My wife has knit me many pairs of socks and most of them are at the top of the duty cycle...first-out-of-the-laundry-first-back-in if you know what I mean. I have even started wearing some of my favourite socks on my training rides and judging by the comments I get, other riders like them too. My need to have something my wife made for me could be a sign I'm spending too much time training and not enough time with my family; I have certainly been on the bike a fair bit recently, and as I did last year, I want to thank her for her support.
Thanking her publicly at a training ride is like preaching to the choir, so I'll take this opportunity to thank her in front of her friends. I do also want to say a huge thank you to you, the now legendary (at R2S) knitting community. The R2S contact at the Canadian Cancer Society knows me as the "guy whose wife knits".
Last Sunday was one of our two really big training rides. It was planned out as about 11,000 feet of climbing over 185km (about 110 miles). No, I don't know why we measure distance in km and climbing in feet...for those of you in the Vancouver area, the route went from the Alex Fraser over SFU, out to Deep cove and up and down the North shore and up Cypress Bowl (the snowless wonder of Olympics fame) before heading back to the start point.
The forecast was for cloudy with sunny periods and a high temperature of 15 degrees (60F). What we actually got was rain, heavy at times with periods of hail and a high of about 10 degrees (50F). We had two riders who were borderline hypothermic before we even got to the big climb, and with the rain and cold, brakes were a problem on the hills. Fortunately, we had no crashes, but we had to abandon the big climb.
It wasn't safe to ride down a 13km/7 mile hill at 7% grade hitting speeds of 70kph/45mph in a driving rain storm with possible snow at the summit. I returned home to sunny Delta (the forecast was accurate out here) after 155km and 6000' of climbing and felt moved to take a photo of my legs before heading for a long thaw in the bath.
I don't normally take baths, but on this day I made an exception. By the way, I'm not wearing socks...that's how dirty my shins got riding in the "cloudy with sunny periods". I'm just thankful I was wearing regular cycling socks and not a Wenat creation. Otherwise, I'd have some 'splainin' to do.
This past month, Ride2Survive passed $1,000,000 raised over it's 6 years, and this year's total is now over $135,000 and rising quickly. All donations go directly to fund research, and we are making a difference. Thanks to donors like yourselves, supporters and well-wishers too and a tireless group of volunteers who work to get the riders to the destination.
Tony
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