A "Roubaix" ride

Well… the Easter weekend sure turned out better than expected! Some decent biking (including a “Roubaix” like ride in hell on Sunday afternoon), some good beer, good eating, good family time, and I enjoyed Slumdog Millionaire a lot on Friday night.

But the big bonus of the weekend happened yesterday. A few months ago, my LBS hooked me up with a decent beginner road bike for my wife. A Felt Z90 that we pimped up a bit with a mix of 105/Ultegra components. So after training on the Computrainer since she was fitted on it and we brought it one, it was her first ride outside yesterday including her first ever ride with clipless pedals (Look Keo).

All I can say is that (as we say in French) it was a “coup de foudre”. She LOVED it. This was not a planned ride. We just went to the local soccer field/track in order for her to learn to use the pedals, and get a feel for a road bike (her first). I swear I could not take that grin off her face. The fit is just perfect, she was flying like a bullet and she had no issues with the pedals. My friends, this will make things sooooo easier for me (I mean… us) in the future!

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As I mentioned, the ride on Sunday was epic ! Time was limited and I was at the in-laws so I got the bike ready for one of the usual rides I do when I am over there (South Shore of Montreal). It’s about a 50k loop and mostly flat with just a few bumps here and there. The challenge is the crappy crappy road surface and the constant wind (most of the route is through open farm land). So with the temperature at freezing point with a nasty wind from the NW all was in place for an even rougher time. The wind gusts and the snow that started not long afterwards made things even more interesting. But at the same time, in a twisted minded way, I just punched forward and sucked it up. One thing for sure, they weren’t many Sunday touring roadies out there for sure! At some points it was like pedaling in a brick wall, and the Powertap sure showed I was working hard!! I just visualized I was at Paris-Roubaix will people yelling on both sides of the road while getting beat up pretty good by the combo of the road surface and the weather.

All I can say is that the nice Boreale Rousse that was waiting for me after my shower sure went down smooth! Just another day at the office for a cross “wannabe”.