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So it seems like I'm still alive. It's been a busy day, especially considering that I got up at half-past-five this morning. I never wake up that early! To be honest, I was pretty restless that night. I woke up a couple of times that morning and was awake when my alarm went off. This was a good thing because the dinky clock gave off a single resounding
*beep*
Which even the lightest sleepers would've ignored.
Anyway, I had to pick up Laz and TY before going down to register around seven. As I was parking a few blocks from the actual event, I didn't want to be late. I got up late. (I took a little longer than anticipated to get ready.) After calling up Laz to tell him I was going to pick him up, I wandered down to the garage to grab the car. I had forgotten to put the bike in the station wagon the night before, and the back of the car was a mess! Guh. I spent quite a number of minutes clearing out the car and shoving (girl's) bike into the back. After a few failed attempts to fit the bike in the back dropping only one of the rear seats, I realized that I wouldn't be able to drive both Laz and TY (and take both of our bikes - TY was blading) downtown. Ooh.. this is not good.
As I was already late, I headed off to Laz's place to decide what to do. Even though I left at five to six, I still got to his place around five after six, so I was only five minutes late. I saw that he was getting his bike prepared and so I was able to give KGL a call. I was able to convince her to pick Laz up (since she had a boat) and I told TY that I was going to pick her up. For some reason, KGL was going to go down half-an-hour after I was. I guess she has more confidence than I on getting down there on time and registering before eight. I figured if KGL was going to be late, I could spend a bit of time to check out my bike. I forgot to raise the seat the night before, so I adjusted it at Laz's place. I read somewhere that the seat should be an inch below the crotch (although I think I misremembered it - it probably should be an inch above the crotch) so I fixed the seat, threw the bike back in the car, and took off.
So I swung by TY's place to pick her up, only fifteen minutes late. We went down to her friend's place at some place called the Candy Factory Lofts. (Strange name, but a nice place.) The building wasn't actually that far from the Ride for Heart registration area. I got there at a pretty good time (about quarter past seven), so I had plenty of time to spare.
Mind you, time is usually wasted on things that you don't tend to foresee. One being not being able to find the registration tent. I followed a bunch of bikers who were heading in the same direction as I until they disappeared into the sea of bikes and spandex. I noticed a very large tent (with no noticeable sign) surrounded by on ocean of two-wheeled self-propelled decives, so I parked my bike with the rest of the bikes and wandered in. Inside, there were dozens of large round tables, and in the middle, was a row of tables loaded with (continental) breakfast goodies: Bagels, muffins, fruit, etc. I helped myself to one of the bagels while asking where the registration tent was. Over the din of the crowd, I heard this announcer going through a list of company names, and thanking them for participating in the challange. It didn't take me long to realize that I was in the corporate tent and was somewhere where I shouldn't be (and taken a bagel I shouldn't have, but it was already half eaten so I wasn't going to put it back.)
I wandered out of the corporate tent and wandered around, finding the health tent, maintanance tent, food tent, reception tent, and massage tent (free massages for after the ride!). No registration tent however. Fortunately, one of the massage volunteers pointed me in the right general direction and I eventually found the registration tent, which was at the other end of the tent city. I still had fifteen minutes to sign up so I filled out one of the registration forms and got in line. I had arranged to meet KGL at the registation tent at half-past, but didn't see her around (even though I was late already). I got a little worried as I wanted to get a group fare, but it might be difficult to convince any of the volunteers to let me do that without having an actual group present. Well, I tried, and failed, and the lady behind the table told me that I should sign up with the rest of my (currently non-existant) group. Sure, whatever.
I waited a few more minutes before giving up and got in line to sign up as an individual. While waiting in line, I saw this familiar bob of hair walking in amongst the crowd. Too bad she was walking away from me or I would've made a positive identification, but when she started walking back.. Yes! It was KGL! I'm saved! I headed down to her and saw that she was with the friend she told me she was picking up.. but no Laz. I asked her where Laz was, and she gave me this surprised look,
"[Laz]?"
My eyes widened in horror as I suddenly realized that Laz may still be waiting at his house with his bike, wondering..
Waitaminute.. This is KGL we're talking about! It didn't take long to wring the truth out of her (okay, I didn't actually "wring" the truth out, but you get the drift). Apparently, she went by his place and saw that Laz's bike was in pieces. Laz told her that his bike had a flat and he wouldn't be able to go. Sucky! The way she told the story made it sound like his bike was actually in little itty bitty pieces (which made me wonder where he hid the hacksaw). Although I do remember him (and I) trying to pump up his front tire without any luck..
So, we were down a rider, but at least we had a group! KGL and I hadn't signed up yet, so we got in line and got to the desk and tried to pay the group rate. No dice. Apparently when you sign up a group, you're supposed to sign the entire group up at the same time! What the hey? Why didn't they tell me that the first time I went up to register?!? (Although it does make sense.) Geez. So I paid the thirty bucks and was done with it.
We got in line for the 20K route (although I really wanted to try out the 50K route) and waited. (At this point I was introduced to her friend.) As we were heading to the back of the pack, KGL noticed a familiar face, one which I sort of recognized too! It was Eric the Red! He seemed to sort of maybe recognize me kind of.. (which probably meant no.) But we all biked together. Well, at least for the first few congested kilometers.
After the first claustrophobic leg, the crowd thinned out as we got onto the Gardiner. At this point we took off (at least I did). I had tried to keep the other bikers in sight for most of the time, but the last time I saw Eric behind me, he mentioned that he didn't know where the rest of the group was, so I figured I might as well finish with a good time (which is moot since it wasn't being timed).
I finished the route in about an hour, although I don't have an exact time since I'm not exactly sure when we actually started the race. (The start was staggered so that we wouldn't completely congest the freeway - although it didn't help much.)
I realized, after actually sitting down in the seat (I had to stand up for the most part to stay balanced during the crowded beginning), that my seat was too low. I wasn't fully extending my legs. It didn't bother me too much since it's a short ride, but it got somewhat annoying that I wasn't using all my muscle groups efficiently. Eh, there wasn't much I could do at that point.
After the ride, I talked with KGL (who was only a few minutes behind me) and she told me that 20K was too easy. I agreed. We're going to do 50K next year! (Oh that's going to hurt.)
All in all, it was a pretty good outing. We got a lot of exercise, and still had the rest of the day to do stuff! I'll definitely do the Ride for Heart again next year if I'm near Toronto.
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After checking on Growly's comments from Friday, I've changed the format around again. I still have to tack on the link to the calendar window, but that shouldn't be too hard..
You know, one of the two reasons I went back to Toronto was to bring my suit back for Convocation. Guess what I forgot? Geez.
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I borrowed HKL's copy of FFVIII in exchange for Freespace 2. I hope to finish this game before the next time I'm in Toronto next month.
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I haven't installed FFVIII yet. Been too busy with other stuff (namely Counter-Strike). I've also been working at trying to keep track of my assets, how little of it there is. I find it quite interesting counting up all the stuff I have and figuring out my net worth (although I'm far from figuring anything out ATM. Ain't it great to find out that you're actually worth something?!? Wow.
You may want to check out KGL's update, or Jax's update! (Whoo! The Scribble is back!)
Anyway, I think my early morning antics have started to catch up to me. I'm feeling awfully tired, and I have to get home somehow. I guess I'll be going now.
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