Saturday Workout

I had a great workout this morning. I met my friends at 7:30 at the arranged spot and we were on the road by 7:45. As usual, I had planned the route (which bugs me sometimes, but I'll rant about that later). The weather was on the chilly side, but we were all dressed for it so it was fine. And the rain held off, too, which was a blessing [I don't mind running in the rain, but I hate cycling in the rain].

After we had gone 32K the other four decided to cut the route short, so I headed out a little further on my own. I had told them that the "shorter" route would be about 40K, but I now suspect that it was closer to 50K (Oops! But that's what you get for not planning your own route - wait, I said I wasn't going to rant about that just yet).

On the fun little loopy part around the lake, a squirrel ran out into my path. I was going pretty fast at the time (40km/hr-ish) and I kind of freaked out a bit, screamed, swerved, and it did one of those crazy dodging moves that squirrels do before it made it across the road safely. Phew! Just beyond that, a bluejay darted out in front of me, but he flew away pretty quickly. Later on I saw some other colourful bird who had not had the same luck and must have run into a moving car or something (sniff).

The total length of the bike ride was 60K (yea, me!) in about 2:20. I got off my bike, threw it in the back of the car, switched into my running shoes and went out for a short run. I just did a little 5 minutes out / 5 minutes back, but that's actually tougher than it sounds, just having ridden 60K!

While I was riding alone on one of the main roads there was this big sign up ahead that was being used to help keep traffic speeds down. As a car approached, it flashed (for example) "Your Speed: 68 km/hr" (it was a 60km/hr zone). I wondered whether it would register as I rode by and to my delight, it did. It said: "Help keep our roads safe. Your speed: 29 km/hr" Woo hoo! That made me laugh as I honestly didn't think my speed would register. Later, as I was doing my little 10-minute run I noticed a cop parked by the side of the road with her radar gun pointed in my direction (the speed limit in that area is also 60km/hr, but lots of people speed there). As I ran past I said, "How fast am I going?" She just laughed and said, "Blazing!" That was fun.

After my run I bumped into SG and HC who had just finished their ride. We chatted for a bit and they gave me grief over the state of the trunk of my car. It's filled with all kinds of crap, but I don't really have any space to keep a lot of that stuff and since I tend to live out of my car while training in the summer, it's just easier to keep it all in the trunk. But when I got home I actually succumbed to the peer pressure and cleaned it out. I also washed my bike, degreased the chain and re-lubed it. Now I feel content.

Now I'm just chillin' for the rest of the day. Will probably go out later. Not sure what, yet.

Now the rant: Rule #1 - if you're not going to take responsibility for planning a route and figuring out the distance, you give up all rights to complain about the route or the distance. And if you're going to cut it short, you're responsible for finding your own way back. It never ceasses to amaze me how many people willingly give up control of things like that and then expect other people to get them back to where they started. Hey, it's your responsibility to know the route and to know how to get back. If you're directionally challenged then bring a map. Sheesh!