"last week i was driving back from a work appointment in the oshawa area and i stopped in at tyrone at the bakery for some awesome snacks (fresh blueberry scone, and a dozen donuts). as i drove home from there i kept thinking about how great it would be to be on my bike instead of in my car. and so, the idea of a big group ride to tyrone and back was formed."
it took me a couple of moments to reply in the affirmative and from that point on, each moment in which i wasn't involved in doing or thinking about something else came back to the prospect of a ride through the early autumn landscape southwest of peterborough with some really awesome people!
well, the day dawned cool and sunny. i had just bought a brand new trek madone 4.7 the day before and so i was pretty jazzed to see if it was comfortable. you see i don't try out bikes, try on clothes or any of that junk, i just get 'em and hope they work out!! what better way to see if a bike is for you than to
ride it through 120 kilometres of hilly countryside?!
so we all gathered at the famous silver bean at roughly nine a.m. some of the riders put back a strong coffee. others nursed hangovers from the night before, some were too mature for any of that, and still others were just glad to have a chance to get out of the house.
along for the ride were africycle chums jim vyn, dave breukelar, andrea and michael vanderherberg, as well as bike bud dave blondell, bike manufacturer and local cycling czar cliff mccarten, and three new riders
who i knew as jim, kim, and meg.
the early part of the ride proved costly as we lost jim vyn and his son-in-law (who very generously (and wisely) offered to accompany his father-in-law back to peterborough) about fifteen km in.
here's the group riding out of peterborough along wallace point road, recently reopened after
being closed all summer due to bridge reconstruction.
within five kilometres we said goodbye to kim and meg who had planned all along to travel to a certain point and then turn back. it was becoming a lot like an agatha christie novel - who will be last on the bike?! not to worry, there were other steeper, longer distractions to fill our minds called hills! you climb up them . . .
you race down them . . .
it all sounds so easy unless you factor in headwinds that don't let up. headwinds with that pernicious, cynical, hurtful tone that accompanies your very best efforts and ever so gently, ever so remorselessly crushes you!!! or not. see the thing with these riders is, they were - like me - motivated by the prospect of fresh baked goods at the mid-point. so working together, keeping it positive, laughing, stopping for photographs,
stopping to regroup was an integral part of the ride.
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