Running? What's that?

Joy here...Last week I was out of town for work-related meetings.  I've blogged about the difficulties with keeping up a training regime when travelling numerous times before (first here in 2010 when I had to go to an out-of-town conference, then here, or here in 2011 when I went to babysit my toddler nephew and ran after him, but didn't train, or here in 2012 when I went on a trip to NYC with my non-running/non-cycling sister, or often when I whinge about having to travel to Winnipeg where no sport ever unfolds as it should amidst the work and socializing).

One of our friends--an IronMan athlete who came to our Lake Placid party--also happens to be from my hometown, and he recently had to travel there where his training suffered too (you can read his post here).

So I headed off to Winnipeg...I didn't bring my bike, but I brought my running shoes and numerous changes of clothes so that I'd be set to resume some running and not let all my fitness fade.

Ha!

What did I do?

Good question.

Nothing.

I worked; I socialized; I visited; I ate, and I drank.  I didn't ride or run the whole time I was there.

However, I reconnected with high school friends who I graduated with some 18 years ago.  We had dinner; we had drinks, and we decided that we all definitely look much better now than we did back in high school...so I can't complain.  I won't complain.  It was a much-needed break, and I wouldn't have missed any of the socializing just to go for a run or a ride.

And since I've returned home, I've been very busy catching up on everything, which means that I missed this week's Time Trial as well as the Women on Wheel's ride.  I did, however, get out the door in my Vibram Five Fingered shoes for a 20 minute run, the first run since March!!!  (Today's blog echoes the title of one back in November, again when I seemed to find very little time for running, but enjoyed my barefoot run nonetheless.)

It felt fine, no aches and pains, but it's certainly not the same as going for a good, long, hard bike ride.  Now I'm worried that I'll get back on my bike this weekend and fall over due to lack of fitness and two weeks off the bike.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, and stay tuned for more updates!

Over and out,
Joy

Carp Loop

Joy here...Since I began thinking about riding in the local bike race--the Gatineau Grand Prix (and blogged about that decision here)--I've made the decision to throw myself into as many group rides as I can.  And so when one of the women who I met on a rainy Women on Wheels ride last week invited me to join a group of women cyclists who meet up every now and then on a Saturday morning for a group ride, I was in for sure.

The meeting spot, not my usual bike shop, but
a good one nonetheless!

Before I could ride with the group, though, she offered me a cycling skills clinic, and so at 8am, I showed up for the clinic, and it turned out that only she and I were present, so the "clinic" was more of a one-on-one tutorial, for which I was very grateful.

Like our cross-country ski instructor who began with the basics and had us doing drills--one foot at a time, no poles etc.--this ex-team bike racer had me doing drills--figure eights, bunny hops, turning circles in a parking space--and I couldn't have been a keener student.

Everyone says "it's just like riding a bike," whenever they're talking about something that's apparently really easy and that you'll never forget.  But what if you never really learned how to ride a bike?  Then what?

Evidence of one of my early falls.

As a kid, I learned how to "ride a bike" in that I learned how to propel it forward without falling over.  That's it.  I never learned any technique, and I never really owned a bike.  And when I did own a bike, I never rode it anywhere, because I was afraid of theft.  My hometown "has a much higher bike theft rate than elsewhere," and one Winnipegger writes that cyclists should simply "learn that it is Winnipeg and bikes get stolen on a day to day basis."*  So for all intents and purposes, I didn't learn how to ride a bike until I was in my thirties.  And by "ride a bike," I mean that I learned how to make it go forward...not necessarily without falling over!

So this morning's one-on-one lesson was really helpful.  Did you know that when turning a corner on a bike, you should have the outside leg straight and the inside leg bent?  I didn't know that.  Let me tell you, it sure did make a difference to my turning radius!  (I actually can't wait to try out my new turning technique at the next time trial!)

Once I had mastered the basics, we rode back to the meeting spot and another cyclist met up with us, and out we headed for what turned out to be a 95km bike ride over some rolling country roads (well known to local cyclists as the Carp Loop).

My cycling buddies for today's ride.

While out in the country, we continued the theme of "drills," practicing different types of pace lines, learning how to sprint, and how best to build up speed going up and down rollers.

It was a great ride as the sky got bluer and bluer and the sun warmer and warmer.  I never felt tired, taxed, or put to the limit with these other more-experienced riders, and I was able to learn a lot from them.

Oh, and it doesn't hurt that they're both really nice!

And they think that I should just sign up for the Grand Prix and give it a try.

So maybe I will.

Over and out,
Joy

*Both quotations are taken from a Winnipeg bike shop's website offering tips to avoid having your bike stolen.  Click here for the full article from Gord's Ski and Bike Shop.

A Word About Rapha (& Loop #14)

Not quite the fashion I'm talking about!

Joy here...In lots of couples it's the woman who is all about fashion.  It's the woman who has a massive shoe collection and whose clothing takes up more closet space than is strictly fair in a master bedroom.  It's the woman who blushes and hides the receipt when she sneaks out to go shopping, returning home laden with clothes that she simply needs.  It's the woman who preens in front of the mirror and trolls online shopping sites looking for deals.

Not so in our house.

In our house, it's The Man who is the clothing nut.

But make no mistake, I'm not married to a metrosexual with fantastic taste in Prada or Gucci.

Instead, I'm married to an athlete who enjoys the finer things about athletic aesthetics.

Rapha - the Mothership of
cycling gear.

Let me explain:  when I very first started running, it was a sport I took up to share with him (a story I explain in one of our more popular posts here--Long Runs and Running Demons), and I used to think that I could run wearing anything.  I had a pair of old second-hand shoes, a cotton T-shirt, and some cut off sweat pants that I had turned into shorts.  I figured that I was just going to get all sweaty, so what's the big deal with what I was wearing?  Well, I was soon educated on the finer points of technical fabrics, wicking, tights, running shoes, socks etc. and have begun to develop my own preferences when it comes to running gear (as Nomi and I outline in our "Favourite Things" blog post).

And with cycling, once again, it was The Man who took the fashionista lead, and I'm catching up.  It all began a couple of years ago, when he discovered Rapha, a UK-based cycling company.  They make everything from cycling shoes to cycling bibs to underwear; they have continental touring teams; they make awesome, short cycling videos; and most importantly, they make really stylish, good quality cycling gear.

We're hooked.

And now we've gotten all our friends hooked.

Click the pic for a larger picture of
the Rapha gilet that started
all this Rapha madness (or
click here for the Rapha site).

Click the pic for a larger picture of
 the women's Rapha soft-shell
that both the Sashinator and I have
 (click here for the Rapha site).

It started when we bought Superdave a great Gilet for his 60th birthday.  Then we started adding to our own collection.  Then Superdave's wife, Cili Padi, tried on my cycling shorts for sizing, loved the length of them and bought a bunch for herself.  Then as The Man, Superdave, Cili Padi, and I began to grow our collections (both Cili Padi and I were Rapha clad on our first ride this spring), we sucked the Sashinator into our shopping spree, and she and I now have matching soft-shell jackets for the cooler weather.  Then with the onset of warmer weather, The Professor joined the fray, buying herself some Rapha gear, including their amazing lightweight jersey.

So when Friday morning came around and a bunch of us all met up for an easy loop of the park, we realized that we were all kitted out as "Team Rapha."

Our little "Team Rapha" at Champlain Lookout.

There were Rapha bib shorts, Rapha women's shorts, Rapha socks, Rapha shoe covers, Rapha arm-warmers, a classic Rapha women's jerseys, some Rapha lightweight jerseys, a Rapha cap, and a Rapha Imperial Works jersey all on show.

We rode that park - 65kms door to door - at a pace a little easier than my usual pace these days (25km/hr versus 27km/hr), but, damn, we looked good.

And if you look good, you feel good.  And if you feel good, you're motivated to get out there and ride. And once you're riding, the whole wide world is your oyster.

The view that even our Rapha gear can't compare with.

So just ride,
Joy

Second 15km Time Trial: A Little Tipsy!

Joy here...When we woke up Tuesday morning, the rain was falling, and the sky was grey.  The weather network called for rain showers all day, turning into thunderstorms later on in the afternoon and early evening, so since it was The Man's birthday, we figured we'd have a bit of a "Yahoo Day" and head out for a decadent lunch--multiple tapas plates, champagne, chocolate pate--and I wouldn't go to the weekly time trial.  I mean, it would be cancelled if there was thunder and lightning...no one wants to be struck, just for the sake of a local bike race.

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you...

But then, lo and behold, by 4pm, the skies were clearing up.  The rain had stopped, and the cloud cover began to thin.  So with two glasses of champagne bubbling in my tummy, I got myself dressed in my cycling gear, loaded up the bike, and headed out to the start line of the weekly time trial.

And...wouldn't you know it?...of course the weather predictions were wrong, and there were no thundershowers; in fact, the rain had let up enough that the road was drying out as I warmed up and got ready (and by now I should have known better than to trust the weather reports).

The weather wasn't out to get me, but that chocolate dessert and the champagne were sitting like rocks in my distended belly, and my attention on the world around me seemed a little fractured.

In fact, I think I may have been just the teensiest bit tipsy.  But would I let a little booze keep me from competing?  Of course not.

But would that little bit of booze keep me from being competitive?  Of course it would.

Me warming up (please don't throw up,
please don't throw up, please don't throw up...)

As I started out onto the course, I realized that the wind was a lot stronger than I had expected and that my legs were a little wobbly from the indulgences.  I pedalled, and I huffed, and I chased down the woman who started 30 seconds in front of me, but at the turnaround point, I did the math in my head and realized that I was looking at a 27minute completion time, a full 86 seconds slower than last week.  Then as I was doing that tipsy math and willing my legs to somehow find some more strength, I was passed by the woman who started 30 seconds behind me.  She just blew past me as though I had been standing still, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I clicked into an easier gear and hoped that would help my legs to move faster, but the wind was gusting all around, and no matter what, I just couldn't keep my speed up at the 35km/hr mark; I kept dipping below it.

Then another woman passed me.

But this time, I could keep her in my sights.  I let her get the regulated 2 bike lengths ahead of me, and then I just matched my leg speed to hers and kept her just in my line of vision.  She passed other riders as we neared the final 3kms, and I also passed them.  I saw her storm past the finish line, and I passed two other riders before crossing the line myself.

Yahoo Day!

I was tired, disappointed, and still feeling a little unsettled in my tummy.

But when the times were posted, I came in first in my age category with a 26:11 time.  Last week, I came in 9th and was thrilled with my first-ever 15km time trial experience; this week I came in 8th but I felt a little bit disappointed in my overall experience.

With the wind, the chocolate and the champagne, my speed this week was 34.37km/hr and last week it was 34.97km/hr.

So in case you were wondering...drinking booze before competing in a race doesn't actually make you faster!

Over and out,
Joy

Gatineau Grand Prix: Recce the Course (Loops #12 & #13)

Joy here...Since I've done very little (i.e. no) running this spring but a lot of bike riding, many of the posts on this blog this year have been about cycling, and in particular, they've been about cycling in Gatineau Park, the local park maintained by the government of Canada, which is great for cyclists and is one of the reasons we still live in this town!

The usual loop--from Gamelin Parking lot all the way up to
Champlain Lookout and back to the bottom--totalling 42kms.
(Then I would add on the additional distance to and from the parking
lot from home to get my total ride distance.)

This park began to appear on this blog in the summer of 2010, when I completed my first loop through it on my bike (well, actually, it was technically my second loop, but the first one was in 2007 on my second-ever bike ride in life, and it was more of a torture fest...it took me years before I got back on my bike after that, so I like to block out that experience).  That summer of 2010, I was able to ride 5 loops of the park from July to October, in preparation for my first-ever half marathon.

Last summer--the summer of the "sisterhood"--I completed just under 25 loops of the park, and this year, it's only June, but I'm already up to 13 loops of the park.

Quite obviously, my cycling has overtaken my running as of late.  And I figured it was about time to provide some more info about the park itself and what I mean when I talk about: the Pink Lake climb (like when I did repeats and blogged about them here--a post with links to other Pink Lake rides--or here--a post where I describe the aim of hill repeats in the first place); or  the nasty Fortune Climb (like here, where I blogged about this year's first ride up Fortune or here, where I wrote about the bear we encountered at the top of the fortune climb); or what it means when I say "loops" of the park (like when I blogged about the "sisterhood's" first ever two-loop ride of the park last year).

So the pic of the map above gives a sense for the ride.

Click for a larger version.
This pic shows
Wednesday's truncated ride due to rain and hail 
(still a total ride of 27kms).

The "Women on Wheels" rides (except for last Wednesday's that was truncated due to rain), start at the Gamelin meeting spot and go all the way up to Champlain (including those two climbs, Pink and Fortune) before returning to the same meeting spot.

The Gatineau Grand Prix, however, which is an annual bike race in the park, starts after Pink Lake and includes the shorter loop circuit (i.e. excluding Champlain Lookout).  It begins/ends along the part marked "Gatineau Parkway" on the map, goes up Fortune, turns left at the Champlain Parkway, down to the junction, and then turns right and starts all over again.  That constitutes the race "loop."

Depending on one's racing category, one might have to do as many as 6 of those race loops!  The women's novice category complete 2 of those race loops, and since I've been riding my bike so much this spring, I began to toy with the idea of *maybe* entering the Gatineau Grand Prix come mid-July.  So I headed out on Sunday to ride with the thought in mind that I should try doing the two loops of the race course and then compare my times with the times of previous races to see if at this point--only a month out from the race itself--I would have a hope in hell of not coming in last place after hours of unprecedented suffering.

21km race loop of the Gatineau
Grand Prix.

It was my chance to reconnoitre the course--or recce it as the pro cyclists say!

So we rode the 24.6km from home to the starting point of the race circuit and then began the timer so that we could see how I would measure up against past racers in the women's novice category.  In the last year that the race was offered the winning group of women finished each 21km loop in under 40 minutes, thus finishing the entire race in under an hour and a half.  The women who came in the last places finished each of their 21km loops in over 50 minutes, thus finishing the entire race in around an hour and three quarters.  Armed with this info, I had a target of somewhere between 39 minutes and 55 minutes to see where I would slot in, were I to do this race.

Now, of course, the race is still over a month away, and I've not done any training, and I have never even done a bunch race or anything like that.  So this little recce ride isn't going to give me full and predictable data of any kind, just a kind of guestimate so that I can figure whether or not I'd be up for trying a real bike race.

As I started my first loop, my legs felt much better than last Sunday, when I felt tired and like I was pedalling through molasses.  As we climbed up Fortune, I felt powerful, but like I still wasn't able to go as fast as I wanted, and as we reached the very top of the loop at the turn around point, I could feel my lower back paining me.  Nonetheless, I tried to gain some time on some of the downhills--topping speeds of 68km/hr--so that as I went over the rolling section of the loop, I'd have some power.

I did the two loops, and then as The Man trundled on to do a third, I turned around and rode back to the Gamelin meeting point to check my data, count my kilometres and minutes, and see where I would have slotted in.  (In total, my door-to-door ride was 91.2kms in under 4 hours...a far cry from the 5 hours it took me back in 2010 to do one stinking loop!)

I did my first 21km loop in 46 minutes and my second one in 48 minutes, coming in just over an hour and a half, and had I been in that race in 2010 with the novice women whose data I was using to gauge myself against, I would have come in third from the bottom.

Pretty sobering.

But then again, I wouldn't have been last place.

And I've got more than a month to improve.

So maybe, just maybe, I'll build up the courage to sign up for my first real bunch bike race.

Over and out,
Joy

WOW: Hardcore Points

Waiting n the parking lot to begin.

Joy here...Two weeks ago, I went for my first ride with the Women on Wheels (WOW) riders who meet up in the park on Wednesday nights, and while I had to miss last week's ride, I wasn't about to miss this week's, so out I went under a blue sky towards the parking lot where we would all meet.

The day was hot - around 25C - and while there seemed to be a storm system moving all around Ottawa, I didn't even think that there might be a threat of rain.  I didn't bring a rain jacket.  I didn't bring a change of clothes.  I didn't bring a towel.

Big mistake.

All of them.

As a few women gathered around in the parking lot, the sky began to look gloomier and gloomier as dark and threatening clouds rolled in.  When the starting time (6pm) came, we decided to give it a shot, and so 8 of us headed out in two neat rows of 4 rotating in a line and practicing group riding techniques.  All was going well so far.

The blue sky staring to be edged out by
the incoming rain clouds.

Then as we approached Pink Lake, one of the more experienced riders - an ex-bike racer who actually sped past me in this week's Time Trial, finishing an impressive 5th to my 9th place - said to the group, "I'm just going to ride at my own pace; meet you at the top," and off she went.  Well, like a bull seeing the flapping red cape of a taunting matador, I was off after her.  I chased her up that hill and stayed about 200m behind her the whole way up, but just wasn't able to reach her before the climb levelled out.  Nonetheless, the two of us were quite a bit ahead of the rest of the group behind us.  When we all regrouped at the top, 2 of the original 8 decided to turn around and head for home.

They were the smart ones.

The rest of us carried onwards.  Then, the rain started.  At first it was just a little sprinkling, and we figured that we weren't made of sugar, we could just keep on going.  Then it started to rain a lot harder, and we all began to have second thoughts.  And then as I was tearing down one of the descents, the rain was pelting me and hail began to ding off my helmet and pelt my face and legs.  As I got to the bottom of the descent to wait for the other 5 riders, the first loud crack of thunder broke the charcoal sky to bits and lighting lit us up, giving us the very clear message that our ride was over for the day.

That sky should have been a clear warning
to us to cut our losses and just go home!

4 of the other riders met me at the bottom of that hill, and we decided to ride back safely to the parking lot, not worrying about speed or time, but just being safe.  1 never made it to the bottom of that hill, because she wisely turned back as soon as the rain began to pelt.

So 5 of us started our painful ride back, with rain falling in sheets and flooding the street in rivulets of flowing water and spray coming off the wheels of the rider in front of you, you could barely see where you were going.  If I kept my sunglasses on, I couldn't see because they were fogged with the humidity and splattered with rain, but if I took them off, I couldn't see through the rain, and my bare eyes were getting pelted with water and grit from the road.  It was a lose-lose scenario, and so I just did my best to swap between glasses/no glasses as we rode along.  Then as we passed under a bridge and gained the brief shelter accorded by the overpass, one of the riders decided to wait out the worst of the rain there.

Out of our original 8, we were now down to 4.  Onward we trundled:  wet, cold, covered in goosbumps, unable to see properly, and afraid of crashing out.  But we made it back to the parking lot, waved each other off, and huddled in the warmth of our cars.

All in all, we pulled off a 27km ride (only 15kms shy of what our original aim was), earning some serious hardcore points along the way!

Over and out,
Joy

First 15km Time Trial: My Inner Lance Armstrong

Joy here...Last week was my final 10km Time Trial of the Ottawa Bicycle Club's annual women-only Time Trial series that runs from May to August.  This week the distance jumps from the manageable 10kms to a frightening 15kms.

Now that might not sound like much of a jump, but, trust me, it is.

At the 10km Time Trial distance, I can be riding, giving my all, feeling like I'm going to puke, but then I can look down and see that I've completed 8kms, and will myself onwards to the final 2kms.  But now for the 15km Time Trial distance, I will be riding, giving my all, feeling like I'm going to puke, and then I will look down and see that I've completed 8kms, and I will want to die, because I'll only be halfway through!  

So as we drove to the new starting line for the longer distance, I was feeling a little apprehensive.  I didn't really ride last week (only Tuesday's 10km Time Trial and then Sunday's ride in the park with the bear), and so I was feeling a bit lazy and out of shape on top of being nervous about the demands of the new distance.

But as I started warming up on my stationary trainer, I began to feel better and better.  I decided that I would just ride this Time Trial like Lance.

What I look like in my head.

Lance Armstrong - 7 time Tour de France winner - at age 40 has just taken up professional triathlons again (he used to be a triathlete in his teens).  He did his first-ever half ironman triathlon in February and placed 2nd.  He's been in the top 10 in the following 4 half ironmans that he's competed in, winning 2 of them.  And how does he win?  He uses his strength on the bike and just powers away from the rest of the field, forcing them to chase him for the final leg of the event - a half marathon finish after riding the bike for 90kms - and for both the Florida and Hawaii events, no one was able to catch him!

So as I rolled my bike over to the start line to get ready with the rest of the women, I just wanted to be like Lance - high cadence, full confidence, impressive results - and didn't let my nervousness about the new 15km distance overwhelm me.

Out there on the course, I got a wobbly start, and then my computer didn't kick in right away, so I knew that my time and my distance would be slightly off, so I couldn't really count on reliable data from my computer.  All I could do was ride by feel - keeping my breathing rhythmic and trying my hardest to keep my legs spinning fast.  I would check my power every now and then to make sure I was riding at around 200watts and that my speed was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 35km/hr.

Me warming up.

I shouted "on your left" each time I had to pass some unsuspecting commuting cyclist out on the course (and, of course, without fail each time I passed a guy, he would try to speed up and race me...can you say fragile male ego???).  And if I was passing someone who was competing in the Time Trial - like this amazing 80 year old who competes each week - I would shout encouragement:  "we're almost done!" and usually give a thumbs-up.  You never know when someone needs just that tiny bit of a boost to keep on going.

As I tore through the finish-line with no idea of my average speed or time because of my little computer mishap off the starting line, I had no idea how I did.  I cooled down amongst the other riders, and when one of the women asked "how did it go?" all I could say was, "15 is much harder than 10!" to which she heartily agreed.

Then we gathered around the time keepers to find out how we did, and I'm happy to report that I finished within the top 10 of my first-ever 15km time trial.  My average speed was 34.97km/hr, and I averaged just under 200watts for the whole duration.  I finished in 25:44...next week let's hope I can get closer to 25 minutes flat.

Or even break 25 minutes.

That's what Lance would do.

Over and out,
Joy

The Teddy Bears' Picnic! (Loops #10 & #11)

Champlain Lookout first time around...cloudy, but no rain.

Joy here...With the alarm Sunday morning came cloudy skies and the weatherman's promise of rain.  And on the heels of those promises, my riding buddies backed out of the morning's ride one by one.  So at 7am when The Man and I rode out under a light cloud cover, we knew we'd be on our own.

But it wasn't to last for long.

Soon we tagged on to the back end of a group of 5 cyclists riding out to the park too.  We had met one or two of them at our local bike shop before (The Cyclery...where I'm sure we spend our body weight on bike stuff), and so we just rode out on their back wheel until we got to the park, and then they went on their way, and we waited a moment to see if any of our friends were going to brave the reports of inclement weather.

They weren't.

So we rolled into the park to do our two loops - 90kms - to beat the rain.  I'll be honest, with last week's epic two-loop ride coinciding with Ryder Hesjedal's historic win in the Giro d'Italia, last week I felt like I was on top of the world.  Last Sunday, my legs were strong; my breathing was easy; my body was powerful; I was woman, hear me roar!  (Cue Helen Reddy's 1970s classic over and over again in your head).

Let's just hope this little black bear doesn't have
any friends in there with him!

Yeah, not so much this week.

Instead, my legs were weak; I felt like I just couldn't pedal fast enough; and I had no roar in my heart or my lungs.

But it wasn't my own feeble roar that was more of a whimper that I should have been worried about.

Because while our friends may not have opted to ride with us, we certainly weren't alone out there.  No we weren't.

As we climbed up the steep part of Fortune Lake, I rode up to The Man and looked beyond his shoulder to the side of the road to see a black bear just lingering in the greenery.  We stopped and watched him, but that bear just wasn't going anywhere.  He was looking at us with curiosity, and we were looking at him with a bit of worry.

Suddenly it wasn't a women's lib anthem ringing between my ears, but the creepy lyrics of the teddy bears' picnic:

If you go out in the woods today

You're sure of a big surprise.

If you go out in the woods today

You'd better go in disguise.

For every bear that ever there was

Will gather there for certain, because

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

Just hang in' out there watching us watch him...

We waited and waited and waited and waited as the little bear seemed to be talking to his teddy bear friends just beyond the tree line, no doubt figuring out who was responsible for bringing the red and white checked table cloth for their picnic, when finally, we just decided to ride by really really quickly in the hopes that the little bear didn't think it would be fun to chase us down, or swipe at our wheels to see what would happen.

So The Man went first, bursting past the bear at 40km/hr, and then I went, slowing only so that I could look over my shoulder and make sure that the other woman who stopped with us also made it safely past the bear.

We did.

She did.

Maybe their teddy bears' picnic was more of a vegetarian kind than a cyclist kind.

At the apex of loop #2!

On our second round up that Fortune Lake climb, we kept our eyes wide open for our furry friend, but he was nowhere to be seen, and so my suffering legs didn't get the reprieve that standing around watching the bear offered.  (Dammit)  So onward we rode, up to Champlain Lookout for the second time, and just as we began to ride away, the skies opened up and it began to pour.

The Man decided to do one more loop of the park, but I just rode home in the increasingly cold and wet morning, collecting some serious hardcore points on the way.

By the time I got home, I clocked just over 90kms on the bike, 3 1/2 hours of riding, with an average speed of 25km/hr.  Of course, that would have been a faster average had I not been afraid for my life going down the descents in the pouring rain.

But I want to live to see another day, another bear.  And so I rode conservatively.

And then it was time for my picnic.

Trust me, I'm no vegetarian.

Over and out,
Joy