Biking season has begun

My first ‘real’ ride of the year was last Sunday. Steve, Grant and I jumped on our bikes and headed for Gatineau like we had done so many Sundays before last summer and fall. I was pumped up for the ride, thinking I was in way better shape this year than I had ever been before – I mean afterall I had just run a marathon a couple of weeks before. Anyways, my excitement quickly turned to shock and dismay a short way into our ride.

We headed out from Grant’s place and across the bridge into Quebec. It was quite windy but since I was fresh, it was more of an annoyance than anything. We entered the park and before we even got to the section of closed roads, I was already hurting. There is one hill (and not a large hill either) just before the parking lot by the gate and as I’m climbing it I’m thinking, “What the hell is going on?! How am I ever going to finish this ride if I’m feeling like this already?!” I put the thought out of my mind and finished the short climb to the parking lot where we stopped to look for Steve’s friend. Incidentally, he never showed up but I still got a short break while we waited. :)

We pushed on and soon enough I was in the midst of the dreaded Pink Lake climb. Grant, being the nice guy that he is, was hanging back with me but Steve had surged ahead, presumably setting his mind to the task of conquering the hill. I told Grant to go and catch Steve and not to worry about me. As I climbed by myself, I kept thinking, “What is going on?! I am definitely in better shape than I was last year and what about that ride I did with Trev? We did 60 Km and I felt great afterwards…” (What I wasn’t considering was that the 60 Km that Trev and I did was all FLAT) Probably about half way up the hill I gave in and dropped to granny gear to finish the climb. Steve and Grant were waiting for me at the top.

We kept going, deciding to take the turn off for King Mountain rather than going straight and having to climb Camp Fortune to get to Champlain lookout. Grant felt that they’d lose me if we went that route. He was definitely right. On the climb up King Mountain I again dropped to granny gear, figuring I’d rather make it than kill myself. I had some shifting problems and had my chain come off the sprocket when I did that. Luckily I got it back on it short order with no real slow down. I met up with Steve and Grant at Champlain lookout where they had been waiting for maybe a minute or so. We had a quick bite to eat and then were off again.

We opted to go back via Camp Fortune which meant a pretty good downhill (and narrowly avoiding some skateboarders) before having to do at least a couple more big hills on the way back. By the time we got out of the closed section of the park – it wasn’t actually closed anymore, I was pretty dead tired and Grant was late! I managed to make it back to Grant’s place where I sat down and rested for a good half hour before heading back home, more than a bit disappointed with my performance. Total distance – 60Km.

While I wanted to get out and do some biking during the week this past week, I didn’t seem to have the time. Sure enough, Sunday morning rolled around and I had done zero biking since the week before. However, I had done at least one longer run (7 miles) and a couple of shorter runs in my training for the 10K I’m doing on Canada Day. Add to that a couple of days of Ultimate and I had a pretty full week.

For this past Sunday’s ride we left from Steve’s place, since it was just the two of us. Grant had opted to go early with his contractor because he had to be home earlier for a Father’s Day brunch. Steve and I followed a bike path until we hit the parkway. Unfortunately the parkway wasn’t closed yet (we were a few minutes early) so we just stayed on the path that followed the river until the road was closed to traffic. The original plan was to bike from Steve’s place to the top of Pink Lake and then back, however, when we got to the top of Pink Lake (I felt MUCH better for the climb this week), we were both feeling fine and we were only 45 minutes or so into the ride. We opted to keep going.

We made the turn off for King Mountain and after a short stop (so Steve could call Steeve) we started up again. Remember how I had trouble with my chain coming off the week before? Well it happened again, only this time I didn’t think to unclip from my peddal before my forward motion stopped. As a result, I had my first clipless-pedal-related-tumble. Luckily I fell into the grass on the side of the road rather than the other way, onto the road. Steve had a good laugh and I don’t blame him, I’m sure it looked quite comical. At the top of King Mountain, we turned around and headed back. Total distance – 55Km.

I was still tired by the time we got back to Steve’s place, but not nearly as wiped out as I was the week before. I had something strange happen to me after the ride this week though, I was having trouble taking deep breaths without coughing. Jody suggested it may have had something to do with the smog advisory in effect for the day and later Grant said something about exercise induced asthma. Who knows but hopefully it doesn’t happen again.

Anyways, I’m looking forward to the next outing. Not sure when that’ll be since my parents will be in town this coming Sunday. I will try to get out for a short ride during the week but unknown if that will happen or not.

P.S. Big thanks to Steve who made me put sunscreen on before the ride. I always seem to forget…