Switching Gears

Now that my 10k is over, I should really get focused on my next big event. Nope, this time I'm not running - it's the Ride for Heart, a huge fundraiser for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, where you get to bike along a couple of Toronto's major highways. Which is soooo much fun. But this year, I've been suckered. My teammates voted, and I grudgingly accepted, that this year we tackle not the 50k, as before, but the 75k route.

Eek! I've NEVER biked that far in my life - not in one day, let alone in one stretch. So even though I'm doing this strictly as a charity event, not as a race per se, I feel as though I ought to be training for it a bit, just to make sure I can actually get to the finish alive.

I'm making provisions - I bought some thinner tires to replace the monstrous ones I currently ride on, in the hopes that the decreased resistance will make me somewhat faster and marginally less tired. No pun intended. But here's the problem: I know nothing about bike mechanics. I'm hopeless. It took me about 45 minutes to change the front tire today, and by the time I had finished, I was so worn out by the whole experience that I packed it up and resolved to finish tomorrow. So my bike is currently sitting woefully in the basement, one tire thin, one tire thick, and my brake alignment completely out of whack (great... one more thing to figure out.)

Needless to say, the plan to start biking today was scrapped in favour of a run. A gorgeous and highly enjoyable run, mind you... but I wonder: will I be ready for this 75k? Seriously, at this rate, who knows when I will put my bike together well enough that I can safely ride it again.

Sigh. This is why I love running. It's so forgiving to the mechanically challenged.