April 5, 2008, 8:40am

Little did I know last year when I was at the same place as part of the Road Safety crew that I would be one of the riders just about 12 months from then.

It was a beautiful morning, sunny, average temperature of 7.3C. We gathered just outside the Finch subway station. I’d estimate about 50 riders all eager to get going. A friend of mine from work Armand is training for a triathlon so he came along for the ride. After a few announcements and the obligatory stretches we were off.

The ride went very well, 31.88km, total time 1hr 54 minutes. Not bad for a newbie. The only problem was that one ‘hill from hell’. I tried my best to do it but about 1/2 way up I was feeling the strain on my knee so I hopped off and walked the rest of the way up. Armand made it up with no problem as did quite a few others…   note to self, more hill training required.  Next week I hope to get some pictures, I completely forgot this time out.