Making sure the mtb wont explode before packing it up for Jamaica!
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3447201
21km
842 for January and that'll do it.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sat Jan 23
Pretty big day! Rode up to Rick's place and he gave me a lift up to Ravenshoe. We met up there with Jamie Davies (of Crank the Shield solo SS fame, and now Evolution Cycles too) who led us on a ride through snow conditions that ran the gamut from perfectly packed to shin deep and unridable. The hiking wasn't excessive though and we were in the woods for probably 1.5hrs. Not sure if Jamie got an actual distance on his mostly decorative Powertap computer, but I'll give us 17km on the day for my mileage purposes. Also put the SD1200 into action so I didn't feel like a complete tool for carrying it (and its bulky Pelican case) in my jersey pocket. Think they turned out pretty well, considering that my photographic strategy mainly consists of "leave it on automatic".
Rick asked me where I wanted to get dropped off, and I told him that back at his place was fine because I was still trying to pad my mileage, but he needed to do some shopping so I bolted at Kennedy/401. Since Scarborough Sunday drivers are not my favourite to deal with, I considered riding the rails back down a la Joyride mission, but decided to head to some hydro cut instead. Good choice as it allowed me to bypass 5km of big-box madness. On my way (train nerd alert) I also saw the rare sight of 2 westbound trains shadowing each other out of the Agincourt yard, unfortunately I only caught the tail end by the time I could get close enough and whip out my camera.
Got home and rode up to Michelle's, which put me at about 50km on the day, fueled by only 2 packets of instant oatmeal and a half-bag of Cool Ranch. Upon arrival at her place I ate half a large pizza, drank a bunch of coke and went comatose for about an hour. I believe this is known as 'passive recovery'.
Another 10km back from her place this (sun) morning. Had big plans but a little measly bit of rain scared me.
60
698
1k looking less likely every day
Rick asked me where I wanted to get dropped off, and I told him that back at his place was fine because I was still trying to pad my mileage, but he needed to do some shopping so I bolted at Kennedy/401. Since Scarborough Sunday drivers are not my favourite to deal with, I considered riding the rails back down a la Joyride mission, but decided to head to some hydro cut instead. Good choice as it allowed me to bypass 5km of big-box madness. On my way (train nerd alert) I also saw the rare sight of 2 westbound trains shadowing each other out of the Agincourt yard, unfortunately I only caught the tail end by the time I could get close enough and whip out my camera.
Got home and rode up to Michelle's, which put me at about 50km on the day, fueled by only 2 packets of instant oatmeal and a half-bag of Cool Ranch. Upon arrival at her place I ate half a large pizza, drank a bunch of coke and went comatose for about an hour. I believe this is known as 'passive recovery'.
Another 10km back from her place this (sun) morning. Had big plans but a little measly bit of rain scared me.
60
698
1k looking less likely every day
Friday, January 22, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Watts up Wednesday
Monday, January 18, 2010
After dark....
....is rippin season. Well, to the extent that 23km/h can be considered rippin.
58km
+11km commuting
505 total
still behind
58km
+11km commuting
505 total
still behind
Saturday, January 16, 2010
last 24 hours
More booting around and a very short, easy ride today considering the beautiful weather. But knowing when not to push it is just as important as pushing through it. Or something like that.
43km
435 total
43km
435 total
Friday, January 15, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Balmy -4c
I had the notion of a big ride today in my head all week, putting a lot more faith in the long term weather forecast than I probably should have. Didn't have any crazy ambitions of riding to the middle of Markham this time though. The destination was Steeles and Dufferin at the Thornhill border, primarily on trails. Once again though, I fell just a little short, as I wanted to get home before the sun (and the meager heat it was providing) bid adieu over the western horizon. Hammered back on roads and the Belt Line and made the stop at Ka Ka Lucky for a four dollar feast.
Sigh, almost 4 hours in the saddle and only 55km to show for it. I am sure I cut the apexes off of some corners mapping it but even still, that might account for another km at most. Tempted to add an off-road multiplier to help me meet my mileage goal, but at the same time that would be counter-productive as the point of the goal in the first place is to get me to ride more. Gotta average 250km a week for the next 3, or about 35km a day. Then I get to reward myself with a little sunshine. So I guess til then I will obey the graffiti.
MAP
252 total
Sigh, almost 4 hours in the saddle and only 55km to show for it. I am sure I cut the apexes off of some corners mapping it but even still, that might account for another km at most. Tempted to add an off-road multiplier to help me meet my mileage goal, but at the same time that would be counter-productive as the point of the goal in the first place is to get me to ride more. Gotta average 250km a week for the next 3, or about 35km a day. Then I get to reward myself with a little sunshine. So I guess til then I will obey the graffiti.
MAP
252 total
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Work>Home>Watts Up>Home
12km + 55km virtual (trainer) = 67.
Brings me to 170km give or take on the month. Gotta step it up slightly to hit a thou!
Brings me to 170km give or take on the month. Gotta step it up slightly to hit a thou!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Epic Fail
*Note about this blog: it is by my friend who looks like me and borrowed all of my gear and writes in the same style. However he does illegal things like trespassing that I would never dream of.
Somebody posted on Dropmachine recently asking everybody about their most epic rides of 2009. I thought about it and responded with my four corners ride. Then I thought about my mindstate going into it, and realized that it had been planned and mapped the night before, allowing me to wake up mentally prepared to tackle it.
Last night I was pondering all of this while mapping out my ultimate bluffs ride, which I realized steepness and ice would make a complete impossibility in current weather conditions. So I turned my attention to another pet project; a predominantly off-road route to Joyride 150. I had been thinking about hydro-cuts and maybe even frozen aqueduct type stuff but thick grass and snow just didn't seem that appealing. Then it dawned on me. I'll take the rail-trail!
First though I would have to get dressed. After much pondering it ended up being: 2 long sleeve base layers up top (one thin, one thick with a built-in ninja mask type collar) Cycle Solutions team wind-tex jacket, and below bib-tights, full leg warmers, 29er team bibs, tall thick-ass wool socks over cycling socks, and booties over Shimano mtb shoes with custom foam meat tray insulated insoles. Cycling toque with warm headband up top. Moderately useful Northwave face mask. In Chrome bag: lock, tools, helmet, thin-ish warm-ish gloves, Gore jacket, and a jersey. The jersey and helmet were for if I chose to ride at Joyride once I got there, which in hindsight was ludicrously ambitious.
It is also worth noting I had some pretty warm gloves on, and also handlebar booties that most people seem more amused than intrigued by at the shop. This was my first time really using them and they worked really well. I switched to my thinner gloves after about 10 minutes of riding, which is realistically what allowed me to take any pictures at all! (note I was riding into a stiff wind at about -10c)
I started my journey off-road on a rail line that has probably been abandoned for near a century. It runs under the hydro lines of Taylor Creek park and eventually traces the subway line out to warden and joins with a more recently abandoned line. I picked it up around Dawes road and followed it (with a small break) past Birchmount until it hooked into an active GO train line. From here I could follow the line up to within meters of Joyride.
As I started up the rail-trail, which has a lot more rails and ties and no trespassing signs than your average rail-trail, I did so with the knowledge that Go trains do not run on Sunday, and that there was still a slim chance that a CN freight train could still be shunting on the weekend. And even barring a full-on train coming through, I could still be accosted by CN police, or random hobos, or gun-toting gang members, or slip and crack my helmetless but toasty-warm head on the track. So, suffice it to say, I made goddam sure I had my wits about me for the entire journey, and anybody who had not already considered all of the aforementioned events as possibilities should probably not try riding an active line.
Well, I had carefully weighed all of the aforementioned events' probabilities and figured the extreme cold and long weekend would probably afford relatively safe passage. So I started heading north at Kennedy station. I had a pretty stiff headwind, and was continuously riding over bumpy gravel, so it was a bit of a slog. My face was frozen, my moderately useful face mask had been made wet by my breath and froze after 30 mins as expected, and I worked my way through the ninja mask collar in the same fashion. As I was approaching Steeles I felt the cold stiffening my jaw. But I carried on!
But only for about another 10 minutes. The snow and wind seemed to be picking up and my feet were protesting so I made my way back to a Timmies on Steeles for a coffee and bagel and artificially heated environment, and also got intimate with their hand dryer and the wall trying to warm up my collar.
The way back down was pretty uneventful, same route with a tailwind so much faster and easier. At this point I really did not care that I didn't make it to Joyride as I was quite enjoying retracing my steps with an inch of fresh snow on top of them, especially once I wasn't riding on gravel and railway ties anymore. My total saddle time ended up around 3 hours, which is none too quick for any ride under 50km, but I stood up against inclement conditions for the first time in 2010 and I hope to make that a habit. 1000km January? Who knows?
map
Somebody posted on Dropmachine recently asking everybody about their most epic rides of 2009. I thought about it and responded with my four corners ride. Then I thought about my mindstate going into it, and realized that it had been planned and mapped the night before, allowing me to wake up mentally prepared to tackle it.
Last night I was pondering all of this while mapping out my ultimate bluffs ride, which I realized steepness and ice would make a complete impossibility in current weather conditions. So I turned my attention to another pet project; a predominantly off-road route to Joyride 150. I had been thinking about hydro-cuts and maybe even frozen aqueduct type stuff but thick grass and snow just didn't seem that appealing. Then it dawned on me. I'll take the rail-trail!
First though I would have to get dressed. After much pondering it ended up being: 2 long sleeve base layers up top (one thin, one thick with a built-in ninja mask type collar) Cycle Solutions team wind-tex jacket, and below bib-tights, full leg warmers, 29er team bibs, tall thick-ass wool socks over cycling socks, and booties over Shimano mtb shoes with custom foam meat tray insulated insoles. Cycling toque with warm headband up top. Moderately useful Northwave face mask. In Chrome bag: lock, tools, helmet, thin-ish warm-ish gloves, Gore jacket, and a jersey. The jersey and helmet were for if I chose to ride at Joyride once I got there, which in hindsight was ludicrously ambitious.
It is also worth noting I had some pretty warm gloves on, and also handlebar booties that most people seem more amused than intrigued by at the shop. This was my first time really using them and they worked really well. I switched to my thinner gloves after about 10 minutes of riding, which is realistically what allowed me to take any pictures at all! (note I was riding into a stiff wind at about -10c)
I started my journey off-road on a rail line that has probably been abandoned for near a century. It runs under the hydro lines of Taylor Creek park and eventually traces the subway line out to warden and joins with a more recently abandoned line. I picked it up around Dawes road and followed it (with a small break) past Birchmount until it hooked into an active GO train line. From here I could follow the line up to within meters of Joyride.
As I started up the rail-trail, which has a lot more rails and ties and no trespassing signs than your average rail-trail, I did so with the knowledge that Go trains do not run on Sunday, and that there was still a slim chance that a CN freight train could still be shunting on the weekend. And even barring a full-on train coming through, I could still be accosted by CN police, or random hobos, or gun-toting gang members, or slip and crack my helmetless but toasty-warm head on the track. So, suffice it to say, I made goddam sure I had my wits about me for the entire journey, and anybody who had not already considered all of the aforementioned events as possibilities should probably not try riding an active line.
Well, I had carefully weighed all of the aforementioned events' probabilities and figured the extreme cold and long weekend would probably afford relatively safe passage. So I started heading north at Kennedy station. I had a pretty stiff headwind, and was continuously riding over bumpy gravel, so it was a bit of a slog. My face was frozen, my moderately useful face mask had been made wet by my breath and froze after 30 mins as expected, and I worked my way through the ninja mask collar in the same fashion. As I was approaching Steeles I felt the cold stiffening my jaw. But I carried on!
But only for about another 10 minutes. The snow and wind seemed to be picking up and my feet were protesting so I made my way back to a Timmies on Steeles for a coffee and bagel and artificially heated environment, and also got intimate with their hand dryer and the wall trying to warm up my collar.
The way back down was pretty uneventful, same route with a tailwind so much faster and easier. At this point I really did not care that I didn't make it to Joyride as I was quite enjoying retracing my steps with an inch of fresh snow on top of them, especially once I wasn't riding on gravel and railway ties anymore. My total saddle time ended up around 3 hours, which is none too quick for any ride under 50km, but I stood up against inclement conditions for the first time in 2010 and I hope to make that a habit. 1000km January? Who knows?
map
Turning over an old leaf on a regular basis
So I am far too lazy to write daily on this thing, so I figure the least I can do is post up any and all riding I do, even if it is just commuting or whatever. So that is the goal/plan for 2010, every time I pedal a bike it'll get posted up here.
Jan 1: NADA
Jan 2: 11km http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3391076 about 30mins (or an hour including stops to warm up/browse half-price outerwear/buy falafel)
Jan 1: NADA
Jan 2: 11km http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3391076 about 30mins (or an hour including stops to warm up/browse half-price outerwear/buy falafel)
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