I finished my qualifying ride a week ago, just in time to sprain my
ankle a few days after. I figured I'd share the write up of my
adventure like so many others seem to be doing. 😎
Day 1 – Thursday, March 13, 2008
My day started out with waking and getting up at 7:45am. I got ready
for the ride by eating cold pizza and fruit for breakfast. I packed two
liters of water, an orange and apple, and a small box of dried fruit.
For clothing, I wore three layers on my torso, a thin long sleeved
shirt, a spring/fall biking jersey, and a hooded sweatshirt. For pants,
a semi-thick and loose-ish pair. I also brought a toque, two pairs of
gloves, and a scarf. Other things I brought were an mp3 player and my
phone.
I was just out the door when I remembered I needed a hex key to make
adjustments if necessary. I also checked the weather. It was -9 degrees
C and it was supposed to warm to about 1C by the evening. I started at
the end of my driveway at 9:10am and pedaled my way down to the gas
station to put some more air in my tire (50 psi). Then I set off on my
long journey. I planned to do a big loop and pass through all three of
the small towns in my township; Tottenham, Beeton and Alliston.
The first part of the ride was mostly flat. I went at a moderate
speed. After a few roads, I encountered two small hills. It was in
between these hills were it started to snow at 9:40am. On the next
road, I went north and the snow continued to get worse. After a while,
the snow was so thick I couldn’t see 50meters ahead of me. I went
east and went up some pretty bigger hills, probably some of the biggest
on the route.
As I reached the first town (Beeton) on my route, the snow began to
slow down a bit. I rode through the town and saw a couple of snowplows
starting to salt the roads. As I left town, I was going to go down a
dirt road I hadn’t been down before, but it looked pretty rough,
so I decided to keep on the road I was on.
By about 11:50am, I made it to the next town (Alliston), the farthest
one on the route from my home. I stayed at a friend house to rest for a
while. I made and ate a delicious cheese and sausage omelet and had
some hot chocolate. I left at about 2pm and continued on my journey.
When I got back on the road, the wind had picked up quite a bit. For
the rest of the way back, I was going against the wind and up and down
hills. When I was close to home, I circled around the hills outside of
town.
As I went down the final road into my town, I could feel my legs
starting to give but I stayed up. I reached my house in Tottenham at
4:10pm, got in the door and ate yogurt and an orange, then got a
shower.
For the day I rode a total of 76km with a total altitude gain of 655.
This would have given me a rating of 142, then I factored in that I had
gone 40km with strong winds and 37km of extreme cold and snow and my
total rating was 215 with a carry over of 41.25 for the next day.
Day 2 – Friday, March 14, 2008
Started my day off by getting up at 9am. I had a bowl of cereal and an
orange for breakfast. I packed an orange, two bananas, some dry fruit
mix, two liters of water and a bottle of orange juice. I left at about
10:15am wearing my jersey, a t-shirt, hoodie and a windbreaker jacket.
I set out and after 5km I realized that everything I was wearing was
definitely going to be too hot for the ride. So, instead of turning
back, I put everything but my jersey in my backpack and continued on. I
decided I would go the opposite direction from the route I had taken
the previous day and go a bit farther. I went back and fourth over the
hills, crossing the main road three times before I went straight north.
Most of the hills on my route were at the beginning this time around,
so I’d tackle them first. I fell forward once because I was still
a bit sleepy and tired from yesterday.
After a bunch of small hills there was a very flat section going
across farmland. It was quite enjoyable. For about half an hour, I
could see a pretty steep hill almost looming in front of me. When I
reached it, it took a good five minutes to climb and there was a
smaller one after.
I was quite excited at that point because I was pretty much half way
through my ride again. I reached Alliston, stopped at 1:30pm and had a
big triple burger, salad and a cola. Then at 2pm I set off again
through Alliston, racing the traffic through town. There was one point
where I was going just a little faster than the slow moving traffic and
passed several cars.
I left the town, going south then east and continued in that direction
until I hit a dirt road. This was south on the 15th sideroad and I had
never been on this part. I was quite unhappy that it had turned into a
dirt road where I was because I refused to go on another dirt road the
day before. I followed the road anyway then eventually went west to
Beeton.
I stopped to walk for a minute because even sitting on even the most
comfortable of saddles seems to make one a bit sore after a while. I
got back on and went south up a steep hill. Then there was a series of
smaller hills until I got back home.
For day two, I rode a total of 82.3km with a total altitude gain of
686m. This would have given me a rating of 158, and then my total
rating was 199 after adding the carryover from the previous day.
---
I am so glad I finished it. Looking forward to seeing many of you are
RTL.
--
CoreTechs
Quoted message said:<> UNICYCLE FOR CHRIST<><
In nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti
Mikefule said:As an alternative hypothesis of equal validity, God did not design us to
ride unicycles.
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