Another day, another bike set-up.
This time it involved a crate placed on top of my “coffee table” as an easily accessible side table for my stuff.
The “stuff” consisting of my phone, both TV remotes and a water bottle.
I’m also super mature and use a tamagotchi towel to wipe away sweat while I ride 
I watched an episode of Dexter while I pedalled away, and felt mostly better after 15km. I had a bad day at work, a frustrating experience at the gym that left me with no spot in the Body Pump class I’d planned on going to, and a giant migraine that just wouldn’t quit. All of these put me in a terrible mood, but the biking helped fix almost everything except for the migraine. That one I’m fighting with Advil and minimal lighting.
And truffles
I made a super-quick dinner of sauteed zucchini and a fried egg sandwich after my ride. Quick meals are always my favourite – things don’t always have to be fancy to be delicious.
I followed dinner with a bowl of banana soft serve topped with a biscotti + a truffle. Plus another biscotti that didn’t even make it to the bowl
Now that I’m easing my way back into biking, I’d like to talk about an event here in Toronto that has people biking for a great cause each year.
A week or two ago I was contacted by the people from the Becel Heart & Stroke Ride for Heart, asking if I would talk a little about it on my blog. This wasn’t the first time that I’d heard about this event, because as well as having friends that have done it in the past, I actually used to work for the company that sponsors it! Small world, right?
Every year the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway, two of Toronto’s largest highways, are shut down for riders to bike traffic-free. There are three routes (25k, 50k or 75k) so that riders of all levels can participate, and all fundraising proceeds go to the Heart & Stroke Foundation. This year, the ride is happening on June 3rd.
What they wanted me to pass along is information on their VIP Program. To become a VIP, you need to sign up before Nov 30th and commit to raising over $1000. Being a VIP gets you a bunch of benefits, like a free VIP technical cycling jersey, waived registration fee, and a bunch of other cool perks.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to participate in the Ride for Heart in the past, but I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to take part in the near future. I can’t commit to doing it this year until I find out where I’m going to be in June (my school’s co-op program has me moving around every 4 months, and I never know where I’ll be next), but if you’re from around the GTA and enjoy biking, I would definitely recommend signing up for the RFH!
After all, when else are you going to be able to go above 10km/h on the Gardiner? har har
For more info on the RFH, check out their website!
