Ride for Heart

So, I didn't get to sleep in at all this weekend. Saturday, it was up and at 'em for the St. Lawrence Market (it's just so much better when you're there early), and then Sunday I rose and shone for the Ride for Heart. By "shone" I mean foggily rolled out of bed and into my cycling clothes, and rolled down through the still-silent, foggy city to where the ride starts at the CNE grounds.
Undoubtedly the most fun part of the annual Ride for Heart is that you get to ride your bike on the highway. I don't think the novelty ever wears off. Well, maybe a little after 75 km.
After about 30 km or so, I began to be concerned for the health and safety of my lady parts, and started to reconsider my position on cycling shorts with padded crotches. (Old position: Never in a million years will I wear them. New position: I like my lady parts, and want to be kind to them. If that means padded spandex shorts, so be it. I'll just top them with a cute Lululemon dance skirt or something.)

It's wonderful to see the highway taken over by bicycles. Like a vision of a future utopian society where everyone cycles everywhere, and rush hour is not set to the sound of honking horns, but hearty inhales and exhales and the gentle ka-chunk of bike gears changing.

Although, I could have done without the massive pack of dudes on road bikes whizzing by, screaming: "LEFT! LEFT! LEFT!" I swear there were about fifty of them, although other witnesses put them at about fifteen. I was like, dudes, it's a charity ride. You're scaring the kiddies. And me.

Here I am, keeping to the right...



















The altered signage on the Gardiner Expressway and DVP was a nice touch. Although I was a little insulted by the one that reminded drivers to "Quit idling." There was nothing idle about my morning!


I completed the 75 km in 3 hours and 36 minutes. Including stops for stretching, phone calls and slices of oranges.