Peninsula Surprises

Today’s ride was all kinds of awesome. The weather was pretty warm, but not sunny, and there was no wind. I think I ate well before my ride, and drank enough water to hydrate well.

For the ride itself I followed the Tour de Victoria course starting from pretty close to the start, out to Metchosin, back over to Munn’s, then out the peninsula. I turned onto Mount Newton Cross Rd, then made my way over to the other side for the return trip. I did all this solo too.

I paid attention to my nutrition while riding, and was careful with that. I also paid attention to how my legs were feeling, and back off part way through the ride to try and save something for the end. The other thing I did was try to drink more water. This resulted in me having to stop for a pee break, which is a rare occurrence for me.

I think it paid off though. My goal was 4.5 hours, and I was out there for 5 hours and ten minutes in total. I rode a distance of 125 km, and took in around 1000 calories.

Wow, that felt good to get that distance in. I am now confident that I can do 140km on ride day (which is 2 weeks away). During the ride there will be times I can draft off others to rest and recoup. I have ridden all sections of the course now, and there aren’t any surprises hill-wise for me. I was pretty tired at the end of the ride, but not sore, not cramping, and still walking

The only surprises I had were a scrawny fawn that almost bolted in front of me (if it had I would have collided with it), and a dog in the bed of a truck that barked rather loudly when it was right beside my head.

View Tour de Victoria June 10, 2012 in a larger map

View Tour de Victoria June 10, 2012 in a larger map
Total distance: 125.56 km (78.0 mi)
Total time: 5:10:47
Moving time: 5:00:31
Average speed: 24.24 km/h (15.1 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 25.07 km/h (15.6 mi/h)
Max speed: 82.42 km/h (51.2 mi/h)
Average pace: 2.48 min/km (4.0 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 2.39 min/km (3.9 min/mi)
Min pace: 0.73 min/km (1.2 min/mi)
Max elevation: 376 m (1233 ft)
Min elevation: -24 m (-79 ft)
Elevation gain: 3250 m (10664 ft)
Max grade: 118 %
Min grade: -64 %