long weekend training ride

Well we did it.

Sometime last October we decided that we would complete 3 back to back 100+ km days during the long weekend in May. We would do it rain or shine and the middle day would be a 'true' century of over 160km. In October we thought that come May, the weather would be somewhat warm but there would be a possibility of rain that we would just have to contend with.

It proved to be one of the worse bike rides that I have ever taken and that includes the Quetico Provincial Park to Thunder Bay ride of 2005. We had rain, hail, headwinds and I do mean headwinds! It was cold, we were wet. Halfway through our Sunday ride I told Paul, "If you can make it through this ride you have nothing to worry about on the tour."

Saturday was really nice. It rained but the wind was at our back for the first 80km and we were rolling along at a nice pace. Then it poured and the wind changed but it wasn't unbearable and we were almost at our destination so it was a pleasant ride. The only drawback was that I wrenched my knee and spent the last 40km in a lot of pain. (It only hurts when I bend it - try cycling without bending your knee). We spent the night in St Thomas at our daughter and son-in-laws home.

Sunday morning, after a nice warm breakfast from Sharon, Dave and Tyler, we headed off towards Grand Bend. It poured. It hailed. It was insanely (45 kmh with gusts up to 60) windy. It was really cold. We pedaled for 5 hours in our granny gear, a brisk cadence but speeds of only 12 - 17km. We stopped often to wring out our gloves and socks and reassure each other that we were still shivering so no hypothermia concerns yet. We finally rolled into Grand Bend at 4pm, met up with Andrea and our son Matthew (quick stop we still had 70km to go yet) and then continued on our way with no rain and the wind now at our side. We were too tired (and it was still raining off and on) to really make up the time we had lost so we settled into a nice pace of 23km and finally made it to our motel in Sarnia at 6:55pm. After 11 hours of cycling we were so glad to have a nice warm room and tub to thaw out those stumps we call feet. I was so glad we didn't have to set up a tent! We packed our shoes with newspaper, cleaned up our bikes and went to bed rather early.

Monday morning started off at a nice 3C with a wind chill of -1C. Oh well, all our things were dry and we were prepared with our full fingered gloves, balaclavas, arm warmers and leg warmers. We put on our 'rose coloured lens' (actually yellow) to enhance our positive mood and rode off towards home. Home sounded so good and we only had to ride 100km. A short day! It was another windy, cold day but once we reached Wallaceburg we had the wind at our back for the majority of the ride.

I'm glad we did it but I'm also really glad its over and done with and I do hope we get warm weather soon.

As for my knee, it really hurts, but only when I bend it.