Tour de Mississauga // Apple Picking

On Sunday morning I did something I've never done before. I participated in a cycling marathon. As a sedentary person, this is a big deal. My parents and I did the 30km route in the Tour de Mississauga along with 700 other people and it was spectacular.

We started at Celebration Square in Mississauga and did a full loop of the south half of the city. The majority of the route was on multi-use trails, with the exception of some residential areas and the first part of the Tour, where cops shut down streets as we all poured out at once from the starting line. It was nice to see which major roads had designated trails (Queensway and Burnhamthorpe) so we felt safe the whole time!

Right up at the start line!

We were following the purple arrows, the green ones were for the 60km!

Along the Queensway, irresponsibly taking photos.

The first chunk was mostly downhill, as we were heading south towards the lake, and east on Queensway was flat and lovely so everyone was feeling great by the 20km mark. Then the uphill started. It was a gradual incline but that combined with an aggressive wind, I had a rough time. But I finished and honestly didn't feel too stiff! How naive I was...

I spent the rest of the day apple picking (because who on earth says no to an apple picking invitation, marathon or no?) and it was delightful.

Superb Royal Galas.

This orchard had the cutest signs!

After sitting down for dinner, something was off. My knees have always had issues so pain is received with exasperation and not concern. This time it was my knees and the lower half of my thighs. I waddled around for the rest of the evening, but the pain escalated to the point that I couldn't sleep because I couldn't move but also couldn't lie still. How the heck I fell asleep, I don't know, but amazingly, everything went away by morning. I have since discovered that it was a build-up of lactic acid that was causing the insane pressure. Now that I know what it was, I can prevent it because good lord that was enough to put me off physical activity!

Now that I am thankfully back to normal mobility and a pain-free life, I can get back to more exciting things, like updating the shop! Sneak peek:

Stamp!

Thanks for reading!