So to preface this qualifying ride I should mention this is the third attempt at the ride. The first attempt was last Monday (March 10th) where I decided to do the whole thing in one go. Granted I tried at night to cut down the distance I had to travel, I’ve since realized it was foolish to try it in one go, especially when I was tired and underdressed for the weather. I got about 30 km in when, at 1:30 in the morning, I realized I was really getting cold and if I kept it up I would get sick.
The second attempt was a quick one, this last Monday. I planned on riding to work, continuing on my break and finishing after I went home then doing the same thing on Tuesday. Alas, I was offered a late shift on Tuesday when I hoped to have the afternoon to finish the ride in, so I decided to wait until today, Wednesday, to finish the first day of qualifying, considering I only work a few hours on Thursday.
Also, for this race I started trying those power bars. I tried the gels, man they are a trip. Sick.
DAY 1
At this point I only own a 29". I’m planning on getting a 36" for the race, but in the meantime I decided to make do with what I have. I started by mapping out a 20.5km route to get to work from my apartment. The weather all day was around 4 degrees Celsius, so I classified today as extreme temperature. I rode 11.5 km on the route when I got lost, and had to turn around and take a train to work for fear of being late. It took 4.3km to get back to the train station, and then 1km to get to work from where the train dropped me off. All in all the first leg took 16.8 km.
I work as a server, so I spent the next 3 hours walking around the restaurant. After I was done I had about 2 hours before I had to be back to work, so I rode 1.5 km and found a nice stretch of rode 1km long. I rode the stretch 8 times, and then rode back to work with enough time to enjoy a nice club wrap and fries before I started again (totals 11km).
After work I decided to try the 20.5km route back to my house from the opposite direction. The sun was down at this point and the moon was up, so I counted this as night riding. This is when I realized that the point that I got lost at was about 30m away from the path. Ridiculous. I finished the trip and got home and cut myself up a piece of ice cream cake to count up the distance I had gone so far.
I realized I only needed 9 more km’s to finish qualifying today, so I mapped out a 3.5km stretch 1km away from my house. I rode out, rode the 3.5, came back and rode home. That added the 9km I needed, which gave me a rating of 130.
My legs aren’t too sore right now, mostly my right shoulder hurts from the hydration pack I was wearing. My crotch is sore, I’m hoping it’ll be better by morning. We’ll see.
DAY 2
I found it tough to crawl out of bed today. Surprisingly I wasn’t too sore. I grabbed a power bar after showering and hit the rode to work.
The path was beautiful this morning and again, surprisingly I wasn’t super sore. I made killer time on the 20.5 path. I would have finished it in less than 1 ½ hours but I stopped at Dairy Queen for their two cheeseburger deal. I was starving!
After work I met up with my girlfriend and we hung out for a bit, then I rode out to a stretch I had mapped out 1km from my place (same place as the previous night). I rode 7km in on the path and 7km back, so that stint gave me 16km in total.
After this I headed to a friend’s house for a poker night. I was the first one out, it was brutal. I usually can hold my own. I finished at his place around 10 and it took me until 11pm to get back home.
I sat down at my computer and figured out I only needed 23km to finish, so I rode the same 7km stretch as earlier, then doubled back until half way, where I turned around and went home. That gave me 23km at night. That put me at exactly 150.
I expected to be a lot sorer then I am right now. The power bars made a crazy difference from the last two rides.
Can’t wait to see everyone in Nova Scotia!
