So if you don't know it a few days ago here in Calgary we had one hell of a spring snow storm.......wind and driving snow. Most of the snow is gone now but the weather still hasn't quite recovered and the highs have been in the low singles the last few days. Now I am as committed as the next guy but that just makes riding miserable, add in some decent wind and I say forget it I am not riding outside.
But now I have a dilemma............well twofold really. One I am still trying to lose weight so I want to keep my exercise up and two I am training for the 200km Ride to Conquer Cancer, so sitting on the couch sucking back cold ones and plowing Nachos seemed counter productive. (Although very appealing). So I went out to the garage and grabbed a trainer given to me a long time ago by my brother in law (Thank Steve) and proceeded to get it ready. It needed on repair and I had to get a different stud pin for my bike to fit in it.
I took it for a little spin on Saturday but I couldn't stay in the saddle for more than an hour.......I finished my exercise on the elliptical and soon discovered that I am using muscle groups very differently on the elliptical vs biking. The reason I could stay in the saddle is the damn thing is a torture device, now when I commuted on my road bike I was never a huge fan of that seat but riding on the road is different than a trainer, that and I was not on it for more than an hour at a time. That saddle had to go, never had those problems with my mountain bike. So after swimming today with the kids in tow off we go back to Bow Cycle (the local bike shop) for a new saddle similar to my mountain bike one. (A nice cutaway gel saddle from specialized) swap out the seats and voila.
Now you know what I mean by
Going Nowhere................FAST
Good news, I put 2 and 1/2 hours on the bike, burned a bunch of calories and was able to catch an episode or two of CSI. I found out something else interesting. When there is no wind from riding to evaporate sweat.............I am one drippy sweaty mess, holy man next time I am going to wear my bike gloves just too keep from getting my wraps all slippery. But the trainer works like a charm, I run my cadence up to about 90 and keep my heart-rate around 135 to 140bpm. I could have kept going after 2 hours which is a good sign in my mind, no hills of course but I will get plenty of terrain training in the next two months. The biggest deal in my mind is time in the saddle, the more used to the bike my ass becomes the more pleasant the 200km will be.
In other news I got to spend 3 hours watching Drew do FAST testing for his Gymnastics Club and it was awesome. Over the last few months I have been getting in better physical shape and with that seems to come better mental shape, I am enjoying things much more and this was the perfect opportunity. FAST (Fitness and Strength Training) is a series of tests that the kids go through and are measured on. So for example a handstand against the wall, how long can you hold it. Well Drew was second best in his group at around 2 minutes (doesn't seem long??? try it I know my head would explode) Then there is the rope climb, oh but wait, your legs are not allowed to touch the rope and you start sitting flat on the matt........Drew performed top of his group in this one. Pushups, situps, stretching, sprints, standing jumps, tramp jumps, double mini tramp jumps, tumbling etc.
Long story short it was long, sometimes boring interspersed with moment of great fatherly pride. Thats my boy out there giving it everything he has, competing as best he can and enjoying it. It was awesome, I even loved it when he missed one of his launches for the double mini...........why. Pretty simple, if you are not falling down you are not trying hard enough. Good for you Drew, you made me very proud.
The Double Mini
After Tammy spelled me at the competition I popped on over to a good friends for an evening of camaraderie. Thanks Lou your friendship and hospitality are top notch.
Sunday after sleeping in a little (Thank you Tammy!!!) we packed up the hooligans for a trip to Cardel Place a local recreation centre that has a great swim area for kids fully equipped with spraying fountains, dumping buckets, flotation devices of every kind, a wading area, the lazy river, oh and a hot tub (aaaaahhhh). We spent a few leisurely hours enjoying splashing around with the kids, then off to Swiss Chalet for a late lunch early supper (Lupper??). All in all it was a pretty great weekend..............Tammy is off at the office again but I am betting even she feels like she had a bit more normalcy this weekend than she has had.......I know I saw her smile more than a few times.
Looks like the weather might change back to somewhat normal this week too so I can get back outside, maybe Piper and I will bike down and see Tammy for lunch later in the week if the weather cooperates..............and if it doesn't well I guess I will just keep going nowhere.
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