March is ending; ride totals.

So March has come to and end, real riding starts now !!! It wasn’t a bad month actually as I managed to get out nine times for a total of 387 km. I could have gone out a few more times if it hadn’t been for my “food poisoning” which now I think was not that as Evelyn came down with exactly the same symptoms two days latter , so it must have been some kind of stomach flu bug , regardless it left me flat !!!.


And now the temperatures are going up, really up !!!! 24 degrees tomorrow, wow !!!!!, can shed the layers of clothing finally and feel the sun and wind against my skin !!!, we will see how long that lasts .

Today I probably should not have gone out as I’m still battling this bug , my stomach has not settled down yet and I haven’t been able to eat much these last four days , but it was sooooo nice that I dragged myself out there for a slow spin around the Marsh and I really enjoyed the first half of the ride, it was warm and the wind at my back and my stomach wasn’t aching , it was a very pleasant ride . Then I turned west and the wind hit me , ordinarily no big deal but today it was like hitting a wall and it only got worse when I turned south, on top of which I was by now quite chilled as I had underdressed, so I ended up dragging myself home felling quite sorry for myself . Oh well , tomorrow is another day , hopefully better !!!


March ride totals

6 Mar …  44 km
7 Mar …  42.2 km
9 Mar …  24.4 km
11 Mar ... 25.5 km
16 Mar ... 42.6 km
17 Mar ... 51.2 km
18 Mar ... 50.1 km
24 Mar ... 63.9 km
31 Mar ... 43.3 km

For a total of 387.2 km .

Food poisoning

This weekend was a total disaster as I spent it sick with food poisoning, I don’t ever recall being as sick as this in my whole life !!!. And of course that meant no biking , I am starting to feel better now and will have to work on hydration before venturing out this week, hopefully by midweek.


The moral of the story is “ check the expiration date on the old jar of Mayonnaise in the fridge before helping yourself to it !!!!! “

Going a bit longer !!!

Today finally I got out again for a ride , strange that even though it’s spring now the weather is cooler then it was last week . I decided to go north into farm country , one of my favorite rides . I headed up the 5th sideroad past 88 to the 9th line , turned towards Beeton and went by Pete’s house but Pete wasn’t home . Managed to upset a few dogs , “Charlestin” chased me from one side of his property to the other , I know his name because the two little girls he was playing with kept telling him to stop , he was friendly enough waging his tail as he barked .


The country side is still dormant, no hint of green yet, I think it knows that winter really isn’t over just yet. I turned down the 15th sideroad as I was a bit unsure if I could make it back while it was still light, and then headed east on the 5th line , the section after 27 is interesting as I was dodging some immense potholes that could swallow up a whole bike !!!! From there I headed into the Marsh and then home getting to my front door just at 7 with a bit of sun left.

63 km today , felt good to be going a bit longer !!!

Continuing with the story… “ The how “

See “A continuation of the story” ( March 13th )


So once I made up my mind to do the ride the question was how ??.

I really didn’t want to do a solo trip lugging all my stuff around with me, I didn’t think my knees would appreciate it at this point in my life, and after all I have a limited amount of time as I do have work obligations before and after this ride and the logistics of this kind of a trip are quite time consuming. So I got on to the internet and did a search for cross Canada bike rides and very quickly came upon “ Tour du Canada “ , they were in the mists of completing there 25th year of cross Canada rides , there was a lot of information available on them and a few journals written about the trip, all were good and they sounded just like what I was looking for . I became a member to find out more and right away they sent me an introduction package which answered all my questions and that was it, they became my choice to help me accomplish my dream.

So what is Tour du Canada , well it’s a supported ride with no frills , a truck does carry our gear , but we cook for ourselves , we sleep in tents , and there is no guide.

Tour du Canada puts together a group of cyclist from all over the globe who generally meet for the first time in Vancouver, we are given a day of orientation and then off we go, it is structured so that we are a group in so much that we support and look after each other, emphasis is put on co-operation to make the journey enjoyable to all the riders, but at the same time we are able to ride as individuals covering the distances at our own pace.

On orientation day we will be given a rundown on what to expect and how everything works, we will be split into galley crews, each crew will cook once a week for the rest of the group. The route and stops are all arranged, every day we get a map of the days journey and the destination where we will be camping that night, and then it’s up to us to get there as we please , cycling in a group or pairs or solo .

It’s a 72 day trip, covering 7,658 km , 59 days are spent riding rain or shine , we have 10 rest days , 2 days are ferry crossings and there is the orientation day.

The orientation day is in Vancouver on the 26th of June and we start riding the next day eventually arriving in St Johns Newfoundland on the 5th of September.

I will be going a few days earlier ( 23rd ) to take advantage of the option of riding west out to Victoria to the mile 0 marker dipping my wheel in the pacific and then turning around to start my journey east.

This year there will be forty of us participating in this adventure this year, all of us have our reasons for doing it, I’m not sure if I can put my reason into words just yet, all I know it’s something I need to do. I am exited and apprehensive at the same time, itching to start, to feel the road under my tires, wanting to see what’s around the bend or over the hill and worried if my not so young body will carry me the distance , worried about cooking for 40 people !!!!!, trucks , thunderstorms , etc…

But for now I’ll concentrate on training, there’s three months left to get ready and then, well, and then I’ll be living a dream !!!!

Web address for Tour du Canada is : http://www.tourducanada.com/

Rained out.

I was all ready to go for a spin this afternoon , got everything ready at lunch time, all I had to do after work was change and jump on the bike , but no , at 3.30 ice pellets started falling and then rain and at 7 degrees I had no intention of getting wet . Hopefully by Wednesday we’ll see the sun again and I’ll get out.

The next generation of cyclists !!

Here is Max our grandson with his first ever bicycle on his first ever ride, not bad eh ?? With him Evelyn, the adoring grandma giving the instructions on how to pedal it.




Evelyn has been wanting to get him a bike for some time now , so his turning four years old tomorrow was just the perfect excuse to buy him one , hopefully the first of many as I plan to have him biking with me in a couple of years , and who knows , maybe even another cross Canada tour !!!??

Cyclissimo is no more , so sad

Yesterday I got an e-mail notifying me that my cycling club Cyclissimo is no more . Very sad news I will miss it and all the great guys and girls I cycled with.


I joined the club a few years ago mainly because my friend Darryl was a member and after a number of years of solo riding I was ready for a new challenge. With trepidation I learned to ride in a group and I learned about speed !!!, boy we had some great Saturday rides !!!, it brought me up to whole other level of cycling and was instrumental in rekindling my dream of doing the cross Canada trip .

But unfortunately with the closing of the store and the passing away of Jim there is no one left with enough time to run the club so now it will just become a social club with no memberships, and hopefully we will gather occasionally to just go for a ride.

The clubs web site will be maintained for now: www.cyclissimo.ca

Ducks on the Canal instead of Skidoos !!!!

What a difference 10 days make , today I rode around the Marsh again , no ice on the Canals , ducks and geese swimming in them , children in short pants playing on driveways and the Marsh a rich black loam colour instead if snow white .
There even was a nice officer with a speed trap actually catching speeders !!!, something I had never seen and all the cycling I have done through the Marsh.
So today was my first evening ride made possible by the time change, I had everything ready at lunch time so that as soon as I got home at 4 all I had to do was change and go . 4.15 I was on the road and took it easy for the first half of the ride enjoying the countryside and the nice weather , stepped it up a bit on the way back as I was not sure of how much light I was going to have but managed to get home with lots of time to spare.
Used the new lights on Keele to get across Hwy 9 , so much safer !!!! and the price was a bit of climbing on the other side , well worth it !!!
42.6 km today, temp around 15 and a bit of a wind from the NW.

Spinning is coming to an end

I’m not a cold weather cyclist, once the first snow hits that it for me I pack up the bikes and hibernate till spring. Which means that I suffer like crazy every spring trying to get my legs and lungs back into shape, the first month on the road is always hell.
Last year I put in just over 5,000 km in preparation for this years Tour and I didn’t want to loose to much of that conditioning so I took up spin classes two three times a week together with Evelyn ( she has actually got hooked on it and goes more often then I do !!! ). I must say it has helped immensely because the first rides this year were actually quite pleasurable instead of the usual hell on wheels.
I was going to supplement the spinning by putting my bike on the trainer at home and pedal while watching the Toronto Maple Leafs , but I find it so boring that I hardly pedaled at all , instead the bike spent the winter in the living room looking pretty !!!, oh well it’s the thought that count , right ?. Then maybe the problem was that I should have picked different hockey team to watch !!!

Here is the brake down of the winter training so far:

3 Jan … home trainer … 1 hour
6 Jan … Spin class …… 45 min
8 Jan … Spin class …… 45 min
11 Jan … Spin class …… 1 hour
13 Jan … Spin class …… 45 min
17 Jan … home trainer … 30 min
18 Jan … Spin class …… 1 hour
25 Jan … Spin class …… 1 hour
27 Jan … Spin class …… 45 min
30 Jan … home trainer … 1 hour
1 Feb … Spin class …… 45 min
3 Feb … Spin class …… 45 min
8 Feb … Spin class …… 1 hour
10 Feb … Spin class …… 45 min
11 Feb … home trainer … 45 min
12 Feb … Spin class …… 45 min
17 Feb … Spin class …… 45 min
19 Feb … Spin class …… 45 min
21 Feb … home trainer … 45 min
22 Feb … Spin class …… 1 hour
24 Feb … Spin class …… 45 min
26 Feb … Spin class …… 45 min
1 Mar … Spin class …… 45 min
3 Mar … Spin class …… 45 min
5 Mar … Spin class …… 45 min
6 Mar … Rode outdoors
7 Mar … Rode outdoors
8 Mar … Spin class …… 1 hour
9 Mar … Rode outdoors
10 Mar … Spin class …… 45 min
11 Mar … Rode outdoors
10 Mar … Spin class …… 45 min
12 Mar … Spin class …… 45 min
15 Mar … Spin class …… 1 hour

This will probably be my last week of spin classes, with the time change I’ll be able to get out more and do some real riding !!!!. Got to get going, after all there is just over 3 month to go and 1,864 km of training to do before the great adventure starts !!!.

A continuation of the story ...

A continuation of the story I began with “the beginning “ :

Unfortunately after that first touring trip, work and life took over and the bike got sold and that was it, a forgotten dream. I still regret selling the bike, I hadn’t ridden it for years but I was going to live in Ireland and I needed every penny I could muster for the trip, so I sold it to old Phil the night watchman at the farm.

Then in the early 1990’s a second Canadian Tire bike was bought , this time a mountain bike, a heavy brute of a machine, and I started dabbling in biking again with my friend Bobby , nothing serious just some fun riding in the Conservation area at the end of Huntington Rd. in Kleinburg. A couple of years latter my friend Bob got me hooked on mountain biking, early mornings in the Durham Forest, trips up to Hardwood Hills, Ravenshoe, etc. I bought my first light bike $$$$ouch!!! , I became part of the “No Control Team” , started doing 8 hour events for charity, which progressed to the 24 hour races, every chance I had I would put the bike on the car and head out to a trail to bike, and boy did we have some fun !!!! Bob, Mark, Mary and Deb what a great group of biking buddies!!!
And Bob, well what can I say, Bob is a real motivator he speaks a whole different English then we mere mortal bikers do, it always amazed me how he could use the word “easy” do describe just about any situation on the trail no mater how hellish it was, I owe him a lot, he sure made a better biker out of me !!!

Somewhere during all that pedaling the dream of riding across Canada reappeared, Bob and I saying that when we retired we would do it. You know, one of those things you say but that has no real achievability, because the goal is so far away, but still the dream was there again, faint but there. Then, back in 2003 my amazing wife gave me a road bike for Christmas, a wonderful blue Trek 2200 and slowly the road became my passion. I joined the Cyclissimo Cycling Club four years ago, met a lot of great people and learned about group riding. Two years ago I got real serious about road riding and participated in some Club Road Races, had fun with some rather disappointing results. And I also did Time Trials for the first time ever, boy they were painful!!!, but very satisfying. I learned a lot about cycling and I learned a lot about myself. I put down a lot of km, and somewhere along that summer of 2008 I set a goal of 4000 km for the year which I managed to finally accomplish on the 19th of October, just before the first snow arrived. As I was getting closer to that goal I found that my dream became an inescapable necessity, something I just had to do while I still could do it. The dream stopped being a far off hope, it became something tangible something real that I could taste, and as I was riding along one day through the Marsh returning from one of my long rides I just made the decision no more waiting for retirement, I was going to do it now!!!! .

I set a date of 2012 that I thought would give me enough time to prepare physically and financially and let everyone get use to the idea. I talked to Evelyn, I don’t think she believed me at first but I’m a lucky guy and she loves me and understands me, I talked to my bosses and asked for a leave of absence for 2012, they said ok as long as the farm was looked after, and that was it, done, come hell or high water I would be on the road crossing this country !!!!! finally living my dream !!!!
Then one day over dinner my wife together with my bosses ganged up on me , why wait they said, things on the farm were quiet , my arthritis was behaving, better to go sooner then later they said, and it all made sense, so with out to much objections on my part 2010 became the new target.

And just maybe I’ll leave the 2012 date open for the Artic Tour ride !!!!

(To be continued )

This was in 2001 or 2002 I think over at Pleasure Valley . It was a 8 hour relay ride for Down Syndrome . It was the first time I rode with the “No Controls” Myself , Mary, Mark, Deb and Bob.

24 Hours Of Adrenalin 2003 at Hardwood Hills. This was my first 24 hour race , Bob put together the team originally we were going to be a five man team but Mark was not well and could not do it so we ended up being four. Rick brought his camper and it was very civilized. We placed 12th out of 30 , not bad !!!! I did 4 laps altogether including the killer first lap were I ended up running for about a km ( mostly uphill ) to get to the bike. It was a long course if I remember right about 22km , it was a great experience and I had lots of fun swearing never to do it again !! ( of course the next year I did it again !!) In the picture Bob, Dave, Rick and Myself. Support team: Mary and Evelyn. Mascots: Hanna and Huston

Here we are after finishing the 2005 “Ride for Heart” Evelyn, myself, Mark, Deb, Bob, Mary and Jake in front.

Bob and I doing the 24 hours Hot Summer Nights at Albion Hills, with our amazing support crew Evelyn and Mark

The warmest winter in 60 odd years they say

The warmest winter in 60 odd years they say, it must be because I managed to put in my 4th ride of the season today. Just amazing weather for the beginning of March +13 and sunny and hardly any wind, paradise for a biker like me!!!

So the first thing that strikes me today where horse hoof prints on the side of the road, first reaction is to think that one of mine got out, ohh horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach!!!, but then I noticed that it had shoes on and I breathed a sigh of relief, it must have been a brave soul to go horse back riding on this road.

Then once on Keele I crest one of the many hills to find a boy coming at me with 4 dogs, he has a hold of the collars of two of them but the other two are all over the road, and poor kid he’s a huffing and a puffing trying to control the situation and obviously get the dogs home. I ride by carefully as a couple of cars cress cross luckily missing the dogs. I look back to see if he made it in the driveway and notice that he is going by it, puzzled I turn around to see if I can help him . From what he tells me he has about ½ a km to go before getting home and he asked me if I could go and get his sister to come with leads to help him. Off I go down a muddy dirt road, find his house and get his mother and sister to drive out to meet him.
Its one of the things I like about “the road”, you meet people and get to experience new situations you get a chance to participate in life .And I must say it felt good to lend a helping hand today!!!.

Now from the good to the bad. I’m heading back home on Jane St. and I’m stopped at the lights on the King Rd. I notice a fellow biker approaching thinking he would stop and chat until the lights changed, but no he just flew right through the intersection even as a car was turning .
Now I object to bad cyclists just as much as I object to bad drivers out there , the thing is that a bad cyclist give us all a bad reputation and in doing so put us more at risk out there as drivers end up having less respect for us.
Life on a bicycle on the road is precarious enough, no need for fellow cyclist to inflate the dislike that motorist have for us. The rules of the road apply equally to cars and cyclist they are there to protect us all and should be obeyed.

Ok, I’m done ranting , I had a good day out there after all !!! , nice to be riding again !!!

These boot weren’t made for walking !!

My new cycling shoes , nice , eh ?? “Sidi Dominator Mega Cycling Shoe” even sounds impressive !!
I bought them at the Mountain Equipment Co-op store , here’s there little write up on them:

Weight: 730g (42)

Top-of-the-line mountain bike shoes, with a closure system that locks in a close fit on the instep. Sole pattern expels mud easily, and can be fitted with optional Sidi® toe spikes for good traction off the bike.

Breathable, abrasion-resistant synthetic leather uppers.
Padded tongue for extra comfort.
Two inward-facing Velcro® straps with a micro-adjustable buckle at the top of the foot.
Moulded plastic heel cup for precise fit.
Slightly wide fit.


Yup, these babies were meant for pedaling but one can also walk comfortably in them handy for the Tim Horton stops along the way . I like the slightly wider fit especially after 8 hours of pedaling !!! , last year my feet would get quite uncomfortable in my old shoes after a long ride making me stop more often then I wanted to.
So bit by bit I am gathering the gear I need for the trip , just over three month to get everything in order .

Another beautiful day and another ride !!!

Well I took a long lunch today and went out for another ride , just couldn’t help myself as it was just beautiful out there , you can feel spring in the air , occasional geese flying overhead honking away and seagulls heading north.
I headed south to get a bit of hill work in , did my usual Sunday ride , the legs were good going up and down the hills on Keele street but by the time I started heading back north on Weston I was a bit tiered . All in all a good ride but I still find myself fighting this bike a bit , I have to learn to relax on it and not over push it.
42.2 km today , temp +10 and winds 21km from SW. Lots of snow still out there , but the roads for the most part are dry. Didn’t wear the booties today and my feet were cold by the time I got back.
And of course there was the usual close call with a car , as I crossed Bloomington a car just pulled out onto Keele and almost took me out . I’m not sure if it’s that they are not use to the bikes on the road or just plane ignorance , either way I have to be extra vigilant out there .

First ride !!

It felt good to be on the bike again !!!
Started the morning by going to the Bike Show , lots of nice bikes !!! mouthwatering !!!! but no, no more bike buying for now .
Got back around 1.30 and the temperature had gone up to 7 degrees with beautiful sunshine so I did a few last tweaks to the bake and put the cleats on my new shoes and off I went .
I decided to have an easy ride so I headed to the Marsh , it was so nice being back on the road , all my old familiar potholes were still there !!!! . The Marsh mainly covered in snow , but some farmers had there tractors out getting ready for spring planting. The Canals covered in ice and even though it looked slushy there were some people out with there skidoos !!! . They have piled a lot of dirt on the side of the south Canal so I assume they will be working and improvements to it this summer , I just hope the don’t close the road before I finish my training!!!
All in all I did 44 km , the bike ran well so my mechanical skills are improving !!! , still have to play with the indexing a bit as there is a bit of rubbing noises here and there.
New shoes were just great !!! and the booties work very well also , my feet stayed nice and warm for the whole trip.
So tomorrow is suppose to be even warmer , I’ll have to try and get out again, after all I have to put in another 1956 km before the 23 of June !!!

Frustrated !!!, very frustrated !!!!!

I’m very frustrated and I cant go out pedaling to relive the stress , ahhhhhhhh !!!!!!!!
I had taken my Trek 520 in before X-mas to this mechanic I know to go over it and make sure it was ship shape for a cross Canada trip.
Well time went by and finally after 3 unanswered calls he calls me to say he will be working on it and I can pick it up in 2 days . There I was all happy until later that day the second call came from the mechanic , he tells me while he was removing the breaks one of the bolts of the rear break snapped off inside the boss and that there was no way to get it out and I would probably need a new frame.
So since the bike was only bought 6 months ago he said he would call the dealer and that it should be covered under warranty and that he would try and resolve the situation for me.
Another 3 weeks go by and I call to see how things are progressing , well the dealer wants pictures , which are taken but not sent . I decide then to take over looking after the situation, called the dealer and we agreed that the best thing was for me to take him the bike. Again another week goes by before I can do that.
Finally I get the bike to the dealer , he says , no problem I can fix that , no need for a new frame, we will call you when it’s fixed . Another week goes by , as you can see the weeks are adding up. So finally last Saturday I bring the bike home , they fixed it and gave it a tune-up , everything is in working order they said.
Yesterday I swapped out the 32 tires for the 28s I bought and put the bike on the trainer to do a bit of pedaling and I find out that the tune-up was not that great of a tune-up as the chain will not go onto the 3 small sprockets of the rear cassette, ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
So here I am with a beautiful weekend on its way , frothing at the mouth for my first outdoor ride with a bike that should have been in top working order , but no it’s sick.
I cant get it back to the dealer before the weekend so I will now have to practice my mechanical skills and see if I can come up with a solution to the problem . I guess the silver lining on all this is that it forces me to start doing my own repairs.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! , hopefully I get to ride this weekend .

The beginning

So where did it all start , this crazy idea of crossing a country on two wheels .


No not here , good picture though , check out the knee patches !!! and how about those bike baskets . Here I am around 8 years old with my brother Pat on what might have been our first bikes.











This is where it started , here I am pictured with my trusted bike .

As best as I can remember it was sometime in 1976 -77 shortly after returning from Argentina. We lived on a farm in Brampton and I enamored with this country and wanting my freedom from my family decided hey why not get a bike and pedal out to BC.
So I bought my first bike a Canadian Tire 10 speed and spent a spring practicing up and down Airport Road. At some point I thought I was ready so I took off with my fully loaded 10 speed and boy I was in for a rude surprise as I had never pedaled beyond Mono Mills and I had no idea of the gigantic hills that were out there . Bit by bit I progressed, but in the end ill prepared and short on funds and leery of the big trucks on the Trans-Canada Highway I didn’t make it. My trek west ended about a days ride west of Espanola. But I did have a great summer of biking around Ontario, and my passion for cycling was born and a dream of one day cycling across Canada .

March is here !!!

March is here , the snow is starting to melt !!! , the days are getting a bit longer and warmer and I am itching to get out for a ride !!! . Environment Canada is telling me that it going to be sunny and 5 degrees or more by the end of the week , can I believe them ????.
I finally got my bike back , hard to believe it’s been gone since before Christmas . It’s now fixed so I can start my 2000 km of road training . I wanted to start riding on it so I don’t get spoiled on my road bike like I did last summer , it’s hard to go from a road bike to a touring bike when your just out for fun rides .
Now I have to swap out the wide tires for the narrower 28s I bought and I’ll be ready to go if the predictions are right.