Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Bike - Hitchhike - Run

Amazingly enough, I've been on the road bike since end of February - riding on the roads by the snow-laden fields around Edmonton. Usually I will x-c ski to the bitter end of the snow season in March.
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Aaron Schooler has helped get alot of us motivated to get out cycling early as he is training for his team H&R Block's upcoming races. It's been awesome riding with the guys in the single digits above 0C and keeping warm in the sun. I have the riding bug!!

Today I went on a road ride with Steve Ferris from my club with Aaron jamming 'cause it was too cold(?)! I was happily talking Steve's ear off about raw foods when my chain broke halfway into the ride. We were way out on some no-traffic Range Road 50 km south-east of Edmonton. No problem, I actually brought my chain tool! Steve took over fixing my chain until he realized the tool was broken. The metal gave away and bent so the mechanism wouldn't remove the link in a straight manner. Anyways, I was hooped!

Steve kindly pushed me on my bike back to highway 21 a couple km away. From a main road, I figured it would be easy to catch a ride at least back to Sherwood Park the nearest town. A few vehicles stopped though not the best ride for various reasons. A service van stopped - perfect. Thanks to Bradley from Monarch Countertops, I got a ride back to Edmonton. I ran from Bonnie Doon to Pedalhead where I had a new chain put on and happily rode the last few blocks home.

I'm very appreciative of Steve for his patience and riding with me, Bradley for stopping to pick me and my bike up, and Guri for putting my chain on!!