The South

We went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for vacation and I opted to keep up my training, instead of just lazing around on the beach. And after an 18 hour car ride, all I wanted to do was move. I joined the North Myrtle Beach Aquatic and Fitness Center to keep up my biking and swimming. Granted I had the whole Atlantic Ocean to swim in, I don’t like seeing fish when I’m swimming. Best not to see what is lurking in the waves. 

Sign on the door to the gym.

My first spin class was at 5:45 am on Monday morning. I got up at 5, had breakfast in the dark, and drove the 5 miles to the gym without another soul on the road. I signed up for the spin class (is this really necessary for a 5:45 am class?) and got on my bike it. Somehow the Spin bikes don't bother me, but my road bike at home is murder on my lower back. Not sure how to adjust it so that my back doesn't feel numb 20k in to the ride. There were a few other people there and the instructor introduced herself and told me that “We do things a little differently here.” Oh boy. The first thing I noticed was that there wasn’t any thumping music on, just some up beat country music. This was going to be interesting. Throughout the 50 minute class, there was a running commentary; Cat was describing the actions of the smoker in the parking lot who seemed to be outside for most of the class, Tom and Jerry were like the two guys in the balcony on the Muppet Show, and there was Boo, who I think was some sort of law enforcement officer, but I couldn’t be sure. It took me a while to acclimatize myself to their accents. I skipped one class and did my spinning in the fitness room, but 90 minutes was just way too long to be on a stationary bike without all the free entertainment and distraction of the class.

Over the two weeks, my spin mates were always the same, the music was always new to me – I can’t say that I have ever done a Spin segment to Bolero before, although there was one cut off BonJovi on one playlist, but when the conversation turned to the latest AARP magazine and articles, I couldn’t keep up. Being a Spin class, I could make it as hard or as easy as I wanted and usually topped up with another 45 minutes or so of spinning or treadmill in the fitness room, with good thumpy music on my ipod. On my way home I stopped at the Starbucks for my usual decaf double shot non fat latte, tall and not mezzo liken Montreal.

Some other Starbucks regulars sharing their meal.

Back at the condo, everyone else was just getting up or starting breakfast on the balcony and I would join them for second breakfast before we headed to the beach to play.

40k bike

For my 40km bike ride a weeks ago, I decided to head east from my house to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. I picked one of the hottest and most humid days this year. It was already 28 degrees by the time I left the house at 8 am. It’s a fairly steep downhill from NDG to the Lachine canal, but early in the morning it isn’t quite as harrowing as it could be. When I got close to the canal, I could see that there were movie trailers set up in the parking lot and lots of people setting up. Of course, it being breakfast, the food trailer was wafting bacon and eggs. Sure beat the granola and yogurt breakfast I just ate. Heading east along the canal was pretty quiet, there were a few construction detours off the canal and onto the grass. Construction in Montreal? Who would have thought?! Under the Bonaventure and passing the Maltage Canada smells (not quite as appetizing as the bacon at 8 am), Farine Five Roses and the silos and then on the way to Ile Notre Dame. The whole way, I had something in my left eye that made me sniffle and tear. I had to stop once or twice when I got something in the other eye too, to flush things out. Having Old Montreal spread out on my left, the sun rising, everything still fairly quiet and the most enormous yacht I have ever seen (turns out Roman Abramovich anchored his yacht in Montreal for Grand Prix. So, in fact, it IS the biggest yacht in the world) and a few other boats was quite breathtaking and peaceful.

The wind picked up on the jetty out to Pont de la Concorde and I tried to pick up my speed to around 30 km/h. I took a few wrong turns off the bridge, but finally got to the track. I had already done 10 km, so had to do 30 km worth of loops before heading home. The track was pretty empty save for the security telling me I was on the wrong side and the few other die hard cyclists and the construction workers dismantling the grand stands. Each loop is roughly 4km and it is relatively flat save for a slight uphill just past the start line. It was getting quite hot and as I started sipping my water, I remembered that it was more of a squeeze bottle than a suck bottle, so I squeezed. The lid popped off and I proceeded to squeeze the entire contents into my face. A nice sticky water juice combination – and I was still parched.

Coming around the north side of the track there were swarms of shadflies – and besides hearing them thwack against my helmet and face, they were now sticking to my face too, thanks to the juice. At the very east side of the track, the construction workers were taking great delight in getting the cyclists to slow down and restart so that they could drive all willy-nilly on the track to move the grandstands. Honestly, with only the half dozen or so of us on the track, you would think they could wait until the whole gaggle of us moved on. So this is how I made my way around – along the basin trying to pick up speed, around the north side battling the shadflies and then the stop/slow/turn at the grandstands. It was just too hot for this. Not to mention the sunscreen that kept dripping into my eyes making them burn.

After my 20 km, I hopped off the circuit, back onto the bridge, past the malt smell and back along the canal, with the wind now squarely in my face. I couldn’t manage to go faster than 20 kph no matter how hard or fast I pedaled. I seriously need to work on my biking. I feel like I am at a standstill compared to the other cyclists who fly past me. Passing the Atwater Market I could still smell the bacon wafting at the movie trailers ahead. The final brutal uphill to de Maisonneuve was almost unbearable in the heat and humidity, but thankfully, I didn’t fall off my bike at the red light halfway up like I did last time (I couldn’t get my foot out of the toe clip quickly enough). I was just pouring buckets of sweat and spent the rest of the ride home sniffling from the dust still in my left eye, wiping flattened shadflies from my face and the sunscreen dripping into my eyes.