From Peter Grant:
Five guys, Guy Mousseau, Guy Quesnel, Will Lusby, David McCaw and Peter Grant, rode the Foymount 400 on Saturday. The weather forecast was a cause of apprehension. We would start with warm weather, humidex of 30, followed by severe thunderstorms and a cold front. Continuous rain was in the forecast and night time temperature forecast for Bancroft 2 and Renfrew 6. We might have the chance to experience both heat stroke and frost bite on the same day. Good that I did not write this before we left because it looks a bit crazy in writing.The wind would be south west veering to west and then north. Our route would leave Ottawa to the south west and then west and then north. We would have a tail wind to look forward to after 250 km of head winds.
We stayed together for about 120 km which helped with the wind which was never that strong, just always doing something. Thanks for the pulls guys. In the hills along Buckshot Lake Road the 2 Guys out paced David, Will and me. At the turn onto ON-41 I could hear thunder to the south west and a few minutes later the down pour started. We were all 5 inside the 41 Stop having pizza then and only the Guys toke off before it stopped. I dressed for rain but 5 km later was putting the rain gear away.
I was riding slowly, David rode easy and kept my company all day as the hills passed slowly and the wind played tricks. At the top of Snake Creek Hill is a redneck farm house with a big yellow dog that gaurds ON-28 from cyclists. The big yellow dog had to charge all the way from the front porch and snarled at my left heel. I returned the snarl and he backed off. He looked older and tired this year with deep dark circles around his eyes. It was still hot and he wasn’t really happy to be moving.
Rain came in light spits during the afternoon and the temperature dropped. Palmer Rd was east bound and we began to get tail winds to Quadville where David and I saw Guy Quesnel and Will again. They were entertaining the Quadvillians hanging out at the general store. Guy Mousseau was on his way with the intention of reaching Ottawa by midnight.
Although the sky looked dark and menacing as we climbed up to Foymount, I found the next 75 km more pleasant than the earlier part of the day. The heat was off and there was finally some north wind hitting my face with cooler air. We reached Calabogie just at dusk, the latest ever for me on this ride.
The pizzeria has 1 washroom and 1 by 1 the 4 of us used it as a change room between eating bites of lasagna and pizza. An audience at the pizzeria watched without much comment as we slowly changed to night clothes. I had a wool undershirt and jersey and leg warmers but no boot covers. I got white plastic take out bags to wrap around my feet and we departed for the 99 km section to Ottawa. David laughed at me and said my feet looked like 2 white rabbits hopping down the road as I peddled. I had warm feet though.
The rain was very light and some times the pavement was even dry. Sometimes the tail wind was there and then not. The final 25 km was to the north east and then the wind was in the face and the strongest of the day. We got to my car just before 2:00 am and just in time as the rain drops were big and coming fast. The car rocked a bit with the gusts as I drove home.
Altogether we had lucky breaks with the weather and a pretty good ride considering that a 400 km is always a long ride.
