December and five? Let’s ride!

It’s Saturday night and I’m at my second social event of the evening. That’s unusual for me. First up was the Christmas concert. Tracy and I (along with David and assorted family members) went to hear Jeff and Mallory sing in the annual Wesley-Knox Christmas Concert, featuring Denise Pelley, the Wesley-Knox Junior and Senior choirs, and Steve Holowitz and his band.

 

Second, was a pre-Hanukkah festival of food hosted by friends from the university. It was an event involving an awful lot of food, mostly hot latkes and freshly cooked jelly filled donuts. Great company, great food.  It was there I ran into Nat and Michel who announced that they were going bike riding at 10 am Sunday, meeting their friend Victor who wanted to ride to Ilderton. That’s not a long ride but it’s not that short either. I looked at the weather for Sunday and it sounded promising. High of 8!

The alarm seemed very and early and it took awhile to find all the things. (See Nat’s early morning face above!) The good floor pump was missing but Jeff managed to get air in my tires with the crappy, back up pump. I couldn’t find my shoe covers either so went with wooly socks. We met up in Byron, about 10 km away from here but where Victor lives.

The warmer than usual weather meant every single runner in the city was out on the multi-use pathway but we were all happy to see each other. It was especially nice to cross paths with Tracy and Anita, all happy smiles and chatter during their weekend long run.

On the road, lots of cyclists and lots of smiles and waves.

For me, it was a fun ride with just two issues.

First, I keep forgetting to eat. (See Forgetting to eat? and The upside and downside to not feeling hungry.) So I set out with just a coffee. I know that’s a no-no but I’m just not hungry these days and I don’t feel like eating. I might have to take up instant oatmeal or something fast that I can eat without thinking about it. Bananas are my usual go-to food for this sort of day but Sunday is grocery day at my house so we were out.

By the time we got to Ilderton road, about 35 km in, I was reaching in my jersey pocket for the last of the maple syrup packets . NTS: Buy more. Yum. By the time we were in Ilderton proper, I was mooching Nat’s gel blocks and eating a protein bar I’d brought along for the ride. When I got home, more than 60 km later, I practically ran into the house for peanut butter and jam on toast. And more coffee.

Second, we had a wicked headwind on the way home. Not the best plan heading out with a tailwind but Victor wanted to see if the ride to Ilderton was doable so he could commute by bike sometimes so our destination was fixed. I didn’t mind that it was harder riding. But I started to get a bit cold. The hot tub was very welcome by the time I got home.

The forecast for the rest of December looks pretty good. Double digit highs next week again. No snow expected which is bad for Christmas and skiing but good for riding. I’m organizing a  ride on Boxing Day. It’s a weird warmer world we live in.

 

I think I’ll keep happily using my road bike and going out for longer rides as long as it’s this warm.

I’m of mixed minds about road cycling in the real cold. And once there is snow on the ground, I’ll only ride my cyclocross bike. But I think I’ll try to keep commuting in the snow.

Oh, and I didn’t get my 1 mile run in today. Too much riding and too much grading. I’ve added a proviso: Run 1 mile day through the holidays except on those days when I ride more than 50 km. That seems reasonable and moderate and shouldn’t mess up my streak too much. It’s now a combined running/riding streak.

It did say, “Run at least one mile per day, every day, starting on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 26) and ending on New Year’s Day (Friday, January 1). That’s 37 consecutive days of running.”

Now says, “Run at least one mile per day or ride 50 km per day, every day, starting on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 26) and ending on New Year’s Day (Friday, January 1). That’s 37 consecutive days of running or riding.”

I like the 1 mile of running to 50 km of riding. That’s about my preferred ration of riding to running for a duathlon, basically a bike race with a little running to start and finish.