catching up

The work in the office is keeping me quite busy and as a result I let my blog lie fallow for a while. It was a busy week for events as well so here is a “Readers Digest” review of everything since my last post.

Sunday, April 29 – Team Two’s First Social.
Stephanie and Geoffrey, our team leaders, hosted our first social. As it turns out, Team Two is comprised of former riders and former crew members turned riders as well as a few newbies. Thank you to our hosts for a great day, a good time was had by all and now we are officially known as Team Tailwinds.

Monday, April 30 – Bike Fit Clinic.
More on this in a separate post.

Tuesday, May 1 – Fundraising 101 seminar. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it due to a unexpected meeting in the office that lasted way past 6pm.

Wednesday, May 2 – Training – Loops
The sunny day was just calling for a ride. So Lucinda’s email calling us out for a ride around Commissioners and Cherry St. was a welcomed one. I ended up riding 57km and experienced my third “zero speed fall” in six years going clipless.

Thursday, May 3 – Hill training at Sunnybrook Stables.
Another late meeting and I was 30 minutes late. A short but intense workout led by Lucinda in which I climbed the hill several times. My legs got a real workout.

Friday, May 4 – Got my new bike!
WooHoo! More about this later.

Saturday, May 5 – Training ride 4 – Kipling to Meadowvale.
The ride overlapped with my last indoor volleyball Beach Blitz Tournament of the season. Tough call, on one hand I was itching to get my new bike out for a ride but on the other hand I really enjoy these tournaments and I haven’t missed a Blitz in long time. I managed to kill two birds with one stone, I took my bike with me and rode home form the tournament. What a ride!

ready for the first training ride

Tomorrow is the first training ride and I am all pumped-up in anticipation.

I picked-up my bike form Cycle Therapy today and rode it back home. I was planning all week for this short ride. The idea was to ride my bike at least once before the training and see how the bike feels after the “upgrade” to slick tires. I also wanted to get a feeling of what should I wear tomorrow as I am not really used to ride in cold weather.

My first impression when I saw my bike in the shop was that it looks funny. A X-Large frame Trek Fuel Race mountain bike with skinny road tires and all the “required” accessories attached to it’s something that just doesn’t look right. It kind of make me smile each time I look at it. On the other hand, I am not prepared to invest in a new road bike and the perspective of riding over 600Km on fat, knobby tires was not very appealing. I guess, I’ll just have to get used with the funny look.

That bike feels lighter and definitively smoother on the road, the slick tires are making a huge difference and for that reason alone the initial “look” factor is starting to fade out . I can’t wait until tomorrow, I am really curious how a longer ride is going to feel like.