We’ll, not much of a year on Zwift but there was some late in the year rides.
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Tag: Cycling
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Strava in 2022
I got some good riding in this year with FOG, Southern FROGs, Northern FROGs and the Kenora RPCC folks. However, heath issues put a bit of a crimp in the late season riding.
Looking forward to some winter riding in 2023 and a full road bike season.
My Strava stats for 2022.
Strava 2022 -
High Mileage Week
Funny how we still say “mileage” when things are typically measured in kilometres. Kilometerage certainly sounds funny and I don’t think it’s even a word.
Anyway, this week my mileage was about twice the typical week at 425km thanks to a FROG (77km), FOG (95km), solo ride (82km) and my Ride to Conquer cancer (160km) ride.
This is the biggest milage week in quite some time.
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Ride to Conquer Cancer
2022 is the 15th anniversary of Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer to raise funds for Princess Margaret Cancer Centre research and my 2nd ride. Not being in Toronto it’s a bit of a solo event as opposed to the fully supported ride from Toronto to Hamilton on Day 1 and then on to Niagara Falls on Day 2 with pit stops, lunch, dinner accommodations etc.
At the Legion, ready to go Last year I was at the lake riding but this year I find myself in the city. The “official” ride is on the weekend, June 11 & 12 but the Saturday forecast here in Winnipeg is a bit iffy so I opted to ride on Thursday which was a perfect day, sunny, mid-twenties and very light winds.
The FOG casual ride group had planned a ride on Thursday as well which meant that I could hook up with them and have company for the first 100km, perhaps more and then finish up the remaining distance on my own to get to the 160km goal. 160km or 100 miles is a bit of a cyclists achievement referred to as a Century ride.
I load up the jersey pockets with provisions for the anticipated 5+ hours of riding and I leave the house at 8 am to meet the group at the Legion near Henderson Highway and the Perimeter. I’ve ridden from home to the Legion before but always on a Saturday morning. The rush hour traffic is crazy, especially with the one lane closure on Archibald right at the Tim Horton which causes it’s own traffic jam thanks to the drive-thru.
I meet up with the group and there are eight of us with another rider joining en route. The ride is the usual lively pace holding between 30-35km/hr with some faster bits thanks to a slight tail wind from time to time.
All is going well and I’m on target to reach 100 km by the time we get back into the city. As we’re proceeding south on Hwy 59 coming back from Birds Hill Park, I hit something, likely a rock, and get a pinch flat. Everyone stops and helps me repair the flat and we’re back underway, for about 100 feet and then there is a gunshot loud “explosion” as the same front tire gets another flat!
Upon closer inspection, which I should have done the first time, there is a sizeable cut in the sidewall of the tire and sort of like a hernia the tube which is at 100psi squeezes out the cut and explodes. Again, everyone stops and assists with this “discovery”.
The fix this time, in addition to my last new tube, is duct tape to the rescue! Dave somehow comes up with a small piece and places it over the cut on the inside of the tire. The new tube is then inflated to about 50-60 psi so as not to put too much pressure on the duct tape fix. It’s rideable but a little squishy feeling in the front. Now the goal is to get back home for some more serious repairs. Dave sticks with me as we ride to Windsor Park and the tire holds up all the way home.
Part 1 So much for 160km all in one go. But wait, there is more!?
I knew I’d need new tires sometime this year so last fall I caught a sale and had ordered a pair of Continental 5000s which were ready and waiting. Into the basement shop for a full tire change and I’m good to go again. Since I’m at home anyway I take the time to have a bit of lunch and refresh the water bottles before heading out for the last 60km.
Heading south to Ile de Chene will take me to 30+ and a good place to turn around and head home. Tires were great and no further incidents happened. Listening to a few podcasts helps the time solo riding pass.
Part 2 Some additional Strava info for the cycling geeks. Part 2 was a fair bit slower as I was more tired at this point and it’s easy to slack off when you’re not pacing with other riders.
Fundraising turned out well! A big thanks to all who supported this worthy cause.
So, in the end it all turns out well and my goal of 100 miles was achieved, just not the way I anticipated, like so much of life.
The Official Socks of the 2022 R2CC UPDATE: The Ride raised $16.37 million for breakthrough research at The Princess Margaret, and it rained on them going from Hamilton to Niagara Falls ?
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Cottage Opening 2022: The rest of the story
On Friday, May 20th, I spent much of the day just tidying up after the fall shutdown putting things back in place for the summer. In the evening all the family came out and we had some nice conversation over a few beverages. (Part 1 is here)
In the morning Scott and I watch the F1 practice sessions, after all it is his birthday weekend and also an F1 race weekend in Miami. After breakfast the boys and I tend to some of the heavier dock work. Well, actually the guys do all the heavy lifting, I’m just directing traffic.
The aluminum boat is flipped right side up and the Merc outboard is put on the boat. After a few pulls (14 but who’s counting. Need to get that electric start fixed) it fires up and we go retrieve the sailboat ramp which floated away to the bay next to us. It’s still all intact so it’s repositioned and winched up to a higher location and tied to a large tree.
The boat roller ramp is re-positioned and comes in handy in dealing with the extra high water levels this spring.
It’s not all work and late in the afternoon there is a walk down the road with everyone
and smores around the fire pit. Along with roasting worms and other “boy stuff” ?.
Worm Roast 
Smores – much tastier Dinner is the classic lake burgers with “cheese goo”, potato salad, beans marinated tomatoes and all the condiments. Plus a special dessert for the birthday boy.
On Sunday the family is packing up to get back to town for a number of different commitments. Scott and I watch the F1 race before he goes, well the start anyway. I finish it up after they have gone.
It’s early in the day and all the family have left so before tackling a few more startup tasks, there is time for the coffee on the deck lake tradition.
Then it’s back to “work”, which is always more like fun at the lake. I take the kayaks down to the dock mainly so I can use one to paddle over to some friends on an island near us to say hello.
Lots of docks are weighted down against the high water After that it’s cut up some downed trees on the path and haul the brush up to the road. The yard gets a raking and the property gets the leaf blower cleanup treatment. Things are looking pretty tidy. The boat is washed out and battery installed, ready to go for the season.
With the high water I get the garbage cans from 2014 down to the dock and fill them up with water to hopefully stabilize the top of the dock against the high water and waves.
On Monday I’m up at 6:15 but still miss the sunrise which is 5:26am these days, perhaps tomorrow. Generally a relaxed morning then a quick bike ride over the Rushing River.
Rushing River from the Highway Bridge 
Rushing River at the Cook Shelter In the afternoon it’s cleaning the eavestroughs front and back both of which were more that a little plugged up with leaves and gunk.
Tuesday I am up for the sunrise at 5am on a totally clear and cool (8°C) morning. After easing into the day with several cups of coffee and a light breakfast I start the investigation on replacing the rotted beam that supports the deck in the front left corner.
This years major repair job This could be a bit of a job as it’s 2 – 2×10 – 16′ and 10′ in the air at the high corner on uneven ground. New footings and a temporary support system will be required to do the replacement. Always something fun happening at the cottage.
We pack up in the early afternoon and head back to town. As we pass through Kenora we make the first of the season stop for a little treat for the road. The perfect end to a great opening weekend.
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Fitness Improving
So, along with loosing some weight I’ve been focused on another cycling fitness goal, that of improving my Functional Threshold Power or FTP.
Once upon time I hit a record high in my FTP of 311 way back in January 2014 and that was the last time it’s been anywhere near that good.
Over the last 4 1/2 years various health issues have put a dint in my cycling abilities and correspondingly the FTP has been on a bit of a roller coaster. But after some steady workouts over the winter things are once again looking up. Today, I hit 230, the highest it’s been in a while.
I’ve been using the Wahoo X (formerly known as Wahoo Systm before they acquired RGT) for measuring FTP for the last little while and TrainerRoad before that all the way back to March 2012.
Wahoo Systm has two tests that they use to measure FTP the Half Monty and the Full Frontal. My last few testing results are below.
Pretty excited to be back to the cycling fitness level prior to starting on The Journey
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Zwifting
Always getting hooked on these “Tours” in Zwift. I did the Tour of New York last month and just finished the Tour of LDN (London) today. They send you a nice little email for all your hard work.
Hey Garry,
You crushed it! You finished all 5 stages of the Tour of London. That completes the series.
You’ve done what you had to, to unlock the special Tour of London kit! It will take some time before it reaches your Zwift closet. Expect to find it hanging and ready to wear by December 31st, 2018.
Ride On.
The Team at ZwiftI also had a bit of fun with another rider near the end. They were drafting for a while and then came by and I decided to see if I could stay out front, which I did. But, every so often they would hammer on with 250-300 watts and pass me, which I of course I chased down. We exchange elbow flicks and waves and then I decide to draft for a while. As we near the end they are behind me a bit, and I’m half expecting a sprint finish but I can’t exactly see how far back they are. Sure enough, right at the wire I get my doors blown off as they fly by at the wire. Congratulations Sarah Lovejoy, 51 from the USA. 😉
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How I’m feeling
These days I get asked how I’m feeling a moderate amount, most likely because some folks know about my health challenges I faced earlier in the year. I’m actually feeling quite well physically as well as most “other” ways, but this is about my current physical status.
The way I’m judging my physical status is basically two ways. The first is just how I’m thinking about my physical status. Are things working OK? Do I have adequate energy? Sleeping well? How am I feeling compared to a prior timeframe like last year or the year before or some other timeframe when I thought things were really, really good. Basically it’s just some sort of overall internal evaluation of how I think I’m doing and generally the answer is “good’.
The other primary way is by my cycling capabilities some of which is how I feel about the various rides and the other measure is the analysis provided by the various bits of technology that I use while riding like a heart rate monitor and a power meter.
Today, I had an experience with both on my ride.
While doing the ride I noticed that I was able to hold 225-250 watts with a moderate amount of effort. Only a very short time ago this was not possible. Granted, I’ve been riding more frequently to improve my fitness, and it seems to be paying off. While riding I was thinking this was the kind of pace I could hold a couple of years ago while cycling around the Kenora area on the Bypass loop. Feels good to be getting back into better shape. Hopefully, in the summer of 2019 I won’t be hanging on for dear life to the back of the pack on group rides and back into taking my full turns pulling on the front like the “old” days. This internal personal assessment was backed up by the Strava stats. This was one of my better rides in quite some time.
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Global Fatbike Day 2017 – Winnipeg Ride
I took part in the December 2nd, 2017 Global Fatbike Day ride on a sunny and balmy 0°C with virtually no wind. Nice ride including a chilli lunch ( Thanks Tom Kolesnik & spouse ).
Photo Credit: Gregory McNeill
