Author: gfox (old content)

Return Gross

I’ve had a couple really great rides lately. Last weekend I rode with someone I had never ridden with before. Sue works with this persons girlfriend, and although we chatted over email a few times, we really didn’t know each others riding ability. He mentioned that perhaps his girlfriend had built him up a bit.

I was concerned about not slowing him down too much, so I did my best to keep up, and set a good pace when I was in the lead. We headed out the goose, out past Fort Rodd Hill, up Ocean Blvd, then out toward Metchosen. It was nice to ride with someone, and the pace was pretty good. We turned onto Happy Valley Rd, and when we got to Glenn Lake, headed out the highway toward Sooke. At some point we called it and turned around. It was pretty non-chalant when we decided to turn around and I thought that maybe he wanted to go further.

We ended up back on the Goose for the return trip to town. We parted ways where the Lochside trail meets the Goose. The last stretch home I pushed as hard as I could to get home so I could start helping out with some yard work. It was a good ride, in the 2.5 hour range, and over 70KM.

Once I got home though, I started feeling pretty awful. My legs were toast, I ended up with a horrible headache, and pretty much felt miserable. I think that I came down with a bit of heat exhaustion. I drank a bunch of water, but that didn’t help. It was horrible.

This past Saturday I had another great ride, but this one was a solo ride. It ended up clocking in at just a hair under 3.5 hours. I hit Ocean Boulevard, then headed out to Lombard and Londholm. I knew my legs didn’t have enough in them to hit up Munns, so I zipped across Prospect Lake Rd, turned onto West Saanich Rd, then headed for Mount Doug Park to ride along the water for a bit. I had intended to follow the water route all the way to Cook St, but I was running out of time, and my legs were thrashed.

Oh, did I mention that I did my ride in 26 degree weather? Yeah, it was hot, stinkin hot. As long as I was moving, I was fine, but any hills I could feel the heat radiating from the pavement. During my ride I went through 4 bottles of fluid. I would guess that one whole bottle was used on my head an back in a effort to keep cool.

The upside to this was I got some exposure to riding in heat, I got some miles in, I hit some hills, and I didn’t feel gross afterward.


View July 1, 2013 TdV in a larger map

Monster Bucks

Recently I learned that the monster trucks were coming back to Western Speedway. After checking with sue, we told the kids and made a family night of it. This was Elliot’s second trip there, and Amy’s first.

We watched a great night of racing that included lots of hit to pass racing, monster trucks, bomber cars, and the end of the night featured a demolition derby (I think this was Elliot’s favourite part). Throughout the night the rain threatened, and at one point we felt a few sprinkles, but it held off until the demo derby.

The kids both had a great time and did very well despite the late night. I really do love sharing activities like this with them. Maybe next time we will be organized enough to eat dinner before we go and save a few bucks.

My videos:


Ocean Spinning

I got out for a nice little 2.5 hour jaunt on the road bike yesterday. It still amazes me how far you can go on a bike in a short amount of time.

I took the Goose out to Colwood, then went past Fort Rodd Hill, up Ocean Boulevard, the out to Metchosin. Form there I took Happy Valley Rd back into town. I made a small detour near the hospital to add a bit of time, then got back on the Goose for the return leg home.

My knee felt pretty good the entire ride, and climbing Ocean Blvd showed that I need to work on hills a lot. I did find that I need to watch my effort level though. More than a few times I realized that I was slowing spinning along, not putting in much effort. That’s not going to get me in shape! Having a riding partner definitely gives me more motivation.


View MAY 25, 2013 TDV Training in a larger map

Portland Scenic

My Portland Ride was a lot of fun. I pinged some friends to see if they could recommend a trial to me. One guy I know in Vancouver who does a lot of road trips, had never ridden in Portland, but strangely enough was there the same weekend I was, so I ended up riding with them for the day.

The drive from Portland was a little over an hour long, but it was more than worth it. The trails were a lot of fun, and completely different from what I am used to. Very open, very skinny, very smooth. Oh, and lots of fun.

We started off with a climb through a field. It zigged and zagged a long way up from the river. By the time we topped out, the cars below looked very tiny.

It was a perfect blue sky as well.

Just before the main descent we stopped for a break. We had a little visitor.

It was quite the scenic place.

There were even some technical bits to keep everyone on their toes.

The trail took us right next to the cliff edge.

In all it was a great ride, with some very fun people. Back at the car I quickly changed, stowed my bike and gear in the car and booted back to Portland. Great ride!


View Syncline in a larger map

Portland Sample

Last weekend my mom looked after the kids while Sue and I got away to Portland with some friends. The Portland trip was organized by a friend who was turning 40, and who was also running the Portland Rock N Roll Half Marathon. Sue also did the run, while I chose to go mountain biking while they ran 🙂

We started off on the Coho on a dreary Friday morning, then drove down the 101 to get on the I5. Beautiful drive, and it was a chance for Sue and I to spend some time together in a way that we haven’t been able to for a quite a while. Along the way I spotted a plane, and several sky divers.

Arriving in Portland in the early evening we didn’t have time to do much so we grabbed a drink at the hotel bar, then called it an evening.

The next day we ate breakfast at Tasty N Alder. Wow, excellent breakfast place. Likely the best restaurant breakfast I have ever had. After that it was off to the race expo to get race packages and explore a bit. I found the Powerbar tent and they had energy chews that tasted just like the coke bottle candies I used to get as a child. Mmmm. The Clif Bar tent was sampling some bars, and I tried their coconut chocolate chop one. Yummy! I talked to the guy a bit, and mentioned that we can’t get that flavour in Canada, so he slid me a sample bar to take riding with me!

After the expo we headed back to the hotel, then on to outlet mall shopping! At first I was not doing so well, but by the end of the day I had got a couple work shirts, two pairs of work pants, and a new watch. It ended well.

Sunday was the race and my ride. Everyone in our group did well on their run, and Sue set a personal best for a half marathon.

Sunday evening we had a group dinner at the Portland City Grill. This restaurant was on the 30th floor of a building, and had an amazing view of the city. The service was excellent, and I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner.

Monday the organizer, his wife and I headed over to Voodoo Donuts to stock up on some homeward bound treats. Then it was over to Tasty N Alder for our last meal.

After breakfast we packed up, jumped back in the car and headed home. I did enjoy our getaway weekend, but I do wish we had one more day in the city to just wander around and look, or shop. From what we have heard, Portland has some amazing eateries, and some really good food trucks. We were about 50/50 on the restaurants, and didn’t get any food trucks. The coffee I had was excellent though!

I’d love to come back again some time and have more free time to explore.

Bonus Workouts

Saturday the weather wasn’t supposed to be that great, but I wanted to get out on my bike any way. Thankfully the weather cooperated and I didn’t get rained on.

My plan was to get out for 2 hours, and I had hoped to get to Cadboro Bay Village. I hit the time mark, but ended up going past where I thought I was going to get to. Bonus!

My kneed felt pretty good for most of the ride, though for a small section on the return trip I started to feel something that had me worried. I stretched a bit, and it seemed to go away.

It is lovely to be out on my bike these days, and I hope that I can keep it up. I am looking forward to getting on the the hills and doing some hard workouts!

The only downside was that I saw a car turn in front of a cyclist, and the cyclist struck the passenger side of the car. Down the rider went. Yikes. Thankfully she was ok.


View TDV 2013 Training May 11, 2013 in a larger map
Total distance: 52.22 km (32.4 mi)
Total time: 2:04:59
Moving time: 2:03:11
Average speed: 25.07 km/h (15.6 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 25.44 km/h (15.8 mi/h)
Max speed: 61.70 km/h (38.3 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.39 min/km (3.9 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.36 min/km (3.8 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 0.97 min/km (1.6 min/mile)
Max elevation: 328 m (1075 ft)
Min elevation: -46 m (-150 ft)
Elevation gain: 1745 m (5727 ft)
Max grade: 102 %
Min grade: -31 %

30 Gear

What a weekend. Dinner out on Friday, Saturday yard work, then a Tour de Victoria training ride, then a BBQ at the neighbours. Today some more yard work, then some time at the beach. All this in the warmest, sunniest weather so far this year. It actually hit 30 today.

My ride was pretty good too. I dropped my saddle a millimetre, and that made a huge difference in my comfort. My knee didn’t bother me at all and I felt pretty good. I went from my place downtown along the water to Cattle Point, then back again. Not a huge ride, but it was wonderful to be out on the bike, and not all bundled up in cold weather gear.


View TDV 2013 Training in a larger map
Total distance: 38.00 km (23.6 mi)
Total time: 1:36:33
Moving time: 1:34:01
Average speed: 23.62 km/h (14.7 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 24.25 km/h (15.1 mi/h)
Max speed: 49.99 km/h (31.1 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.54 min/km (4.1 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.47 min/km (4.0 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 1.20 min/km (1.9 min/mile)
Max elevation: 82 m (270 ft)
Min elevation: -49 m (-162 ft)
Elevation gain: 839 m (2753 ft)
Max grade: 42 %
Min grade: -42 %

Today I went around the yard a took a few pictures of the garden.


The apple tree looks amazing this year.


More apple blossoms.


Lilacs


Mock orange


More Mock Orange


Peony about to burst


More peony

Sheba is visiting, and her and Heart had a great time at the beach. The kids did too, and Sue and I got to sit and enjoy the sun.


Dogs galore


Heart and Sheba


Heart cannot swim. Here she is flailing wildly.


Mt Baker was very clear today.

Knee Around

Well, my knee has kept me sidelined from riding while i got it checked out. The physio guy thought I should go for a ride on it, but to avoid a highly repetitive motion. He didn’t want me to stress my knee at all, but felt that getting out and moving it would be good.

Today seemed like a good day to get out, and I was pretty stoked to get a ride in. I knew my fitness would be pretty minimal so I made sure to not track my stats too closely and ot just get out an enjoy riding.

Mission accomplished. I headed out on the goose towards Colwood, and turned around at the 1/2 hour mark.

My knee isn’t 100%, but it is better. I didn’t feel any pain, but I certainly felt an uncomfortable pressure. I stood for any hills, and rested my knee when I could. It was fun to get out there though.

I’m hopeful that I can get the training in for the Tour de Victoria this year. I feel like I am starting late, even though the date got moved to Sept 22. Fingers crossed I can get my fitness back.


View 28/04/2013 2:16PM in a larger map

Total distance: 24.71 km (15.4 mi)
Total time: 1:09:30
Moving time: 1:07:07
Average speed: 21.32 km/h (13.3 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 22.09 km/h (13.7 mi/h)
Max speed: 46.61 km/h (29.0 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.81 min/km (4.5 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.72 min/km (4.4 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 1.29 min/km (2.1 min/mile)
Max elevation: 46 m (151 ft)
Min elevation: -20 m (-67 ft)
Elevation gain: 489 m (1605 ft)
Max grade: 24 %
Min grade: -23 %

Climbing Minutes

Yesterday I took the kids to Highrock Park to go “rock climbing”. This just means letting them scramble over any rocks they want to, but it really is an easy way to convince them to go up to the park. The goal was to get Heart out for some exercise.

We had a good time up there, and I think I got some nice pictures. Of course while I was taking pictures and watching the kids, Heart disappeared on me. I soon learned she had made her way down to the field where other dog owners congregate and retrieve.

After collecting Heart we started making our way back home. Once we got out of the park, the rain started and poured for a few minutes. Good timing!