July 20, 2015 Sunset, Moonrise

Another 30 minutes of light pedalling to keep muscles limber for big ride starting a week from tomorrow. Besides a bug getting stuck in my ear before it found its way out nothing very exciting happened. 

The photos: Pedalling east, I see the sunset. Pedalling west, I watch the moon rise. 

July 18, 2015 Very Summer Ride

At 35 C (95 F) and 72% humidity this was warm and sweaty 37 km (23 mi) loop ride encompassing my home, Inverhuron (on Lake Huron) and the village of Armow. I averaged 19.4 kph (12 mph) for just a few minutes short of 2 hours. 

The photo:

Gentle fog enshrouds Lake Huron shoreline. Temperature just a few hundred meters (yards) inland 35C (95F) while at the water edge in this fog, 23C (73F). Such a stark contrast. 

July 12, 2015 Biker & the Bunnie

Another early "routine" training ride on a beautiful and peaceful Sunday morning. 

One hour and 30 minutes 

30 km (18.6 mi)

20.6 kph (12.8 mph) average speed 

Photo: Good Bikers and Good Bunnies "Share the Road" :-)

July 11, 2015 New Training Strategy & Ride

Did first ride today of my "new" training  strategy. 

Did 10 km (6 mi) down to Inverhuron on the Lake and back. 

New training strategy: 

Do 20-30 km per day; but not kamikaze workout. (I think I did more harm than good hot dogging it (riding too intense) like I did on Thursday. (I'm almost 62, not 26 years old. I need to remember that sometimes :-)

I'm keeping my  heart rate around 115-120 bpm. Speed between 20-25 kph (about 9-12 mph); that's a good all day touring cruising speed. 

Theory being if I train at 30% of my average daily actual big trip distance I should be able to sustain this speed all day each day on our big ride, and thereby easily be in condition to do about 100 km (60 mi) a day in a reasonable 5-7 hour total daily trip time. 

Just like that. 

Simple, eh?

The photo:

Pic doesn't do justice to the many wildflowers in bloom around here. I love the colours and life all around me this time of year. 

July 10, 2015 Three Rides, One Day

Major day of riding yesterday consisting of three distinct rides. 

Ride 1: Early morning from my home near Tiverton (Ontario) to my office 34 km (22 mi) to the north. I set a record time for this route of one hour and 26 minutes.  Normally takes about 2 hours. Wasn't trying. Just happened. Go figure. 

Ride 2: After wrapping up a day of clients around supper time, I pedalled about 10 km (6 miles) north along the shoreline bike trail to Southampton Beach where I enjoyed hamburgers and French fries on the beach with my wife, some of my kids, and a grandson. Then we all then took in a classic car show. 

Ride 3: Pedalled south all the way home. About 42 km (26 miles). The last 10 km (6 mi) in the dark (with proper safety lights, of course). 

Needless to say, I slept good last night. 

The Photos:

A very Canadian sign, eh?

The Southampton light house (oldest lighthouse on the east shore of Lake Huron) on Chantry Island viewed from this amazing bike trail. 

July 8, 2015 Almost Fogged Out

Yesterday on my short intense training ride I rode into a shower. Today, despite the initial sunshine and song birds, I pedalled into this "London Fog." I was wishing I had a fog horn. Fifteen minutes later I pedalled out of it. Very crazy weather for July. 

July 7, 2015 Training Day Seven Super Soaking

Started out as a routine 30 minute training ride. I purposely didn't plan on venturing too far from home (Doing more of my soon to be patented linear laps) back and forth in front of the house) due to the rather dark-ish cloud-bank rapidly heading my way from over the dark blue waters of Lake Huron. And rapid the floating vapours were. Just moments after snapping this pic, the deluge caught me. Rode into the drive quite drenched. But fanatically completed 8.7 km (5.4 mi) in 26 minutes with average speed of 19.7 kph (12.2 mph) and consequently Day 7 of 7 (out of 31) of training plan. 

June 5, 2015 Pedalling the Ancient Shoreline

With a few free hours and a beautiful morning (25C/77F, 61% humidity) I pedal 34.7 km (21.5 mi) around a double country block (taking me through the village of Inverhuron, past Bruce Nuclear Power Generation, and through Underwood) at an average pace of 20 kph (12.4 mph). Successful completion of five out of five training days. 

The Photo:

This very short, steep incline is more than a briefly challenging biker moment. It tells an ancient story about my neighbourhood. The present Lake Huron is actually the fourth and smallest of four prehistoric lakes that have graced these shores. It all started when the Wisconsin Glacier retreat a bizillion years ago and dug out the entire Great Lakes Basin as it waved goodbye. The big hole around here first filled with Lake Nippissing (massively huge), then it receded to create Lake Algonquin (slightly less massively huge), which receded to create Lake Wisconsin (still impressively huge), and finally (at least finally to us), it receded leaving our lovely Lake Huron. I can identify two of the distinct shoreline slopes on our coastline. I suspect the other two are more subtle.

 

July 4, 2015 More Linear Training Laps

More "Linear Laps" in front of my house today to successfully complete four out four scheduled training days (27 more training days to go) this month in prep for the big Montreal to Goderich/Tiverton ride in August. Not much to say about this ride except it was a delightful 33 minutes to pedal the   12.3 km (7.6 mi) averaging 22.5 kph (14 mph). 

The photo:

Enveloped in those ancient trees is my little country home. 

Let the Conditioning Begin!

With our big 1,200 km (745 mi) trek just over a month away, I've set some training/conditioning goals so I can be fit enough to enjoy our adventure. 

My goal is to pedal at least 30 minutes each day, with hopefully at least one long-ish ride each week. 

Today's ride was a short ride towards the lake and back: 

12.7 km (7.8 mi) distance 

39 kph (24.2) mph Max speed

25.1 kph (15.6) mph average speed