The Deathly Hallows

This weekend, Pascal (my "euro" buddy living nearby) and I opted not to do another ride in NYC, but instead to stay local and "get wet" - Pascal's description of a high energy ride which gets you sweating!

We started out early Sunday to fairly crisp temperatures (low 30°Fs - nothing like the -32°C temperatures that Kelly and Judy had in Widewater Alberta this weekend).  We didn't really have any specific route planned - well we did, but it wasn't very challenging - 40 miles of fairly flat riding with a climb at the end - but as we warmed up I felt like mixing things up. 

Sidebar:
A couple of weekends ago we ended up riding 50 miles of pain - there were five of us, and all things were going fairly mildly until I saw a guy riding a full-fairing recumbant trike on  the flats by the swamp, and felt compelled to try and catch him.  He had about a quarter mile lead on us, and with his low drag was churning out about a 30 MPH pace.  We hoofed it for 3 miles and almost got to him before he went straight and we went right. 

At that point, I described to my fellow riders the concept of "A$$][0LE T-Shirt".  I learned of it from Judy on the TdC - she said that the cyclocross riders they ride with in Alberta have given her and her daughter Pepper plenty of them.  Apparently you get one when you go off the front of a group that has been riding comfortably together, and inflict a world of hurt on the folks trying to keep up with you.  Well, once the other 4 on the ride learned of this, it seemed that at any given time everyone wanted a shirt! We ended up averaging just shy of 18 mph on a very hilly ride, and were all exhausted at the end.

Back to the Deathly Hallows...  Pascal suggested that we try something different, so I opted for a couple of nice short steep climbs (Baileys Hollow and Jockey Hollow) followed by plenty of climbs afterwards.  Once warmed up, we had a great time and burned up tons of calories in a fairly short period.  I am still coming to grips with how much my climbing has improved over the past summer - it is like being in a different world.

To help out any riders planning for future Tours du Canada, in my next blog I will be posting a critique and my perspectives on the equipment and stuff I brought along for the ride: Camping Gear, Clothing, Biking Gear, etc.  so that they can benefit from my "lessons learned".

Happy American Thanksgiving to all...

P.S. If you enjoy reading the blog, or have any questions about my experiences on the tour, please feel free to post a comment or e-mail me at wjdr2004@optonline.net

Cheers,

Bill