... in a time 20 min faster then my hoped for time. I was elated... but my legs were totally spent.

AWESOME ride... if only I could have stayed with that big group... they finished 8 minutes ahead of me. Most of that time was me stopped at the rest stop refuelling... they gained 3 minutes on me... a SOLO rider. I think that's impressive and I'm ecstatic with this race.

In zone: 2:55:05
Calories: 2408

• Calories out: 7609 From lifestyle:2899, From activities:4711
• Health data: Hours slept: 6