Rideau Lakes Prep – Kanata Lakes to Champlain Lookout

It was definitely a much better ride today as the calf is holding up well and the weather has turned decidely nice. The ride started again with a nice tailwind and an easy cruise into the hills. The fitness is still not quite there yet as I found I was using the small chainwheel in places where I haven’t had to before, notably on the Pink Lake hill.

The wind became apparent as I reached the Champlain Lookout so I knew the ride back into Kanata was going to be a bit of work. After a quick nutrition break at the lookout, I was descending and calculating how much liquid I had remaining – it was only 26 degrees, but the body was still adjusting after the long, cold spring.

The last 20km into Kanata were into a steady 20km/hr wind and proved to be tiring on drained legs. The total distance was going to be just short of 100km, so a few neighbourhood streets took care of the remainder. Next time, maybe the wind won’t be blowing straight down Walden just as I’m running out of energy…

It was great to see so many cyclists out yesterday on the paths and in the park. As a rough guess, I probably saw more than 300 people riding.

Things to concentrate on for the next ride: eating more; drinking more and earlier (-3 lbs on the day!); and finding ways to make it easier to eat while riding. Apricots are good, but there are so many you can eat before you get tired of them.