Training ...

I figured that since I have some time off work, I could start doing some longer bike rides (my usual route is about 20 km) ... for example, ride to some of the parks, sit and read for a while/enjoy the outdoors, then ride home. So yesterday, I did just that ... was aiming for Government House Park via McKinnon Ravine, ended up riding all the way along River Valley Road to the LRT bridge (ie. almost downtown), 15 km. Then I came back a bit and sat and read for a while ... until I noticed that it was starting to cloud over in an ominous kind of way. So I started heading home, at a faster pace than on the way out.

As I reached Westridge (about 10-15 minutes from home), it started to rain. I still thought I could make it back before any downpour, until a few big wind gusts hit me and my nice light road bike didn't like them very much. I figured that the combination of wind, slippery wet road and traffic on skinny tires wasn't such a good thing, so I headed over to my parents to take shelter until the storm blew over.

After visiting with my dad for about 20 minutes, with the storm looking to be more entrenched rather than simply blowing over, he offered to drive me home. So, I had a total of 27 km for the day instead of 32 or so ... still my longest ride on my own (or actually perhaps ever), and once again almost doubling the odometer on my new bike (from 30-something to 60-something).

I made the mistake of joking to my husband that I "hitched a ride in the team car" (aka my dad's 1987 Chevy van) ... and now he won't stop teasing me about it. It's not like I called someone to come pick me up out of the rain :-) .

(and I had another minor crash, getting too cocky with my pedals I guess and not taking proper care, I remember thinking "gee, this seems easier and easier to click out of the pedals" as I was slowing down, when I leaned too far to the other side and went over... more bruises, oh well).