Picture perfect

For the first time in a long time, like since October, I didn’t feel any pain today – nothing! My hips felt like how I imagine a normal 31-year-old, non-runner’s hips would feel, and dare I say even, a 20-something-year-old’s hips. My knees felt like they could dance for hours and hours and not be plagued by twangs of sharp, shooting pain. My feet and ankles felt like they could be propped up in heels for days. I don’t know what I did. I don’t know if it’s the new yoga routine, or the fruit-based recovery drink, or the resurfacing of cycling, or the strength training or the miracle-ball therapy (not the orange ball, but miracle ball … more on that later), but whatever it is, I’m liking it. Loving it!

On Saturday, after a 75-minute yoga session in the morning, Mario and I headed out to UBC with our bikes in the afternoon.

• Route: 34.9 km
• Trip time: 1:32:57
• Average speed: 22.0 km/h
• Max speed: 48.4 km/h

(The map isn’t 100 per cent accurate, as it double-backed a couple of times, and after struggling to erase and erase and erase, we finally gave up fixing it … but it’s pretty close) Does anyone know how to incorporate the actual map into a blog? I’ve tried, but I keep failing. How-to tips would be much appreciated 🙂

View Interactive Map on MapMyRide.com

It was pretty hard to figure out what to wear. The sun was out, but it was cloudy and breezy, and by the water it would surely be even more breezy.
So, I layered.

All along the ride I kept thinking oh I could take a picture of that or that or that, but didn’t because if I stopped I probably would never have caught up to Mario again; he’s quite the speedy one. So, had I been on my own, you might be viewing pictures of the Dr. Seuss tree that I so love on 3rd Ave, or Juliet’s, the restaurant that Mario and I, and our friends, Grant and Jacques, went to after I successfully completed my first half marathon, or the engineer students competing in a sling shot tournament, or the pretty pink flowers that I do so love this time of year. But then again, had I gone on my own, I likely would have gotten lost, and never found my way home (yes, I am directionally challenge) and the pictures still would never have been posted.
I wasn’t exactly sure where we were riding to, but I didn’t think we’d be doing one of our long rides, given that it was only my second ride of the season. But then when I saw us approaching Blanca Street, my stomach lurched a little. No, no, no he’s not taking me down there is he??? Mario gave me this evil little smile as he looked back at me and said “Ready?”
Oh crap!
Blanca Street is steep, so steep that I’ve gotten some of my fastest speeds going down it, but going down Blanca means that I would also have to climb Jericho coming back, which is also a massively steep street. As soon as we hit Spanish Banks, I was non-stop in the pep talk:
You can do this. You can do this. You can do this. YOU DID IT!
Victory!

Post-ride granola bar, yum!

2 thoughts on “Picture perfect”

  1. Robert Freeman

    Another funny blog from you, not to mention the geeky pix 🙂 But the best line so far has been the one about loving the sound bugs make as they splatter on your windshield 🙂

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