Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Ride for Heart
Wow.
So it seems that I can actually prepare two postings in one night.
Anyway, for those who were around Toronto's highways (or any roadways for that matter) on Sunday June 4th, you're most likely aware that it was the Becel Heart and Stroke Ride for Heart. Yup, the traffic chaos was caused by around 13,000 bicyclists taking over the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway in order to raise funds for critical life-saving research. Events were held in Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton, raising over $2.15 million!
Our contribution was made as Kevin, Dave, Stephen and I joined IBM's corporate challenge. It was a great way to raise funds for another excellent cause, and for Kevin and I, it was a good opportunity to get another fun training ride in.
Riding a bike on these highways was so much fun! The route went from the west end of the CNE grounds onto the Gardiner, and east to the DVP. The trip north was a combination of an uphill ride with some headwinds, so by the time we got to York Mills for the turnaround, we were a bit tired. We'd managed to fall apart from each other, but rejoined easily enough at the finish line. All in all, I'd recommend this ride to anyone considering it for next year. With 25km, 50km and 75km options, there's something for nearly all skill levels!
posted by Anonymous @ 10:48 PM
Wow, this post is a bit overdue, what can I say, Kevin and I have been biking too much lately to post much! However, I may actually get in two posts tonight before I sleep. The first post is about clipless pedals.
A few weeks ago, May 13th to be precise, I picked up a set of Look Keo Classic Pedals:
To go with the clipless pedals, I picked up a pair of Look AP496 shoes:
A while ago I was somewhat confused about the term "clipless" when talking about these pedals, as you do actually clip your shoes into the pedals, using the cleats you fix to the bottom of the shoes. It was explained to me that the cage style pedal which was the earlier solution are referred to as "clips". When these new pedals were introduced to the market, they were called "clipless" to distinguish them from the clips.
Whatever the case may be, these pedals keep your feet locked in, so that you can get full use of your pedal stroke, both on the upstroke and the downstroke. You're much more stable over rough surfaces - your feet won't bounce off the pedals. You really do start to feel like the bike is a normal extension of your legs, it's a cool feeling being clipped in.
Of course, the downside to these clipless pedals comes when you stop. It's important to unclip at least one foot before you stop, so that you have a free foot on which to stabilize yourself. In order to clip out, you just twist your foot to the side - it's quite easy, but if you leave it too late, you just start to fall over.
I've practices a bunch, and so far I've not fallen. I'm sure soon though that I'll manage to make a blog entry entitled "Stu's fall" or something like that. Let's just hope I fall into some nice soft grass when I do ;-)
