Matt drinks coffee early in the morning and writes his blog then goes off to work. While I drink beer earlier in the morning then go off to sleep.We each have our ways and I bet both of us by the end of our posts are feeling chipper.So here's my story for the day, it's a little long so im sorry but does include some crashes and things.
My friend and I drove down to Guelph yesterday to send off a good friend so I went to the calender and made a couple changes and switched my work out and my day off.Sunday is my normal rest day, I like to say it's because I go to church but that's not the case.
Jacob and I had an other manly ride in the works for Sunday night which would make for a good 3hr or so ride but some time plans don't work out the way you planned them.The route was set by Jacob all iI had to do is show up at his house for 6:00pm for the ride.The basic plan was to go the long way to Barrie, stop have a coffee and head home.Since my car is in the shop I had no choice but make my manly night ride even more manly by riding to and from Jacob's house which I think adds 17kms one way so would make for an additional 32kms.
I headed out the door for which should only be a 40min ride in winter at about 5:00.The weather conditions where not in my favor as it was poring rain with no signs of letting up.In Orillia the roads where not so bad besides from the fog, reduced visibility and rain I was however confident that I would make it to Jacobs on time.
Today's work out was some hilly endurance so when I came to my first hill I got into climbing mode and started to power up.Now I don't know if it's because I'm jacked from training or there was ice on the road but for the first time in my road cycling history I spun out on a climb and was forced to walk the rest.Cross country I have spun out on a climb because it was muddy or because of wet roots but never on pavement.Being an over confident rider once at the top of the icy hill I descended that bastard just as fast as if it were dry and with great success which was too much of a confidence booster.
Main roads weren't too bad I could handle walking a little bit if my bike spun out but once I turned onto Lakeshore near Carthew Bay which is a local traffic small road that is where the problems began.First corner equaled first fall which wasn't so bad I landed on my bike and together we slid for 20 or so feet while my bottle slid for an extra 10 (he's kinda a show off).Collected my bottle and my thoughts and moved to the next problem area.In order to get onto the 13th line you must climb out of Carthew Bay which is not a large hill but one that doesn't apparently see a snow plow, salt or sad.With the rain the snow turned to ice with out the salt truck it stayed that way and for I guy riding a bike with slicks on that meant fall number two.This one was a little worse, I landed on my bike but the bike didn't like that so it kicked me off along with my bottle which also didn't like me so it left and rolled away leaving me with my hands on the ground and looking around to see if any night time doog walker saw what had just happened.No one did thank god but my hands were soaked and getting cold fast.A couple more slips and almost falls and I was on the 13th and soon enough rolled into Jacobs house an hour ish after I left my house.
We headed off into the night with me with my headlight dead,one front blinky light and a rear blinky light which were still operating and Jacob with full lights.Within the first two kms my hands were the most frozen they had ever been due to them being soaking wet.With no sympathy from Jacob and him just repeating this is a manly ride and your acting like a boy I sucked it up, pulled my fingers out of the glove fingers and balled them up inside the palm of the glove.One major draw back to this decision was that I lost all controls over braking and shifting but being a manly ride this was some how accepted.
Between my fingers being cold and the less busy roads being covered with ice we decide to cut the ride a little short and move to the more traveled ridge rd.We got rid of the Icy roads but didn't get rid of my cold hands which meant I was starting to get a little grumpy.Jacob got on the phone to Liz and asked if she could meet us at the coffee shop and bring me a pair of lobster claw gloves.This motivated me and the pace increased to get us there a little faster.
At the coffee shop we warmed the digits,chatted about stuff and things, drank our drank then departed with my fresh gloves and a belly full of foamy coffee.Ride back to Jacobs was heavy paced andwarm, full of joy and laughter. We departed in hawkstone and I braced myself for hell frozen over which was Lakeshore.I always miss my turn onto Lakeshore off the 13th and without a light this made it really hard for me.I was flying down the 13th coming up on a side rd thinking to myself is this lakeshore?yes it is "shit" I tried to make the turn doing like 25kmh but slid out landed on my bum, then my shoulder and finally my head.Of course my bottle was out of there, he took my helmet with him and left me with a Manondale with the rear wheel half out of the dropout.Once angain gathered my thoughts,helmet water bottle and moved on.
Lakeshore I decided to take it easy so I coasted down the hill with no problems.With that I moved onto the more traveled roads and made it back with no more falling.
To sum up I drew blood for the first time this year,hurt my shoulder for the first time this year,fell for the first time this year and got chased by two big dogs for the first time this year but that another story.Thanks for reading.cheers
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