This is my 2nd year of doing the Ride. The first year I didn't train nearly enough (did 80 Kms total at the 2011 Ride), but this year I want to do all 200+. However, I do not own a car but am very interested in joining the other individuals doing the Edmonton (Adrossan - start/finish) training rides. They start and finish in Ardrossan.
If anyone lives in the downtown core or anywhere along the Edmonton bike path, I can always meet you somewhere and I (and my bike) could possibly hitch a ride?
I'll be looking at doing some hill rides in the not too distant future...places like Victoria Park Hill, Groat Road (S side of the river), Emily Murphy Park hill to the U, maybe 105 St from Walterdale up to downtown... things that are good practice for the Ride.
Not often...I am so close to the Henday that I ususally just drop on to it and do a good portion of a lap of the City. If I do, I'll keep you posted ;)
Actually, it has a pretty decent shoulder....only issue is the major interchanges where you sometimes need to wait for a lull in traffic before you can continue on your way.
Distance, well that depends. A loop from my place in Millwoods around to St. Albert and then cutting through town to get back is about 80 km. Doing the full loop (what's constructed, anyway) will likely be more like 100 km. It's a haul, but good practice for the Ride :)
Hey Mike! My sister in law and I are planningto do part of the Henday on Saturday morning. She lives in Windermere, so with me in St. Albert, it should make for a decent 45k or so ride both ways! She is going to ride from her place to mind, take a pit stop at my house, I'll ride back to her place with her and then ride home by myself. I'm looking forward to it! As per usual, I haven't even been on my bike yet and the ride is creeping up! Hoping to hit the river valley this year as well....I saw your post about it being quiet this year and boy is it ever....just not the same not having a big team to chat back and forth with and meet up with and fundraise with. I miss it as well :(
Hey Jen...sounds like your ride should miss the really nasty interchange (Henday/Highway 2), but still watch out at Stony Plain Road....it's still pretty busy. :) Believe me, I know we were all chatter boxes with the email and facebook stuff with the Crusaders in the past...always sending notes about events and encouragement. I kinda miss it too. The Melan Heads are a great team, but don't have the same chat factor :)
Maria - I've just passed the 800 km under the wheels mark for this year and am commuting on a regular basis now. I've actually been getting in a good number of 40 km rides, so I figure I should start stepping it out to 60 km and 80 km pretty soon. Not sure if I'll do the 80 km this weekend or next, though: I still have maintenance I need to do on the big bike I'll be using for the Ride and if I need to order parts, I think it'd be better to know sooner than later.
Awesome Mike! Good for you. The longest I've done was to my kickboxing class at 14.5 Kms each way, with an hour of kickboxing of course. I think doing something like the Hendey or on the road would be good for me...get over my fear of city riding. I live so close to work (2 Kms) that I just walk instead of ride.
Maria, my commute basically doubled from an 8 km round trip to about 16 km just before the first ride...but my bike commuting was almost nil in '09 and 2010 because of the need to pack and set up a house followed by the addition to the family the next year. Last year I finally got back over 2000 km by bike, but I really didn't do much after the ride as I got quite busy with house issues (flooding, landscaping etc)
This year, I'm shooting for 2000 miles total and I'm well on the way....I finally swapped over to the slicks here for the commute today and boy oh boy does that make a difference on the cyclocross bike :) Nice thing is, with the slicks on, if I chicken out due to weather, I can throw down my rollers at home (picked them up this year) and ride that way :)
Important thing is to get out and ride....doesn't need to be huge rides, but saddle time is important in getting ready for June. Work up to longer and longer distances and before too long, you're ready for the back to back days of the Ride. :D
That's what I need, more saddle time, especially on the weekends. The main thing, I know, is to get the butt/sit bones used to the saddle. That is very key. I'm not afraid of long rides, I just hate doing it alone. I guess that's my problem. Going to/from my class by myself is one thing, but when you're cycling for a long time/long distance by yourself, it gets lonely and, well, not that much fun. Last year during the ride on Day 1, I felt so alone from about 60-80 Kms. So many people were swept or they were just so fast and I felt like I was the only one riding. I was sooo slow last year. It took me about 8 hours to do 80 Kms (pretty sad) and then my body shut down because my head was throbbing/pounding so hard that I could hardly think straight. I really think the reason I had to quit after 80 was because of the wind, even though my ears were covered. Nothing else hurt, just my head. At least I know now what to do, well I think I do. :) Maybe we could get a group together some weekend and do the Hendey or even the River Valley. The River Valley will be good practice...there are sooo many hills, little hills, but hills along the Ride. At any rate, I hope getting on my bike every day in May, especially, even if it's for 5 minutes or 3 hours, will help; I'm sure it will. Thanks Mike!
Good on you for setting a goal of on the bike every day, Maria. I'm trying to commute to work a lot more this year and I'm starting to get more saddle time in....sure is nice to finally be on slick tires....I count it as a good sign that spring is finally here. I managed to test out my wet weather gear on Friday afternoon's commute....if we have a repeat of Day 2 from last year, I'm covered this time.
Now, I just need to spin the wrenches on my big bike and make sure it is going to be ready for the Ride too!
Maybe next year I'll be able to swing a "real" road bike.
Your wet weather gear? Rain jacket and rain pants? If you have rain pants, where'd you get them? It wasn't too bad on Friday in the rain...it didn't rain very hard. But it sure poured on Day 2 last year, hence why I didn't venture out the 2nd day. :) I took Sunday off, but riding to and then from my kickboxing class was easier. I just might be able to swing all 219 Kms this year.
Yeah, sorta like that....I've got a rain resistant jacket, and actual cycling specific rain shell (one of those plastic rain coats with all the venting where you probably won't get wet), water repellant leg warmers (which did really well in the rain) and some shoe covers.
I've picked it up from a variety of sources...Mostly MEC and Wiggle (online) from the UK. I've really gotten to like the UK stuff just because their "winter" gear is perfect for our spring and fall. The mountain biking got me addicted to some European stuff (Hope hubs and brakes) and, well, my addiction has grown to some of their clothing lines that fit me well too.
I used to have sweats over my baggie shorts for cold weather, but Day 2 last year proved why that wasn't a good idea. Cold and wet = 10 lbs of sweats that aren't warm ;)
and thanks everyone!
