Ride Report by Dave Thompson:<\/p>\n
Every time I do a new ride I see more of Ontario, reminded that you haven\u2019t really seen Ontario until you see it on a bike. I\u2019m also reminded that Ontario isn\u2019t flat! I think we came in around 4000 metres of climbing \u2013 one short little bump registered around 22% on my Garmin. <\/p>\n
We headed off at 6am \u2013 Dave, Terry, Tim, Will, Smiling, Martin and Jerzy \u2026 well, actually Tim and I left about 15 minutes later. Tim rode on and I saw them all at the next Control as there\u2019s a little bit of a reverse-course at that point. All of the group save Terry and I stopped at Hockley Valley for something to eat; Terry and I saved our appetites for the Subway at the next Control. Although we didn\u2019t exactly ride together, Terry and I were within sight of each other for most of the ride and then finished together at 1:41am. The \u201cpeloton\u201d came in later; I haven\u2019t heard details yet or even how much they stuck together.<\/p>\n
The first 100 km has a good chunk of the climbing from Erin Mills to Orangeville. From there we headed east and were treated to mostly tail winds and some flatter riding. When we turned south, we had some headwinds to contend with but nothing too daunting. By the time we got to Stouffville heading west, the winds were starting to die down and we followed a route north of but then intersecting with, the LOL route back into Erin Mills. It\u2019s actually a better route because it doesn\u2019t go through northern bit of suburbia that keeps encroaching on our pleasant bike routes!<\/p>\n
I was reminded again that Toronto is a BIG city. I was also reminded that the roads at that point are sort-of perpendicular to Lake Ontario making the trip south into Mississauga seem endless at times (are we there yet Dad?). Riding on roads SE or SW makes you feel that you\u2019re somehow zig-zagging your way in, but when I look at the map, it\u2019s pretty direct. There\u2019s something about night, close to the end of the ride that stretches things out.<\/p>\n
Terry and I agreed that 400 km isn\u2019t our favourite distance, but we got \u2018er done. <\/p>\n
When we started out in the a.m. there was a line of rain heading towards us on the Doppler. We really lucked out because we seemed to ride west then north around the system in the morning and then as the day wore on, we could see rain in the distance and at times, lightning, but we didn\u2019t hit one drop of rain. I exchanged emails with Tim and he had a short shower for a few seconds but no more. <\/p>\n
It was a good ride even though we didn\u2019t stop for beer or bowling \u2026<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll let Terry explain the part about dancing with the Polish lady at the deli\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ride Report by Dave Thompson: Every time I do a new ride I see more of Ontario, reminded that you haven\u2019t really seen Ontario until you see it on a bike. I\u2019m also reminded that Ontario isn\u2019t flat! I think … Continue reading