Wow.
I did not know this person existed until Google’s algorithms decided she was a person I’d be interested in. She’d completed an ultramarathon in under 3 days: the Cocodona 250. Holy wow, I thought, “250km in under three days?!”
But I was wrong. The distance was in miles. 407km across deserts and through mountains, accumulating more than 11,800m of elevation gain. You don’t need to be a runner to know that’s a mind-blowing achievement.
Ed, who is no stranger to ultra-endurance activities, was gobsmacked by the thought of one’s fuelling needs for such a race. “Jeeeeeez, her fuelling must’ve been insane,” were his words. I was more focused on her luck in footwear selection, for I have a few spots around my feet from blisters that have come and gone over the span of two pairs of running shoes, both of which I actually consider comfortable.
Of course, she won. Also, 268 people finished this race.
Meanwhile, Lola had flagged my Training Status as “strained” after I’d done a 12km run on Thursday. I ignored Lola and rode up Mount Doug with Matt three times on Friday. That night, I was supposed to go bouldering, but as much as I like Nic and Jamie, I was relieved when Jamie said she needed to postpone it.
I’m not so ambitious that I wish to do an ultramarathon someday. My biggest ambition this summer, apart from the Slovenia cycle touring trip, is to do the North Shore Triple Crown (hitting all three North Shore peaks in one day: Seymour, Grouse, and Cypress). My stupidest ambition for the summer is to borrow the Electra Cruiser 7D from work to see if I can make it up Mt Doug in one go. The boss has pre-emptively given me the ok to borrow the bike for an hour or two, provided the store has one on the sales floor. These bikes are popular because most people have no desire to ride up hills.
When it comes to cruisy rides, I take my Horse. Marianne did not appreciate my technical honesty on Thursday:
Life is also full of disappointments, Marianne.
I removed the fenders from the Horse on Thursday and met up with Yann, who bestowed upon me a new custom bag. I immediately attached it to the handlebars. Yann made my previous bag, which was among his first sewing projects. It did the trick for the five years I’ve had it, but this version is so much better. It has 3M reflective kitty ears:
It served me well on Saturday’s cruisy ride to Sidney with Alexa. Our objective was to acquire donuts. While standing in the long line-up in the bakery, Alexa’s sweet tooth went into overdrive, and she ended up adding a cookie to her donut order.
Sidney Bakery is a hole-in-the-wall shop: it looks pretty dingy, and the lone decoration is a slightly faded Canadian flag pinned to the wall… possibly to conceal a literal hole. Also, it appears that having microbladed eyebrows is a prerequisite to working there. I’d only ever been there once, about three years ago. While whatever I got was clearly unremarkable, this bakery was named the best place for donuts in Victoria-ish by many Redditors, so I felt like I owed it a second chance.
I’d decided on the apple fritter before I’d even entered the bakery. Even when I noticed five additional options that weren’t visible from the display window, I never wavered. A donut with apples? Apples are healthy, therefore they cancel out the deep fried dough component of my snack.
While I was not disappointed (hold your horses, the disappointment is coming up), I found it to be over-hyped. It’s a step-up from the donuts from Jim Pattison’s Pantry (Save On Foods), but I wouldn’t say it was worth the 60km round-trip bike ride—except for the fact that the Lochside Trail is a beautiful route.
Alexa shared the cookie she’d bought along with her fun-looking donut.
Relevant Simpsons gif:
I couldn’t even tell it was supposed to be a shortbread cookie. There was no buttery taste whatsoever, and very little sweetness.
It made even the sad bran pucks I offered to Matt after our three ascents of Mount Doug seem like the pinnacle of baked goods. I’d foolishly converted the volume measurements to weight, hoping to expedite the already-quick process of making bran muffins from premade muffin mix by dumping everything into a bowl by weight. The watery-looking batter should’ve tipped me off. Nevertheless, I shoved the muffin tray into the oven anyway, and out came a dozen malformed date bran muffins.
In my defence, I’ve only been into baking for about 15 years. Sidney Bakery, on the other hand, is one of the oldest bakeries in British Columbia, having been in operation since 1903. In fact, the shortbread cookie Alexa and I shared was likely from the original batch.
I’ve run over 600km year to date (more than what Rachel did in three days, although she managed to do double the elevation gain in those three days!). Yet, when one is directed to my Strava profile, it still defaults to “Strava Cyclist”. A good chunk of the 1,550 km I’ve ridden on my bike this year was on the trainer. But now that the sun is out, the fenders are off, and I have the cutest bag strapped to my handlebars, I’m excited for more two-wheeled adventures!
