A weekend to be.

Sat
106 km ride (was planning to do another 20 km but my quads died) ~240'
15' run right after (good, HR low, legs use to running)

Sun
75 km ride (Becel Ride for Heart with Will, windy and long grinding hills)
20' open water swim
30 km ride (Recovery ride with friends, blew my quads out)
- Donna can't make it b/c she had family plans (good b/c by the end of the ride, I was dead tired)

Sat I was planning for a 5 hr ride. By the 3rd hour, my quads were dead. Mentally I was strong, but my legs felt like they have no energy. I couldn't cycle continuously. This is strange b/c for the past week I haven't done a lot of training.

During the ride, my stomach try to spit back out the gel and eload I pour down. I suspect there is too much concentrate stuff (gel + electrolytes) in my stomach and it couldn't handle it. Is it possible that the stomach start shutting itself down and I am not getting enough sugar in my system and that leads to bonking?

On Sun, my parents came home late (party animals). They got home at 3 am and woke me up. Since I was up, I didn't bother heading back to bed.

I met up with Will at 6:15 am. We are doing the Becel Ride for Heart. They have closed off the highway and we get to ride on it. We registered and went to the started line at 6:45 am. The weather was chilly, windy and cloudy. I had a short sleeve with arm warmers. I am glad I didn't got my rain jacket. B/c by the last half, I was getting too hot and had to take my arm warmers off.

We started off nice and slow. Just like any busy highway, there was a lot of congestion. A lot of riders making quick left and right turns without realizing there are riders behind them. A few already have flats and have to pull to the side.

Will, me and my friend Chris stayed together in the first half. The route make us climb up the highway, come down and loop it up once more before heading back to the starting line.

The first climb was ok. My goal for this ride is more keep high cadence, low HR. NO climbing out of saddles. There isn't a need for it b/c the highway is not steep. It is just long and grinding.

After the climb, we fly back down. Going 40 + kph on the highway felt really nice. The second climb, I was feeling it. My quads were giving out. Grinding my way up, I was slow and do my best to keep thing steady. By then Will was so far ahead I couldn't see where he was.

There were a lot of family riders. I've seen parents riding with a trailer carrying their kids. Kids in their mountain bike. New bikes and old bikes. All kind of cyclists.

I bought two bottles of gatorade. That wasn't smart. By the last 10 km or so, I was bonking. Will met up with me and we rode to the end. Took us about 2 1/2 hr for 75 km. That's almost 30 kph (18.75 mph). Not too bad.

We grabbed our freebie lunch (more like a snack). Chatted up for a bit and he have to head out. I met up with some other friends that just finished. They rode the 50 km route.

Afterwards, head over to the beach and did some open water swim. I started to get into the pattern of counting my strokes in 3s. I ain't that bright and that's the highest I can count.

So the swim goes like this:

1,2,3, breathe, 2,2,3, breathe,3,2,3 breathe.....

I went up to 30 1,2,3s before stand up turn around and swim back. Did about three 30 1,2,3s before I head out.

On average, it takes me about 21 strokes to swim 25 m.

That will be 1680 strokes for 2000 m (2 km).

That will also translate to 560 3's.

Next weekend, I am going to spend one afternoon to swim 2 km (volume, not continuous). I am sure that is doable.