Nov 17thHummingbirds place in the Madonna Wheelers Cycling with Saints Event

Peter H continued his strong cycling comeback, placing 2nd in the Madonna Wheelers Cycling with Saints Master 60+ event.  The event was held around the Queen’s Park Savannah.

Congrats to Lorenzo in finishing 3rd in the Tinymites!

We look forward to continued success for Peter H, Lorenzo and the rest of the Hummingbirds.

The 2013 road season is winding down, with only more race, before we head into the track season.

Congratulations Peter and Lorenzo!

Nov 4thWinter Cycling … 1st day of Daylight Savings

The joys of Winter Cycling … submitted by Sean

Today was the first day of Daylight Savings Time. From now until March 9th 2014 the clock is adjusted back an hour. This transition is always tough for me because in the evening it’s dark at 5 p.m. however, we do get some daylight early in the morning as we navigate our way to work. For those of us who are yet to retire from the working world, it means that we can only ride outdoors on the weekends if the weather permits………for the next 5 months….yikes, that’s a long time.

Yes sir that extra hour sleep was awesome today, you needed the additional rest to battle the elements today. It was the chilliest day of fall to date. We moved the start time to 11:30 a.m. so we could bask in the sunshine of -2C, the audacity of this weather, at 9 a.m it was -5C. Dudes the Arctic Jetstream is here and along with it comes those frigid winds. The sunshine was brilliant and the sky was that majestic super blue colour with no clouds, very deceiving because today’s wardrobe consists of the following:

Base Layer Jersey, Arm Warmers, Thermal Long Sleeve Jersey, Thermal Bib Tights with WindStopper, Windstopper Cycling Jacket, Wool Socks, Thermal Windstopper Shoe Covers, Balaclava ,Thermal Hat, Full-Fingered Wool Lining Gloves, Winter Lobster Thermal Gloves. Very important – you need to empty your bladder prior to the ride and before getting all these layers of clothing on because if you gotta go during the ride, Good Luck !!……as you attempt to find your device under all this clothing.

It was cold, however, if you had all of the above clothing you could venture out for a couple of hours. We rode for close to two hours and it was awesome. There was some effort at times but mainly we just rolled along spinning and chatting about every topic under the sun. The beauty of cycling is that you can discuss just about any topic, we covered – Politics, Automobiles, Touring Europe, Soccer, Basketball, Traveling, Drugs in Cycling. Ten years from now there maybe memoirs of confessions on drug use from peloton members, I hope not…….just kidding (said with a Russell Peters Accent). Our peloton my friends, is a drug free zone (DFZ) we cycle for the fun of it, this is not for a pay cheque, it’s a time to chill and have a couple of laughs while improving our fitness.

It’s incredible that the only time we felt that -4C was when we stopped for the photo-op and at the end of the ride. Freedom of the Bicycle (FOTB) I call it – once you click in those pedals the temperature does not matter, what matters is ensuring you have a wheel to latch onto to protect you from that frigid wind.

Ride on……..