an early morning ride

the summer has been filled with gorgeous day after gorgeous day.

some maybe too hot

but i remember last summer when almost every day was punctuated by rain -

which for me is not a problem at all - but for me as a cyclist,

well it's not my fave way to spend time outdoors.

so i'm really enjoying the chance to step out the door at any time and

know that i can go as far and wherever i wish.

this was a special ride as i got to share it with pro rider chloe black and

africycle bike buddy ben tyne.

ben's usually slinging americano's and yummy sandwiches at the silver bean

but this was a day off for him, and so he and chloe and i met up at the silver bean at 8 a.m.

chloe splits her time between racing, coaching, and training in arizona

and doing much the same up here in peterborough.

heading north through peterborough along the rail trail, we passed bushes

loaded up with shiny, little red berries.

some sumac thinking early autumn sumac thoughts.

and big summer clouds massing but not threatening. right?!

then we turned through trent university, exiting through the northwest driveway and

off into the fields and long open roads that lead to ennismore.

look up.

look down.

it's beautiful wherever you look.

eventually you round a corner, crest a hill and there before you

are tantalizing little glimpses of chemong lake.

but on this ride, this is about as close as you get. unless you decide

to not apply your brakes and turn the corner at the bottom of the hill!

from this point the ride between ennismore and lakefield becomes circuitous and you need to be with someone who has a very good memory or a strong visual sense for landmarks.

i navigate using landmarks which occasionally fails me as i reach the landmark and then can't see the next pointer. the result? well i ride further. no big loss!

here are ben and chloe.

a rare moment when chloe slows down.

sorry about the industrial backdrop!

believe it or not, on the entire ride there is only one scene like this.

the rest is bucolic, idyllic, rustic!

we rode back down river road from lakefield to peterborough at a good clip

and then into the silver bean for an americano.

lucky me to get to do what i love with such good people!!

the road to young's point

the ride out to young's point is a beautiful addition to the ride to lakefield.

with a little detour west through the town you end up on the outskirts of lakefield.

take the first right turn and you're off on a wide country road that takes you past all sorts of lovely sights including these buildings that caught my eye.

on this particular ride a large red fox crossed the road about thirty feet in front of me.

i wanted to say hello but he moved as smooth as water into the trees to the right

and was completely gone within a moment.

i love the fields, trees and big skies the most!

ride for africycle day ten (part two)

uxbridge to peterborough

100 km (part two)

after riding through the countryside south of lindsay we hooked up with

the rail trail that runs between omemee and peterborough.

i've used this trail many times before, most especially to bike out to omemee

to pick up some of the most very best buttertarts in this universe at ruby's roost.

the coffee there is excellent and the owners are fun and lovely.

so we got on the trail and the feeling of being almost home was palpable for some of us.

some of the riders still had a long way to go -

airplane flights and car drives were still between them and home.

the trail is made of well-packed very fine gravel and makes for excellent riding

if you watch out for the odd soft spot or wash-out.

eventually we found ourselves crossing a completely rebuilt rail trestle that has the most incredible views.

first some posing.

and then some admiring of the view.

and what a view it is!

and then in what seemed like a matter of minutes we were making our way through the streets of downtown peterborough and on our way (well i was definitely on my way) to an americano at the silver bean.

it was so strange to sit in the bean with some of the africycle riders.

the context of connection was so different.

people wandered in and congratulated us which was nice.

but it seemed sort of anti-climactic to be sitting down - the ride at an end.

it was a journey that felt like it should have no end.

in some ways it doesn't.

the work we did raised money for a project that will have lasting and meaningful effects.

friendships were forged on the ride that will also have lasting and meaningful effects.

a few of us left the bean and wandered through an area that was celebrating the annual ribfest event.

to our great fortune we ran into a guy from the steam whistle brewery down in toronto who wanted to know what we were about and when we told him he gave us free beers in fact he said we could have as many as we wanted but with some of us still needing to ride on our bikes to get home we were careful. too bad actually it was really good, cold beer.

my ride through downtown peterborough and out to the west end where i live was hilarious and bizarre. i had two near traffic accidents - both my fault - and both because i was feeling that post major achievement euphoria that just rushes through you.

happily i made it home and my family were happy to see me.

after everything and everyone had settled down i dumped out my clothes.

the smell was so bad!

so really really bad!

rotten swamp. decay. mold.

those would describe the stench.

the picture doesn't tell the story but here's my stuff dumped and waiting to go in the washer.

some of it still smells funky after several washes.

scratch your screen for a scratch and sniff sensation - or not!

here's the google map for the stretch from uxbridge to peterborough.

it doesn't include the extra 10 km i rode in order to get home!

i hope you enjoyed this ride with me.

i've committed to next year's ride already.

somebody said to me "i guess it's like having babies, you forget the pain pretty quickly!"

i guess that must be true.

come back to my cycles blog for more rides - they'll be shorter that's for sure.

for further information about the ride for africycle you should go to the africycle main page

and the ride for africycle page.