Feels great as three days ago I did not even own a bicycle. Have been thinking about getting one and frankly have made a promise to myself that I'd get it if I got that job, just haven't gotten around it. And then some folks in the office asked me to join their corporate team and I thought, why not? So I went bicycle shopping at D'Ornellas on Thursday and found this beauty, then went iback to the store on Friday to get fitted in and get the rest of the gear. The owner of the shop is two time Canadian National champion and an olympian, so when he gave me a crash course on clipping in and road cycling in general I felt very special!
All set and ready to rock I went out for a practice on Saturday to try and get a better feel for my friend before the Sunday event. I was slightly nervous, 75K is a stretch considering I haven't ridden this year at all. The whole thing felt slightly surreal as I got into it last minute, but I pushed nervousness away and concentrated on staying positive and having fun.
Sunday morning I woke up at 4:30 AM and was out of the house at 5 to drive down to Exhibition place and meet my teammates, four TD guys, who ride long stretches all the time. As the sun was coming out we set off up Gardiner onto Don Valley Parkway and all I could think of was how fantastic it was, riding, while most of the city still slept, along the highway that is normally clogged up with cars. That's where I remembered my dad who battled heart desease for a long time and who, in his younger years, cycled over Bosnia and Croatia and told me a story about when he fell asleep on the bicycle and rolled over into a deep ditch.
Getting up to Yorkmills was a breeze and I stayed with the team. Then we went downhill to Bayview and then turned back for the second loop up to Yorkmills. This time around I was puffing and pulling and getting bum pains that made me shift around and work my legs harder. I caught up with my buddies at Yorkmills rest stop, where I filled up on water and carbs and did a bit of stretching. From there back, it was mostly downhill and my beautiful bike did an awesome job rolling me down faster than most other bikes. On flat stretches my teammates interchangeably broke the wind for me and made it easier for me to stay with the group.
As we reached the Exhibition again and I thought we were done, we were directed to continue down Gardiner to Kingsway, another 4K in each direction and I must admit, this is where I felt a bit dizzy… deeper breaths helped and soon we were done and going through the finish line as the crowd cheered and I got some water and a banana.
All together, it took us three hours to finish and I felt like a champion! Like the owner of D'Ornellas said, why wouldn't you want to ride on Don Valley?
