Does my GPS "audio coach" know better?

I love spring! This year is especially sweet because it was so long in coming. For me, spring signals two things:  the wonder of nature's renewal and re-creation as evidenced by the greening of the countryside but spring also heralds the start of a new cycling season. I have ridden a bicycle for a long as I can remember so the annual reunion of man and machine is always a welcome event. 

I was introduced to mountain biking during our years in Calgary.  When spring broke after our first winter there, we bought two mountain bikes -- one for me and one for Wendy -- and a trailer for our two girls. In the four years that we lived out west, we rode everywhere. I loved riding the trails. But, by the time we moved back to Ontario, the girls were now a bit too big for the trailer and the addition of a third child made family cycling outings difficult. That's when I discovered the joys of Ontario trail riding and then the thrill of cross-country mountain bike racing.  

With the onset of warm, dry weather, I decided today it was time to pull my all-time favourite bike down from it's garage ceiling mount, where it has been resting since the fall. A little dusty but still a beauty: an electric blue, sub-25 pound, dual suspension, full XTR, Devinci Moonracer.  Durham Forest, here I come! 

After about 45 minutes out, I reached my usual turnaround point, a challenging stretch of trail known as "TJ's Way." It has a couple of really nasty short, steep climbs that are guaranteed to inflict pain and slow one's progress. Grinding upward, the "audio coach" on my GPS tracker tells me that my "workout has been paused". Are you kidding me? My legs are screaming in pain, my lungs are gasping for much needed oxygen, and my heart rate is pinned to the max. But, I'm still moving forward. Slowly, yes, but forward nonetheless. Workout paused? Not a chance. Maybe my GPS thinks I should be pausing but I still have another 45 more minutes of fun to go! 

A fellow cyclist once quipped that my bike was built to go much faster than I was capable of propelling it. Maybe so, but I have never been disappointed in the ride.   Each year, my first ride is a little slower and a little more difficult than the last, age may have something to do with that. This year was no exception. While my GPS may be able to track my route,  location and even forward progress, one thing it can't track is the joy of the ride: the smile it generates is as wide as ever!  Welcome to spring!

2013 Begins and The Journey Continues

The weather was just too nice to get caught indoors today: about 10 degrees C, not a breath of wind and cloudy with sunny breaks. A few layers, a wind breaker, my trusty booties and I'm off  for my first ride of 2013.

I hit the road and took one of my usual short routes: about 30kms with some good hills thrown in for one's training pleasure. (I know, as I mentioned in a post last summer, it's a sickness. Please forgive me. )  Anyway, the objective today was simply to get back in the saddle. Check: objective accomplished. The other objective (my wife's personal favourite) was also quite simple: return in one piece. Check: objective also accomplished.

I really dislike riding on the trainer. It's just not the same as doing the real thing. So when the conditions are right, I just have to hit the road. No surprisingly, I passed at least half a dozen other riders, similarly motivated.

But indoor riding is something I'm going to have get used to starting this coming week. You see, I have some training goals to achieve and waiting until the weather warms up and the roads dry up just won't cut it. My goal is to be able to ride between 100-150 kms per day (averaging 25 to 27kms per hour) for 6 days straight by the end of the summer. Going from 30 kms on a day in January to upwards of 150 per day by some day in August/September can't be done without a bit of  indoor work before spring.

Why the ambitious goal? An even more ambitious goal looms: ride from Vancouver to Toronto in June 2014.

Google says the distance is 4421km from downtown to downtown. If you click on the little cyclist icon, they estimate 230 hours (that's about 19kms/hour on average) To do the trip in less than 30 days (which is the target), 150kms per day is need. Good grief, that's a lot of riding! I'll be 57 by then. What am I thinking? Anyone want to lay a wager on completion?

Stay tuned to this site for more progress reports and details about the trip.

PS. I will be using the opportunity to raise money for a charity to be revealed  later.