I don't know why today's ride seemed so easy. There were a couple differences between this week and the last weeks. I ate a lot before I left. A heaping plate of linguine, topped with olive oil and some Greek cheese. A bagel, a can of coke, and nearly a litre of Gatorade. I started getting back pain 3k into the ride, then my tire blew again.

This time I traced the blowout to a small slash in my tire. I don't know if it caused it the last time, but it was in the same area. Since I only brought one spare, I ripped up the old tube and used it to almost patch the slash, hoping it would prevent the tire from blowing through.

I was already late by 45 minutes, because I couldn't find my keys. Brutal. But after eating 1200 calories there was no way I could miss the ride. What else could I do? I was convinced someone was trying to tell me something.

By 6k the back pain doubled. At that rate by the end of the ride I would be dead. At 12k I decided to pop an Advil. I had another after I caught my second group of riders. It took me a good 30k to catch anyone this time. There were a lot of riders who turned around at the 40k mark. I assume they're probably riding tomorrow and just wanted to get a small 80k ride in today.

By far this was the best place for a break ever. We made it to a park in Keswick with a beach. A few people went in for a little dip, but they were a little apprehensive about getting their chamoises wet. Not me, I went right in. Lake Simcoe is like a bathtub today. How could a break get any better than that?

I was unusually refreshed and headed out right after. The ride was fast with a tailwind most of the way. Not too much to report on. I was attacking hills like I've never done before. It was like in spinning class where you stand up and pull and push at the same time. I've been able to do it for five minutes out of an hour long class, but never after four hours on the bike! It was insane how well I was able to ride. I didn't even notice, but the back pain settled down somewhere on the way back.

I don't know if it's the Advil. I assume it is. My legs don't even hurt. They've never felt this good. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I assume the lactic acid or whatever causes my pain is still there, I just can't feel it. If not that's the best performance enhancing drug ever! Errr, maybe not, but for me it's very tempting to take it again. I have to read up to see if it's healthy to do though. Something tells me it's not a good idea.

I'm really going to miss riding with this group of people. At least until next year.

update: OUCH! Just found a thread on beginnertriathlete about popping Advil before or during a race. Not good. Potential kidney damage, hyponatremia, and the potential to make whatever causes the problem worse. And the worst thing is I can't have a beer tonight! I'm going to have to find another way to get rid of this back pain. Maybe it's time to actually see a physiotherapist or something. This sucks.