Casual converstion

There I was, climbing up Grey road 19, setting the pace, gasping for air. Directly behind me are riders who are far better climbers than I and without a doubt they haven't even broken a sweat. And how, you ask, do I know this for sure? It's easy. If you are gasping for air while climbing and the riders behind you are discussing their kids, where they are going to spend their next vacation and what colour their house is then it's a sure bet that you are not going to be at the head of the pack for long. In the matter of a minute 12 riders sailed by me and left me in their dust. How humbling. All was not lost though. Halfway up the final pull to the Castle Glen entrance I managed to catch up to and pass one of the women who had passed me 5 minutes earlier. I wasn't more than 20 meters in front of her when she asked me to let the ride leader know that she was turning around and heading back. Now I know I'm slow but am I so slow that the embarrassment of being passed on a climb by me was more than she could take? Did she go home and put her bike away for good? Did she wail "woe is me" like Sylvester's son after the giant mouse beat the tar out of Sylvester? I'll never know for sure.
I do know that the ride leader tapped me on the back as he passed and told me "good pull" before he continued on by and I did do a fairly long and tough ride of  90 kms over to Eugenia and Kimberly and back home. It was a great day for a ride and there was without a doubt the most riders I have ever seen out, period. Road biking in the Georgian triangle has definitely exploded.
P.S. I always felt bad for Sylvester because he never did find out that the giant mouse was a baby kangaroo. I love that cartoon.

A pain in the ass!

All of last year the biggest problem I had riding, other than my sore neck was my sore ass caused by riding on my Specialized Avatar bicycle saddle. The days were rare when my sit bones didn't hurt from that saddle. The difficult part about buying a saddle is until you ride on it a few times it is difficult to tell whether or not it will be to your liking.

I looked around in the winter for a new saddle and decided in the end to go with one made of leather by Brooks. For many years most saddles were leather and Brooks was certainly world famous for theirs. I have now put close to 1000 kms on this seat so I figure it's time for an update. So far it sucks. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a useless piece of shit but it is closing in quickly on that title. My saddle has broken in a fraction over the last 3 months but to be accurate it has broken my ass in more. The other issue is it is also breaking in my taint to the point where it soon may be an aint. I don't want to admit defeat but I don't know how much longer my parts can stand it. I have been told that Brooks saddles are seats for life but I don't want to go through life as a castrato. I really don't want to buy a new saddle either but there may be no other choice than to bite the bullet and fork out for another saddle that I may hate as well.
On the bright side I typed this post using the new keyboard I purchased for my Blackberry Playbook and it is excellent. It has a real nice feel while typing and although small it has been quite easy to use and certainly a lot faster than typing on the screen. Kudos to Blackberry.

New job, day one.

Today I started my new job as a zip line tour guide at the Scenic Caves. I have been coming up to the area for 22 years but this was my first time actually seeing what the Caves has to offer.
I arrived at 9:30 AM and after checking in I was sent downstairs to learn about the equipment. Some of the equipment I am familiar with due to my few forays rock climbing and some is very closely related to climbing gear I used at the Bell.
It wasn't long before our group came down and we started to fit everyone into the gear for the tour, myself included. I was only going as a participant and observer. After fitting we had a brief outline of the upcoming tour given by Michael and Skip, a friend and former owner of Sojourn in Collingwood.
We first made our way to the suspension bridge for the fantastic view and to learn a little history of the area. Directly below the bridge are red oak trees which got me thinking that they must be the first oak trees I have seen in quite a while. Where have they all gone? Next was the treetop walk which was fun and certainly gives one a new perspective of the forest. Then we did the first of two zip line runs, this one fairly short but if you have never done one before it was pretty neat. Next up was the  caves where there are some really interesting rock formations as well as some cool plant life such as ferns and some ancient white cedars. Lastly it was the final zip line which was much longer and dropped us off back at the start. It all took about 2 1/2 hours. I should also mention that the new double zip line is almost completed and it is a biggie, 2500 feet long and I think it's going to be a great ride. I am really looking forward to giving it a go.
There was only the one tour for today so my day was short but definitely fun and informative. The rest of the staff seem like a great bunch as well so I have little doubt this job will be a keeper. I have a lot to learn in the next few weeks but I am looking forward to it.

Golf at Monterra

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go golfing at Monterra which is the course owned by Blue Mountain. I figured my golfing would suck but I dressed appropriately so at least my appearance would suggest someone who could play the game. The tee time was 10:40 but somehow I got it in my head that I was late and so I rushed like mad and showed up for my tee time at 9:20. Oops, and believe it or not I was made quite happy that my arrival was at the incorrect time. Let me explain.
As I was walking through the parking lot an acquaintance pulled up and asked if he could join up with our threesome. I said I wasn't positive we were a threesome and continued on to the clubhouse. It was with great relief that in the clubhouse I realised I had arrived way too early. Normally this would have had me muttering "effing idiot" under my breath about myself but the reason I was happy was......the guy who wanted to join us is a total jerk, arrogant as they come, and cheap (dust flies when he opens his wallet). He's the kind of guy who shows up for dinner with shitty homemade wine and then drinks all your good stuff. Gladly I went back home to wait another hour.
Aaron and myself were teamed up with an older gentleman, Gerry, who was an OK golfer and a nice guy. Our only hard and fast rule for the day was if anyone scored a par on a hole we got to have a shot of tequila. Good rule if I do say so myself.
The course was in excellent condition and my golf game was as good as it has ever been. I was pretty good off the tee and my short game, in particular my chipping was fantastic. We played from the whites which was a mistake because the course is too short from them, especially the par 3's which are very low yardage, say 90 to 120 yards.
Considering I haven't played in almost 2 years it was hard to believe my golf would be that good. I shot a 94 which is far and away my best score ever there. I think one of the reasons for my good game is the fact that I have simplified my golf swing. One thing in particular I try to do now is to shorten my back swing. This results in less distance but my accuracy was much better and I still had some drives of around 240 yards. Aaron had a good game for himself as well so the day was a success.
I don't think yesterday's good round will turn me back into a golfer because there was still some good cursing and swearing going on. I haven't mellowed yet.     

Eat, drink and don't be like Gary.

To celebrate Ryder Hesjedal's victory I went out for a ride down to Creemore and then back up to Glenhuron (don't stick your finger in the spokes) and back home. On the way down I decided to do some wind sprints and for the entire ride I pushed hard. For the 58 km ride I averaged 29.5 kph and I was completely spent when I arrived home. My heart rate moniter said I had burned 1750 calories over the 2 hour ride.
I showered up and then sat down to watch the Indy 500 but found I couldn't keep my eyes open. This has been happening often this year after working out. I get very sleepy and lethargic so it was time to google it and see what some people in the know thought about this problem and I guess I am not surprised by the answers.
I have always been notorious for not drinking enough water while exercising going back to my hockey playing days. I take some water on rides but rarely finish the bottle even though on a day like today I sweat a lot. I have also not been bringing food with me on rides or eating beforehand and this could mean that after a couple of hours my blood sugar levels are dropping significantly. The third thing could be simply that I have been riding a little too much. I am relatively new to this road biking thing so it's possible the almost 300 kms I have ridden in the last nine days is pushing it a little bit.
So it seems the solutions are simple and from here on in I am going to try to be more careful. I will drink more water on rides as well as bring an energy drink along. I will also try to eat better before rides and bring some form of snack (mmmm, banana bread) on rides. I am still going to work hard but if I take care of my diet and hydration things should improve and these waves of sleepiness after rides hopefully will end.

Ryder Hesjedal

For the first time ever a Canadian has won the Giro D'Italia bicycle race. Ryder Hesjedal powered his way to the win on today's individual time trial. He had been one of the favourites to win the race and was in the top 3 for the entire race and also wore the pink jersey for several days. Another great fact is that he did it on Canadian bikes made by Cervelo.
I first became aware of Hesjedal 10 years ago when he was racing mountain bikes on the pro circuit, one of only a few Canadian males at that time. I don't even know if he ever won a race. Like last years Tour de France winner Cadel Evans he eventually started road biking and now has reached the pinnacle of that discipline.  Hesjedal was instrumental in the Cadel Evans Tour de France win as well because it was his job to help protect Evans from attacks and to lead him up the climbs.
This win means Hesjedal has now inherited the title of Canada's greatest rider from Steve Bauer who had a 4'th place in the Tour de France. It's a great day for Canadian bicycling. Congratulations Ryder.

Training night

Tonight I went with the Collingwood Cycling Club on a training run. We started off with 14 riders but lost a couple within the first 5 minutes, probably because they were beginners who could not keep the pace. It didn't feel right to drop them but what else could we do? Wednesday is beginner night.
We rode up to Rob Roy with yours truly being the second last to finish the climb. Then we made our way to McIntyre where we turned around and started doing wind sprints. We did four 1.5 km sprints, the idea being to "crush" yourself, or at least that's the term one of the experienced riders used.
And therein lies the problem. One of the reasons I stopped mountain biking a few years back was because I was tired of busting my ass, working so hard, gasping for air after doing a tough steep climb like Alpine. I was good at it but I simply wasn't ready to pay the price anymore to be a good mountain biker.
Now I see that to be a good road biker who has some climbing prowess I will have to feel the pain again. I will have to push the envelope, ride so hard sometimes that I am gasping for air, my legs feeling like rubber after going harder than I thought I could. I am not sure if I have it in me anymore. I am enjoying learning the finer points of road biking and this should help me to push myself but it remains to be seen whether the desire to push myself hard is that intense. Only time will tell I think.
As it stands right now my desire to improve is there and I seem to have some competitive desire back so let's hope I can keep up with the 70 year old guys in a month or two. Little steps. As soon as I rocket by those Old Age Security collecting guys I will set my sights on the guys who have just qualified for their Canada pension. Like I said, little steps.