Southern Ontario Century Ride

This weekend I participated in the “ Southern Ontario Century Ride “ put on by Cycle Canada. They have a few different ride options for the weekend I chose the 160 km ride from York University to Alliston, I wanted to test the legs and body to see if the spring training had worked , after all I only have 23 more days to get in shape if not !!!

Arrived early Saturday morning this year ( I had done this ride last year also but didn’t start till 9 ) signed in with Bud and collected my map and was on the road by 8.20. It was just a beautiful sunny morning, 25 degrees and a light breeze. Early in the ride I met up with some riders and was passed by others eventually I hooked up with Peter who was riding at my pace and we stayed together for the rest of the ride , near Kettleby Mike joined us making us a trio .

It wasn’t long into the ride that we realized that the pleasant breeze we started the morning with was in reality a good strong head wind coming right at us from the north, it was relentless and stayed with us the whole trip, and it didn’t mater if we were going east or west either it still was there impeding our progress, but we persisted and Peter who was only going to do the 100 ended up doing the 160 with Mike and I !!!, we felt especially good about this as some younger riders opted out of the long ride because of the wind and we persisted. 

It was a very social ride for the first 100 as we kept meeting fellow participants , stopping for snacks and a chat at the side of the road or at a great little pizzeria in Bradford were I think we all ended up stopping for lunch and eating on the out-door patio. The pizza slices were huge and one order was actually two slices , Peter had ordered 2 slices and ended up with half a pizza !!!!

It was hot , 30 degrees and we made a number of stops to top up our bottles with water and Gatorade or any available power drink . We went through Innisfill and were envious of all the people heading to the beach , the water looked very inviting !!!

Eventually at 5.13 we pulled into the campground  in Alliston after 170 km!!!! ( 7 hours 28 minutes in the saddle ), very satisfied and hungry, there were bananas and watermelon waiting and  dinner wasn't long in coming . Peter and Mike were staying but I was going home as I left it too late to arrange accommodations, so Evelyn came up to get me and had dinner with us .

I met a lot of fellow riders including Mark who will be doing the Tour with me this year , it’s actually going to be his second go at it !!!!

Sunday Evelyn dropped me at the Nottawasaga Inn ( our starting point ) were I met up with Peter and Mike and around 8 AM we headed out back down to the University. It was another bright sunny day , we all were covering ourselves in sun cream as we burnt the day before !!! 

No wind today ( to start ) but HOT !!! , my bike thermometer constantly read between 32 to 35 degrees !!!. We were all feeling good so we moved along at a good pace, but there was no escaping the heat and lots of water was purchased . As we came into Stroud looking for a store we heard the sound of bag-pipes and found the player at the local church which was celebrating it 101 anniversary, we stopped in the shade of an old maple to listen and take some pictures and then had a nice chat with the player. 

Lunch was again in Branford but this time indoors enjoying the air-conditioning !!!!, when we came back out to the bikes my thermometer read 43 degrees !!!! ( we had left them by the window in the full sun so we could watch them ) 

The last 20 km put us back together with a head wind but by then we were determined and just pushed hard to the University arriving at 4.16  after 160 km !!!! ( 6 hours 49 minutes in the saddle ) Bud and Margot were there waiting for us , we were the last in but I think the only ones to do the 160. And once again bananas and watermelon to snack on. 

(from left to right , Mike, Peter, myself.

It was a very enjoyable two days , we traveled some very scenic roads and through some very picturesque towns , saw lots of old cars and a line of very nicely restored model Ts that honked and waved at us as we crossed. My riding buddies were great company and I found that my legs were up to the challenge , the only part of me that ended up a bit sore was my bottom and now I’m going to go back to the Tour du Canada forums and read up on “bottom lubes” !!!!

330 kilometers was the weekend total !!!

A special thanks to Bud and Margot for putting on a great event, I really enjoyed this ride and am looking forward to the Tour !!!  

The dreaded summer BBQ !!!

You fellow cyclist out there probably know what I’m talking about . It goes like this , after a long hard day at work you finally get home with just one thought on your mind “ it’s a beautiful afternoon and I’m going for a ride !” , you woof down a quick bite of something  get your stuff together, grab a banana and a snack to take with you and off you go.

And it just perfect, hot summer evening, just a light breeze, good legs, your happy just enjoying yourself, your 20 - 30 km into your ride when out of nowhere WHAM it hits you !!! 

Yes your nostrils catch a whiff of a Grade A Angus Stake on the BBQ, you automatically slow , your nostrils flare trying to take all the rich aroma in , your stomach pings in hunger , you start to drool !!! and think about stopping and introducing your self and joining in on dinner , stake , beer ummmmmmm, and then its gone your nostrils search but now the aroma is of hot asphalt and exhaust fumes and as you bite into your cardboard tasting power-bar all your thinking about is getting home and starting up the BBQ !!!!!

Had a real good ride today in 32 degree heat !!!, did 49 km  around the Marsh and threw  in a couple of climbs to test the legs in this heat. It was a great ride except for that darn BBQ aroma !!!, but all ended well as when I got finally got home we put a couple of pork chops on our BBQ , baked potato , Evelyn made up some fresh asparagus from the Marsh and chased it all down with a Guinness !!!! 

HOT !!!!

Oh, it was a hot one today !!!!  No more complaining about cold weather, now we can start complaining about hot weather , yes !!!!!!.

30 degrees when I took off this afternoon and at times the bike thermometer read 33 !!!, and when I eventually stopped to eat my banana in the shade of a large Maple tree it only dropped to 29 ( I love it !!!!! )  

I decided to complete the unfinished ride of last Thursday hoping to have a better result and not blow a tire !! (carrying a spare one just in case !! ), as I approached the spot of the blow-out I slowed to check the road just to make sure there wasn’t something there , but it was clean and I passed by without incident. 

It was an enjoyable ride through farm country north-west of here, being a long weekend there were not many cars on the road and that was a pleasant bonus, all in all I did 62 km today and didn’t find the heat a problem, did drink a lot more water though !!.

 I’ve been riding without my camelback as I can carry 3 bottles on this bike and I’m thinking of not using it for the trip either as I don’t really want any more weight on the bike, if I don’t take it I’ll just have to make sure I keep the bottles toped off at every opportunity that presents itself. I hate the idea of having to buy water in a country covered in lakes and rivers , but fresh clean water is not as readily available as it use to be when I was a youngster , amazing how we are ruining this planet in such a hurry ( I better not get into that or this now as I’m already quite upset about the oil spill in the Golf and wondering what’s going to happen to all our birds when they head south this winter )

This weeks totals were just 143 km leaving me with just 200 more to complete the 2000.

Busy day off the bike

Once again I got no biking done today , but it was a very productive day. 

First I finally got around to setting up the tent and I was pleasantly suppressed at how easy it went up. It’s a 3 man Gemini / Apollo tent that I bought at MEC over a month ago and have been waiting for a non windy day to set it up ( something very rare around here ). Today I got tired of waiting and put it up in the wind .

And yes I know 3 man is a bit much but I don’t have to carry it and will enjoy the extra comfort the space will give me.

They have recommended we sleep in our tents before going on the trip as it’s as much a camping trip as it’s a cycling trip, but I’m use to camping so I’ll skip that for now and enjoy my own bed for as long as I can!!!

And I’m also very happy with the Therma-Rest mattress I got , comfy and it’s self inflating so no dizzy spells blowing it up !!

After that we went down to Toronto to MEC to pick up a few things : LED light , camping pillow, a better set of waterproof booties , and I got a new rain jacket, I figure if I have all the rain gear needed it probably won’t rain and it’ll be a nice dry summer for a change !

From there up to Evolution Cycles to get new tires , tubes and pick up the “Topeak Road Morph” pump I ordered , I figure I’ll have my fair share of flats during the trip and I don’t want to find myself struggling on the side of the road with a small useless pump.

Then it was back home with all the goodies to work on the bike , first it was dealing with the blown tire , I moved the front (good) tire to the back and then put the new one on the front as recommended by the TDC vets .

Then I replaced the rear breaks , which went quite well, and then I removed the rear cassette not because I needed to but just to practice in case I ever need to replace a rear spoke. 

Tomorrow it’s back to riding to get ready for next weekends big back to back 160 km rides “ The Southern Ontario Century Ride” organized by Tour du Canada as a prep ride  for the cross Canada ride.

  

Just a month left to get ready , I find myself exited and nervous at the same time , I’m happy with the training but in the back of my mind there’s the “ what the hell have I got myself into !!!!! “ 

Bob came to visit today .

My good friend Bob came for a visit today , and had coffee break with us ( Monique , Kristina and I ).   He had mentioned yesterday that he would pop in to check on the helmet mirror that I hate so much.  I had thought he was going to drive but no he rode his bike down from Pefferlaw 67 km !!! ( well done Bob !!!) 

Bob on his way home . 

And that was the only biking done around here today as I was just to tired and sore from gardening to ride. 

Rescued !!!!

Evelyn, my knight in shining armor !!!

 So finally a hot day to ride in , I had been a little concerned that all my training has been going on in cool to cold weather and wanted to do a bit of ridding in the heat , well today I got the chance 30 degrees at 4.50 when I hit the road !!!

But I made a cardinal mistake , I should have known better ( I do know better !) , I put too much air in the tires . I always re-inflate my tires before a ride, I like ridding close to max but on days like today you just have to back off a smidge and I didn’t. I’m using “Continental Grand Prix 4-season V” tires that have a max inflation of 116 psi , and today I was very close to that .

So off I went enjoying the heat, I was a bit weary from work but as always after about 15 20 km I start to fell better and get in the swing of riding. Today was no different I was debating back and forth how long I would go when I got my second wind around the 20 km mark and instead of turning for home I turned west and 6 km later as I was climbing a long easy stretch of road on the 15th Sideroad BOOMMMMMM !!!!!! the back tire blew , and it wasn’t just the tube but the sidewall of the tire split also .

 Well I carry spare tubes , tube patches , tire patches and tape but all to no avail , as soon as I put a bit of pressure in the tire it would slip off the rim . And of course I was not carrying a spare tire ( which from now on I will do !!! )

So after all my repair attempts failed and with a long, long walk home in front of me I called Evelyn and asked if she could come and get me, she still had to finish work but said she’d be there as soon as she could , so I gave her directions and started to walk ( I was doing pretty good 4 to 5 km/h ) and about 5 km later she meet me on the side of 88 Hwy .

I got lucky as I wasn’t that far from home and apart from the flat the bike and I are fine , but I will pay more attention to air pressure and climate changes in the future ( and carry a spare tire from now on !!! )

                                                                       Here I am, bike loaded on to the truck , happy to be rescued !!!! This is the third time I’ve had to call on Evelyn to come and get me , the first was after a bad crash on a group ride with the club , six of us went down , one to hospital with a broken collar bone , me lots of road burn and a bike that didn’t want to go anymore. The second time was last year as I huddled under the Canal Road Bridge in one of the fiercest thunderstorms I’ve ever experienced that went on for ever with sideways rain and debris all over the roads.

On a positive note I was very pleased with the walking ability of my riding shoes , 5 km mostly on the gravel shoulder and they were quite comfortable to walk in.

Back to back centuries !!

Well gave myself a good test this weekend , 114 km on Saturday and 115 km on Sunday !!. And what a difference a day makes , Saturday was a dreary day cool and windy 9 degrees when I finally got going around 10 AM and the sun just popped out for a few short minutes  ( see picture ). My only goal was to ride into the wind on the way out and be pushed home by it , so I headed north through the Marsh , into Bradford west to Beeton , south to Tottenham were I stopped at the Tim Hortons for a hot chocolate and a toasted turkey and bacon club sandwich , ummm it was good !!!! , ended the ride by doing some climbing for the last 15 km just to see how the legs would handle it and they were fine.

On the way back I saw the first goslings of the year in the south Canal of the Marsh







Today it was just beautiful !!! 23 degrees and full sun , just a perfect day for a ride !!!. I had a limited amount of time as I had to work the morning and had to be back around 5ish as we were having the whole family over for dinner. So once again I headed into the wind ( which was not as bad as yesterday ) and started off going through Lloydtown, Schomberg, Beeton again , Alliston ( went by the campground we will be staying at when we stop there in August ) , north to Baxter on to Ivy, east to Georgina Downs racetrack and then a fast trip southbound for home pushed by the breeze!!, 4hour 39 min in the saddle ( 24.8km/h average ) , great legs today!!! I was very pleased .

Stopped for a bite between Alliston and Baxter on this bridge over the Nattawasaga River , very peaceful country up there I could have lingered for quite a while if I hadn’t dinner guest to get back to.







So I’ve logged 1,661 km of training so far , at this rate I’ll be way beyond the 2,000 requested !!!

Can’t teach an old dog a new trick ? humm , maybe it’s true .

So I finally found the helmet mirror that I’ve been looking for “ Third Eye Pro “ it was strongly recommended by past Tour du Canada riders and today I tried it out . I hate it!!!! , it’s way to distracting and takes away a large portion of my field of view on the left side. One of the things that gives me immense pleasure about cycling it actually looking around and seeing all the that the roadside has to offer and a helmet mirror just seems to get in the way of that . So this old dog will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out a good handlebar mirror system for the 520.


Today I went into my new bike shop for a bike fitting on the 520 , something I should have done a long time ago but my trust in the other bike shops I have been dealing with has been tested . By chance a couple of weeks ago while checking out a new bike store in Richmond Hill I ran into Mike , he’s the new owner of this store “ Evolution Cycles “ ( www.evolution-cycles.ca). I’ve known him for a few year when he worked in Newmarket but somehow lost touch with him when he moved on to open his own store. Since Cyclissimo closed I have found it hard to find a bike shop were you can trust that they are interested in your wants instead of just wanting to sell you stuff !!, so I’m happy to have run into him and have him look after my cycling needs.

The fitting went very well , we changed the clits on my shoes and repositioned them , moved the saddle a little forward and put a shorter stem on the bike. He thought I was too stretched out and wanted to get me into a more comfortable position for the long rides I’ll be doing. Well what a difference it made!!!!, I went for a spin around the Marsh this afternoon and I tell you I should have done this fitting right from the start as now I’m way more efficient on the bike and my enjoyment level has gone up to a whole other plane . Thanks Mike !!!

I even had a bit of a race, well sort of. I was on my way home and had to slow down for this girl playing ball on the road , as I went by I was passed by a tall long legged weekend warrior on and old clangy road bike , well he sped up of course and started to pull away and I said ok let see if I can keep up on my heavy loaded touring bike , and I did ! a couple of bike length behind him, I knew I couldn’t pass him but we were coming up to a turn which would put us into the wind and I said ok this will be my chance and I took the opportunity and passed him coming out of the turn and kept him behind me at around 32 k/h for about 2 km until he turned off. It felt GOOD !!!!. Amazing how we can find extra energy when there is a target ahead to aim at !!!

All in all a good day , even stopped to take some pictures in the Marsh when I saw these 2 otters swimming back and forth in the canal playing , they were a bit far to get a good shot but hey I can’t have everything my way !!!
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
I love Canada Geese a very majestic bird, these two took off towards me as I was snapping away at the otters. There seems to be a lot less of them around this year, I wonder why ???

A nasty little surprise !!!!

This is what I woke up to this morning, a nice covering of white!!! , quite the shock to the system I must say !!!! And to add to the insult the stuff kept falling sporadically during the morning and didn’t melt until noon time. I do hope Mother Nature gets this out of her system now before summer and our ride comes along, I’m looking forward to a nice warm, dry, pleasant summer for a change.

Needless to say I didn’t ride today, instead I took advantage of the down time to give the bike a much needed clean up.

And the cold weather continues, tonight we have a frost warning in effect – 2 degrees, poor flowers !!!

Andy , thanks for the info on the SealSkinz socks , I'm going to look them up . Have a great holiday in the sun !!!

Wind and rain, and more WIND !!!!

What a week ! I was only able to get out four times this week, and what a mixed bag of weather , 24 degrees on Sunday down to 9 degrees yesterday , I was either riding in the wind or the rain or like today both !!!, I don’t mind riding in the wind but at least one day with out it would be nice. One reward this week was the lilac’s in bloom, what a beautiful fragrance (well that is when the wind isn’t blowing it away !!) The weeks total : 280 km, I’d wanted to get out more but there is a lot of work to be done on the farm this time of the year, spring clean up, preparing the flower beds , starting a new vegetable garden , and of course grass cutting , etc, etc … , spring is beautiful but it does bring a lot of work !!!


Today was an interesting ride, I left early (7.10 ) in the rain as they were calling for strong winds ( 80 to 100 km gusts ) near midday and I wanted to try and be back before they hit. The first part of the ride was actually a pleasant 9 degrees with hardly any wind, the rain clouds cleared about 30 km into the ride and for a while it warmed up to 14 in the sunshine. I had decided to ride a circle around home that way I would never really be to far away, so I headed west to Lloydtown then south and skirted Nobleton and made it to Kleinburg , a good mix of climbing and flats. The wind had started to pick up by then but it was sunny so I even took off some of my rain gear, well that was premature !! I had ridden east to Dufferin St and was making my way back west on the King-Vaughan Rd against a good wind when the skies darkened and it started to really blow and a cold rain started to fall, the temp dropped to 7 degrees !! and my hands were freezing !!!, the next hour was not pleasant as the cold front went through , I rode in all four directions during that period and it was nasty no matter which way I was pointing . Eventually after zigzagging around King Township I headed north on Weston and went into the Marsh were once again the winds picked up and I got rained on for the third time today !!, and in the Marsh there is no shelter from the wind except for when your going the same way it is .

I eventually got home around 12.30 after 106 km , most of me managed to stay dry but my feet got wet this time and the together with my hands were quite cold !! The rain covers for the panniers don’t keep them totally dry , the back ones don’t go all the way around the inside of the panniers so they get wet from the splashing of the rear wheel . The front on is better but it also does not totally cover the trunk bag which allows rain in , I am going to have to double bag somehow.

The bike is in need some attention, the gearing is a bit off and I’ll have to tweak the indexing again, I guess the cables have stretched a bit, there’s some rubbing going on with the back wheel and I’ll have to figure out what that’s all about, and it also in need of a good clean up as its covered in dirt and grime from the wet roads.

Me, I’m a bit tiered, all that ridding against the wind adds up !!! I’m in need of a nice relaxing ride without wind or rain and hopefully with a bit of warmth , yes I’m a dreamer , I know !!

It finally rained !!!

Another very pleasant ride today. I headed out at 8 this morning and the temperature was already warm around 15 , the sun was out , just a perfect morning. I left loaded with all my rain gear as there was a threat of rain and I have been wanting to try the stuff out something that should have been easy in April as its known as the month of showers except for this year !!!

I headed east into Aurora down Wellington St and the lights were in my favor all the way to Young St so I had a nice smooth ride through town, I worked my way over to the Vandorf Side Rd eventually getting to Ballantrae were I picked up Lakeshore Rd and headed to Musselman Lake . Chatted with a couple of Mexican cyclist for a while there, then headed north to Mt Albert , north of there I picked up The Queensvelle Side Rd and headed west . As I got to River Drive Park it started to rain so on went the jacket , booties and helmet cover , and both trunk bags got covered and into the Marsh I went just as the thunder and lightning started ( I hate thunderstorms !!!! ) I figured I could make it to the community center in Ansnorveldt and take shelter there if it got bad , but as I passed by I thought “ok lets try a little further” , silly me !!!, as I turned onto King St lightning struck ahead with a big clap of thunder!!! and as the fisherman were fleeing to there car I turned around and headed back and took refuge at the school . 10 minutes later lightning had moved on and I was on the road again but the fisherman were gone!!. Further up the road I met up with Robert a fellow tourer and had a nice chat, he was a very interesting fellow and had done cycling tours in Africa , China and a whole other bunch of trips, exiting stuff !!! .

By the time I got home it had stopped raining and everything looked so much greener, it’s amazing how badly that little bit of rain was needed. The rain gear work for the most part but I have to do some tweaking if I want the trunk bags to stay 100% dry. Also have to look into getting better fenders perhaps .

The days total was 86 km , I wanted to do more but I also wanted to head into Toronto to Mountain Equipment co-op and by my tent so I had to cut the ride short .