First Outside Ride of 2009

First off, nope - no baby news. Chris' belly grows bigger and bigger. Here baby, baby, baby.

Looks like she swallowed a beach ball.
Maybe tomorrow we'll be lucky.

March 7th, 2009 - First Outside Ride

I have to admit, I've been just a wee bit jealous of a few fellow bloggers as of late . . . and I'm not talking about the ones who live in exotic, hot places who can ride year round. I'm talking about some northern Yank blokes (clicky & clicky) who are able to actually get out and ride. These guys are not that far away geographically, but don't seem to be living in snow and cold that surrounds Ottawa. Even Matty is out riding on the road and he's living in a snow belt. Not only them, but Big Ring Racing's own Vegan Vagabond, is presently riding in the mountains and getting chased on the road by dogs down in South Carolina.

Luckily for me today offered a rare window of opportunity to get out and ride and shake off the cobwebs from spinning on the trainer in my basement for the past couple of months. I don't recall having a day this warm, this early in March in recent years.


Rest, schmest. With warm weather this early in March I'd have to be a fool (well, a bigger fool) not to ride. With the glorious return and excitement of outside riding comes the rejection of even possibly skiing again this season. Bah, me thinks me does not want to ski again this season.

I've had enough of skiing. I can't do it anymore. The desire to ski is gone. Might of had something to do with the crap conditions as of late and the even crappier grooming that Demsis has done this year - going to have to think twice next year about buying a seasons pass if they are in charge of grooming.

So early this morning, while thumbing my nose at winter, I waxed all the skis, packed up all my waxing tools, folded up the wax bench and cleaned up. After, like a kid getting ready for Santa to arrive laying out his Christmas sock, cookies and milk, I got all my bike stuff ready - tools, clothing, this and that . . .got it all set up real nice like. I'm ready to go. I just hope that I'm not premature . . . . which I am guessing that I probably am. Damn you winter!

I put a big heaping pile of prep wax on all my skis (if you don't do this your skis will oxidize over the summer and that is BAD) and put them away until next winter.

Glorious, glorious outdoor riding. Oh, how I have missed thee.
Half hour on the bike pedaling from home and out of the city puts me on country roads (cue John Denver). Beauty - no cars.

Every time I leave the house to do this route I expect it will be my last. Seems I get buzzed and have close calls whenever I ride in the city.
Fuggers.
However, today . . . no issues. Just wet, messy roads (the bike got a good wash down once at home).

I passed three roadies while out on the ride, two waved. Not bad . . . for Ottawa. Perhaps I was shunned by the one because I was wearing some non-descript & non-club-affliated cycling clothing. I don't get the roadie scene here in Ottawa. Most of them (and I do say "most", not all) have egos so big that they can't pull their heads out of their assess because they're too busy admiring how great they are.
What's wrong with a friendly wave? Are you moving that fast that you can't acknowledge a fellow rider. Fugg you. While riding in France this summer I got waves from everyone. A pro team (I'm assuming they were pro - all kitted up, pace car with team logos painted all over, a coach and a motorbike pacing them) passed and all waved and said hello. Maybe they recognized me from the Blog-0-sphere and said to themselves, "Sacre bleu! Zat must be zee one and zee only Big Ring. Oooo laaaa laaaaa!"
Maybe Ottawa roadies are too busy matching their tops and bottoms and shoe covers to spend time on the web surfing quality cycling blogs . . . such as mine.

Farm country.
It was warm enough to get away only wearing my Swobo hat - I bought it this year for my commutes to work throughout the winter. It's wickedly awesome to the max - merino wool is fantabulous. I took my balaclava though just in case I got chilled and it would come in handy if I felt like holding up a store on my way home. Nothing like a high speed chase on the bike for training purposes.


Just a touch over 60 km'ish, completed in just a wee bit over two hours.