Well, we've got only four weeks to go until we leave for Astoria Oregon and The Ride the West 2012 trip. We're looking forward to getting re-acquainted with the ABB staff, ABB North 2010 alumni who are joining us on the ride, and new riders we're going to meet. The Duchess and I have been training hard as much as we can, but I will always worry that we haven't trained enough. The Duchess has logged over 2,000 kilometers so far this season which is a record for her. Our average ride has been around 65-75 kms long, and The Duchess has been averaging around 24 kms/hour on the open road. I think she's doing great. She's had a couple of minor falls, two of which happened when she was pretty much standing still, which as we all know, can happen to anyone. So, my Duchess is a little bruised right now. We have a nice ride planned for tomorrow, but Sunday looks iffy due to severe thunderstorms in the forecast. We're finding it hard to get a lot of mid-week training in though.
Just this past Sunday we visited the ABB America North 2012 ride at the SAG stop between Brantford and Niagara Falls Ontario, which was about an hour's drive from our house in Toronto. It was great to see Mike, Barb, Karen, Jim, and Jeff. They've had a bit of a rough time with this year's group (a number of falls/injuries). Everyone we saw looked great though.
We're very anxious to get going on this trip. The training is getting a bit repetitious for us. You know, like most people, we have 5-6 routes of varying length that we ride depending on energy level, weather, and traffic. The problem where we live is that the traffic in our city is so terrible that we really can only ride safely very early in the morning, and even then, only on certain routes. Given all that, it is still quite dangerous out on the roads in the Greater Toronto Area (commonly known as the "GTA"). We'll be happy to finally get going on this trip and see some new places from the seat of our bicycles and from hopefully better paved, emptier roads.
We'll keep posting as we near the start date, so it's 28 days and counting!
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This is so great Mark and Susan! I so admire you guys for what you're doing. I don't think I'd have the gumption nor the stamina for your Ride West Trip! It sounds so exciting and I'll be reading your blog posts to keep up! Take care and have an amazing time!
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