Greg’s Ride – Day 2

We breakfasted at Tim’s then went back to our AirBnB before heading the 300m to the start of the ride. Dayle found a fabulous house in a perfect location. This is my second year riding Greg’s Ride. I blogged about it last year, here.

We arrived at the Legion Hall just after 9 o’clock so that we could catch up with old friends before the ride. Here I am with Jamie Stuckless, executive director of Share the Road, and Dayle.

BikeBrampton folks with Eleanor McMahon and Justin Jones.

As one would expect, there were lots of bikes.

Before the ride we had speeches from Jamie, Eleanor, Thomas Carrique – the OPP Commisioner and Kerry Schmidt, of the Highway Safety Division.

Wayne decided to ride the 80km route. David and Dayle and I rode the 40km route. It was a hot humid day and a hilly ride. We were very happy that we chose the shorter route.

That’s what we have to ride up!

Snack break at 13km after the first long climb of 10km.

It was a challenging, rolling, but beautiful route.

Our road route was crossed many times by rail trails. I would like to spend some time exploring these in the future.

An actual railway.

I love roads with a tree canopy, especially when it’s 30 degrees!

Second rest stop. I cannot fully express what wonderful women Jamie and Eleanor are. They always make us feel so valued and appreciated for our cycling advocacy in our communities and for supporting Share the Road.

I spotted this bike on a front lawn and had to stop for a picture.

I am a slower descender then David and Dayle. On a lovely descent on Valley Road and York Road, at a corner with a stop sign, I turned to tell the cyclist behind me that he could go ahead when it suddenly occurred to me that that cyclist was sweeping the ride. I asked him if he was the sweeper and his answer was in the affirmative. He wasn’t allowed to go ahead of me. Here we are the last three people in on the 40 km ride with the sweeper.

I was very hot and sweaty at the end of the ride, but because our Airbnb was so close, I rode my bike back, and had a shower, before returning to the Legion Hall for lunch.

Wayne arrived back from his 80km Ride very relieved to be done.

After things finished up at the ride and the follow up event, the others went back to shower, and I went to downtown Dundas for a coffee. It was very windy, which we had noticed on our descent back into Dundas.

I had a good coffee and very good cookie at Detour, although it was even pricier than Starbucks across the street.

I spotted this mural on the side of a building downtown.

I was surprised to find that I hadn’t completed this year’s ride much faster than I did last year’s, even though last year I was on a heavier upright bike, and still recovering from crashing my bike in the spring. I guess I was still tired from yesterday’s ride from Brampton to Hamilton. I did go a little further this year, as you can see from the short out and back line at the bottom of the map. David and I and at least five other riders missed the sign leading us to the first rest stop and went further uphill than we needed to.

I was so pleased to be able to participate in this important fundraising event for Share the Road and to see many friends once again.