Normand

Last Sunday, I took my bike out for the first time in June. It was not for a lack of good weather. Earlier this year, I couldn't wait to start my biking season again. Just like last year, I was expecting to start bike commuting to work early in May, and to make longer rides during the weekends. COVID-19 and remote work threw a wrench in my plans. For no good reason, I was left with a lack of motivation.

Anyway! I kicked myself in the pants to get out of the house, and am I glad I did, the weather was lovely, even if there was a chill in the air. I took a route that I know quite well. North, to reach the Corridor des Cheminots bike trail (“Railroad workers' road”).

I always make a stop in the small Jean-Roger Durand city park to catch my breath (it's 140m uphill from my home with a steep hill toward the end, so quite a workout for me!) and to have a look at the Saint-Charles River that crosses it. The river was much shallower than the last time I visited back in May.

Then I headed North-West until the trail joins with the Jacques-Cartier/Portneuf bike trail. Up until then, it felt like a highway! Since the Cheminots' trail is paved with asphalt and still in Quebec City's suburbs, there were lots of cyclists, skaters and pedestrians who were out enjoying the sun while doing some exercise. But once you cross the wooden bridge over the Jacques-Cartier river, the trail is made of fine gravel/stone dust, so the traffic drastically diminished.

I usually turn around at the wooden bridge, but this time I made it a little farther, right to the station touristique Duchesnay. Since I had started getting some pain in my right knee, I decided to head back.

I ended up doing 66 km. I faced 20kph winds with 40kph wind gusts on my way back, but hey, I guess I shouldn't expect anything less, this is Quebec City after all (when I lived in Montréal, people who learned I was from QC would inevitably say “What a lovely city, but it sure is windy, eh?”). I'm pretty happy with my ride, but this nagging pain on the right knee has me concerned. I've had this pain since my second ride this year. It goes away pretty soon after a ride, so I wonder if it's caused by some bad adjustment of my clipped-on shoes? Oddly, I haven't changed my setup and I rode 2,500 km last year without getting any pain. Or maybe I should take it slower? Since doing spinning classes this past winter, I haven't been shy in using this newfound strength in my legs. I'll have to look into it if I'm going to make longer rides this summer...

This post is day 4 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. I'm making an English and a French version of each post, and I decided to count each as a day. If you want to join in this challenge, visit the 100 Days website.

tags : #EN, #100DaysToOffload, #biking