The annual Ride for Heart was held this Sunday morning (June 5th, 2016). It is a fundraising event for the Heart and Stroke Foundation I do every year. I’d like to say its purely for the good deed of raising funds for such a deserving and charitable organization, but I have to admit, I’m also highly motivated to do this event as its an opportunity to get a traffic free long distance training ride in the core of the city which is extremely rare and awesome for me.
First things first, I’m happy to announce I’ve surpassed my fundraising goal again this year, with a total of $1,030, making me a VIP rider two years in a row. And I have to thank all the wonderful people who generously donated to the cause. Your support is greatly appreciated.
This event has three distance categories that cyclists may register for - 25, 50, 75km. Previously I’ve done the 75km distance, but this year I had another idea in mind, I planned to do an extra loop of the DVP (Bayview/Bloor to York Mills) to make it a total 100km (a metric century ride, if you will). Technically this wasn’t an option, but considering the pace I could keep, I knew I would finish the 100km long before the cut off time (when the highways would re-open to their usual urban automobile traffic), so I felt there wasn’t any reason not to take advantage of the opportunity, I was a VIP rider after all ;)
When I woke up to the pouring rain at 5am, I began to doubt my ambitious plan, but it seemed mother nature decided to take mercy on us cyclists, and by 6am had stopped raining completely. The pavement was wet under my tires, but as the morning wore on it continued to dry, with only a few puddles left on the highway to navigate. With the favourable weather not slowing my pace, I decided I would do the extra loop riding up the DVP to York Mills 3X (instead of 2X), bringing my ride to an even 100km, instead of 75km.
During an outdoor training ride, I rarely ever get my top speed greater than 50km/hr, but today I managed a max speed of 54.4km/h during one of the early descents near the top of the DVP, which was exciting. I held an average pace of 24km/h during the 4 hours it took me to complete the 100km ride. Which is actually faster than many of my car rides on this particular highway during the rush hour ;)
Although I’m tired now, and my knees are a little achey, I must say it feels good to have cycled over 100km before noon. I’m also really glad to have taken this opportunity to knock off a solid long distance ride as part of my training for the half-ironman triathlon I’m planning on doing this September, which contains a 90km cycle (2km swim, 90km bike, 21km run). It was a definite confidence booster for me, as I feel my cycling skills are still the weakest of the three events, especially compared to running.
Overall it was a good day. The weather cleared just in time, charity fundraising goals were met, and solid training rides were done. A three-fold win.
Good job Kelly!
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