I Survived the Tour Nortel!

(And I got a t-shirt)

Yesterday I biked the 70 kilometer (45.5 mile) route at the Tour Nortel. I raised $240 for the CHEO Foundation, and had a great time!

The weather was gorgeous - nice and sunny, with a cool breeze. The route was good - no gravel paths, no struggling with traffic, lots of volunteers to point the way and cheer you on, plenty of rest stops and so on.

I did it in 3.5 hours with my BionX PL-350 on level 1 or minimum assist. The battery lasted all the way to the end, which I was very impressed with. The BionX manual says that on level 1, you should be able to make it 62 miles (99 kilometers), but I think their test environment was a 100lb rider in a completely flat, smooth and windless environment. Not exactly "real world".

I should have rested a bit more at the turn-around spot -- I just got some water and an orange slice and took off. The last couple of KMs were a bit tough, but I made it.

There was one hill about 7 KM from the turn-around that was just BRUTAL. It was a long and steep one. As I pedaled along, I gradually kept gearing down until I was way down in 1st gear. Barely crawling along. But I made it up the hill. I briefly considered boosting the assist up to level 2 or even 3, but I knew that if I did that, I wouldn't have enough charge to help me the rest of the way. So I just ground my way up the hill. When I made it to the top, I paused to catch my breath and drink some water and enjoy the view.

That hill was MUCH more fun riding down. I hit 52km/h without pedaling. Wheee!

Thanks to all that sponsored me for this ride. I was happy to be able to do it. Now I know what it feels like to ride 70K in a day. Whew! ;-)

Cheers,
Grant