Epic day...

Today's long ride was just what the doctor ordered. There's nothing like a long training session to get me back tethered to reality. Since IMSG, my partying has been "off the Chain".

"Off the chain" is my new term. I don't know where I got it, but I'm using it all the time. I love it. It describes so many things perfectly.

This morning, I was up at 6 am and I wasn't in good shape. The partying finally caught up to me. My hand was a little shaky when it hit the alarm clock and I didn't feel very healthy. The heart rate was much higher than normal. I should have stopped at 2 cigars and 10 beers last night.

Earlier in the week, Carlos invited me to join him on a 6 hour ride. I went for it. I'm trying to be more spontaneous and it would be my first long ride since IMSG.

Ari, one of the partners of the company that bought my company is also a cyclist. He got into riding a year ago. We had talked about getting together for a ride this weekend, so I invited him and he brought along his friend Rob. The plan was to do a couple of hours with Ari and Rob, and then Carlos and I would continue on until we put in 6 hours.

The weather sucked. It was cold, cloudy and windy. I took pictures on the ride. Rob is in the light blue jersey, Carlos is the dark blue and Ari is in the red.

Ari and Rob live in downtown Toronto and have never ridden in the Escarpment. It didn't take long for them to say they loved riding the area. I tried to take it easy on them and only went up two big hills, sixth line in the beginning and rattlesnake point at the end. Even with just those two major climbs, Ari still thought the entire ride had lots of hill climbing. I guess I don't realize the rolling hills are still hills.

I saved the rattlesnake point climb until the end. I wanted to give Ari something to tell others about. Ari went out a little hard in the beginning of the climb. He didn't realize how hard and long it was going to become. A little over halfway, he was yelling, "when does this thing end".

Ari loved the area and ride so much he said he was going to come back tomorrow and bring his wife. She also just got into cycling. We also agreed to get together next weekend in an area near him. Next week will be my last group ride until after IMLP, I need to up the intensity and speed.

Carlos had a great ride. He's joined the MAO program this year and his gains have been incredible. I've really noticed the increase in bike speed. For me, today's ride was tough. I was not feeling well, physically or mentally. I'm glad it was an easy pace, and even then, my heart rate was high. I couldn't have gone any faster if I wanted to. Actually, according to MAO, I was only supposed to do a 3 hour ride.

About 4 hours into the ride, I figured I'd have a major bonk by the time we were done. I was actually looking forward to it. My condition was noticeable, Carlos could see it. I felt weak and on some of the downhills had visions of losing control. I felt sleepy tired.

Strangely, within an hour, I started to feel much better and finished feeling relatively strong. Although, when I got home, I was tired and stinky. All I wanted to do was shower and sleep. Just as I was falling asleep on the sofa, Epic Bill Bradley (@epicbillbradley) called.

For those that don't know who Bill is, he's an extreme endurance athlete. In 2005, he went bankrupt and lost his trophy wife. He then did a "Forest Gump" sort of thing and started doing epic races, like "the race across America" and "ultra runs and triathlons". You got to check out his blog and I put some of his video's below. His feats are amazing.

Around September 28th, Bill is going to make his second attempt to swim across the English Channel. I've never spoke to Bill, but we have twittered. A week ago, he mentioned that he's looking to put together a support group for his English Channel swim. I think I was "on beer" and replied "I'm interested".

Today he returned my phone call and I got the details. First off, "Bill is nuts", I've never laughed so much. It didn't take long until we both agreed we are birds of a feather. We're both "off the chain". We must have spoken, exchanged war stories and laughed for close to an hour. He thinks my personality is ideal for Ultra races. I agreed.

He said something interesting that I won't soon forget. Bill has done about 8 Ironman. He said he "cried" the first time he completed an Ironman and then they didn't do it for him. He says the "ultra races do it for him". Near the end of these races, he has a good cry. I got that. I love a good cry just before finishing and Ironman's aren't doing it for me. I guess I need to try some "cry baby races".

The date he picked works perfectly for me, it's after Ironman Syracuse 70.3. I also got an offer from Jevon, another blog and twitter buddy (@ironmanj) and he said I can stay with him at his place in the U.K. Jevon is like me, an Ironman beer drinker, who doesn't stop at just a few.

I told Billy that I'd talk to Jevon, maybe he has more space at his house, or knows someone that Bill can stay with. Before I ask Jevon, I asked Bill "if he was potty trained?" He said, "no". I also told him that Jevon is a director and maybe he'd be interested to tag along in the support boat with his video camera.

I joked to Bill that I wanted to put beer in the boat. My objective would be to "support and taunt". I'd be like, "Way to go Bill! how's the salt water? Man this beer tastes so good". Then I'd pee on him to warm him up. It's the least I could do. I hear the waters cold.

I'm dead tired right now. Today's ride brought me back to reality, and back on the chain. Tomorrow, I'm running in the Mississauga half marathon. Doru emailed me and said one of his friends couldn't run and wanted to know if I wanted to take his place and run with his bib. Trying to be more spontaneous and fun, I said "I'm in". Now I wished I hadn't, I'm sooooo tired and would love to sleep in tomorrow morning. Oh well, I guess there will be plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead.

Tonight, Alice, Reid and I went to the movie Ironman. It didn't live up to my expectations. I'd give it a 6 out of 10. Bad call, sleeping would have been better.

Long Ride - 6:13:59 / 160.97 / 25.81 km / 139 avg hr