Date: October 23, 2018
Cafe: Elysian Coffee Roasters
Distance: 36 km
Drink: Black drip coffee
Notes: Elysian is a local coffee roaster with 4 locations in town, one on the bike route I take most days to and from Stanley Park. I have never stopped before. It is at the foot the the climb back home, and I just never wanted to stop. That was a mistake. The 7th & Ontario St. location is where the coffee is roasted, and surprisingly, is a very comfortable place. I sat at the window, facing my bike and the Ontario bike route, enjoying a black coffee and a savoury scone.
I biked a different route today. Stanley Park actually has 3 different cycling routes; the interior road that I speak of here (great for road cyclists); the Seawall that circumnavigates the park on the water; and a network of gravel trails (good for MTB and all road bikes) that crisscross the park. Today I devised a route that included sections of each route.
I am often asked, “Don’t you ever tire of riding the same route most days?”.
Well, no. Never.
In the first place, as I mention above, there are 3 different routes. Secondly, I ride on 3 different bikes; a full carbon road bike with a Shimano Dura-Ace group; a steel frame touring bike equipped with an Shimano Ultegra group; and, an all road bike with 35 mm tires, hydraulic disc brakes and a 1x SRAM drive train. Each bike performs differently.
Three different routes, and three different bikes.
Depending on the bike and route, I can work on climbing, descending, sprinting, pacing, and a myriad of other skills. And when you consider I ride in both good (warm and dry) and bad (cold and wet) weather conditions, I have a lot of different rides at my doorstep.
Think about this.
3 routes x 3 bikes x 3 workouts x 2 weather conditions = 54 different rides
No. I never tire of this route. And, when you consider that I can combine sections of each route to make up numerous other routes, there is no reason to get bored.
PedalWORKS 