Great Idea!....Boy----This is FUN!

Victory day in Canada. A holiday Monday. Art says- "Let's do a 100km bike ride" 11 people agree.

We meet at 7am. It's cold-like under 10C cold, it's raining-sometimes sleet due to the cold) and there is a 40km crosswind coming off Lake Huron. If there was ever a case against the sanity of those who have agreed to do some or all of Sea To Sea, this was good evidence.
It was a tough ride. I mean really who doesn't love biking into the wind, cold and wet. I'm thinking....Well- THIS is FUN!!!! It is so much FUN, I want t do this ALL summer. As I was recovering at home in my bath of Epsom salts, I'm thinking forget the air mattress, where can I get a light weight soaking tub I can take with me.

The next day I was doing Okay-a good case for the soaking tub, I had that torture session known as clinical Pilate's. That stuff is harder than it looks. "We" are using this to build my core muscles to relieve some of the stress on my upper body. The day after my first session a few weeks ago, my stomach hurt so bad I felt I had been hit by a car again. I've have several abdominal surgeries AND a tattoo there- they were all less painful. When I went to my next session, I told my therapist, Kubet, who gleefully replied "That's terrific!" NO! No, Kubet that is not terrific. It's BAD! You're stomach shouldn't hurt that much unless you have consumed enormous amounts of ice cream
Now being the sick and twisted woman that she is Kubet was also pleased with the Vic Day ride. We went over what was working, what wasn't and she was pleased to have such good feedback on my therapy. "Do you have any more rides like that planned?" she asked.
Yes.....54 of them between June 30 and August 30.....FUN!

The Hunt Continues

On Saturday, my 6yr old god-daughter, Emily continued to discover more about me and the woman I am. Emily is a lot like me in her personality(at times, much to the dismay of her parents!) She is very adventurous and active but also has a strong girly part to her; with a streak of mischief and bluntness. Emily likes many of my girly tendencies, long nails, coloured hair and my tattoo. Saturday, we celebrated her dad(and my dear friend) Geoff's 40th birthday. As I was sitting and chatting, Emily crawled into my lap for a cuddle. She then pulled opened the top of my t-shirt looked down for a minute and stated "You have Very big boobs". Yes, I do. What does this have to do with Sea To Sea?

Well, apparently, my breasts are so large that there is not enough micro fibre available to manufacture a cycling jersey to fit them. If I was male with the same chest circumference this wouldn't be as much of an issue. I'm a good shopper and I enjoy it but even this battle is proving to be a challenge. I have tried on every jersey in London, MEC and other various stores. Brian at my local cycling shop has brought in several styles. We have even come up with the name of the most common shirt. It's the "Second Week" shirt. It's a jersey that I can get on but is just a little too tight. Brian says that with all the cycling, I would loose enough weight that it would fit by the second week! Hence we have the "Second Week" jersey-Not exactly helpful. I even called the Canadian Cycling Association(who manage the Olympic team) They gave me their manufacturer-Louis Garneau to contact. LG was out of stock and they only go up to a size 14...until next year. They have had so many requests that 2009 will be the first year that they manufacture larger sizes for woman.

This is the official SeaToSea jersey. Although it does go up to XXL it is a full inch or more smaller than for example an Eddie Bauer XXL. Will it fit? I don't know. See when you get them for unisex or men at a XXL it does fit my chest but the shoulders and sleeves are too big. I know it's not SeaToSea fault-they probably checked out several manufacturers and got the best they could for the majority of cyclists. But even Sea To Sea, which has other clothing available, have XXL for men but not for women.

What this situation does is raise the issue that comes forward when someone my size(especially a woman) try to get active. In women's sports wear, an XL is a size 14. The average Canadian woman is a size 12-14-which we should be able to size as a Medium then...not Extra Large. What does it say to woman or girls who want to get active but are over a size 14? It feeds into the cycle of inactivity, I can't get the gear I need to exercise, so I don't exercise. Let alone the image that an average woman is seen as overweight.
What message are we endorsing? Why can an XXL man get clothing but an XXL woman can't?
For me, it's another reason to ride. Another example to set. Even if it is in my Old Navy t-shirts.

Thank God for standardized shoe sizes! No wonder women love them so much!

Time flies!

On May 1, I reached an anniversary. It was exactly one year ago that I committed to ride Sea To Sea 2008. I started this blog and started doing daily rides wondering if this was just some crazy idea or whether I would really be able to do it. I certainly have had many surprises. Some good like how well my body was able to adapt and how far I was able to go. Some not so good, like being hit by the car. On Friday, it was 6 months ago. So half of my time since starting this adventure was spent recovering from the damage of the car. All of it has been over coming obstacles that seemed to come my way.

It makes me think about the tour itself and whether I am prepared. People have been asking me that more and more- Are you ready?(56 days to go) I realise that maybe I can be ready. Maybe there is just no way to prepare. I'm putting my time in on the bike(about 30-40 kms/day), I'm getting my supplies together, starting to work on my circadian rhythms(my body clock), making my lists. But really I can't prepare for it all. I can't know what it's truly going to be like, what surprises will be in store.

Am I ready? Hopefully I will be, in another 56 days.