Joy here...The Professor, Power Penna, and I all decided to sneak out of work early on Friday afternoon and get a jump start on our weekend by doing a power ride up to the Pink Lake lookout and back at 3pm. When The Professor and I reached the parking lot at the start of the park under a hot, afternoon sun with the mercury tipping 30 C, Power Penna was nowhere to be found, and we discovered that she was running late and wanted us to get started without her. So we took a big swill of our water to get ready for the hard climb in the height of the daytime sun, and off we pedalled.
The sky was a bright, swimming pool blue stretching on for infinity over our heads, and the afternoon sun made the world crisp and bright, painted in sharp, high relief colours and shapes.
But we saw none of that. We just saw the road at our feet and the trees beside us whizzing by as we pushed the pace. I tried to keep my speed as high as I could, while keeping my pedalling consistent. Instead of pedal pedal pedal coast coast pedal pedal pedal coast... on the flats, I put my bike in its big gear and tried to see how I could push myself. And then at the start of the real climb up to Pink Lake I kept my pace between 15kms/hr and 11kms/hr by the end at the steepest part. It took me 5mins from the start of the climb to the parking lot to grind up that section, and when we arrived back in Canada after our trip to Malaysia, where I didn't ride my bike at all, it took me 8mins to complete that climb. So in less than 2 months, I've shaved 3mins off my time on that particular section of the park.
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| Nice tan lines! |
After The Professor and I drank some more water and congratulated ourselves on making it up that steep climb that used to be so daunting, so impossible, so painful, we turned around for the fun part: DESCENDING! And as we were going downhill we saw Power Penna grinding uphill, making it all look easy. I swear, even in the heat under the blistering sun, I don't think she was breaking a sweat as she pedalled solidly upwards. As we passed each other, she yelled..."sorry, I missed you guys...." and I yelled..."it's okay, I got your message..." and that's all we had time for as we went in our opposite directions riding hard and riding hot on a bright, summer afternoon when it's great to be fit and healthy and out in the world with friends.
When I got home and stripped off my cycling jersey and poured myself a nice, cold drink, I realized that one of the results of a hard, hot ride under an August sun that shows the world in all its brilliance are some tan lines, despite spf 30 sunblock! I'm now sporting some pretty visible lines down my back, and I guess I won't be wearing a fancy, strappy sundress anytime soon, but I guess that price that I pay in the currency of fashion is worth the fun of getting out there and powering both up and downhill on a beautiful day before the peak of summer decides to turn to the descent into fall.
Over and out,
Joy
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