Training, Buttertart Fail, Venge = Quite the Week!!

An eventful week on the cycling side of my life.  Lets get into it!

Sunday…took it as a rest day…OK so not really an eventful start to the week!

Monday…30 km road ride at an average of 30 km/hr, (made for an hour riding) in the morning.  In the afternoon went for a solo one hour mountain bike ride on our local trails. 

Tuesday…Out to Dundas for a 1.5 hour mountain bike ride with NewfieSteve.  My bike developed a massive creaking (never good for a carbon bike!), so we cut the ride shorter than we intended and dropped the bike off at the bike shop (BicycleWorks), to have them check it over.  Of course they then convinced Steve and me to join them on the Tuesday evening BicycleWorks group ride.  So off we went to our homes to get our road bikes (as the group ride was only half an hour to start).  The road ride was 2 hours…60 kms at 30 km/hr average.  Turned out to be a great blast!!

Wednesday…since the BicycleWorks crew was working on my mountain bike in the morning, I managed to get in a needed weight workout; an hour of shoulders and arms.  The mountain bike was not damaged, just needed pivot bearings cleaned or replaced, so I joined the shop’s group mountain bike ride which worked out to a 1.5 hour ride.

Thursday…thanks to mother nature, this was a rain day.  This made for a good opportunity to get in another weight workout.  65 minutes of chest and back.

Friday…So there I was, hanging out at BicycleWorks (I do that a lot), when Paul convinces me to try the new Specialized Venge for the weekend (since yesterdays rain made the trails too muddy to ride).  Paul is like a crack dealer, he knows exactly what he is doing; he is like a mysterious candy shop owner from a Ray Bradbury novel…just enough of a tiny bit of evil to coagulate the deceiving flow of good intentions.  Anyways, we swapped road bikes for the weekend.  Off I went to take the Venge out on a test ride…35 km in an hour.  First impression of the Venge; much more aggressive positioning on the bike, and it is much more aerodynamic than the Roubaix.  Oh, and FAST!!  Much stiffer and more efficient than my Roubaix.  Not quite as comfy as the Roubaix, but surprisingly close for such a stiff bike.  Did I mention that it is fast??  Every pedal stroke is a turbo boost…I had to look down to make sure there wasn’t a motor in the bottom bracket.  If effort X = speed Y on the Roubaix, then effort X = speed Y plus 10 on the Venge (for all you math geniuses out there)…and the Roubaix is not a slow bike!!  I needed to get out for more test rides for the weekend.  Paul had me hooked with the first little taste of rock candy.

Saturday…So wanted to get a longer ride in today, and give the Venge a real test.  So riding buddy Fig and I planned on going on a buttertart run…about a 100km ride hitting several buttertart bakeries along the way.  At 9am we hit the road, 30 km later we were in Moffat at Dar’s Bakery enjoying buttertart #1.  After scarfing said tart we headed west planning to hit Dee’s bakery on highway 97 near Valens Conservation Area.  About 15km from Moffat I felt a couple of slaps in the face.  I knew I was too far from home for it to be Heidi, but I still didn’t clue in right away…it was a couple of large rain drops!  We continued for another 5 – 10kms before we realized the rain had set in for a solid pour and was not going to pass, so we bailed and hightailed it back to home.  Thanks Environment Canada...lying bast^6$!!!   Anyways, the Venge cut through the rain and wind like a shark…it is so aerodynamic if I wasn’t soaked and cold, I would have barely noticed.  Our ride still ended up being 85kms and we averaged 31km/hr…not bad for the conditions.

Looks like the Roubaix is up for sale.  A good training week…but expensive.  More to follow.