Burger ride...

As sick as it sounds, I was looking forward to today's 7 hour ride. In preparation, I was a semi-good boy last night, I didn't party too hard and got to bed by 1 am.

This mornings plan was to head out with Jamie at 9 am and meet up with Shaw an hour away. I woke up at 8:44 am, Jamie bailed, and I was 15 minutes late getting out of the house and was rushed the entire time.

It was a cloudy day and the weather man said it may start raining in the late afternoon. I was glad I had a planned "rendezvous" time with Shaw. It forced me to get out of the house early. Normally, I get up and go when I feel ready. Although, I would have loved about a 40 minutes to have my coffee and relax before the ride.

From the minute I jumped on my bike I didn't feel strong. Half an hour into the ride I saw a small group of riders behind me. They were humping fast and before I knew it, they were beside me. I looked over and I saw this big, warm, welcoming smile. It was Mark Rutledge!!!

I met Mark on a bike ride in 2008. I was training for Louisville and he was training for Ironman Canada and we would go on long rides together. It was really great seeing him again. He was riding with a couple other guys and I rode beside Mark and talked briefly until they turned to go another direction.

Mark asked if I wanted to join them and I told him I couldn't, "I was meeting up with another guy". Truth be told, I'm glad I had to meet up with Shaw, these guys were "flying" and riding "drafting style". When I ride in a group, I want to socialize with no drafting.

Ten minutes later, I hooked up with Shaw. Like Mark, I met Shaw riding. He's 34 years old competitive cyclist and trains 15 hours a week, taking off only one rest day. Shaw's all of 155 lbs and climbs like there is no hill. He's a great training partner if you want to be pushed and have good conversation.

About 2:45 into the ride, my heart-light went out. I hadn't eaten or drank much and although I was wanting to get into a "semi-bonk" state at some point during the ride, this was much earlier than expected. I was now struggling to keep a 28 kph average speed.

Having a bonking moment, I find fun. I don't eat and drink as much as I would in a race. I think it helps condition the body to operate with less. I've heard some of the pros, like Chrissie Wellington, will do a 5 hour ride with no food.

I felt bad for Shaw, he was strong and I was holding him up. I told him he could "take off and leave me behind", but he declined. That's my style too, "no brother left behind". If you start together you finish together.

The ride reminded me of the one I had with Carlos early in the year when I was at a similar semi-bonk stage, perhaps a little worse and grinded it out for 5:30. The only difference was this ride was scheduled to be longer. I think my power was down from yesterday's four training sessions.

At one point I asked Shaw to stop at the next convenience store. I had a sandwich and bought some cranberry and grapefruit juice. It helped. The "semi-bonk" started to go away, the lack of power remained.

We headed back to Cambridge, where Shaw lives. His ride would end there and I'd continue on. Just before he got there, he stopped to show me a natural spring water location where he fills his water bottles. It was awesome, cold, clean water. I tried it and it tasted great. I'm so glad he showed it to me, it's about 50 km away from my home and along one of my regular out and back routes.

After I left Shaw, I had 2:45 left on my ride. I DID NOT WANT TO DO IT. It was spitting rain for a while and now it was raining. I had brief thoughts of, "I could call Alice, I could cut my ride short, my bum hurts, the ear phones on my iPhone are not working, my neck hurts". Eventually, I just SIU'd it and kept going.

I decided to take a different route, one I'd never taken before and wasn't sure where it would take me. With 2:45 left on the ride, I had time to get lost, which I did. With an hour left in the ride I had NO idea where I was. I pulled out the iPhone, opened the GPS feature, realized I was in Ancaster and spent the next 5 minutes trying to figure out the best way home.

I must say it was cool getting lost. It turns the ride from "grinding it out" to an "adventure". It kind of feels like your travelling across country and trying to figure out the best way to get from A to B. It was like being a kid again.

It was semi-busy highways I "had" to follow to get back to Burlington. With approximately 45 minutes left in the ride, I saw a roadside "Burger" place and decided to stop and have one. I figured, if you're going to go long, why not have some fun along the way. No one says you have to "torture" yourself all the time.

That burger hit the spot. As a matter of fact, I started getting stronger. I felt stronger for the last hour of the ride than the previous 2 hours. My legs felt like I was an hour into a regular ride. I probably had at least 2 - 3 more hours of riding in me.

With 10 km left, it started "pouring" rain. Other than being worried about my camera getting wet (the iPhone was in a plastic sandwich bag) I thoroughly enjoyed the rain. It was making the ride somewhat epic. I even decided to take a longer route and add more time than I had to, just to ensure the ride would be over 200 km. I also wanted to compensate for the slow overall speed.

I ended up doing a mini-tour of Ontario. I rode from Burlington to Acton, Georgetown, Cambridge, Dundas, Ancaster and back to Burlington.

When I pulled into my driveway, I was looking forward to my run. There is no way you're going to "bail" on a brick run after 7 hours in the saddle. That's something you'll regret. It essentially "negates" the ride and all you would remember is "pussying" out. Besides, 30 minutes of running seems much faster than 30 minutes on the bike.

The moment I finished, after I stretched and before even showering, I checked my Kegerator. I've been disassembling and trying to override the thermostat in order to get it colder. It's important that after a long day of training, you take care of the "priorities" in your life.

I then showered and even shaved my legs. It didn't even feel like I had a long training day. My legs came back feeling stronger than when I started. I was overall pleased with the ride, it was my first long ride since IMLP and this was my first full week back on the "big boys" training program. I wanted to start earlier, but coach Luis recommended against it.

The rest of the night started with barbecuing some nice big steaks and then trying to "nurse" my Kegerator back to health. I think increasing the temperature had caused the lines to freeze and all I was getting was foam. Which probably wasn't a bad thing, it kept me drinking less. I had to wait for the foam to go away before I could drink it.

I will say, I'm committed to this Kegerator. It's my baby. I don't care what it takes, but I'm going to get it almost freezing my beer and pouring perfectly. There will be no "tough love" or giving up on it. I'm making it my current "life mission" to get it exactly how I want it. I also now have a little drippage problem happening after I pour. By the time I'm done, I'll have my Kegerator expertise "black belt". Jamie's advice has also been a great help.

Rather than be discouraged, I'm giving it a nice "rub and pat" like a dog and telling it everything will be alright, "don't worry, you'll be fixed and running perfect in no time". The ONLY pressure I have is getting it working perfectly before this weekends Beer Run.

The rest of the night was sitting at the downstairs bar, watching "Lock up". Those guys are crazy son of a bitches.

Long Bike - 7:15:24 / 204.82 km / 28.22 kph avg

Brick Run - 31:11 / 5.91 km / 5:16 per km pace

9