Pins and Needles

Pins and Needles

After all this talk about riding indoors, I decided to torture myself by cracking open my summer vacation photos. Sometimes I also light myself on fire and poke myself with scissors – just for fun. This was the second year…

Summer - The Last Hurrah

Summer – The Last Hurrah

When the temperature rises, nothing feels better than the wind in your hair, the sun on your back, and a brand new pair of Radio Shack team shorts on your backside. That said, I cannot in good conscience condone the…

Men(nonites) in Tights

Men(nonites) in Tights

Having miraculously survived the Rapture yesterday, I had the opportunity today to ride with the Mennonites in Tights, a road ride group based in Steinbach, Manitoba. I was quite relieved, that is, until I discovered my survival was based entirely…

Mon Pneu est Plat

This is one of the few expressions I have managed to retain from some 13-odd years of French class. It means “my tire is flat”. It’s amazing how quickly you loose any aptitude for a learned language, and how quickly…

It’s a Long Way to Portage la Prairie

Bob, Michael, Yours Truly, Eric and Nettie. Team Glutton for Punishment. Every year a small posse of riders from Portage la Prairie’s Junk Yard Dogs join a rag-tag group of Winnipeg riders for the cycling equivalent of a 200 kilometer progressive…

The Giant Family Vacation

In my opinion, the pecking order of our family unfolds thusly: 1. The Parents 2. The Children 3. My Bike 4. My Kitchen Aide Mixer 5. The Cat While I wouldn’t consider bringing the mixer or the cat on a…

Valley Girl

Note: I contemplated writing this entire post in “valley-girl”, but thought it would be, like, you know, totally bogus. I have a bag from Lulu Lemon that has various inspirational and hippy-dippy life mantras written all over it. Being told…

The Morning Ride

At 5:30 in the morning, most sane people are still in bed. Or perhaps coming home from a hell of a good shaker. But during the spring and summer months, when the sun comes up early, a small group of…

Three Hundred (and Twenty)

Through rain coloured glasses. I read recently that what is unique about any endurance sport is that whether you are feeling really good or really bad, don’t worry… it won’t last. This was certainly true of the 300 (and twenty)…

Bravo for Brevet

I never would have believed it possible, but there are worse things than getting up at 4:30 in the morning and cycling over 200 kilometers. Saturday was my first brevet of the season (second ever) and entailed a long and…