Friday, June 4 – 46 kms in 2:18
This was supposed to be an easy 1 ½ hour ride to Bowen Island. Just a pleasant cruise along Marine Drive and then a pleasant ferry ride to an island paradise.
Oh the folly of man. I left late and had to go luck a mad man. I got every red light going through Vancouver and then all of the red lights through West Vancouver as well. The end result is that I missed the last ferry of the morning by 8 minutes. I should have realized that the rolling resistance of Hutchinson Pythons on my XC bike would mean the difference between making the ferry and have a 2 ½ hour wait for the next boat. On my road bike or on my pig of a commuter with slick tires I can make it from Vancouver to the ferry in just over 50 minutes. On Pythons it took 1:01.
With my extra time I checked out a relatively new development a bit north of Horseshoe Bay. I can see the houses from my deck overlooking the ocean. From the development's large green water tower there is a fabulous view of Howe Sound and Bowen Island. After my ride through the development and a cruise back along the highway to Horseshoe Bay I stopped in for the obligatory ferry-delay meal of fish & chips with an ice cream cone for desert.
As it turned out the first ferry of the afternoon was 35 minutes late and my overall journey, door to door, was almost five hours.
Saturday, June 5 – 26.3 kms in 2:00
In lieu of the XC race on the North Shore I made my own race on Bowen Island. I've been linking up some trails to try to make a "Race Around Bowen" route. Bowen has two other circumnavigation races, one for kayaks and the other for sailboats.
I rode as much single-track as I could find and threw in every big climb that there was en route. I found that there were more trees down than the last time I was on the route, and this made some of the riding a bit discontinuous. Some were small enough to just ride over, but a few were massive. A huge cedar blew over. Like most trees on Bowen it had incredibly shallow roots. Bowen Island has very thin soil and in high winds it is not uncommon for trees to blow down. This leads to frequent winter power outages, a reliance on candles and fireplaces, and a high birth rate.
As my race had only one rider I had a lock on both first and last place. I tried to go at race pace the entire distance but in reality it is hard to really push yourself that hard when riding on your own. One of the nice things about riding on Bowen is that I ride the trials so frequently that I know them pretty well. And after managing to ride up a loose rocky climb, it is great to turn around and hammer down at top speed. Well, top speed for me.
So, I know that with practice, or lots of practice, I'll be able to ride more of the trails on the Shore.
Sunday, June 6 – 33 kms in 1:36
Over the next week Cory's plan is for me to take it easy and cut the total time and distance way back. If there has been a gaping hole in my training in previous years it has been these low volume weeks. If riding is good, more riding must be better.
But the body needs a rest, and I've never really given myself the chance to rest. In past years I've commuted by bike to work, and so every working day I had a 30 km ride. Inevitability I would hammer on the way to work in order to make it to school on time. I know; if I'd left a bit earlier I could have taken it a bit easier.
The plan for today was a 1 hour ride to flush out the legs, but as I was riding from Bowen Island to Vancouver the ride was destined to be longer than an hour. After the short jaunt down to the ferry, and the rather picturesque trip across Howe Sound, I rode along Marine Drive back to Vancouver. I saw very few other riders en route, perhaps because Sunday was the Westside Classic road bike race.
In all an enjoyable ride, a bit longer than Cory's plan, but easy and fun.
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