Twas the Night Before the Heart and Stroke Ride for Heart

Well folks, it is just a few hours to go before the Heart and Stroke Ride for Heart, and I just wanted to chime in with a last post.  Thanks to a generous donation from my parents, who have had more cause than most this year to support the Heart and Stroke Foundation, I have passed my goal of $1000.00 this year.  Thanks for one of my long time supporters, it is $1000.42 to be exact.  So a HUGE thanks to all my amazing donors!

Erin is still down below her goal, I think many of you know we have been a touch busy for all of May, so it has spared you a lot of fundraising spam.  All things being said, she is doing amazing, and I know it has all come in the last week for sure.  Still we would love to have you guys push her over the top.  So here is Erin's Donor Link.  You can also track her progress with this handy badge!

Please join me in supporting the Heart and Stroke Ride for Heart

Hey Folks, this is my annual, and one time, email asking for you my peers and friends help in supporting the Heart and Stoke Foundation, as those who have received this email in past years may recall, this is an organization that means a great deal to me and my family.  Heart Disease is a pernicious thing, often striking suddenly, altering the shape of its victims lives, those who manage to survive that first unexpected heart attack.  For our family that became all to true when my father found himself in the emergency ward this November.  It was only through the technologies and techniques that have been developed with the aid of research supported by the Heart and Stroke foundation that my father is still with us, and starting to return to a more normal life.  This is not the first time we have been touched by this, only the most recent example.  Too many of my friends have parents going through this same process, and I know my grandfather is only with us today through the technological marvel that is his pacemaker.

In past years I've extolled the virtue of Heart and Stroke Foundation, for not only its active role in research to save lives, but its strong educational message aimed at preventing the need for these measures.  Through their Spark program targeting childhood obesity, or their efforts to work with retailers, manufactures and restaurants to surface heart healthy foods.  If you would like to read more about what the Heart and Stroke Foundation does, you can learn that here, or if you want more information on the Ride for Heart go here.  

This year, for a twist, and to make you feel I'm really working to earn your support, it won't be just myself and Erin riding, but our whole family.  What that entails is my wife cruising about at full speed, while I drag 70 lbs of kid/trailer over 25 km up and down the DVP. 

I hope I can count on your support in this, you can donate by clicking this handy link, I've set a modest goal of $1,000 dollars, but I hope we can blow past that like we've done in previous years.

Thank you all for you time and support.

Heart and Stroke Splash For Heart

Our bedraggled heroes have returned from their quest to ride 25 km for the Heart and Stroke Society.  In  actuality they traveled about 36 km because they snuck a few extra (ill-advised) km in there, and instead of cycling that distance, they swam.

Erin and I are still collecting donations until the 14th, you can donate to our individual links here: 

Erin's donation page is here
Geoff''s donation page is here

Now enjoy pictures of  our soaked, and heroic selves:

To quote a book of recent popularity "Blub, bluuub, bluuuuuuuuubbb"

The hose coming down the left is normally my water hose, but today it was a snorkle

Heart and Stroke Ride for Heart

Hey all, I know we have been slacking, on the biking, and the fund raising, but Erin and I are both riding in the Heart and Stroke Ride for Heart this year.

Erin's Donation page is here

And my donation page is here

We would appreciate any donations, Heart and Stroke really is something that is meaningful to us, and I'm just not able to do it justice.

2009 Heart and Stroke Ride For Heart

Hey folks that Bryan picture was just a teaser. I'm far far behind in my fund raising efforts, but work has been an absolute zoo, so here starts the 2009 Heart and Stroke Ride for Heart Fund Raising Kickoff! So please, before I get all begging and pathetic, please donate to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

This year both Erin and I will be riding. Bryan, probably won't be, but just because I think 2-3 hours being dragged isn't up his ally (yet, next year though.)

Erin will be riding the 50, and had her first big ride this weekend, not sure if she can walk yet, but she mastered 26 with aplomb. I will be doing the 75 because I said I would, and foolishness before pride any day :)

It also looks like Erin and I will be riding in good company, with Emma, and Chris Bardon, and Brad and Jodi.

More posts, and emails will follow, you have been warned :)

Donate

Coming soon

Big wrap up post is in the works, just not something I can rip off quickly, so here is a stub to let you know that I am in the processes of writing a bigger post wrapping up all the fundraising and riding.

g

Ride-Appetizer

Well we are down to it, the ride is tomorrow and donations are up to 1070. I think they will crawl a little bit higher as the last of the donations come in, but a big thanks to everyone who contributed. Now it is time for me to do my part, so tomorrow morning bright and early (around 5:30 AM) I will head down town to get my ride on.

Just to make sure I was up to it, Kevin took me out riding North of Milton for a nice ride-appetizer, about 40k, with some fierce winds for the first 20 or some, we climbed some good hills and it was good, we only mustered an average of 24 km/h, but seriously, strong head winds up hill for the first half.... It was a tough 24 km/h.

Anyways time to get some rest, my bike needs one too, as it has rolled over 400 km since I got it in early May!

Cheers

g

Coming up quick

Well we are coming up on the ride soon, we had one ride last night about 16km, and another one tonight before the big show. I want to thank everyone who is following my ramblings for participating and donating. We have raised over $700 and I hope to see that climb in these final days before the ride. Please think of me out on the DVP while you are all still in bed Sunday morning.


Thanks!

Geoff

Past the Post and Keep on Going

Well last night I had a nice 16 km ride, at a good pace, just keeping limber and strong, with out pushing it. I also broke $500 in collected donations (some are in cash that haven't gone up yet.) To celebrate reaching my goal, I moved the goal post. So $1000 here we come. I know a lot of donations are pending from folks who want to give, but are busy, don't worry I'm an annoying person and I will hound you all week. :)

So please, donate here, before I get to you :P

Weekly Update

Well it was a bit of a crazy week, so I'm sorry the posting wasn't a bit more regular, I got my big ride into my twitter feed. So there was probably a little bike ride somewhere last week, but the big one was Friday. Friday morning I got up at 5 AM and road to work, yes all the way to work. The ride turned out to be 63.8 km. It should have been more like 55, but I got lost twice, and took the scenic route. The ride took me 2h 25 minutes, and I think my top speed was 49.5, so that makes my average speed around 25-26 km/h.

The lesson learned in this whole shenanigan, is 1) don't bike on a Friday (end of day traffic and taking computer's home for the weekend suck more.) 2) Just stick to the main roads, the waterfront trail is designed as a scenic thing that locals might use for short walks, and not to be ridden from end to end. It is discontinuous, circuitous, and dead-endy (or at least for bikes in certain areas.) Otherwise the ride was awesome, I showed up at the office at the same time as my train would normally pull in, so while still on my ride high I buzzed everyone and walking to work and gave them a hard time.

I wasn't nearly as sore as I thought I might be, stiff, but manageable. The ride home wasn't, in fact Erin picked me up from Oakville, I probably could have done it, but I'm glad I didn't. One way on the first go is more then enough thank you.

The only other ride I did this weekend was a nice jaunt with Erin on Sunday morning before our class. It was such a beautiful weekend, a shame we were inside for most of it, but we stole what we could of it.

The bike's Odometer is now some where over 300 km, I won't break 500 before the ride, but that is neither here nor there. As for donations, I think the totally pledged amount is over 500 now, but not the website amount which is at $470. So as we pass 500, the next number is 1000, I don't see any reason to stop once I meet my preliminary goal, as I really do believe in the Heart&Stroke Foundation.
so...
Thanks so much everyone!

Ride is less then a week away, so training will ease off as I don't want to start the ride sore, but I will keep you all in the loop as we countdown the days.

Late Bike Update

Ooookay, so my computer did go battery while I was out riding, but I think it worked out okay, so here are the details for last Friday:
36.8 km
Avg: 26.3 km/h
Peak: 49.5 km/h

My total for the week was:
78.2 km

Donations are up to 315 posted, and an additional 50 pledged. We are almost there everyone, so please folks who are waiting to the end, the end is nigh!

Last week update will be late

Hey all, I don't have an update for last week yet because I forgot to post about my friday ride. Last week was maybe a touch disappointing from a ride perspective, but the weather was unforgiving. I can deal with most stuff, including the rain I cycled out into last week, but I think I only got out the twice. Sadly gusting winds are my kryptonite, especially when combined with cold. So I will get that update in tonight, but don't let that stop you from donating.

Sloshy

No not some terribly hip non-heavy metal band, but to the state of my shoes, last night I rode out into that slop or a rain storm. The rain wasn't so bad as to blow me around, or get in my eyes, so I figured what the heck. So I headed out for a brisk 26.4 km, peak 47.1 km/h and an average of 24.75 km/h. I did end up completely soaked, except for my shirt which by some miracle of of plastination (not the creepy body worlds kind) stayed more or less dry, and my shoes were small lakes. My hope is that the shoes which are designed to wick sweat dry without issue, and I also toweled the mud and grime of the bike as best I could to make sure nothing jams up. I don't think I will be in a hurry to do that again, but I thought I would give it a try at least once. Needed to know I could ride in the rain, incase it rains on June 1st while I am riding in the Heart&Stroke Ride for Heart.

Little Sprint

Last night I didn't get out until about 8:30, and that was after both a heavy dinner and a lot of gardening. So the sun was down and it was chilly in my shorts and a t-shirt, but I did manage to keep warm by just going faster. I tried to keep an average speed of about 30 km/h but I think the real number was closer to ~28.3 km/h or so. I kind of hit a wall (figuratively) out there, and in keeping it closer to home there were more lights slowing me down. So In total a fast 15 km to start the training week. Today I spin at the gym.

Week in Review

Well lets see, last week I rode about 135 km (almost a century (over 7 days))  all though the lion's share was in that single big ride.  

As fundraising goes we went from 170 to 295,  we are leaping and bounding towards that goal of 500, and I hope to be there soon.  If there is anyone who wants to make a cash donation, please let me know, I've prepared a little donation sheet so I can gather your information for tax return purposes.  Just let me know if that is the case, otherwise you can still donate at the link.

G

Bah, Gah, Fah, Mah Legs Are Hurting

Well that was one [Epic Ride] by the numbers 55.2 km, pace 24.5 km/h, max speed 59.8 km/h.  Now I will spare the physics of it, but I I think if you look at my leading pedal tow coming forward while the bike was traveling at that velocity, and I think you will agree that the leading toe, relative to the ground was probably going in excess of 60 km/h.

Now I'd like to point out that this is in excess of my last ride by a fair margin, and in excess of what is required for the Heart&Stroke Ride For Heart so yeah, but now I'm tired, very very tired.  Really who puts a town called Lowville at the bottom of a really big hill, really!

Called on account of rain

My ride today was cut short by a peel of thunder, and some light rain, I only managed 34.9 km, with an average pace of about 42 km/h. Which seems high.... I guess I made good time on the route home, or my computer is lying to me.

...

Or my math is wrong, rechecked it, 25 km/h. That is better, and more consistent with past experience. Could have done another 5 easy, but better inside and dry, then outside and hit by thunder...

Crowd Sourcing

Okay, not a big a crowd as the typical crowd sourced question, but I'm trying to find a widget or a piece of Java Script, that even if I have to manually update it, shows a progress bar to the fund raising goal for the Heart&Stroke Ride. I'd love it if Kintara/H&S F had such a badge, but seems like no dice, so it will have to be something I manually update. I've found a few, but they are attached to actually fund raising, like chipin, and I don't like the idea of people paypaling me money first, just seems redonkulous when there already is a great donation webpage. So crowd, ideas?

Spinning results in, nor yarn produced.

Do you find these constant updates reminding you about the Heart&Stroke Ride for Heart a bit tedious?

Tough luck, because they are going to keep coming.

I did my Tuesday spinning class today, after last nights time in the saddle I didn't think my butt would survive, and the first 5 minutes of class were a little touch and go, but I settled into it, and got it done. Spinning, not the knitting variety, is different from cycling, as much as a tread mill is from running. You work the same muscles, but in a controlled way. In some respect it lets you concentrate less on the rocks on the road, and more on technique. I'm doing my best to compensate for my left leg, which keeps lifting a bit high tightening up my calf muscle. Just have to keep mentally shouting at my heel, "down, down, DOWN!" We're working on it...

Anyways, I'm starting to recover from my rides faster, I still want to hit 40km by end of week, so lets get'r done (especially as it looks like another wet weekend.

Lost in the Wilderness

So I was out and about on my bike last night trying to get some training km in, when I got a touch lost. I was never truly lost, but there are some less then bike friendly roads I like to avoid, like highway 25, which I was forced on to last night after making a wrong turn. A turn I made after distinctly asking for directions and clearly being miss informed. In the end I managed to make it home no worse for ware and with an extra km or two under the belt. In total I went about 33 km, with an average pace of about 25 kph. Not to shabby, and well on my way to the Ride for Heart.

Today is spinning, and tomorrow I will push for 35-40 km.