Becel Heart&Stroke Ride for Heart 2011 - 50km

Today was race day for the 2011 Becel Heart&Stroke Ride for Heart..and I can say it was an amazing experience! I have always wanted to do the ride but have never the courage to ride the distance that it demanded. In fact any long distances with biking made me rather tense given my novice skills with the bike. And sharing the road with other bikers, crowds of them, did not make it any better.

Some years ago (Actually, many many years ago... HS years...), I had two biking accidents. Rather...unbelievable ones that could happen to someone, but they happened to me no less. It was really the second accident though that had quite an impact on me, where the breaklines of the bike nearly punctured my neck.

After that accident, my mountain bike went into storage in my basement... and... stayed until just the past 2 years. Last year I replaced it with a lighter framed bike - the Trek 7000 series. Best bike ever.




This year in preparation for the race, I had wanted to start biking earlier in the season - on stationary ones at my local Goodlife gym. But sadly, in mid-february, I threw out my back. One morning I couldn't even sit up to get up from bed. I went to see my doctor and a physiotherapist, and after doing a series of recommended stretches, hot yoga, and rest, my back was feeling back on par in may.

Training for the ride for heart event however, started later in the game than I anticipated. After returning from my trip to Asia (Taiwan and Vietnam), I was sick from the common flu. It took me about a full week to recover and by then it was mid-may. Weather in Toronto also wasn't great, some rainy gross days came about, and so it was only the gym and stationary biking there.

It was fortunate that I had a hardcore biker buddy Jeff to do the rideforheart with, that really pushed me to get out there and just bike - regardless of how nice or bad the weather it was. Lucky for me though, the days that were chosen turned out to be nice :-)

Within 3 practices, I was starting to get into my grove, having more control with the bike, and a slightly better time going uphill! As Jeff says, it's all in the gears and the breaks. They're my friends :-)

Fast forward about 2 weeks, its June 4th, and I'm eating a pasta late at night at a local place on the Beaches (Tulips!). We literally stepped inside the restaurant at a quarter to 11pm. Jeff's younger brother and his aunt were there to join us as we wolfed down our carbs in prep for the next day's race.

We finished quickly and I got dropped off at my place by 12:30am. I was so exhausted, but mentally very alert. My pre-race day adrenaline was going through the roof. I think I layed in bed unable to sleep till 2am in the morning! Finally, realizing that I had set my alarm to go off at 5:30am, it was a good idea to just SLEEP.

So sleep I finally did. Alarm went off at 5:30am. Got up, turned it off, and went back to sleep. I finally got up at 6:30am, and by the time Jeff and I left the place to go to the Ex it was 10 to 8.





We started the race on time, 8:30am. It was crowded, but not so bad as I imagined. We rode up about the halfway point for the 25km (which was what we had originally signed up for), but neither one of wanted to turn back. Our sticker allowed us to go on the 50km route, so after a quick discussion, we went for the 50km :-)

We stopped a few times, had some apples at a rest station, took water breaks and photos of the downtown skyline, the rogers centre (formally known as the skydome), and the cn tower.

The ride back to the Princes' Gates was more leisurely than expected because both Jeff and I had expected a tough uphill to go through, but it turned out to be not so bad at all. It was in fact easier than the circuit route at the water filtration plant I had trained on. Phew :-)

We finished at the 50km finish line and made our way to grab some food: Bagel, Water, Banana, and a Juice box.

I don't think I ever polished up food that was given at an event that quickly. But I have a feeling it was because I hadn't eaten anything for breakfast since we were pressed for time to head out.

The entire ride took us about 2 and a half hours. I was really happy that I didn't "tap" out on any of the hills :) I barrelled through them, grit and sweat!

So ends my ride for heart journey of this year. Next year, I hope to do the End Cancer or perhaps the Ride for Heart 75km. Maybe the latter first :-)

But before signing off: Thank you again for the wonderful sponsors who contributed to making this event possible for me! My cousins, Cecilia, and Kai (the sane). Special thanks to Jeff who really helped me train for the event!

Speaking of events...

Next one up... Warrior Dash?! We'll see how training goes for that!