Ferry to Ferry - Langdale to Earls Cove

Graeme had an idea to do this ride about a month ago, and decided to set it up as a club ride. We had about 18 people total, mostly from the club.

The ride was the hardest I have ever done. 160kms of hills and hill and hills and hills. I am used to riding hills but this was a whole other level. We took the 7:20am ferry from Horseshoe Bay over to Langdale, arriving there at 8:00. We were lucky enough to have a club member and wife of one of the guys doing the ride drive support for us. After loading up the truck we were off. And up one of the steepest and longest hills of the day, with no warm up.

The hills were relentless. My legs had nothing from the start which I honestly think was both good and bad. I felt better the second half of the ride then I did the first, and as I wasn't able to push that hard, I didn't really strain my fitness which meant I didn't feel totally trashed the rest of the weekend.

I lost the main group early on (which would have happened dead legs or not) but thankfully was able to ride almost the entire thing with my good friend J, and then meeting up with a few others at the rest stops.

It is a beautiful ride - an out and back from the Langdale ferry along the Sunshine Coast to the Earls Cove ferry terminal. Great views and the weather was perfect. The support was needed both to refuel and rehydrate as well as for a break from the hills!

Overall I felt pretty good, except for a weird foot thing which started around 110km in. Both of my feet, from just below the toes and all the way through the toes started to BURN! It was so painful I thought I might cry. I honestly thought I would have to get off the bike at Sechelt and hop in the truck. Luckily a couple minutes of standing at Sechelt made them feel a lot better, and while I could feel it after, it wasn't too bothersome. I have never had it happen before, and I think it must have had something to do with all of the climbing.

At 155km, we pulled into the pub in Gibsons and met up with everyone ahead of us. We had time for a quick beer before the last 5 km down to the ferry. A great, if not exhausting day!

I have a CLIF bar in my mouth in this picture...




The data from MapMyRide - a bit stupid you can't actually paste it into the blog...

MapMyRide - Ferry to Ferry - Langdale to Earls Cove

Minneapolis

Heading to Minneapolis last week, I didn't have any preconcieved notion of what the city would be like, though I was still happily surprised with how nice it was. A work related conference was the reason for the trip, but I decided to add on an extra day and stay for the weekend. Luckily, I have an online friend who lives there who was more than willing to show me around. The city is really green, very active, and has lots of good restaurants and rooftop patios everywhere.

I arrived in Wednesday afternoon and took the train downtown. There was a Twins game that evening and the train was packed! Still, an easy and quick way to get around. I met up with my friend and we went out for dinner and drinks.

Thursday I wandered around town a bit before meeting my friend again. We went to the bike shop so I could rent a bike, all while hoping the looming skies would hold off and we could get a ride in. We managed just over 2 hours on the bike paths around the lakes. You can ride forever on those bike paths. So strange coming from somewhere where there is no alternative to riding on the road. The ride was a bit wet, but nothing too bad. With all of the bike paths, its easy to see how Minneapolis has now become the number one bike riding city, overtaking Portland. Plus, last week was the introduction of the shared bike system. I saw lots of people taking advantage, even with the weather not being the greatest.



Thursday evening and Friday were all about the conference. It was a good experience overall. Lots of learning, eating and drinking!

Saturday and Sunday I ran with the friend again. Shorter on Saturday and long on Sunday. I don't know if it was the flatness of the run, but Sunday's long run was the best I have had in a long long time and it was a muggy day! We ran from downtown, through the sculpture garden, through the old neighbourhood, and around Calhoun Lake. My friend dropped off to go home and I ran more of the lake before heading to her place.


(photo by Bl@ck Coffee)

After a shower, we went out for brunch, walked Uptown a bit, had ice cream and then she dropped me to the airport. While Minneapolis is not somewhere I had on my list of places to visit, I am glad I had the opportunity and would recommend it. At least if you don't have to go in the winter!