Friday, June 1, 2012

I Think It Was Raining...


So I know I am supposed to wax poetic about the start of a journey.  I am supposed to talk about adventure, excitement and learning about yourself and your capabilities.  However I am not going to lie to you guys...today sucked.  The start of the day was awesome.  Alex met me at my place and we rode over to my friend Andrea's place to drop off a book on the way out of town.  We were lucky enough to meet her as she was heading out to work on her bike.  Mission completed we rode off to the east.  It was lightly raining and cool for the most part so we thought it could be worse outside and were happily chatting away on our way out of town.  Then about 20 kms in it started to rain. And when I say rain I mean really rain and for the next 60 kms Alex and I got really really soggy.  Add to that a slight head wind and neither of could really draft each other because as soon as you got behind their wheel you were basically gargling the giant rooster tail of spray coming off the road. I have full fenders but there was so much water that even that didn't help.  I have to admit having Alex there help a lot and we were able to laugh about how crazy this was.  

We stopped for lunch at a place outside Mission that was an homage to the fire fighting profession. Cannot remember what it was called but it had the word 'fire' in it.  After hammering back the largest clubhouse sandwich I have ever seen we were back on the road.  For about 15 minutes the rain had lightened to a light mist but then it was back to steady rain and Alex and I road about 20 feet apart for the next couple of hours 

With about 40 kms to go before hope somehow the skies doubled their effort and it was puking rain so hard that the water running down the hill we were riding up was actually stopping us.  And then que the lighting and thunder.  Two of the blasts were so close that everything lite up and Alex said "maybe the sun is coming out.." just before the loud crash which had me nervous, but I am a wuss.

All and all it wasn't that bad and I am being a little dramatic.  It was a day where if I was at home I would have gone for a run or to the gym.  It would have been nice to see a little more of the mountains as we road into them but the clouds had other plans.  Alex was a trooper and made the day entertaining and I feel pretty good for finishing my first leg of the trip.  I did see some cool stuff though and learn some things.  

- The Fraser river is huge and very angry.
- Trains are entertaining and so is the graffiti on them.
- I really really like my touring bike.  Its comfy and easy to ride but I am still getting used to the gear ratios.
- I can ride in a thunder storm making me basically Thor...

I want to thank all the people at the UX Guys office warming party who donated to Peleton65 last night and everyone messaging me on twitter, facebook and tossing me text messages.

Well I am off to do some laundry and eat my weight in pasta.  Hope for sun please!  

150 kms down 5850 to go.

5 comments:

  1. curious over the long term - not right away - about your gear ratios and how they are impacting your trip. wondering if you live in only a couple or a few of them generally and if these change significantly as you tour. good on 'ya for undertaking this exciting challenge. bagels = good. ian waters tells us that at one point on his ride-up-the-rockies--turn-left-then-to-mexico trip he was eating six bagels in a sitting. i tend to space the carbs out rather than eat a giant lump. may you never face strong winds as they say here. all the best.

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    1. So I am basically through the mountains and I am rocking a basic road setup with a compact front 34 and a 28 rear. I took the parts off my cross bike and put it on this steel frame for this trip. I have done a lot of riding over a long time so I am fairly certain what my body can handle. That being said there were a couple of climbs (especially the one out of Field) where I was wishing for a smaller chain ring. I still made it up all the climbs so I guess I chose well. For most people I would suggest setting up a one to one ratio to have you covered depending on the tour. For this trip there isn't anything really steep...just really long.

      I change gears all the time and depending on grade of hill or wind or how my legs are feeling I want to try to maintain a higher cadence. I think in a day I will change to every gear at least once. But that is just me.

      LOVE BAGELS...I have been eating those and fruit bars like they are going out of style. Thanks for the wind hopes and for reading.

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  2. Way to go, Jordan. I'll be following your blog the whole way.

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  3. Keep grinding buddy! See you in #yyc in a week.

    Darren

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