photo album (Finch to Keswick)

Finch to Keswick photo album

office ride

July 20, 2007
Today I rode my bike to the office. This was something I wanted to try for quite some time and I was curious to see if I can match or even go faster then the usual commute via TTC, which in average is around a hour and 30 minutes.

I planned my route the night before and decided to take the shortest route, up on Don Mills and Victoria Park via McNicoll Ave. – 26km. In spite of the fact I was riding against a strong NNW wind I managed to get to the office in one hour and 32 minutes, good enough for me to prove that biking to the office is a good alternative option. I will definitively repeat this every time I’ll have a chance.

Coming back home was way much easier. I tried an alternative route biking down on Pharmacy and jumping on O’Connor via Eglinton. The shortest way is not always the best (or fastest), the traffic, the number of stops and the quality of the roads are playing a big role when you commute on the bike.

Both routes seemed reasonably OK, I will experiment more in the future and see if I can come up with a route that will keep me mostly on the bike trails available along the way.

Total distance: 56km

118.5k Kennedy to Uxbridge

July 14, 2007

One of the rides many of us won’t forget that easy. The pouring rain and strong winds during the second part of the ride added another level of challenge to an already demanding ride. A ride that brought back memories to seasoned riders (apparently a hard rain in Day4 two years ago) and an eye opener for new riders. It is one thing to get home when you are able to jump in the shower after a ride like this but quite another entirely when you get in to camp and you have to set-up the tent soaking wet and cold and no hot shower.

For me, this was a ride of many firsts:
- riding in the rain for several hours
- having my first flat (it had to be during a pouring rain)
- riding more 130km in one ride
- speeding on a bike, 68.9km/h!
- riding with a GPS enabled cyclocomputer
- taking pictures with an older camera (which I find way easier to handle while I am riding)

A special thank you to the Rustlers, Lynn, Klaus, Wendy and Stephanie for helping with the ride. Also, thank you to Lucinda, Leslie, Heather and Jay for taking the time (staying longer during the break) and
running the drafting lesson. I am sure they could have rode home sooner to avoid the rain.

For obvious reasons I have no pictures taken during the rainy part of the day. I wish I would though, one with me fixing the flat in the rain would have been priceless. Instead, the picture of the day goes to Heather (Team Leader Coach) and Walter (Co-chair)

Total distance: 132.6km

photo album (Kennedy to Uxbridge)

Kennedy Subway to Uxbridge photo album

for the record (summary of previous rides)

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102km – Kipling Subway to Terra Cotta
July 07, 2007

Same ride like the one in July 1st but this time I rode out and back home, a new personal best – 130km.

After last week I thought, wouldn’t it be great to record this from the riders point of view. With that in mind I added a camera mount to my bike. I managed to record a number of short videos during the ride and the results turned out better than I expected. Once I work out a few technical details I believe I will be able to make a good use of it during the rally.

Total distance: 130km
 

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102km – Kipling Subway to Terra Cotta
July 1st, 2007

It’s Canada Day!

Finished with my assignment in Kansas City at last, and having learned my lessons, I was determined to make this one of my most successful rides. I slept, I was nutritionally prepared and I paced myself. The strong wind presented a new challenge and I learned, first hand, the value of drafting. Success was mine, this was one of my best rides thus far.

Total distance: 103km
I rode 1km around the block to beet the previous 102km
 

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72Km – Finch Subway to Aurora
June 02, 2007

Back from Kansas City and eager to match my previous 100km ride, I failed.
Not enough sleep, nutritionally challenged and pushing way to hard. I hit the wall mid-ride. Another lesson learned.
Had someone offered me and my bike a ride home I would have accepted. That didn’t happened so, it was a slow and painful ride back to the Finch subway.

Total distance: 82km
 

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49km – Kennedy to Rouge Valley
May 12, 2007

Who new, it was meant to be a regular ride but with the last minute change of plans (thank you Lesley) I broke the 100k!

Total distance: 102km
 
 
 

photo album (Kipling to Terra Cotta, July 07, 2007)

Kipling Subway to Terra Cotta photo album

photo album (Kipling to Terra Cotta, July 01, 2007)

Kipling Subway to Terra Cotta photo album

photo album (Finch to Aurora – June 02, 2007)

Finch Subway to Aurora photo album

on a rainy day

Today’s forecast predicted showers and thunderstorms with winds 40km/h gusting up to 60km/h. Not a very good day for training but a good opportunity to relax, sit down and work on my blog. It was long overdue. My last work assignment was 5 weeks long 4 of which were spent in Kansas City, leaving little or no time for personal life, never mind blogging.

First and foremost, since my last post more friends pledged to support the cause, a big heartfelt thank you to all of them. In addition, I completed my first 100km ride (and two more 100+km rides since then) and attended few socials including the Big Meeting.

I spent the morning post-processing the photos from the last rides, you can check them by clicking here or on the photo link on the side bar. I am working on the blog updates and I am also trying to figure out how to upload the little movies I made in the last ride.

Enjoy, stay tunned and check for the updates.