One more to go, I hope...

Since January 1st, I've done 17 long rides over 100 miles, with my longest just over 140 miles. I only have one more 180 km ride to do as part of IMLP and I'm done for the year.

Unless I qualify for Kona, which truthfully, I hope won't happen.

If I qualified for Kona, that would add at least another 8 long rides to the year. Even though I'd love to go, I'd rather focus on doing it next year with my good buddy Lance (he just doesn't know we're buddy's yet) and Johan and Simon.

I just want to finish IMLP and focus on training for Syracuse Ironman 70.3 in late September and the New York City Marathon in November. Oh, and train hard for the "House of Payne 5 Km Beer Run". And when I say "train", I don't mean running.

Training for Half Ironmans are so much more civilized. No rides are over 4 hours. For Ironman training, Mondays moderate rides alone are close to four hours. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy training and going long, but I've been in heavy Ironman training since late December, and I need a break.

It's a little surreal that I've done 17 long rides and other than 5 rides between 160 - 170 kms, all the rest were over 180 kms. For most people, myself included (in the past), doing one 100 mile Century Ride a year is a major accomplishment.

After IMLP, I'll end up doing 18 Century plus rides in less than 7 months. I wouldn't be surprised if for at least 30% of those rides I was hungover or in a pre-hangover state. I should get extra points for those ones, they hurt. I think there's something about extra distance points in the cycling rule book.

If the book doesn't cover that circumstance, they should. From personal experience it should read, "If you perform any cycling within 8 hours of heavy intoxication and cigar smoking, and going to bed after 4 am with your clothes on, on top of your bedsheets, you can add 25% to the overall distance.

Today's training was another strong day. In the 6 days since I stopped drinking beer, I've gotten stronger every day and my heart rate has gotten lower. It makes sense. My body is normally trying to detox the beer, pizza, wings and junk food from my system while training heavily and now that it's getting a break, it's focusing solely on healing and strengthening muscles and purging toxins from my body.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but my body is superior to most from my nights of debauchery. In order for me to PARTY and TRAIN, my body has become highly efficient at getting rid of waste bi-products. If it wasn't, I'd have been dead long ago.

I think of my internal organs as a well oiled machine, kind of like a Nascar pit crew. Now that my pit crew is getting break from working in the PARTY RED ZONE, they are focusing on replacing worn out parts, changing the fluids, and tuning up and cleaning the engine.

After watching the todays Tour stage, I got ready to leave the house and my standing heart rate was down to 52 bpm. When it's that low standing, I know my body is ready to perform. It's amazing that in only 6 days of abstinence my "pit crew" has the car ready to race. I can feel the performance difference.

Three hours into my ride, I would have loved to have quit. What kept me motivated was knowing that this was going to be last long training ride before IMLP. I decided to suck it all in and enjoy the ride the best I could.

The ride started off tranquil, riding by fields with rolled hay and the escarpment in the background. Then I came across an Motorcycle accident moments after the girl wiped out and they were just in the process of calling for help. It don't know if it was a hit and run or she just lost control.

It may have been worse, I could have been involved and potentially hurt. Moments before I reached the site, I turned back to look for a lost water bottle. Those 2 or 3 minutes of detour may have kept me out of harms way. I normally don't care about losing a water bottle, but I had a strong intuition to turn back and look for it.

I was glad that the girl looked somewhat okay, she was being consoled by a women who stopped. The girl was breathing heavy and I didn't see any blood. She looked young, maybe under 20 years old. Too small for such a big bike.

Shortly thereafter I was passed by a bunch of middle-aged Hells Angels wannabes. It's a little freaky. About 50 riders passed, they are loud and they seem to go on forever. They also ride too close for my comfort. It was a little nerve racking.

Near the end of the ride, I got passed by a guy on a Quintana Roo. I was like, "What? Where did he come from? I'm feeling a little embarrassed to be passed. I'm not letting him get away. I don't want to look like a pussy." He was just what I needed to motivate me to pick up the pace and finish strong.

We started riding together and talking. His name was Kevin Gallagher and is a duathlete. Last year he finished 2nd in the overall Subaru Series in the 45-49 year age group. Unfortunately this year he's injured. We rode together for about 10 km. When I got home and googled his name, it turns out he's a lawyer who is a top political organizer for the Conservative Party of Canada.

At different times in my life I've thought of getting into politics. I've come to realize there is no way I could get into politics. My problem is I have no skeletons in my closet, they're all on my blog. Could you imagine the media or my political opponents armed with ammunition from my blog? I don't even want to think of my tweets, especially the ones I send after I've had a few beers.

I would get questions like, "So you call them Chinks and all of them drive bad? or, Don't you know it's politically incorrect to call people Retards and Cripples?" Not to mention, "Do you think it's acceptable to steal glassware from Restaurants?" and "Don't you think your a bad influence on your kids drinking from a beer bong and smoking cigars?"

And that's just the low hanging fruit.

I will say, if I ever got elected to any public office, I'd be colourful. That I'd guarantee. I think me battling the "granola eaters" and "the self-righteous ex-high school sluts" would be YouTube worthy. The one thing I wouldn't allow is "the tail wagging the dog". By the time I was done office, seat belts would be optional and you would be able to drink while fishing.

Kevin left an positive impression on me after only talking with him for 20 minutes. At the end of the ride I told him I have a blog and pulled out my camera to take a picture of him. Without hesitation, he lifted his hand and "fist pumped". That's the first time that's ever happened. Most people are awkwardly shy. Without thinking about it, he jumped in with both feet and embraced the moment.

When I got home, I had a solid brick run with a lower than normal average heart rate. As I ran, all I could think of was "Crystal Light". I was hoping we had some and I wanted to drink a big pitcher of it. There's nothing like flavoured water with no calories. It's the closest thing to a Slurpee without the guilt.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was down to 183 lbs, even after drinking 3 litres of Crystal Light.

Oh, one last thing. I grossed Alice out. She went to move my running shoes and the smell from the sweat almost knocked her out. She said, "They stink so bad!!! and, I've never smelt that smell before". To me it has a sweaty smell with a hint of pepper, kind of like an East Indian's house. Worse than most, not as bad as some.

Long Bike - 5:11:29 / 161.54 km / 31.11 kph / 122 avg hr

Brick Run - 30:05 / 6.05 km / 4:58 kph / 141 avg hr