Some hill climbing

Well, I slept in today. Drat, I did it again. Last week was the same, so I guess my body is telling me something. At any rate, when I woke at 6:10 AM, mad as heck as I realized my cycling group, Le Peloton , had already left for the mountains. I grabbed my riding gear, filled two water bottles and headed out to try to find them.

Burrard Inlet, viewed from Dollarton Highway on the way to Deep Cove--->

<--Deep Cove, at the head of Indian Arm Inlet

By the time I reached Deep Cove, however, it was clear I'd never catch my cycling friends. With the group averaging 30 kilometers/hour ( 18-19 mph) when riding in a pack like that, it's pretty hard to make up for lost time, at least for me. So I headed up that gruesome 13% grade hill at the start of Mt. Seymour Parkway on my own. I decided that if I'm going to encounter a few hills on the way to the Canadian Rockies, I'd better be prepared, so I started up Mount Seymour road, leading to the ski area. An hour later, I was flying back down the mountain at nearly 70 kpm (43 mph) after reaching the top in a personal best time. Number one hill done.

While riding up, I passed a young guy (on a much heavier bike, I have to confess!!) who caught up with me while I was enjoying a brief rest at the top. We exchanged taking photos then continued to ride together for the rest of the day. A commerce student at UBC's Sauder School of Business, Chris had only just taken up cycling a couple of years ago. We were well matched. He was young and strong, but I had a light carbon fibre bike and a third 'grandpa' gear especially well suited for climbing hills. At my age, 52, I need all the help I can get!

<-- Above the snow line at the top of Mount Seymour

The morning was spectacular. We dropped back down to sea level, then crossed over to Fell Street (another brutal but thankfully short hill) heading to Edgemont Village in North Vancouver. From there, we continued to climb up Capilano Road, reaching the top of Grouse Mountain's gondola station at around 10:00 AM. Then, another quick descent to the Cleveland dam, across the British Properties with thier magnificent homes, and finally to my old nemesis, Cypress Mountain, our third mountain of the day. By that time, the sun was beating down on us, but, with the end in sight, it wasn't long before we were cycling into the ski area, the future site of Olympic Freestyle events in 2010.

At the top of Cypress. The Olympic Freestyle ski run is in the distance (there's only a few patches of snow there this time of year)--->

All in all, it was a GREAT day. By the time I rolled into the garage, I had clicked over 142 km (88 miles), and had done three mountains, something I'm usually not ready for until the end of a summer of riding. So, as long as I don't do anything silly over the next few weeks (like injure myself from over-training), I think I'll be ready for the big ride. That broken right ankle of mine is really doing well. What a relief!

Next weekend, I'll be in Montreal, so will have to carry on with training there in gyms, etc. In the mantime, my old faithful Trek 5200 is going to have a complete tune-up at the local bike shop, with a few more gizmos and gadgets added. If all goes well, I'll manage to do at least one more 'shakedown' Saturday ride before we start on the 20th.

Training is ramping up...

Those Canadian Rockies are a pretty daunting goal. Whenever I think I'm going to be ready for this, I just go to http://www.gearup4cf.org/index.php?/The-Route/Year/The-2009-Route.html . So, Saturdays are my big rides. Generally, our cycling group alternates between 'hills' (the mountains on the North Shore) on one Saturday, and 'flat's', for distance, the next.

It was a brilliant day when we started out... a light wind, clear sunshine.

Just getting going...9 km/hr is about the slowest I rode all day! --->

With summer upon us, it's easier to get an earlier start. UNFORTUNATELY, I slept in... missing our 6:30 AM rendezvous, so I threw on my jersey, filled two water bottles and headed out, about a half hour late. I knew where they were going, though, as plans were to initially ride along a long flat road on Iona, near Vancouver Airport. The road ends after about 8 km, so we generally double back. The nice thing about this is 1) if you get to enjoy fighting headwinds out there, you are also rewarded by flying back with the wind behind you! 2) you can catch up with your comrades on the loop. Sure enough, I found them. It's so much easier riding into headwinds in a group - the aerodynamics of close 'peleton' (group riding, and hence why my group is called "Le Peloton") formation saves about 15-18% energy. Pretty significant.

Alan and Bruce, riding along Steveston Dyke Road--->

We rode together for about three hours, heading from Iona to Steveston, then down No 7 Road to River Road, where we road to New Westminster and back. Then the guys went home, heading up the Arthur Laing Bridge, eventually to reach Kerrisdale for coffee. I was keen to put some more distance, so after that, I was on my own. I really didn't intend to do so, but in effect, I repeated the entire route, stopping to take pictures along the way.

<---a family of geese off Inglis Road, near the Richmond seaplane terminal

"Retired" BC ferries, rusting away along the river off No 5 Road--->

<--a broken hull, a derelict fishing boat, off River Road.

Low tide off River Road---->

It was such a nice day. By the time I was home, I had just clicked over 160.6 kilometers... a "Century" as my Denver friends would call it, 100 miles. The difference is, they do 100 miles with hills, starting at 6,000 feet, and rising above 11,000. Susan and her friends just about murdered me when I rode with them a few years ago. I've learned my lesson to be humble about such things!

So, that was my ride yesterday. Today is a 'recovery' day, as far as my legs are concerned, however, I'm feeling pretty good. I'll be off to the gym later to do stretching, some weights and core upper body strength exercises. You can't forget upper body when training for long rides. I've learned from hard experience that it takes a fair amount of endurance and flexibility throughout my body to feel comfortable on a saddle for hours on end. That said, if my training goes as well for the next few weeks as it is right now, I think I'll be ready for the big ride. The question is, are you? If you haven't donated yet.... please do so as soon as you can! Here's the link: http://www.gearup4cf.org .

Training in earnest now

Well, we're quickly ramping up to the big ride in June. These past three Saturdays, I did 132, 136 and just over 100 km respectively, generally over a four to five hour ride.

Last weekend was not as much distance, however, it included a ride up Cypress Mountain and back, where the previous rides were out along flat country roads in Richmond. The road up Cypress is relentless, basically starting at sea level on Marine Drive up the hill on 14th avenue.

But it was such a rush coming down Cypress Mountain! The road was dry, and almost no wind... perfect conditions to get my lightweight bike really spinning, leaning into curves at 65 - 70 kph down the mountain. Along the way back home, I took a spin up Spanish Banks, and had a good stretch 41st.

One lesson to remember... make sure you have good brakes before trying it!

In addition to my long weekend rides, I'm working out nearly every day now. It's a small price to pay if it will ease the pain when we're averaging 120 km per day over ten days in mid June!

There's still snow near the top of Cypress

(taken just before my descent)