A Grueling Day=) - Saturday

With Sunday and a break coming upon us tomorrow, the Canadians thought they would give us a workout today. The workout didn't come in the form of century rides, strong headwinds, rain, or killer hills. Rather, they forced us to ride 46 miles today and to stop at least 7 times to sit in a lawn chair, eat goodies, get cold drinks and talk to them about the ride. It seemed we would just warm up our muscles and then a line of 4 yellow Sea to Sea signs would direct us to the next church or residence where people had taken a lot of effort to make us feel welcome and that the Bike Tour's mission meant a great deal to them. Then with stiff legs we would head out again only to be directed to another hospitality location. We left at 8am and did not get in until 2pm. Actually, it was very fun, but I am going to beg off sugary items for a very long time (like until tomorrow).

Sandy and I rode together today and picked up Ralph who must be at least in his 60's and still has a great Dutch accent from the Mother Country. He was a pleasure to ride with and we are definitely impressed with the strength and stamina of our elders. Like I said in one of my training blogs, I am happy to see some of them able to best me.

We rode along the Niagara Escarpment today. This is the ridge that Niagara Falls goes over, but did you know this ridge runs 300 miles along the coast of Lake Ontario and even into New York? What a view! What a windy area! We were enjoying the vineyards and farms when the road took a left turn towards the escarpment and we descended the steepest road I have ever been on. Thankfully, we had been warned about this long 12% grade hill (yes, I did say 12% - I would call it closer to a cliff) and about the stop sign right at the bottom. As Sandy and I descended at a very slow pace maybe 14-20 mph (we were pumping the breaks quite a bit) we saw a bunch of boys from the tour on the other side of the road going back up the road and looking like they were happy. By the bottom of the hill, I had the crazy notion to try a return trip up the escarpment myself. Sandy, after she felt my forehead for a delirious fever, waited for me at the bottom. Of course there was no place to get a running start and I was in my hardest gear from going down. After some gear crunching I started in almost my easiest gear and began the trudge. I found myself starting out at 5mph - I've done Skyline drive near home at 5mph which is quite long and steep and started thinking this might be doable, but when I hit the steepest part of the hill, my speed dropped to 3mph. My heart rate and wheezing, of course, did not drop. I had never heard myself breathe so loud. I truly thought about quitting if I could get my feet out of the clips before I fell over. Then the sound of more "boys" coming up behind me helped me regain my senses - my speed stayed the same, but I sucked in the wheezing so they wouldn't know I was about to die and got over the worst hump. I had to ride another 400 yards just to catch my breathe before I turned around. The ride back down was heavenly and I even let loose a little on the speed - Sandy of course was glad to see me alive.

I'm thrilled with how well my bike has been handling so far for the first week of the tour. I attribute that mostly to my husband who lovingly cleaned, lubed, and tightened everything on my bike the day before I left. I was a bit apprehensive going on a tour without an official bike mechanic with my pittance of bike repair knowledge (I had tried to encourage both my bike guy Rob at my bike shop and my chiropractor (for my back) to join me on the tour - neither took me up on the invitation). But Chris Mulder was able to tighten one of my wires today after I had a small glitch with shifting.

Overall, a great day! Off to a tour of Niagara Falls after dinner. Hey, if my family is reading this, you can feel free to post a comment so I know you are alive since I haven't been calling much from Canada. I do miss you all - the cute little blond kids at the stops make me think about my Jimmy a lot.