Sunday Brick

After the photo post last week I decided to take a ride past the Bannister/Landy statue over by the PNE.  After writing about it I got excited to ride my bike over there.

The other reason I was excited was that I have been lacking a bit of inspiration in the cycling department.  As beautiful as the city is, I ride in the same places again and again and it gets old after a while.  

So I struck out from my house on Sunday for a 90 minute ride which was to be followed by a hard 30 minute run.  Sacha and the kids were going to meet me downtown with the van so that I could do a transition to the run.  

I decided to ride out along the North Shore and over the Ironworkers Bridge (Second Narrows), from there I wound past the Miracle Mile statue (tried to take my own picture but the battery was dead...)  Then I got onto the Adanac bike route.  

(....  Enter dreamy sequence going back in time to about 1984 ...)  My Dad tells me at the tender age of about 10 that "Adanac" is "Canada" backwards.... and I decide he is the smartest man alive.  Now I always remember that whenever I see Adanac St.

Back to the present day.  The Adanac bike route criss-crosses the city in an East-West manner.  It is pretty much devoid of cars and, for an urban bike route, you can hammer.  I have ridden it a few times but this time I really enjoyed taking in the different neighbourhoods on the way back to Coal Harbour.  It isn't a long ride though.... way shorter than I thought so I had time for a loop of Stanley Park.

So I headed along Pacific to English Bay and into the Park.  Once there, I got mixed up in a massive Hare Krishna Parade...  My second niche parade in the last couple of weeks.  These parade goers didn't enjoy my presence as much as the Pride Parade folks did - but they didn't seem too troubled either.  The Krishnas were singing a song, and I memorized the lyrics:

Hare Krishna

Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna

It was pretty catchy.  They had huge floats too (I am sure they are not called floats, but what do I know about Hare Krishna parade equipment?)  They looked just like this one (image found on the internet.)

Anyway, I went for a partial loop of the park then headed to Coal Harbour for my transition.  Sacha and the kids were there, I did a quick leg change/gel eat/sweat wipe/shoe switch and headed out on the run.  I was running to Yaletown via English Bay and then along the seawall.

The first kilometer or two was pretty slow, but from there I was able to stride along pretty well.  I figure I went 5.5km in about 25 minutes or so...  running steady - not pushing too hard.

I met Sacha and the kids at David Lam Park and passed the torch to Sacha, she headed out for her run (back to Coal Harbour).  I hung out with Viggo while Mattias and Aia played on the playground - then we all headed back to pick up Sacha.

David Lam Park (My finish line - Sacha's start line.)

Urban Fare - Coal Harbour (Finish Line for our workout.)

This is one of our tricks for fitting in a workout for 4 people in the space of three hours.  It isn't easy, but once you have the logistics ironed out it is awesome, and you even get to see your family at the start/transition/finish of the workout.  Parents - I recommend this way to get your family involved in your workouts and enjoy them more.

I hit the pool for Masters this morning and soon will be off to Innovative for a workout with Rob.  These are good days...  I am feeling good for Kelowna this weekend.  Cheers!

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