Catching up: #4 40km training ride

My new bike!

Yep 40km sounds like alot eh. it's really not that bad. i basically bike around the perimeter of guelph. with my trusty bike shorts (you know you're not supposed to wear underwear under them!), my camelback water hydration system (that froze at one point) snacks in bag, map (yes), off i went. things were all going great untill i really had to pee. like bad. i was in the south end where there is nothing but houses. not even convienience stores. and i didn't think anyone would take lightly to me squatting beside thier burning bush in thier front garden. so i kept biking. i hit victoria rd. finally maybe some bush i can run off into. nope how about wide open farmer fieilds. i must note that it is difficult to bike and cross your legs at the same time. i finally found releif (thank god) at the tim hortons by lens mill. holy moly. i want to get one of those "go girl" things so i can pee standin up. i think it might be a good investment. but all in all 40km not so bad. took be about 2 hours 15 mins, including pee break. i do look f.orard to my new bike coming in. i'm getting a devinci stockholm. even got fancy dancy clipless shoes. it should come in anyday now. any day now. i hear when you switch from a mountain to a hybrid you feel like you're flying. i look forward to that. But right now i'm at home  on the couch with a kidney stone. so no biking for me. hopefully this will pass quickly and i can get back at 'er.

Catching up: number trois

So i traveled (by bus) to The big city (toronto) to go to a newbie information session. while in toronto i purchased some very nice bike shorts from mec. they kinda make me feel like i'm wearing i diaper, but hey if it means my ass won't hurt great. The information session was held at the office of the People with AIDS foundation. What a busy place. holy. They began the session by having a person who PWA supports come in and tell thier story. PWA Toronto helps so many people in so many ways. Support groups, one on one therapy, warm smiles, helping people find the medication they need, helping greiving families, providing food to those in need, as well as providing public education and aweareness campaigns. I learned alot that night. All about the ride and how it all works. The ride is largely volunteer run (only 1 or 2 staff). All of these volunteers are amazing passionate people who care so so much about this foundation. The time and energy (on top of training themselves) they dedicate to the ride is inspiring. PWA is so important to the lives of so many people. please consider sponsoring me. every little bit helps a lot.

catching up: training ride number 2

So after 17km in the slushrain i thought how bad could 30km in nice weather be. so off we go doing a similar but slightly differnt route, this time with ample water and maps and good directions (and left and right written on the correct hand...very helpful, believe me). up to willow to whitelaw down to downy over to gordon to speedvale to home. this ride i did really see the need for bike shorts. wow. i needed to get some bike shorts. besides the bum painfulness, 30km no problemo. even on tank.

Catching up: training ride numero uno

Tank

I've already started training. Not as much as i'd like but i'm still figuring out where my starting point is. And my new bike hasn't come in yet so it's me and tank, becoming even closer freinds. Tank by the way is my silver with black splatter paint raghleih tomohawk mountain bike. We've been though all kinds of weather, many part replacements and lots of heavy loads. Tank fits me well and i'm kinda sad tank won't (really really won't) make the ride to montreal.

  So a quick recap of my first training ride.



Ride #1. so remember back one saturday that guelph got all that slushy rain stuff. ya yucky. somehow i decided it was a decent day for a ride. just a quick 10km ending me up downtown where i could so my gorceries then come home. the plan bike out 124 to fife, turn on whitelaw to paisley then take paisley downtown. as i said before this was the plan. what happened. i got to fife and whitelaw and and turned the wrong way. beautiful countryside out that way. oh and did i mention i neglected to bring a map with me. lots of learning to be done. I was starting to think "hmmm this seems like a long way" when i hit niska, then downey rd. yep. turned left when i should have gone right. ended up doing about 17km. my butt started to hurt around 15. and all this in the slushrain. good thing i had my supercool goggles on.

Sooper cool.

In the begining there was a bicycle...

So this is my blog welcome. As you will quickly notice i'm not a very good writer and an even worse speller, but here i am bloggin just the same.  As you may (or may not) know this summer i'm challenging myself to do things that are way bigger than me, to take chances, to grow in ways i didn't think i needed growing in, to learn, to love, to explore (to become excessivly and sickeningly poetically romantic...). So one of things i'm doing to challence myself is i'm going for a bike ride. A very long bike ride. On July 24th, myself along with around 400 others will be departing Toronto and over the following 6 days will ride our bikes all the way to Montreal, over 650 km in total. Why would we be crazy enough to such a thing you ask? well i'll tell you, it's a fundraiser for the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation (PWA). This foundation provides essential services and support, to thousands of men, transmen, transwomen, women, and children living with HIV/AIDS and their families.They support our neighbours, our friends, and people in our community. Community is incredibly important to me and this ride is a community of people coming together to inspire, support, and take care of one another. 
This blog will a map of my journey please follow along as i begin my training. and i hope you'll consider sponsoring me.You can do so by visiting my sponsor page by clicking HERE

Thank you for following me on my journey and thank you for your support.