On 20 August I set off on my long-awaited trip to Portland, Oregon to take part in the world's longest relay race - Hood to Coast. Our team of 12 joined hundreds of others each crammed into 2 minivans to run the 199 mile route from Mount Hood to the Pacific coast at Seaside, Oregon.
Each runner runs 3 legs - mine were 4.7 miles (3pm Friday), 4.2 miles (1am Saturday) and 7.2 miles (3pm Saturday). The distances aren't too gruelling, but it's the lack of sleep and the cramped conditions in the vans with no time for stretching, or showering that make it tough - you have to get to the next hand over before your runner does to park up and make the exchange. Crazy but a lot of fun, and running through the forest in the middle of the night with just a headlamp to see by was amazing.
My training up to this point has been focussed on running, with a bit of cycling. Now the balance is going to change. After my week in Portland, I meet Chris in Toronto to stay with friends there for a summer holiday. We decided to hire bikes for a day and follow a cycle trail built on the abandoned Canadian Pacific railway line in Western Ontario.
The cycle to the start of the trail was along a deserted country lane, wide and straight, shaded by trees and virtually traffic-free so we took it nice and easy, cycling side by side chatting as the miles slowly rolled by. This is my kind of cycling!
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| At the start of the Goderich to Auburn cycle trail |
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| Chris on the Menesetung Bridge |
It's August, and we expect to see lots of other holiday makers enjoying the sunshine and countryside, but the trail stretches on and on and we only share it with one other cyclist and 2 couples walking. It's a very different experience to cycling in Manchester!
We knew that we should have turned round a bit sooner, but the trail was so pretty, and the weather gorgeous, so we kept going to the end of the trail, feeling good. It was, however, an out and back ride, so we were only half way and still had 15 miles to cycle to get back. It wasn't until the last hour that we realised we had maybe pushed it a bit too much and both had to grit our teeth and keep going, wincing slightly with each bump in the road!
We made it back and immediately congratulated ourselves for hiring bikes from a shop opposite a bar. A pint of lager and a large bowl of fries never tasted so good!
