Dec 10,
After my visit with Bryan I was back home with the boys, doing two back to back long rides I needed the day off. I did what you do on holidays kicked back watched breaking bad and made sure the boys were taken care of so they could focus on studying. It took me a while to develop some flow but of course by the time I was leaving I had a routine started. Figures.
I was going to leave to Montreal today but it was the teams wine mixer and I got an invite! I know hockey teams can be a tight knit bunch but Paul pulled some strings and they let me squeak in. I made one of Kelcies delicious sangrias, and it was a hit. It was nice, party I fit right in a lot of the team related to me. I like to think that I keep well red and I can have a decent discussion on a variety of topics. Its university level hockey so the egos are faded and they are focused on school. They are grown ass men. I had to go downstairs with the girls when they did there secret santa gift exchange as some kind of penalty. Here take your drink and go hang out in the basement with all these girls..........Ok. Actually there was one other guy down there. His name was Evan, we got talking, asked him if he played hockey and he said ya but for a couple years he was on the U23 cycling team!!! What are the odds. We really hit it off great dude, I don't think he expected to meet another endurance athlete at a hockey party haha. It was cool to hear what its like on the inside of elite level cycling. He said he rode on team Team Garneau, but didn't want to commit for another year he had, had enough. Although he said some of his friends were riding pro, in Europe this year. The night ended well, didn't drink too much wine, but I did have a few too many cookies.
Dec 11.
Woke up groggy with a red wine hangover, toughed a run which was good got most of the booze out of the system before the train ride. Before I knew it I was packed up and headed down town to catch the VIA rail to Montreal.
Trains are awesome! Enough said right there. Easily the best form of travel, round trip was $88, and I couldn't believe the amount of space I had in there. On board free wifi, and 4 hours went by like nothing. Got tons of work done, booked my hotel, and some reading done as well.
I turned to the guy beside me and what are the odds, but he's going for his PHd in nutritional sciences at McGill. I thought perfect I can figure out why I keep gaining weight. It turned out I knew almost more then he did. He was really just getting started in nutrition, his main background was chemistry. Long distance triathlon should be a prerequisite for nutrition. He was still a nice guy we exchanged numbers.
I was in the hotel by 9 and I finished up some work in the room and then headed out for a walk. It was a nice night so much nicer then Winnipeg. I thought wow you don't need to go to Florida to get away from winter WTF am I doing in Winnipeg. Walked through old Montreal very cool, but it was Tuesday night and everything was pretty much dead.
I walked back up St. Laurent and walked into a Hookah bar. Thought why not. Had a read and a lemon hookah what was absolutely delicious. Read my book for a bit and just hung out.
I was out of there by 1 and sleeping by 1:30 or so. It was a laid back evening.
Dec12.
My day in Montreal I needed to seize it. But I was having some lower leg pain. So running was out I needed to find a pool. The first order of business was a nice french breakfast. There was no way I was going to eat at anything remotely franchise like so I walked around until I found a nice little cafe and grabbed some bacon eggs fruit and a crepe. It was fantastic.
From there I took the subway to the old velodrome which in now the Biodome. Yes the biodome like the movie with Paully Shore. Great experience and a good bang for your buck at $25. I cant say anything really stuck out I just took a lot of pictures and took it all in. I did learn however that there are no penguins on the north pole. So the Coke commercials with polar bears and penguins are 100% false.
Included in my entry was also a ride up the elevator in the Sportex. As I walked in I could smell the pool, and sure enough it was open to the public, so I knew I needed to get back here for a swim. After getting a sky high view of Montreal I ripped back to the hotel did a 180 and got back into the pool for a swim. It was a really nice pool, duh. But everything about it, nice big lanes, perfect temp, and everyone had great pool etiquette.
After the swim I needed to refuel. What better way to refuel in Montreal the with a poutine. The bartender at the Hookah bar had recommended La Banquise a 24h place so I made it a mission to get down there. During the walk I started to think what I was going to do for the evening. I also managed to find a little pastry shop and blew $25 on a small box of french pastries. Which was well worth it. I figured get a bottle of wine eat some chocolate head downtown and see where the night takes me. I got to La Banquise and ended up getting a chicken and pea poutine. Phenomenal. Great service I was in and out of there quick.
On the way back I grabbed my wine and chocolate along with a pile of vegetables to wash down my poutine. Got back to the hotel and had a quick chat with a friend form Winnipeg that ended up suggesting a few places to check out. So that was a start.
I ended up heading out but it was still only Wednesday, and still not much going on. I went from bar to bar having beers and just talking. Saw a cool art display downtown with some musical lights that you controlled by walking in front of them. At 1 AM I decided it was time to get to bed.
Dec13
This was a pretty uneventful day and can be summarized fairly quickly. I woke up grabbed breakfast walked around McGill campus, tried to get some shopping in and then was on a train for the next 7 hours until I was back in the apartment at around 8. And I think I got to bed around 10.
Dec14
Back in Toronto and back in the routine. Hit the pool nice and early, because the guys team was playing the girls team as a fun christmas event. So I got back in time for that. At the game I talked to the team AT and she agreed to come check out my leg to see if I had any injuries to be worried about. So she swung by later on told be I needed to start stretching more because my lower leg muscles felt like guitar strings. I will attribute some of that to sleeping on a couch for 2 weeks. But nothing serious and she said it probably wouldn't hurt to try running.
Dec15
This was another filler day. Just focused on getting my sessions done and reading. Paul had his final exam tomorrow.
Dec 16
This was it Paul was finished today. It was an exciting day for him. I went for a run early and felt good I had been taking an Iron supplement and I was able to get my heart rate up and my legs felt good.
Paul finished his exam around 8 and we made the trek into downtown Toronto and hit a bar called Tattoo. For Sunday night it wasn't bad. We had fun, Paul was just relieved to be finished exams. I know the feeling. It was nothing special we spent too much money and drank too much. Grabbed late night falafel to soak up the booze and crashed.
Dec 17
Well they say you save the best for and that couldn't be more true for this trip. After a good Sunday night out in Toronto I kicked Paully out of bed and we were rollin by 9:30. We were just going to go to Yorkdale mall but once we were on the subway we were in one, and decided to go all the way downtown.
We got down to union and did a coffee comparison Paul got Tims I got Starbucks. I still find Starbucks has better quality and service compared to Tims. Not to mention they also keep you hooked with the Starbucks card, which if you only drink black coffee like me it ended up making Starbucks the same Price.
Once we had coffees we walked over to the Eaton Centre, and just soaked up downtown. During the walk we came across a Bixie station. All I have to say about Bixie is WOW. What an awesome concept. It was a super smooth super fun experience and definitely deserves its own post with an in depth look at the experience.
We got a solid shop in at the mall and found a place that serves all day breakfast. Just what the doctor ordered. By that time we had done some good walking and had a half our of riding downtown. Absolutely perfect way to spend an afternoon. Besides the mandatory Christmas shopping it was also a fairly cheap afternoon. From there we snapped a few pics at Dundas Square and hit the subway home for a quick nap before the late night flight.
Pauls captain Jesse Messier drove us to the airport. The guy is a absolute gem. He was also studying Kinesiology, and we started shooting the shit. Asked him what he was going to do when he was finished. He was in the same spot as me, a little unsure. He mentioned he had some friends that were working with high level coaches, which I thought was pretty cool. We also started talking about fitness testing he was telling me he did a VO2 test and scored 86!!!! Thats insane. I don't know if they messed up the numbers, but if thats legit the guy needs to start doing some endurance stuff.
The airport was pretty standard we saw some family friends Paul went and had a drink. I just couldn't take it any more, and wanted to be home. Flight was standard and we were sleeping by 2.
Next up Christmas...... Brace yourself
D
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