Exceeding All Expectations:

Wow...I am absolutely amazed. Here I am, just a few hours after riding by bike (almost) 50 kms, and I AM NOT DEAD.

The scoop: Emily and I arrived at the CNE for the Becel Ride for Heart at 7:15am this morning, but that was the time we were supposed to be at the starting line. We quickly grabbed our stuff and found our way to the start and it turned out we could go even though we were about 15 minutes late.

Biking along the Gardiner Expressway and up the Don Valley Parkway was kind of pleasant at some points (the downhills) and quite brutal at other points (the uphills), but overall it was not as bad as I had imagined. It was less of a gruelling ordeal than, say, the CN Tower Stair Climb because (1) the scenery changes, (2) you can bring food and drink along with you (actually, it was provided for free at the rest stops), and (3) you get to see some interesting things, like a guy on a unicycle (I think he was doing the 50km ride, which is crazy) and a lot of people on tandem bikes (what happens when one person stops pedalling?). There were the hard core types in the racing gear who were passing us at top speed even on the uphill, but there were also entire families who looked like they were just on a leisurely Sunday bike ride.

There were two distinct moments when I was completely ready to give up. Both of them occurred during brutal uphills after we had rounded the top and were heading back down the DVP towards the lake, and Em was a good 200 metres ahead of me and there seemed to be no way in hell that I was going to catch up. But somehow I was able to mentally push myself up the hill. I was really surprised with myself.

Then there was the part where we kind of cheated. We didn't realize that we had to take the Bayview/Bloor off-ramp and bike for a little bit in the valley and then come back up the on-ramp and continue on the DVP. The sign just said "rest stop", and although we did stop at the top of the off-ramp for a break, we didn't want to go all the way down to the actual rest area and grind up the hill again, so we just cut across the ramp. Oops. I guess we should remember that for next time.

So our total time, from start to finish including all rest stops, was 2 hours and 22 minutes. That still really amazes me. I was so sure, based on my own preliminary trials, that it would take me twice as long. But this leads to:

Lesson of the Day: Always bring Emily with you for all physically challenging events. She will push you to your limits in ways you didn't even know were possible.

We were provided with a lunch that consisted of a lot of low-fat, soy-based products. The tofu dessert scared me, but Em said it tasted like the tofu dessert they serve in chinese restaurants (which I can't stand), so I just left that for a member of my family (most likely my dad). We met up with the rest of the McBride Bicycle Junkies (the group we registered with), and we hung out on the lawn for a while listening to some guy butcher one song after another at the bandstand. As we were about to leave, there was a loud pop, like a firecracker. Andy's tire had exploded, even though it wasn't really overinflated, but the sun had just come out while we were eating. It blew a tear in the outer tube of the tire. Kevin was able to mcgyver the tire using one of the Ride for Heart ID stickers. We all laughed and someone said that he was probably going to start patching it with grass next.

In a stunning display of endurance on my part, Em and I left the car at the CNE and biked to MEC so that she could get a hydration pack. We didn't have a bike lock so I got to hang out for an hour and a half on King Street, watching the bikes and checking out the scene (it's an interesting demographic of people who frequent the MEC establishment). I got home an hour and a half ago, and I am still really surprised that I'm not in an immense amount of pain. I hope I can still say that tomorrow at work.

P.S. Thanks to everyone who supported me, both in pledges and in words of encouragement. It made a huge difference.

"You're on the road, but you've got no destination, you're in the mud, in the maze of her imagination"