With the Ride for Heart less than a week away I was starting to get a little nervous. I had yet to a) do any sort of climb (Toronto’s downtown is flat) and b) had yet to ride 75km which is the distance that I signed up for. So this morning I woke up, had the day off and thought I would head out nip this in the butt. I got all spandexed up for the first time in my life and headed out. The first 35km of my ride was my pretty standard routine but then I thought to changed it up to get some hills in.
I’ve never ridden the Don trail so I thought I’d give it a shot. Fortunately there were a couple of roadies at the entrance so I tagged along with them as I had no idea where I was going. As we were riding I noticed that we’d passed Pottery Road which I’d wanted to cut off at but I decided to stick with them for a while longer and then do the Bayview Extension hill on my way back. After a few more KM’s I broke off from them and turned back to see if I could manage that hill. Well, I got to the bottom, looked up and though this’ll do. Time to learn to climb a hill… and so I did. I’m riding 76” gear on a fixed gear bike so I wasn’t entirely sure how it’d work out but it did. I didn’t do it very quickly but I did manage to get up it in one shot, something for someone who’s never really done any climbing before I thought was quite good.
Once I made it to the top I had a quick drink and headed back for the fun part. The ride back down the hill. It was glorious :) I was a little surprised (read disappointed) that I only reached a top speed of 52km’s going down but hey, certainly not the end of the world. It just felt faster.
Once back at the bottom I started my finalish leg home. Back to Leslie street then out to just past the Humber River and then home. I’m not going to lie, by the time I made it out to the Humber I was starting to feel a bit whooped but I did managed to get myself home.
One thing I am really disappointed in is that it was 33 degrees Celsius and sunny on my ride this morning but I have too many tattoos to show my farmers tan… that shit’s a badge of honor :).
On another side note my new Giro Privateers are incredible. More comfortable than most of my street shoes. Thanks for the reco Prolly!
Other point to note, there is still time to donate to my Ride for Heart efforts. You can do that by clicking HERE. Any help is greatly appreciated. Oh yeah, and my new goal is $250.
Lastly, it was an amazing ride this morning and my longest to date. I’m now confident that next weekends Ride for Heart will be a great deal of fun and I’m really looking forward to it.
Next challenge: A Metric Century Ride :)
Details of this mornings ride.
Original Article
