Almost Spring Training

There’s no easing into it, starting from Vancouver means we’ll be launched into the mountains nearly immediately upon leaving the airport. The coastal mountains will greet our arrival to the city and as we head eastward we’ll be looking at the Cascades range rising out of Hope. On the third day of our trip we will climb the infamous Allison Pass. With a summit at 1342 gruelling metres, this is speculatively the most challenging ride of the trip (Ha! We’ll let you know!). After the Cascades, we’ll go on through the Kootenays and Selkirk ranges to meet the Rockies. To me, all of this looks a fair bit more challenging than cycling along Lakeshore between Toronto and Hamilton.

We know that without adequate training the ride might be impossible, or at best, very painful. We’ve been trying to log as many kilometres as possible but the combination of Sunday being our only day off and that Sundays always seem to have terrible weather, means we haven’t gotten as far as we’d like. We also aim to do quick 20km evening rides after work when possible, but life has been very busy so we’ve only managed this a couple of times.

Our training started in earnest on April 3. It was a freezing cold day and we rode 66km from our Toronto home to the Aldershot GO Station. Considering it was the first long ride of the year and that we had lost feeling in our extremities, we were pretty satisfied and vowed to dress better and ride further the following Sunday. (Note: Because of the wind you create with the bike, riding is MUCH colder than if you were just outside walking around.)

When the next Sunday rolled around (April 10), it was already raining when we woke up. We decided we need to get used to riding in non-ideal conditions so we donned our rain jackets and took the plunge. As we were leaving Alex mentioned  you can get ‘rain booties’ to cover your shoes, I scoffed at the ridiculous idea.

Our plan was to ride 70 km to Oakville and back. By the time we hit the waterfront path, our shoes were already water logged but we kept going through the pouring rain. Things took a turn for the worse after we passed into Mississauga and thunder started crackling around us. Rain is one thing but riding a metal rod through a lightening storm is not the kind of conditioning we want. We decided to race the storm home –and so did every other cyclist on the road, we were passed by a huge racing peloton on their way back to the city. Somehow, the ride back felt twice as far with our feet sloshing around in our shoes, our fingers numb, and the lightening at our back.

We only covered 40km that day but we made some big training gains in gear and clothing appropriateness. Lesson: time to get some rain booties.

April 17: Really? It's hailing again? No riding today.

Finally, April 24 and 25th we had a long weekend and decent weather, which we took as an opportunity to ride out to my sister, nephews, and niece in Cobourg. On the 24th we took the GO Train to Oshawa and rode 70 hilly kilometres without any rain, hail, or snow –it was fabulous! But still, I felt pretty worn out on our shorter return ride to Newcastle the next day. By the end of the 40km my legs were screaming “No more hills!” I know that this actually means I need more hills. Ugh.

Now that we’re one month (!!!) away from departure we need to ramp things up. We’re counting on May for some less chaotic weather so we can stick to our plans for more riding through the week, longer Sunday rides, and hill training –Ugh, it’s for the best.