This is a very short report on the Halton Gran Fondo. It’s very short because classes start tomorrow, for me, and I’ve got two hours of meetings and five hours of teaching and lots of preparation to do for all of that before I sleep. (See And so it begins, but with a new start!)
Phew!
First, the good:
- Friends! I did the event with Susan, David, and Eaton. We hot tubbed together the night before, we had a breakfast together in the morning and spent a lot of the time riding and chatting.
- Beautiful scenery, amazing hills. I’m getting faster and more comfortable on hills, partly it’s because I’m a bit lighter and partly because I’m a bit more powerful. Either way, it’s all good.
- Super well organized event. Great signage, police at major intersections, some roads closed to traffic.
- There were CIBC minions cleaning bikes afterwards!
- And maple syrup makes for a great alternative to energy gels. A friend gave me a couple of these for my birthday and they worked great. The taste is much better than the usual chemical goo that has the texture of toothpaste. They were also selling them at the event and you can order your own here.
Now, the bad:
- Rain, “light showers”? No. More like a downpour at the beginning, letting up to showers, but never completely stopping
- Cold, 9 degrees C when we started, and never got above 12. Brrrr.
- Wind, the kind of wind that goes with cold and rain in September. Ugh.
- Hills (I know, see above, but it’s truly a love/hate thing)
- And a broken spoke about 50 km in. Luckily we were close to the mechanic’s van and they got me back on the road pretty quickly. (We had signed up to do the 110 km but given the weather we switched to the 80. Good choice on any number of fronts as it turned out. I’m still shivering.)
Here’s what it looked like out the car window while we were leaving Susan’s house.
And for the truly ugly:
- David and I got back to London to a broken hot tub…. That was the thought that had sustained us. Hot tub hopes dashed, I opted for a hot bath and nap with Cheddar, the dog instead.
Hard to believe that we went from last week’s heat stroke weather to hypothermia cycling conditions in just a few days.
Last year we also dropped to the 80 km–due to injury, not weather. You can read about the ride here. Maybe someday we’ll get to ride the 110 km version!