We drove from Oakville, past Kingston to Ottawa on Friday. Then got up Saturday morning and rode 175 km back to Kingston. Then got up Sunday and rode 175 km back to Ottawa. Then drove from Ottawa, past Kingston (yet again), back to Oakville. Let’s just say I’m getting to know the route from Ottawa to Kingston pretty well!
I’m (quite) a bit of an excel geek. And I have an excel log book going back every day for the last 12 years, logging my workouts and races… for no particular reason, I just like to keep track of the shape I’m in and what I was training for and stuff like that. But mostly because I’m an excel geek. Anyway, I also have a list on this spreadsheet of all the major races I’ve done over the years… marathons, ultra-marathons, marathon swims, Ironman tri’s… but noticeably absent from the list is a major cycling race. I’ve always wanted to do one but the opportunity has never arisen. Or at least I never really moved it up the priority list so it could arise. However, when LOSTie, David Brezer, told us that he (and a few other LOSTies) needed to do the RLCT to earn the “Rudy Award” (google it…) and suggested we join them, well it seemed like it would be a good training ride for Ironman Lake Placid! And I’d be able to check off that “major ride” I’ve always wanted to do!
Beers before the ride… to get psyched up!
So 15 of us signed up for it.
The weirdest thing I found about this race… was that it wasn’t a race. It was a “tour”, the 44th year of this “tour”, I believe! I didn’t quite get it until we got there. There was no starting line… no starting time… and no finish line… no disqualifications… just a really, really large group ride. Thousands.
So the 15 of us decided to meet at Algonquin College in Ottawa, the “starting spot” at 7 am on Saturday (except for Andy, who started 45 minutes later… but still caught us! He’s fast.) Now the idea was that we were all going to just ride conservatively, especially for the first day, since no one other than David had done 175 k back-to-back before!
… in Perth… 75k into it… no beer yet…
Naturally, we didn’t. Everyone put on their best casual, non-competitive face… and proceeded to hammer it. You’re all outdoorsy people, so I can tell you this… I know how fast our little peleton was moving because each of the 4 times I had to stop to pee… I had to blow my brains out trying to catch the group a km ahead! Not a great way to preserve the legs for a double long ride! (or at least that’s my excuse for getting chick’d by the girls in the group!). Oh yeah… but it wasn’t a race.
Well, let’s just say the ol’ peleton was smokin’ along pretty fast… holding 40+ kph in some long stretches! Which seemed super-human to me… until we got to Queen’s University in Kingston, the finishing spot, and Peter pointed out that we had a huge tail wind all the way! Our speed made more sense to me now.
… we made it! Now we get beer!… um, but we only made it half way… now we have to ride back!
Speaking of the weather, man, did we luck out. It poured rain on the way up to Ottawa… and on the way home from Ottawa. It was a very chilly +8C when we started on Saturday, but not a cloud in the sky for the whole day, nor Sunday and ended up being a very comfortable mid-20’s C, both days. Oh, and that tail wind we got the first day… well the wind switched over night… and we got a tail wind AGAIN the second day. That NEVER happens in cycling. I liked it.
I was quite happy to have the break while they let a boat through the Rideau Canal Locks! Beautiful country!
A long story short… it was an epic ride. Despite the excellent conditions… it was hard. 350 km in 2 days is tough. But, like so many of our LOST adventures… it was still awesome. And pretty much all due the the great group of fun, positive people. Thanks everyone!
I would really recommend this “tour” to anyone (there are shorter distances too!)… but I think I’ll be a “one and done” guy, thanks.
Some notable events from the ride:
Al rode, actually he, David and Andy were the “really fast guys” out there… in spite of Al having had a bad crash the weekend before! He couldn’t walk… but, boy, could ride!
Scott’s line, which became a running joke: “I’m not staying there… it’s a dump!” Upon walking in and surveying his dorm room at Queen’s for the night. (we didn’t either!)
Mike had never ridden more than 40k in one ride before. But in his defense, he’s 61… and an amazing athlete. He’s also about the most stoic and deadpan person you could meet… he wiped out and got a good dose of road-rash with 1 KM TO GO!!! No biggee.
Lambrina and Kirsti were nervous (ya, like the rest of us weren’t!) because they are both just getting into triathlon. Let’s just say they needn’t worry… they crushed it.
Alan’s best quote of the weekend: “I can honestly say that I’ve never had so much fun cycling 350k on a weekend!”
more from Mike, who wore his backpack with all his overnight stuff all the way to Kingston!:
“Well, that was a voyage of discovery … in my case, that cycling jerseys have those deep pocket thingys at the back, making back packs unnecessary. Who knew?
Thanks for all your great advice and support, which allowed my extreme undertraining plan to pay off big time. All the best at Lake Placid … you guys are going to just kill it!
And thanks to David, our “not the organizer”. From the baked goods in Kingston, to the perfect weather (now that‘s influence in the central agencies!) it was memorable.
… could get into this cycling thing… just have to work on staying out of the gravel and cutting down on those face-plants…”
But I think Andy said it best:
Great cycling, great company, excellent weather, good food, cold beer….not a bad weekend! Special thanks to Dave for being the catalyst that gets us all going!
We made it… all the way back to Ottawa! Then we jumped in the car and drove home!… after a quick stop at McDonald’s (where we bumped into the Luxton’s!).
Yup, lots of fun and adventure… thanks everyone for livin’ life large with us!
