Me and devinci

So, the weather man forecasted rain once again for our Saturday ride, Well, you guessed it, I wimped out once more. I just have no desire to ride in bad weather and risk getting sick.  Victor was doing a triathlon training camp in St. Catherine’s on Saturday so we decided that we would do the ride together on Sunday.

It was a beautiful day today, perfect for riding. I mapped out a route that ultimately both Victor and I decided was a little too ambitious so we decided to just ride off and see where fate would lead us. We headed west on the bike trail all the way to the Humber. Up to that point all was good. We had a little interference from a bike race just west of Ontario Place and there was also a charity walk going on, but we managed to get past all that.

We reached the Humber River bridge and Devinci had a front brake malfunction. No doubt about it, that brake would have to be replaced. With only the back brake to rely on, we decided it would be safer to head up the Humber River trail.

As I have said, hills are not my best friends just yet and boy did we run into a couple of doozies…..  they were purely on a ‘need to do basis or not’ and I chose not. Congrats to Victor, he rode up every one, I’m hoping that with a little more training I’ll be able to do the same thing. By the time we got home we had covered only 37km, not what we had planned, there is always next week…..

Ok, so I wimped out yesterday. Riding in the rain in April when I don’t have the proper gear is just not something I wanted to experience. Riding in the rain in July will be quite a different story, if that happens.

Today I felt I had to make up for it so I took off about 8:00am. It wasn’t a pre-approved ride but I did manage to do 44km as opposed to the 39km that I should have done yesterday. I would have done more but, I had my first flat tire.  I was all prepared for it, at least I thought so. I had the extra tube in my emergency kit, and the tube repair kit, just no pump.

The superintendent of my building showed up at the same place (Cherry Beach) to walk his dog, and said he saw Victor leaving the building with Mr. D. I knew they were headed to the same place so I had a hotdog and coffee while I waited. In no time at all, there is Victor, on the horizon running with Mr. D by his side.

Long story short, after Victor had a hotdog and some fries, we changed the tube (the culprit was a tiny thorn) but I had no pump. After asking a few people for a pump, with no luck, we walked to the Distillery District, had a coffee and called our friend Oana to come rescue us. End note, I now have a CO2 pump in my emergency kit.

April 5, 2008, 8:40am

Little did I know last year when I was at the same place as part of the Road Safety crew that I would be one of the riders just about 12 months from then.

It was a beautiful morning, sunny, average temperature of 7.3C. We gathered just outside the Finch subway station. I’d estimate about 50 riders all eager to get going. A friend of mine from work Armand is training for a triathlon so he came along for the ride. After a few announcements and the obligatory stretches we were off.

The ride went very well, 31.88km, total time 1hr 54 minutes. Not bad for a newbie. The only problem was that one ‘hill from hell’. I tried my best to do it but about 1/2 way up I was feeling the strain on my knee so I hopped off and walked the rest of the way up. Armand made it up with no problem as did quite a few others…   note to self, more hill training required.  Next week I hope to get some pictures, I completely forgot this time out.