My version of Training Camp officially began on Thursday. I kicked things off with a 6 hour ride which was awesome but damn my body was sore on Friday. Since it was pouring rain on Friday and I was so sore I decided to just take it easy and recover.

I did the Donut ride today. The Donut Ride is a historic road ride in Toronto which used to begin at a local donut shop (but it is out of business now). It is a huge ride getting anywhere from 50-125 riders in the group. It is large enough that the group takes up one lane of traffic while we head out of the city....even the police leave us alone. This group is super competitive, yet gets so many different levels of riders out. This can make it sketchy at times but overall a fun time. Many local pro riders come out for this ride, even the infamous Michael Barry (Discover Channel) when he is in town. Back to the ride. It was below freezing when we started and my feet froze almost immediately. The ride started out very casual (more so than usual) and I thought it would be a mellow ride. Once we got out of the city it didn't take long for things to speed up and soon we were doing 45km/h into the wind and my legs were screaming. I held on for awhile but eventually gave up when a small break in the peleton occured. With the wind so strong once the group splits it is very difficult to get back. I ended up waiting for my friend who was in a group further back. At the halfway point we stopped at Mama's Bakery (the usual stop) and I had the best cup of Hot Chocolate ever. Unfortunately when we left to ride again I was so wet that I got very cold. We decided to take it easy the rest of the way....luckily with a tailwind all the way home.

I'm still debating on a ride tomorrow...probably depends how I feel as I don't think I was fully recovered from Thursdays 6 hour marathon when I went out and pushed to the limit today. Might just take it easy or perhap a short 60 min ride. The weather is supposed to be really good the next 2 weeks so I plan to get lots of riding in, particularly on the trails to hone my technical skills.

Steve