Definitely not a “Coachie” sanctioned training workout, but fun all the same….
Saturday’s group bike ride was kind of thin in numbers….with the weather the way it has been lately those with good common sense chose to train indoors. Those of us with less common sense faced the elements and flirted with death.
It was a morning of two-for’s. Two pairs of socks, two pairs of cycling pants, two shirts and three pairs of gloves. Oh I forgot…two toques under my helmet!
As I headed out the door I thought to myself “I’ll ride for a bit and see just how cold it feels”. Well as it ended up I got the full two and a half hour ride in and it felt great. The snow and ice were not a problem at all, the pot hole were!
I set out to ride West Saanich Road to the ferries then head back on the Pat Bay Highway. I had driven most of the route on Friday and I felt pretty confident that the ice would not be a big problem. I didn’t want to get to much speed so I put it in a very easy gear and chose to work on my peddling with a high cadence.
I’m not sure if cold air has less oxygen in it or not but I can tell you that this ride ended up to be a real good workout for the legs. Perhaps one of our more scientific team mates can answer that one for us? This route would normally have taken me about two hours. It took a bit longer and I finished the ride in two hours and thirty minutes.
I followed this ride up with a forty minute run up Bear Hill trail. This trail is fast becoming one of my favourite hill runs. It’s always different. Last week it was like running up a creek bed with all the rain we had. This weekend it was a snow covered winter wonder land. As I said at the start…it wasn’t a Coachie sanctioned workout but it was a good one all the same.
I think in the next couple of weeks we will be able to start our run workouts on Tuesday night. It looks like we will have two run coaches who will be working closely with Pamela in designing and setting up the workouts. In the meantime if you are planning a swim, bike or run workout, feel free to post it on this site who knows someone may also be looking for a training partner at that time. The reason I opened up the Blog was so that we could all communicate with each other so please feel free to jump in with a idea, a question, or a workout time.
Ray
Saturday’s group bike ride was kind of thin in numbers….with the weather the way it has been lately those with good common sense chose to train indoors. Those of us with less common sense faced the elements and flirted with death.
It was a morning of two-for’s. Two pairs of socks, two pairs of cycling pants, two shirts and three pairs of gloves. Oh I forgot…two toques under my helmet!
As I headed out the door I thought to myself “I’ll ride for a bit and see just how cold it feels”. Well as it ended up I got the full two and a half hour ride in and it felt great. The snow and ice were not a problem at all, the pot hole were!
I set out to ride West Saanich Road to the ferries then head back on the Pat Bay Highway. I had driven most of the route on Friday and I felt pretty confident that the ice would not be a big problem. I didn’t want to get to much speed so I put it in a very easy gear and chose to work on my peddling with a high cadence.
I’m not sure if cold air has less oxygen in it or not but I can tell you that this ride ended up to be a real good workout for the legs. Perhaps one of our more scientific team mates can answer that one for us? This route would normally have taken me about two hours. It took a bit longer and I finished the ride in two hours and thirty minutes.
I followed this ride up with a forty minute run up Bear Hill trail. This trail is fast becoming one of my favourite hill runs. It’s always different. Last week it was like running up a creek bed with all the rain we had. This weekend it was a snow covered winter wonder land. As I said at the start…it wasn’t a Coachie sanctioned workout but it was a good one all the same.
I think in the next couple of weeks we will be able to start our run workouts on Tuesday night. It looks like we will have two run coaches who will be working closely with Pamela in designing and setting up the workouts. In the meantime if you are planning a swim, bike or run workout, feel free to post it on this site who knows someone may also be looking for a training partner at that time. The reason I opened up the Blog was so that we could all communicate with each other so please feel free to jump in with a idea, a question, or a workout time.
Ray
4 comments:
Hooooly, Ray you are a diehard! I debated about the outdoor ride but choose to take the safe route, boring as hell.
For anyone wanting to swim before the rides on Saturdays, Steve Chater has welcomed us to swim with his group Team X, 6 a.m. at Crystal Pool. They do a mixture of drills and swimming. They are a young fast crew but also have the average swimmers like me.
Looking forward to the weekend, hopefully we'll get outdoors.
Wow Ray, I knew you were tough, but riding last Saturday...
Now what about this weekend?
Hi gang: we will be leaving Hamsterly (elk lake) 9 a.m. tomorrow for a ride. Don't forget if you are interested in swimming, Team X has invited us to join them, Sat 6:15 Crystal Pool.
Hope to see you all tomorrow.
Connie, Unless it is raining, I'll see you at swimming at 6:15, and will then be out at the beach to go for a ride at 9:00.
Actually, I'm going to head out there straight from swimming and start riding, in order to get an hour in before the 9am start, as I have to be home by 1pm at the latest.
However, having said all of this, if it is raining, then I will swim at the Y and go on the trainer, instead of the above plans.
Aee you there!
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