Sunday around lunchtime I packed my bike and headed north for a long ride in the country. Along the way I learned a bit more about cycling and some insight into how I engage with life and maybe how I could approach it more effectively.
Some might say the ride was cursed from the beginning. I had a light, though mostly-carbohydrate based breakfast of a large bowl of cold cereal then settled in for a 2.5 hour Hindi class. At 10:30 I finished, grabbed a quick banana as a snack and went to pack my bike. As it was a longer ride I wanted to bring a few more things – a larger pump, a lock (in case I wanted to stop and go inside somewhere), and maybe a few more snacks. I seem to have lost one of the elastics that tidy the straps on the bag and spent far too long trying to sort it before realizing I could probably live with one less than the three I expected. Into the bag went more snacks – an energy bar, lots of gummy bears some “apple fritter cookies” and of course two bottles of water, each with an electrolyte tablet in them to make up for the salt I would likely sweat out.
In the end I got out at 11:21 AM – almost an hour after finishing class. With over 100 km to go this was less than optimum but still quite manageable. The ride began beautifully with warm sunny weather and a route that while taking me on a busy street (passed by over 400 cars in the first 30 km!) I was in a bike lane for most of it so it was more noisy than dangerous or stressful. After about 90 minutes I saw a McDonalds and though that maybe I should stop for a snack. Often on rides over 80-100 km I will stop for a big meal – with the calories I can end up burning on a trip like this it’s often a good thing. (Later I learned I burned over 3,100 calories on this trip)
I was headed for Holland Marsh, an agricultural area about 40 km north of Toronto. It’s a swamp that was mostly drained in a valley with a 150 metre hill between here and there. What was interesting for me was that while I was climbing the hill, working very hard and sweating like crazy and eating the occasional gummy bear, my mind was already in the future, thinking about the fast descent that was coming up rather than living in the moment.
Eventually the descent I was looking forward to came – and at 40-50 km/hr, it was over in no time. Then it was time for a flat loop among the newly planted fields. About 50 km in I realized I should probably have a little snack and ate my cookies. They were a bit sickly sweet but it was fine. Calories are calories and they would push me further.
The loop itself was lovely – you can see a bit of the ascent, the descent and much of the look of the fields and canals in the video below.
But, some other things were happening as I looped around the flats. The first is that I was starting to feel a little bit nauseous. Maybe those cookies weren’t a great idea. Still, I did need to keep eating and drinking as I had a long trip back including a big hill to get back out of the valley.
That hill was the second thing that was happening. The more ill I felt, the more I started to dread the climb ahead of me. More and more of my mental presence was lodged in the imaginary future again and less in the present – and what a good present it was. There was hardly any traffic, lots of water with a few people fishing in it and even a bit of wildlife. At one point I got to see a huge hawk being mobbed by about 5 crows trying to get the hawk to leave the area where, no doubt, there was a nest with baby crows in it. It was a beautiful thing to see.
Eventually the time came to climb the hill, and now I was beginning to feel the effects of the long ride and the fact that not only did I have a light breakfast, my nausea meant I ate less than I should. My legs were not nearly as fresh as they were when I climbed the hill from the other side. Still, the only way out is through and up I rode. Some of my focus was now on the climb – which was hard with few breaks. (I did take a break to visit a flock of sheep that I had gone by too fast on my descent to even know were there.
While the climb was the primary focus, I am amused to look back and realize that even then my focus was divided. I was feeling quite ill now but also watching for breaks in the climbing that you can see in the elevation profile. I was also beginning to wonder if I would need to give up on this ride. My legs were tired and my stomach was upset. Still, even if I wanted to give up I had to get over this hill to get to a bus to get me home. A glimmer of hope was there, though: After the top of the hill, I could see that the final 15 km or so would be downhill. That just meant 20 km of hilly riding was all I had to do.
Another variable came into the mix as I climbed the hill, it was getting hotter there in the sun. While it was in the mid 20s, there in the sun next to the sheep it was reading 33 on my bike computer. Now quite thirsty I drank the rest of my first bottle and started in on my second. No more time to waste cooking in the sun. Let’s get going before I get sicker.
There were a few small breaks in the hill but it kept going much longer than I thought. When I got to the top I forced a few more gummy bears and the last of the water down. I refilled the bottles with water at a gas station and started the descent.
With less work to do and a nice breeze from the 30-40 km/hr descent I started feeling better. My stomach even felt a little less urgently awful. I was still hugely under-fueled and not able to really eat a proper snack to fuel myself.
There was prepared food, chole and rice in the fridge waiting for me. The nausea was back and I was feeling out of it. No interest in eating, just sip water. I checked my temperature and had no fever so at least there was that. Then Daegan had a thought. Would I like some more electrolyte drink? As I was able to drink it seemed worth a try. Half a bottle later my head was beginning to clear and my nausea receding. Inspired by this, Daegan pulled a bag of tortilla chips out of the cupboard. They tasted like the best thing I’d ever eaten and I ate them by the handful. I had enough appetite back to have my dinner and a big spoonful of salty achaar sounded like the best possible thing. I ate it all and by the end of the meal I felt reasonably normal – at least my normal self after a 100 km bike ride.
So I learned a few things from this trip. First off, focus on and enjoy the part of the ride you’re in. Being excited or worried about the future not only takes you out of the moment, it’s pointless. The worry about not finishing the ride or being sick on the side of the road was completely imaginary and spoiled that part of the ride. Worrying about the hill ahead made the flat less enjoyable.
But most importantly, I learned about the risk of hyponatremia – sodium deficiency. It’s most know for the extremely dangerous version where someone drinks too much water without having salt to balance it out and everything including one’s brain swells. Luckily I didn’t just have too little salt, I also had too little water and so I just felt crummy. Why, after many years of cycling hundreds of kilometres on days far hotter than this have I never experienced such a thing? Because until this ride I always made time for a stop for burgers and fries, fish and chips or even an aloo paratha or samosa chaat on the way along with a huge sugary drink. While this is far from healthy for a day in the office, this same diet on a long bike ride gives me the calories, sugar, salt and water I need to make a ride enjoyable. There might be better nutritional choices, but few more tasty.
Enjoy the moment, stop for that snack. It may make all the difference.
Below are the ride details. Feel free to follow me on Strava if you’re so inspired.
