Turkey Day - 100k!

It has become a holiday tradition (well as much as something done three times can be considered a tradition anyway) among my group of cycling friends to do a long ride on the holidays.  My first 100k on my bike happened in July on Canada Day.  That was a tough ride and struggled through alot of it.  I required a helping hand on a few occassions with a couple of my cycling buddies riding on either side of me with a hand on my back and pushing me forward to bring me pack into the fold.  I'm lucky to have some very strong riders for friends!  We finished that 100k with an average pace of 27.9 km/hour and I was so damn proud of myself!

This is me and Paul at the end of that ride (with our old bikes).

The next holiday was the Civic Holiday in August when our little group decided to ride out to Mitchel's Bay.  We rode out, splashed around in the lake for a bit and had lunch at a great place by the lake.  By the time we came back we had done 135k.  I actually felt pretty good during that ride except for the half hour after lunch - until I let out a huge burp!  Paul really struggled that ride.  We did that ride at an average pace of 27.5 km/h which was pretty good considering there were only seven of us in the group that day, it was so HOT, and one of our two guys had done a half-ironman race two days before!

Paul at the end of the ride (I just noticed he's wearing the same cycling jersey!).

It was Thanksgiving in Canada on Thursday so a nice long ride was in order.  The weather is starting to turn and there are a limited number of good cycling days left.  We planned a 100k ride followed by a Thanksgiving potluck dinner at Dave and Kathy's to give thanks for our wonderful triathlon family.  The weather was perfect for riding yesterday.  We had two flats in the group during the ride which has never happened before and served to really delay us.  Andy joined us for what was his first 100k.  He was a trooper too!  The pace ended up being a little bit quicker than what was advertised to him but he hung in there like a champ.  He really struggled after 70k (right where I hit my wall the first time) but we ride which some an awesome group that really did everything to help him and he finished with everyone.  We averaged 29.6 km/hour for the 103k.  I fet great through the whole ride and was able to keep up!  I'm really proud of how far I've come since that first 100!  I'm also really proud of Andy for hanging in there and finishing it. 

Now I'm hoping for a really warm fall so we can have a repeat on Rememberance Day!