Note
Thanks for the enthusiastic support of the photo contest. I received 9 entries from athletes living in three Canadian provinces (four if you count Fort Frances as being so far away as to be outside Ontario) - and also from people in the U.S. and Sweden! I will select the winners shortly.
For those of you who haven't seen all the entries, check them out! All entrants except MoeD and 'Bent put a comment on my log on Wednesday, so you can just click on their name beside the comment, then click on the "Training Log" link on their profile.
Mountain Biking (Rail Trail & Dirt Road) 2:53:00 [2] 50.3 km (17.4 kph)
It's the 15th Anniversary of the Caledon Hills Cycling shop, and it seemed only right to go there by bike. Richard was using his good bike for the first time this season, and I hadn't touched my bike since the winter adventure race in January. I know, I should go to the basement and use our trainer all winter like the *real* adventure racers do - and I even thought about it occasionally with some guilt - but apparently I'm not that dedicated. The major thing I noticed today was that my rear end was not happy in a bike seat. It had begun to get used to the good life, but it's time to get saddle-sore again.
Initially, we had the plan to have lunch in Inglewood near the cycling shop, but the bike preparation went slowly. Then we had a couple of false starts after locking up the house, closing the garage and bribing the dogs with treats. "Aaack - my winter pedals are still on, and I can't clip in." Open the house, open the garage, greet the dogs, get the tools, change the pedals, bribe the dogs, close up the house, and go down the driveway, then "THWUP! THWUP! THWUP!" on 'Bent's bike. Arrggghhh, must get the big toolbox. Back to the house, open up, greet dogs, etc. We finally made it onto the road at 1:30 p.m. with a 90-minute ride ahead of us. Definitely too late for lunch!
The rail trail is in pretty good shape with occasional soft spots. A lot of horses have passed by and left deep hoofprints and other, um, signs of their presence. The highlight, unquestionably, was going over the new trail bridge over Hwy 10. It used to be a death-defying act to get across five lanes of speeding traffic. Great use of tax dollars, for once.
Fun time in Inglewood. I got new running clothes, so I will be inspired to go faster, obviously. I supported Salomon in honour of our friends and sponsors, Team Salomon/Suunto. Dropped in for a quick visit to Knobless and Gorgeous, where we discussed the latest updates on our plans to visit the Galapagos Islands together later this year. :-)