Centurion the Destroyer

So Sunday morning, 8 am, had Centurion, CheeseLegs, and Sciurus meet at my house for a bit of a workout (read road ride).  Road rides are strictly for a workout…when you go with Centurion they are a WORKOUT (get the picture…foreshadowing).

The temperature was great, around 20d Celsius.  Centurion and I were planning to ride to Fergus and back for a total of 160ish km.  CheeseLegs and Sciurus were planning on breaking off somewhere along the way for a shorter route. 

I will attempt to describe our ride and route...but if you get lost here is an easy guide.

OK then...we started out heading north out of Waterdown at a leisurely pace between 25 and 30 km/hr.  We headed north through Kilbride making it to Moffat about an hour into our excursion.  We stopped at Moffat to top up our water and take in some fuel (that means eat).  In case you didn’t know Moffat is home to Dar’s Delights, a small bakery that makes some of the best buttertarts anywhere…however the owner, Dar, is also known to be quite moody on occasion…at least to cyclists.

Then we continued to head north up First Line, and we picked up the pace to 35 – 40 km/hr.  When we hit Arkel Road CheeseLegs and Sciurus decided that they would head west to Arkel and loop back making for a 70km ish trip.  Centurion and I continued north to Fergus, averaging 35km/hr or more.  We pulled into Fergus before 11am, and stopped at the local Tim Hortons to refuel and rehydrate.  I partially topped up my water, but I should have fully refilled my camelback, as it was heating up to over 30d Celsius.  Eat, drink, stretch, for a total stop of less than 15 minutes we were back on our way.

We headed northeast on Wellington Road 19, then turned southward on Wellington Road 26.  At this point we follow this road for a good 25 kms or more; so it was a full on head down hammer at over 45 km/hr!!  The couple of times I tried to lead, Centurion basically said “F’ you Riot” and pulled back in front…which was OK…it was all I could do to hold on to his back wheel!!  We eventually hit Wellington Road 124 where our route turned into a dirt road for a couple of kilometres (we will have to find an alternative to this for next time!).  Then we headed up 6^th line to Campbellville Road, Centurion was pulling away, I was slowing down and I struggled just to keep him in sight…by this time I was just about done.  And my water was running low, so I was really rationing it…but ran out by the time we hit Campbellville Road.  We headed up Appleby Line to Britannia where we headed east to Milborough Townline and on into Waterdown.  All the time I was fighting some mean cramping in the quads…likely brought on by the effort and dehydration.  I almost never cramp…so I am not used to the feeling…and fought to keep pedaling through the hurt.

We eventually made it to my house…I was a wreck…finished.  Centurion was fresh as a newly picked rose (OK that doesn’t sound very manly, but you know what I mean).  Anyways he looked way better than I felt.  So we dove into a couple of rehydration beverages,

Actually it was more like,

We threw back some snacks, some good Metis bannock and chatted with Heidi about her marital problems. 

Another great training run in the books…156 km at an average of 31 km/hr, to start out another week of riding.