This is just a short post that’s a bit of a placeholder as I get through all the photos from the last month or so. It’s been a busy stretch, and I do have lots to share. In the meantime, here’s a quick one from this weekend. I’m currently training for the RBC Gran Fondo, which is a long distance bike race from Vancouver to Whistler. Justine and I did it back in 2011, but were not able to train for it properly that year. This time, I have been good about the training, and this weekend I did the longest ride I’ve ever done - 123 km, 2,100 m of elevation gain over 5 1/2 hours. I thought I’d share…
I started at home, heading east towards the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. While I’ve driven over it a bunch of times, I’ve never ridden over it.
This ride was a bunch of firsts actually. Once over the bridge it was a bit of a slog up the hill and into the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve. There’s a great paved road that goes way up into the reserve. I’ve ridden it many times - just never as part of a much bigger ride!
After that, I worked my way across North and West Vancouver to the long ride up to the top of Cypress Mountain.
It was another first - I’d climbed part of the mountain in the past, but never all the way up. It was brutal. But the way back down was fun!
From there, I worked my back over to Horseshoe Bay, before the long ride back to home along Marine Drive, up over the Lion’s Gate Bridge and back through Stanley Park.
It was a massive ride - I went further than the Fondo distance, and climbed more elevation. Hopefully I’m ready!