The main priority of the ride however, was really just to ride.
Like I just mentioned, my training life has more or less been: Interval session. Rest. Interval session... When I ride my MTB, its always focused on improving handling, descending, ascending..or more intervals. Short intervals, long intervals, medium intervals, tempo intervals, threshold intervals. Intervals.
Ive forgotten what its like to ride for shits and giggles.
So upon recognizing this, I decided that my endurance ride would have to be as laid back as possible. I slept in, made a fierce breakfast of bacon, eggs and pancakes. I decided I would ride a route that would take me from Guelph, up around Arthur, and then back down through a series of Hamlets.
The weather was gorgeous, I purged my mind of any stressful thoughts (bills, the future, left wing politics) and i pedaled. I pedaled up gentle country rollers. I pedaled through forested roads dappled with sunlight. I pedaled through wheat fields. I pedaled across sluggish streams teeming with wildlife. I pedaled past a swan. I pedaled past chicken coops. It was awesome.
I stopped off at a home hardware just south of Arthur to refill and throw down some food. This small town Home Hardware also doubled as their grocery, toy store, fishing license retailer, and snowmobile repair shop. They also had probably 4 or 5 flyers advertising various pig roasts, or all you can eat rib events. I love the country.
on the back stretch of the route I went across the many tributaries of the Grand River watershed. Each unique in their own way. Some were rocky, cold and fast. Others were slow, warm and full of life. The geological diversity was really cool. Having seen the massive Grand River enter Lake Erie 200km away, its hard to imagine that such a huge river starts from such modest beginnings. On a related note.. check out the documentary 'Waterlife'. Its a good Canadiana view on the state of the Great Lakes.
I headed back home, and hit the 100k mark just outside of Fergus. Having put in close to 4hrs on the bike, I was feeling great. The cardio base is still there! As I reentered Guelph, I bumped into the University club ride. I rode with them for a little while before making the home stretch. At the last hill, I did an all out sprint, just to make sure my legs were still fresh, and indeed they were. I hit 1083 watts which is only 50w short of my personal best.
What a great day. 125km, 90% of the time was subthreshold, no cardiac drift. Also, I rediscovered why I like riding. Im definitely going to make these 'self discovery' rides more common in my schedule.
Back to business.
I got my mtb up and running again. Thanks to Glen @ Brauns for throwing that derailleur on my tab. I plan on doing some MTB riding tomorrow. Likely just tempo riding.
My next race will probably be the Lake to Lake. Since there is a huge gap between OCups, and Im missing the Marathon at Ganaraska tomorrow due to financial constraints, its probably a good idea if I get a race effort in next weekend.
