a hot weekend of rides - three of them and each over fifty kilometres -
not much for seasoned riders but for me a good effort.
the rewards included seeing a beautiful heron flying alongside me down the river, more cheery waves and hellos than i can count, and sharing the road with biking chum chloe black
recently back in from arizona where she winters.
at the time she and her two fellow riders caught up with me i was cruising along at 30 kph, as soon as i hooked in with them, the speed went up by 10 kph. it's that simple!
glorious deep blue skies, lots of heat ((thirty + celsius which is exceptional, especially for this time in may),
and lots of humidity so i learned to drink on the fly.
water consumption is double that of a twenty something celsius day.
the trees are completely out and green now and the sides of the roads are dotted with the early wildflowers mostly purple and white but some pale blue cornflowers were showing.
there were lots of bugs including one dragonfly that hit me in the face.
it was like having a rock thrown at me!
there are some really little bugs that are like pea gravel.
they have hard shells and bounce off your lips and teeth and sunglasses with a clicking sound.
of course if you're sucking air like i was they fly into your mouth and then there's the delicate operation of rooting around with your tongue to dig them out before they become a snack!
best of all though was the satisfaction that i am able to ask my body for more as each week passes and so the anxiety i experience thinking about my upcoming ride with the africycle team (which will require me to ride more than one hundred kilometres a day for ten days) is lessening. it's not gone, but it's more manageable!
Love these cycling posts, Steven. I am a fairly avid cyclist myself, although I had a minor injury riddled year that kept me off the bike most of the winter. I am starting to get back into the swing of cycling in the last couple of weeks.
ReplyDeleteI always have to remind myself to breathe through clenched teeth; it probably looks like I am gritting them out of effort, but more often than not it's to keep the gnats out!
hey lorenzo - i'm jus finding my feet in terms of writing about cycling. i'm going to have more to write about in the next month or so as my training ramps up and then of course my big ride 'round lake ontario with the africycle team. the bugs - lorenzo that's it in a nutshell, you've got to breath but if you do then in they fly!!! thanks for dropping by. steven
ReplyDeleteIIieuw,I didnt think of bugs as snacks till you mentioned it,I forgot totaly :)
ReplyDeleteIm injoying your writing about riding,take care! Aleksandra
I'm impressed. 30KMP is a more than reasonable touring speed, I would suggest. Your posts here make me quite nostalgic. Was it three day trips or a three day tour?
ReplyDeletesee aleks there's a little bit of protein in them and it saves on lugging snacks around! steven
ReplyDeletehey dave - it's where i am at now. it gets me places and allows me to see the scenery. i'm practicing taking pictures as i ride - sometimes a little sketchy with rough roads, vehicles etc. but sometimes worth the effort. the pictures on this posting were all taken on the fly. steven
ReplyDelete