My heart rate sent me a message...

I was looking forward to today's ride. Carlos and Hans were going to come to my house and I was going to join them and show them some good roads to ride on. Unfortunately at the last minute Hans had to drop out because of an injury, so it was just me and Carlos. 

With this weeks "hit and run" issues, I haven't got much sleep, so last night I went to bed by midnight and was looking forward to a good nights sleep. Our ride was scheduled for 10 am and I was glad I set the alarm for 8:45 am. I was sleeping so sound that had the alarm not went off I would have slept in. 

Carlos is an interesting guy. He was born and raised in Brazil and moved to Toronto about 7 years ago. I first met Carlos and Hans at Muskoka 70.3 race last year. They were at the table beside us at a restaurant and Rich Sohor and I just started talking to them. Carlos is an awesome swimmer and qualified for the Brazilian National team and was selected to compete at the Pan Am games. Unfortunately, prior to the event he had a swimming injury when a rubber band broke and he ended up losing permanent sight in one eye. He was telling me that the longest he ever swam in one day was 30,000 KM/ 18.6  miles over 3 sessions. Unbelievable!

I was laughing when he told me that he swam so much he would count the tiles at the bottom of the pool. He's doing Ironman France this year with Hans and is expecting to do an hour swim. Carlos comeback story is similar to mine. He was in great shape when he was younger and did triathlons. Then he did nothing and grew to around 245 lbs and he is only 5'11". He decided to get back in shape in 2007 and his first race was Milton, which is the same first race I did for my comeback. I did the sprint and he did the "try a tri". In the process of getting back into shape he lost close to 65 lbs.

Carlos was worried that he would slow me down on todays ride. I told him that my motivation on this ride was to show him some great roads in the Escarpment to ride on. It turns out that my heart rate was unusually high today and even at the slower pace it was difficult at times to keep it under 140 bpm. I figured that this past weeks speed work and 3 lb weight loss was putting stress on my body and it was starting to show in my elevated heart rate. Even on some of the downhills it was over 140 bpm. All in all it was a very enjoyable ride for me, the effort was perfect and we had good conversation. It's always more fun doing a long ride chatting with someone else. The time goes by much quicker.

When we got back to my place I went for a shower and Carlos did a 55 minute brick run. For the rest of the afternoon I ran some errands. I also had my Garmin 305 replaced because it wasn't working. I love dealing with Mountain Equipment Co-op because they stand behind their products and there is "no hassles" to return broken products. I didn't even have my receipt or packaging. 

I had to ride on Campbellville road for about a kilometer and was really nervous. I was hugging the side of the road. I didn't want a repeat of last Monday. The only downside of riding with someone else is I tend to take my eyes off the road and a few times I thought I was going to go off the road. I don't think I spent more than 15 minutes in the aero position today. It's hard to talk in the Aero position.

While I was on the bike, the cop called to update me on the discussion he had with the owner of the truck that hit me. Unfortunately I wasn't home he said he'd call back. The saga continues...

Long Bike - 90.47 km / 3:27:40 / 26.0 kph