Lisa Stokes

Tour De Mississauga 2015 (#tourdemississauga)

Today I rode in the Tour de Mississauga for the third year in a row. Two years ago I rode the 60km route with Patti. Last year I rode 100km for the first time, but Patti was jet-lagged from a recent trip to the UK so I made friends along the way. This year Patti and I rode the 120km route.

I set three cycling goals for myself for 2015. Today I achieved one of them by completing the 120km route.

I awoke at 5:20 so I could get ready and have breakfast before leaving home at 6:15. It was still dark when I left the house with the sun rising as we assembled for our 7am start time.

There were probably about 200 cyclists riding the 120km route.

We received safety instructions and were off about 7:10. One poor fellow ran into the rope holding down the inflatable starting arch as we set off. Fortunately, he was startled, but unhurt.

Here we are waiting for the light at Rathburn Road and Duke of York Boulevard.

My legs felt strong, but I was concerned about my neck and shoulders as these are the body parts that have given me pain as my rides have gotten longer this summer.

This year all the routes rode the new Mississauga Transitway.

We got a great view of the beautiful blue sky and the Marilyn buildings as we approached Central Parkway from Bloor.

I brought some cut up oranges which we stopped to share after 30km on the Queensway. Mississauga has built some new cyclist crossrides on the Queensway in anticipation of the recently passed legislation allowing cyclists to ride through intersections adjacent to the pedestrian crossing.

This path was at least 4m wide. I think it is eventually planned to run the full width of Mississauga from Oakville to Toronto.

We stopped at the Tim Horton’s in Port Credit for chocolate milk and smile cookies after 45km.

There was a rest stop at 70km where I had some sesame crackers and we refilled our water bottles. I laid down and stretched and rested my neck and shoulders. A month ago I quit the MEC Burlington Century Ride at 77km due to neck and shoulder pain. Since then I have had four massages and have been doing a lot of stretching and some strengthening. While I still have a way to go, I was feeling better today. My legs did not feel tired at all at this point. If I can just get the neck and shoulders sorted out, I should be able to go even further in a day next year.

We stopped at Starbuck’s for a frappuccino at 93km. At the end of Second Line, after descending from the bridge over the 401 we encountered this huge stop sign. I wonder if a car ended up on the front lawn across the street some time in the past.

Just after 3pm we crossed the finish line.

We weren’t even the last of the 120km riders to finish, having left behind a couple of groups of young men less than half our age. We did miss the BBQ, as we did on the Tour de Cambridge, Tour de Guelph and MEC Burlington Century rides earlier this year. Perhaps we need to work on speed next year. We didn’t really mind, though, as it gave us an excuse to go to Panera Bread for lunch – one of my favourite restaurants.

Ride statistics:

Length: 123.37 km
Ascents: 587 m
Riding Time: 6:13:14
Elapsed Time: 8:16:52
Average Speed: 19.8 kph
Top Speed: 37.8 kph

Sunday July 5 – Tour de Guelph

The day of the Tour de Guelph dawned cool, dry and sunny with heat forecast for later in the day. This was to be the longest ride of my life at 111km. It was advertised as a 100km long ride on the website where I signed up for the ride. After registering and paying I looked more closely at the route and learned that it was actually 111km. Patti was riding with me and her longest ride ever was back in 2008 when we rode the rail trail from Cataract to Elora and back for a total of 92km. We were on hybrid bikes. It took us all day and we were miserable for the final 20 km.

More recently, Patti rode about 75km on the day of Bike the Creek since she biked the creek to the creek, biked the creek and then biked the creek back home.

We studied the route and determined that we could take a shortcut near the end and cut off 20 km if we needed to do so.

I left home at 6:15am, picked up Patti in Mississauga and we were in Guelph by about 7:30. As we got out of the car I spotted Kamil, with whom I rode Ride Don’t Hide a couple weeks earlier. It was his birthday so he was riding the 50km to allow time to celebrate later in the day. We didn’t run into him again.

There always seems to be a lot of waiting around at the start of these rides. They encourage people to arrive an hour before the start times, which are staggered with the cyclists riding the longer distances going out first. Our ride was scheduled to begin at 8am. However, our experience has been that the speeches usually begin at the published start time and the registration lines are not usually too long so we aim to arrive in time to unload, register, go to the bathroom and head out.

This was the second annual Tour de Guelph and participants were fundraising for the local hospital. 398 people pre-registered and raised about $40K.

The ride started at the University of Guelph. I had no idea what a large campus it is. Once we got off the campus and out of the Guelph we headed down a lovely leafy road that led us to Eden Mills, which has a goal of being the first carbon neutral village in North America. Every house we saw had solar panels. It looked like a beautiful place to live.

At the first rest stop, the volunteers were dressed like medical personal and had water, bananas oranges and granola bars to refresh us.

I am always torn when I am on these types of rides between maintaining my speed and stopping to take pictures. I couldn’t resist stopping for this. It appeared to be unoccupied and shared a property with a more conventional home.

As we neared the second rest stop I started feeling had been in the area before. I saw a cemetery that look familiar. Then I saw a covered bridge and realized I was in West Montrose. Here are a couple pictures from the first time I was there back in 2007.

And here is one in the winter 2008, taken on my birthday. My friend Gail picked me up and we went out for the day looking for photo opportunities. It was a beautiful crisp winter day with fresh snowfall from the day before. You can follow this link to see the pictures from that day. We had a great lunch that day at the Elora Mill.

The bridge was built is 1881 and is the last of this type of bridge still standing in Ontario.

At the second stop we learned we were the last of the 100km riders and they packed up as we had our snack. While we are able to ride 100km, we are not able to ride it as fast as many of the other riders. It’s a bit disconcerting to have everyone packing up around you as you reach each rest stop. The same thing happened to me on the Ride Don’t Hide and the Tour de Grand. Here we are at the second rest stop – still smiling.

The worst hill of the day was just before we returned to the first rest stop and I gave in and pushed my bike up the top part of the hill. Even though we had just decended a hill, I did not have enough momentum or energy to make it to the top. From the top of the previous hill we could see down and up to the sign indicating a t-junction. That morning, someone had driven their car right through the junction into a field of corn, driven back towards the road, gotten trapped in the ditch and gone to sleep. The police, who had been present because of the Tour de Guelph, apparently didn’t realize anything was amiss for hours and were in attendance when we came by. Consensus was drunk driver.

We arrived back at the start at 2:30 to find we had missed the BBQ and everyone had packed up and gone home. It was getting pretty hot and we were exhausted. It was somewhat anticlimactic to arrive back to an empty campus. We loaded up our bikes, did some stretching and headed to Panera Bread for lunch and Marble Slab for some well deserved ice cream. I was annoyed to find there was a bug in the MapMyRide app and our elevation gain for the day showed as zero. It had been a hillier ride than we had expected and I had wanted to verify that. As I check back today for the ride stats I see the elevation data is now available.

Our average speed was much higher than when we did the Tour de Grand, (19.6 kpm) despite it being a much longer ride. I encouraged Patti to draft behind me and it really seemed to help keep our speed up.

Length: 111.73 km
Ascents: 724 m
Riding Time: 5:10:18
Elapsed Time: 6:26:51
Average Speed: 21.6 kph
Top Speed: 55.2 kph

Canada Day

A quick post to share Canadian flag images I have created.

And a few Canadian images.

Have a Happy Canada Day everyone.

Sunday June 21 – Ride Don’t Hide

On March 8, I volunteered to help out at the BikeBrampton booth at the Toronto Bike Show which allowed me to get into the show for free. Patti came with me. We had a look around for a while and then gave David and Dayle a break and looked after the booth. We had a couple of interesting visitors.

Nisha, from the Canadian Mental Health Association, came by to tell us about a ride the CMHA was organizing called Ride Don’t Hide on June 21st in Caledon to raise money for local mental health programs and initiatives.

From a CMHA media release, “The Ride Don’t Hide movement began in 2010 with Michael Schratter, a Vancouver school teacher living with bipolar disorder, who spent almost a year and a half cycling 40,000 km around the globe. Armed with only his bike, a knapsack and the determination to realize his dream of raising awareness and empowering those who experience mental illness, his story inspired millions of people and raised $100,000 for CMHA.”

The second interesting visitor was Michael Merrall, the founder of Epic Tour Halton, the first Gran Fondo in the Toronto area. Michael has also started the BikeChallenge, a community bike challenge to encourage cycling, community and fundraising. It is in its third year in Halton Hills and Michael hopes to spread it across the country to 150 communities in 2017 for Canada’s 150th Birthday. I hope that BikeBrampton or Brampton’s new Cycling Advisory Committee can bring it to Brampton next year.

Saturday June 20 was the second annual Bike The Creek. I was unable to ride this year, even though I helped with a couple of the planning rides last fall. On Saturday my father was married.

Bike the Creek was a great success with double the cyclists participating compared to 2014. Patti rode without me. She biked the creek to the start of the ride, from which she biked the creek , after which she biked the creek to get home for a total of 75km. Patti and I have been riding together since middle school, but until recently Patti didn’t do much riding on her own. She used to think I was crazy for jumping on my bike and heading off on my own for the day. However, I know that Patti, like me, has caught the cycling bug, because she is doing the same thing now.

To minimize my disappointment with missing Bike the Creek, I decided to cycle in Ride Don’t Hide. Patti didn’t feel up to two long rides in two days so I went on my own. Right up until 6am Sunday morning I was unsure whether or not I would go. The weather forecast was for all-day rain, and even though I rode in the rain for 50km a week earlier on the Tour de Grand I didn’t really want to set out in the rain on my own.

I set the alarm for 6am and when I looked out the window it was dry and the forecast had changed to overcast, but no rain, so I headed up to Inglewood. I arrived just after 7am and registered. It was $45 and included a nice technical t-shirt. They had me fill out a waiver and sent me off to pick up my t-shirt. It wasn’t until about half an hour later I realized they hadn’t asked me to pay and headed back to the registration table where they told me they had been looking for me. Good thing I’m honest.

The day was misty, but brightening as I waited for the 8am start time for the 100km ride. I had cycled 100km only once before – last fall in the Tour de Mississauga. I decided to try, but knew I could cut it short if need be. Pastries, coffee, water and bananas were provided at the beginning of the ride.

We finally lined up to set off just after 8:30. Here are the riders in front of me.

And the riders behind me. However, they didn’t stay behind me for long. There is a very steep hill just south of Old Base Line Road on McLaughlin which quickly separated out the stronger and weaker riders. I was one of the latter.

I chatted with a couple people as we rode south on McLaughlin, often sensing someone very close behind. It was windy and I tried to stay behind a couple for a while to draft but lost them after we turned west on King Street, however, there was still someone close behind me. I dropped back and we chatted for a bit. His name was Kamil, a recent accounting grad from Wilfred Laurier University. He had registered for the 50km route, but since he was ready early and the 100km route left late, he left at the same time. We decided to ride together, sometimes side by side, often with me in front. I must admit it stroked my ego to have someone half my age drafting behind me. He was a little stronger on the hills, but I was stronger over the long haul.

We climbed the Escarpment on Mississauga Road to Charleston Sideroad and then came back down past the Caledon Ski Club (briefly climbing back up) into Belfountain for our first rest stop where we were told we were at the back of the pack. After refilling our water bottles, grabbing a LaraBar and eating some orange I had brought along, we headed off.

I replaced my handlebars just before this ride. I purchased my bike second hand and the handlebars weren’t quite right, but Scott at Cyclepath, who did a bike fitting for me, suggested trying them for a while. The new bars were much better for my neck and shoulders, but strained my lower back for the first half of the ride. It improved on the second half. Oddly enough, my jaw was sore for the last half of the ride. I must have been clenching my teeth. I’ve never had that happen on a ride before.

Less than 10km after the first rest stop we passed very close to the starting point. The sun had come out strongly and Kamil needed more sunscreen. I didn’t need to stop, but we made a deal. We would stay together and he would share his sunscreen. It definitely help to have someone to talk to on a long ride for distraction from boredom and fatugue. So back to the arena to sunscreen, use the bathroom and grab a cookie. Why not? I was burning tonnes of calories.

The next stop was in Caledon East where we caught up with some of the other 100km riders. We set off along Old Church Road to The Gore Road and headed north climbing the Escarpment a second time. Up to that point the signage had been very good. Unfortunately, when we hit Highway 9 we realized we had gone about 7km too far, climbing more than we needed and going well out of our way. We decided to proceed along Highway 9, an 80kph road, to Mountainview Road to get back on track. We stopped at Tim Horton’s at Airport Road for lunch and to call in to say we would be back late.

I find that my appetite gets suppressed when I ride all day. I wasn’t really hungry, but ate a bowl of chili anyway, as I actually had to push my bike a couple hundred metres up a hill on Highway 9. Lunch revived me and off we went.

We descended the Escarpment on St. Andrew’s Sideroad, a twisty, exhilarating downhill ride, then headed straight back along Old Base Line to the start 9 (skipping part of the route going south on Kennedy). We rode a few kilometres further than we would have, had we stayed on the planned route and rode more than 200m extra in ascents due to inadvertently climbing the Escarpment a second time – something I couldn’t do even once in April.

As we pulled into the arena driveway, Nisha was pulling out in a large van, with a car following her that nearly hit me. Everything was packed up. We had missed the BBQ and ours’ were the only two cars left in the parking lot. Nisha jumped out, very apologetic about the near miss and that she hadn’t gotten the message that we were running late. She gave us water and we chatted for a bit assuring her that all was well. It was a great day for a ride.

As I turned off MapMyRide, I realized too late, that I was at 99.14 km. Had I realized sooner, I would have done a lap around the parking lot to get to 100km.

The CMHA Peel surpassed their funding goal and raised $35,000 for mental health. I hope to participate again next year.

Ride statistics:

Length: 99.14 km
Ascents: 855 m
Riding Time: 4:37:12
Elapsed Time: 6:05:56
Average Speed: 21.5 kph
Top Speed: 59.1 kph

Ride statistics (for Tour de Mississauga):

Length: 101.89 km
Ascents: 531 m
Riding Time: 4:39:14
Elapsed Time (approx): 5:45:00
Average Speed: 21.9 kph
Top Speed: 42.8 kph

I love numbers and I find it very motivating being able to use an app like MapMyRide to record my rides. I am pretty pleased with how these two rides compare as I had trained longer for the Mississauga ride given that it was in September.

A Rainy Tour de Grand

Today Patti and I rode the 18th annual Cambridge Tour de Grand. I’ve been watching the weather for two weeks and taking a screen cap every couple days. The forecast for today on June 4th was close in terms of the amount of rain that ended up falling although it was calling for warmer temperatures than we actually experienced. The forecast on June 6 got me excited with only a 10% probability of precipitation and 22 degrees Celsius. June 8th’s forecast was similar to the 6th, but on June 10, rain was forecast again. Then on June 14, little or no rain was forecast during the time we would be riding. I have long suspected there is no point in looking at the forecast for more than a day or two in the future, and this exercise proved it to me.

The day dawned cloudy, but dry. I got up at 6am and left to pick up Patti just before 7am. Around Milton it started to pour and rained heavily until we got to Cambridge. The rain stopped in time for us to unload our bikes, get registered, have my tires filled and join the crowd for the 9am start. We thought we were getting free t-shirts, but apparently we registered too late. When I saw the t-shirts, I was happy I wasn’t getting one – they were fluorescent yellow, not a colour I wear.

There were rides ranging from 10-160km. We chose 72km. The ride started at Duncan McIntosh Arena in Churchill Park in Cambridge. Last year they had over 3000 riders. I don’t know how many there were this year, but there were a lot and the fields surrounding the community centre will filled with cars.

The area was well organized with lots of volunteers helping to get participants parked and registered.

I was curious about the umbrella on this bike and saw the rider and passenger, a little dog, later at the start line.

Here are the crowds ready to leave for the 60km and 72km rides. The 100km riders left at 8:30 and the 160km riders left at 8am. The shorter routes had staggered start times after us.

The ground is wet, but the rain has stopped. Here I am ready to go. I usually track my rides with MapMyRide on my iPad. I don’t have a data plan, but it works anyway. Unfortunately, somehow I had gotten logged out of the app and couldn’t log in as there was no wifi around. Fortunately, Patti also uses MapMyRide on her phone, so I was able to copy her ride since we rode together.

Here is a group passing us when we stopped to take our jackets off after about 10km on one of the country roads we followed.

The route was well posted, except for the last few kilometres where the signs seemed to have disappeared, and even told you if you were going the wrong way.

We were starting to get hungry by the first rest stop at 26km. There was a nice selection of drinks, fruit, granola bars and cookies. As I was parking my bike I heard my name called and it was Henrik, a transportation planner with the city of Brampton who also sits on the Cycling Advisory Committee, a new committee of council to which I have been appointed. Small world.

There was a covered area, food, water, washrooms and a picnic area.

As we left the rest stop it started to rain. It wasn’t long before we were soaking. It was the kind of rain that is steady and persistent and looks like it will never stop. We rode in it for the next 50km. At least that was my recollection. It looks like it was just spitting for a while though as there are dry patches on the road in this picture.

Last September, in the Tour de Mississauga, on my first ride ever doing 100km, it poured for the first 35. Patti wasn’t with me as she was jet-lagged from recently returning from the UK. And, even if she had planned to ride, she admits she would have bailed when she saw the pouring rain. I almost didn’t go, but had trained all summer for the ride so went anyway. It was a great day. You can read about it here.

Here were are crossing the Grand River and it is raining hard. I used to kayak from Glen Morris to Paris. This is just north of Glen Morris.

The next rest stop was at 40km and felt like it came really quickly. At this rest stop there were bananas, oranges and water for re-filling your bottle. There were porta potties, a first aid station and a place to park bikes. One woman complained that they didn’t have something different from the previous rest stop, however, I was enjoying the fruit.

Another group of women took a look at the map and found a route that cut off about 20km.

Today was Patti’s first time riding in the rain, but she was still smiling and taking it in stride. I asked her if she wanted to take the shortcut but she declined. Even though this rest stop was supposed to stay open until noon, they were dismantling it as we arrived. We didn’t stay for long.

Up until the second rest stop there were always other cyclists in sight. Usually at least ten or more if I looked ahead and behind. Once we left the second rest stop we didn’t see a soul for almost 20 km. It was as it everyone had suddenly just disappeared off the course. We ended up seeing only three others cyclists and one was the sweeper, and she was unwilling to stay behind us, once she checked that we were alright and had cell phones. We only encountered two other riders. I think most people took the short cut back into town along Spragues Road or went onto the 60km route which separated from the 72km route a few kilometres after the second rest stop.

Look at these poor horses in the pouring rain. They looked wetter than we did. They all seemed to be staring at the house across the road willing the farmer to come over and take them to the barn.

There was a massive concrete formation plant along the route that looked quite interesting.

Here I am catching my breath at the top of the one hill that I had to stand on the pedals to get to the top. I am still smiling and feeling a sense of accomplishment.

The final rest stop was at 65km and was almost packed up when we arrived. The rain slowed us down, plus, with no one arriving due to people taking a short cut, I think they were not expecting anyone else. We travelled for a few kilometres along this lovely corridor of trees. The only problem was that it was packed limestone screenings and we got filthy.

When we arrived back at the community centre most people had already left. The rain stopped long enough to load our bikes, have lunch and get back to the car. We grabbed our dry clothes. Neither of us had thought to bring a towel. We went into the change rooms. I had stayed fairly clean, because I had a basket on a rear rack with my kayaking dry bag in it which deflected the dirt and spray. Patti was not so fortunate and her cycling pants were filthy, even on the inside.

When I rode the Tour de Mississauga, my iPad got wet and it damaged one side of the screen. I was able to continue using it, but recently switched to Michael’s old iPad, which was undamaged, when he got an Android tablet. I had the undamaged one with me today. I put it in a Ziplock bag, in my purse, and put my purse in the dry bag, which has kept my things dry over a whole day of kayaking or rafting. It didn’t stand up to the constant spray from the back tire though, as my purse was damp at the end of the ride. Fortunately, the iPad was dry inside the Ziplock bag.

I brought a dress in case it was hot when we finished and jeans and a t-shirt in case I was cold. I showered and dried myself off on the dress.

There was water everywhere. The floors in the halls, the bathrooms, the change room and the arena, where lunch was served, were soaking from all the dripping cyclists.

By the time we got changed and got to the arena for lunch they were taking down the tables and stacking the chairs. We were served lunch, but people coming in after us had to make their own. Lunch was deli meat on a selections of breads, with lettuce and tomatoes, chips, fruit, cookies, juice and water. It was delicious.

After lunch we stopped at Starbucks for a hot drink before heading home. The rain continued intermittently as we drove.

We felt a great sense of accomplishment, amplified by defying the bad weather and sticking to our planned 72km route as the rest of the riders abandoned it in droves.

From Velomati Rule #9:
If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period. Fair-weather riding is a luxury reserved for Sunday afternoons and wide boulevards. Those who ride in foul weather – be it cold, wet, or inordinately hot – are members of a special club of riders who, on the morning of a big ride, pull back the curtain to check the weather and, upon seeing rain falling from the skies, allow a wry smile to spread across their face. This is a rider who loves the work.

Ride statistics:

Length: 76.72 km
Ascents: 544 m
Riding Time: 3:54:15
Elapsed Time (approx): 4:50:00
Average Speed: 19.6 kph
Top Speed: 50.6 kph

CeleBrampton

Today, I attended CeleBrampton for the first time. I volunteered at the BikeBrampton booth. BikeBrampton in an advocacy group that runs Bike the Creek, does cycling education and advocates for better cycling infrastructure in Brampton. I have never attended CeleBrampton before and didn’t know what to expect. Trystan and Owen came with me and roamed around while I worked.

The event featured:

live entertainment in Ken Whillans Square
a Kids’ Zone in Gage Park
the ever-popular BMX Stunt Zone on Main Street North
a Community Village on Main Street South
Info City booths on Main Street South
free BBQ in Garden Square

Here’s our booth. I am standing eating my lunch talking to Trystan. Lorie, another member, is smiling at the camera wearing her BikeBrampton shirt.

In the booth we had an educational game and prizes.

A happy family with their prizes.

Here are some images of the stunt riding.

There were lots of fun costumes.

It was packed with people. I have manned the BikeBrampton booth at others events over the past year, but never seen so many people.

Here’s my swag. A broach and a bracelet.

If you rode your bike to the event, there was fenced-in parking at Cyclepath and you got a prize. We drove to downtown, but then walked (Trystan and me) and cycled (Owen) to the square where Owen got a pedometer as a prize for riding. He also won a front light for his bike at the BikeBrampton booth.

Gerald, another BikeBrampton member bought a great bike rack, with a box that locks to the rack and has a wheels and handle for shopping. There are also paniers which he wasn’t using today. He bought it in a Kickstarter campaign. It’s now available here.

The weather was perfect. There was a lot of interest in cycling. It was a great day only marred by noticing this sign on the way back in to the underground parking at The Rose Theatre.

I had never noticed this before and I park here from time time, having brought my bike in the car, and then ride out of the lot and back in later. I will be asking the city to stop discouraging cyclists from arriving at the theatre by bike and using the underground parking.

Thanks to Dayle, another BikeBrampton member, and Owen for taking a lot of these pictures while I was busy with other things.

Bike the Creek Practice Ride

As a member of BikeBrampton, a cycling advocacy group, I helped to plan the Second Annual Bike the Creek ride. Last year I was a participant.

This year my father is getting married on June 20, which coincides with the ride, so I won’t be able to participate. Patti is going to ride without me so we decided to try the route out today so I can have a chance to ride the whole route, Patti can be more familiar with the route when she is riding on her own and I could let the committee know if we ran across any problems.

It was a gorgeous day for a ride: dry, sunny and cool. We met at the south end near Ray Lawson and Main Street. Patti rode her bike there from Meadowvale but I drove as it would have taken me an hour’s riding time just to get to the meeting point if I had left home on my bike.

I saw these signs for the first time.

In the space of a few kilometres we were warned against blinding and burns by giant hogweed, stinging by fire ants and savaging by coyotes. Apparently the parks of Brampton can be dangerous places. We didn’t see any of the above. Just ducks, geese and one deer.

Last year the route was essentially an out-and-back where the participants re-traced their routes from the northern and southern ends to get back to the middle-ish starting point at Jim Archdekin. This year the route is roughly a figure eight. At the north end this was made possible by the extention of the Etobicoke Creek Trail by the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and the Town of Caledon up to Old Kennedy Road. Last year this was the turnaround point as the path going up the hill ended up in the Valleywood subdivision which exits onto a very busy Highway 10.

Here’s the beginning of the new branch.

Around the corner.

Across the new bridge.

An s-turn.

And up the hill to Old Kennedy Road.

Between Mayfield Road and the new bridge the path is either worn limestone screenings, gravel or dirt. I really wish the TRCA would pave this portion of the trail. It would attract a lot more users and be much more accessible for those with mobility issues, people with strollers, children on small bikes or people riding road bikes.

The portion of the trail north of the bridge leading up to Kennedy Road has limestone screenings that have been tightly compacted. At the end of the trail we saw these machines. It looks like the north portion will be paved shortly – hopefully by June 20 when we hold Bike the Creek. It doesn’t look like there has been any preparation made to pave the portion between Mayfield and the bridge, unfortunately.

At the top of the hill we turned right, southbound, and encountered this sign across the nice multi-use path adjacent to the road. As far as we could see from that point, the path continued so we rode around the sign.

Unfortunately, we soon encountered this and had to go onto the road to get across the relatively new bridge, which does not appear to be able to support a multi-use path, even though the path begins again south of the bridge and looks like it has been there for years. Imagine if as much care were taken planning and building roads as is taken with bike paths! Driving would be a disaster. People would be outraged.

When we got to Mayfield and Kennedy we crossed south and east to continue across a park into the Stonegate subdivision. Unfortunately, we discovered this in our way. I hope that it will be fixed before the 20th.

During the event we have information stations set up at various locations where participants can learn something about the area and receive a passport stamp which can be traded for raffle tickets after the ride. Last year, I won a city fitness pass. One of the stations is at Bovaird House this year. A heritage building is being moved to the site and it is quite a mess. Unfortunately, we will not be showcasing Bovaird House at its best.

Toward the south end of the ride we encountered this.

The city is doing bridge rehabilitation work that will last until the fall and has closed the path. Fortunately, another BikeBrampton member discovered this a couple weeks ago and Michelle, a Parks and Rec employee who has been involved with running Bike the Creek last year and this year, was able to negotiate that the trail be opened for the day on June 20 – a win for the event. However, it is frustrating that no one at the city even considered the impact on our event, nor the impact to users of the city’s premiere off road trail, that a closure from May until the fall would have.

Even after riding 40 km I would not consider eating this burger advertised at Union Burger at Steeles and Main Street. I wonder how many calories it has?

It was a wonderful day to ride and I am pleased to have experienced the route I helped plan which helps with the disappointment of missing the excitement of the actual event.

If you are interested in participating, head over to BikeBrampton.ca to sign up. It’s free, fun and showcases our wonderful parks. There is entertainment and a BBQ after the ride.

Given that we rode the full 41km route, we encountered very few problems, experienced wonderful parks and quiet streets. It’s a great way to see our city.

These are the routes:

16 km Bike the Creek Nature Ride – 10:00am start (2-3 hrs, with a 11 km shortcut option available) – northern route (trailhead ribbon cutting at 11:00 am)
25 km Bike the Creek City Ride – 9:30am start (2-4 hrs) – southern route
41 km Bike the Creek End-to-End Ride – 9:00am start (3-4 hrs for experienced riders)
Bike Rodeo for kids up to 10yrs (at the start of the day)

May 22-23 – Spin the Lakes – Part 2

The day dawned cool and sunny with a forecast high in the mid-teens – a perfect day for cycling. The 60km ride was scheduled to leave at 10:30. The advertised meeting time was 9:30, but since we were staying at the resort, we were told that we only need be at the assembly point by about 10:20.

We slept until 9am and had the breakfast buffet at the hotel restaurant. It was $12.50 each and was disappointing. I had a better breakfast in Huntsville at the Holiday Inn Express in February when we went dog sledding and it was included in the price of the room. Although, to be fair, I was feeling a bit nervous about the ride, so I wasn’t feeling much like eating.

There was a lovely deck with tables, accessible from the dining room. However, it was too cold to sit outside.

The view from the deck was beautiful.

After breakfast we headed back to the room, got into our cycling gear, packed, loaded the car and arrived at the assembly point (the tennis courts in the photo above) just as the last of the 60km riders headed out. “Just as well”, Patti opined, “that way we don’t have to ride up the hill in a pack of eager cyclists”.

We had to ride down the hill below to get from the hotel to the tennis courts. These first two hills, encountered before we even left the resort property, foretold the day we had ahead of us. There was very little flat ground.

Patti and I revealed to each other just as we approached the first rest stop that we had each secretly decided that if the first 10km were too challenging, we would just do the 20km ride. Fortunately, we set out with fresh legs, that had practiced ascents the previous week by climbing the Escarpment. After about 7km of riding we both realized that while the hills were challenging, they were also manageable and we agreed that we would push on after the 10km rest stop.

The first stop was at South Portage Dock on the Lake of Bays. There was a beautiful view, a porta potty, a refueling station, with water, gatorade, bananas, granola bars and chocolate chip cookies. We helped ourselves to a banana each and a granola bars to take with us.

Algonquin Outfitters provided mechanical and sweeping support. I realized on the drive north on Friday that I forgot to bring my pump, so I had the ever-so-helpful driver pump my tires at the first stop and put some lubrication on my chain, which had become a bit noisy, at the second stop. The driver was excellent and made us feel like he was there to look after us personally. We saw him a tonne of times. He always slowed, asked if we needed anything and had an encouraging word for us.

The next part of the ride was a little flatter, but still far from flat. Here is one the flat sections we encountered with a beautiful canopy of trees.

I used this trillium as an excuse to stop and catch my breath at the top of one of the hills.

We passed through Dwight, a pretty little place on the lake with cottages, a dock and a small white church.

If I was in the market for a cottage this one would suit me.

Here’s Patti on a descent. We both decided early on to let gravity do the work on the descents and to save our legs for the climbs.

We were still feeling pretty good when we got to the half way point at Port Cunnington. There was another refueling station and the friendly Algonquin Outfitter driver.

We’re still smiling.

The turns were well marked with a coloured arrow corresponding to each route. This is the first turn after leaving the resort so all four routes are marked. The routes didn’t diverge until about the 10km mark.

We were getting tired by the time we got back to the first rest stop after cycling 50km. I’ve rarely ever been so happy to see a bag of chips. I even drank some Gatorade and not just water as I usually do. A number of riders, who had cycled the event in the past, warned us that the last 10km were brutal with four significant hills to climb.

They were right, but I am proud to say that I rode my bike up every last one of them. I had to stop to catch my breath once or twice on each hill, but then I climbed back on my bike and finished the ascent. Patti wasn’t quite as pigheaded as I was and walked past me as I panted and rested. I didn’t get to the top any faster, but I met my goal of riding the whole route.

Remember this hill we rode down to get to the assembly point?

As we rode down it at 10:40 that morning I said to Patti, “At the end of the day, I will wait with the bikes at the tennis courts, you go get the car and we will load up the bikes at the bottom of the hill”. However, I am proud to say that I found the energy, not only to ride up it without stopping to rest, I also passed a lot of other people, riding or walking their bikes up the hill. Patti made it to the top without walking her bike, too. We finished strong!

After loading up our bikes onto the car and cleaning up and changing in the pool area, we headed to the buffet meal provided for the cyclists. It was much better than breakfast, but they ran out of cookies and cheesecake before we got our fill.

On the way out of the resort I asked Patti to pull over so I could take a picture of the snow that remained on the ski hill.

All in all it was a great day and it felt like we had been away more than just one day. We stopped at Starbuck’s in Barrie on the way home to ward off the stupor that was descending upon us as we drove home.

Ride statistics:

Length: 59.38 km
Ascents: 757 m
Riding Time: 3:12:32
Elapsed Time: 4:26:00
Average Speed: 18.5 kph
Top Speed: 52.3 kph

We plan to go back next year, hopefully to do the 96km route.

May 22-23 – Spin the Lakes – Part 1

Patti and I have been going away for a long weekend each spring for seven years. We take our bikes with us to do some riding, although cycling has not been the primary purpose of the weekend. From 2008-2010, we went to Ottawa for the Tulip Festival and were delighted with what a cycle friendly city Ottawa is. In 2011 and 2012 we went to Montreal. Montreal is even more impressive in terms of cycling infrastructure. The Copenhagenize Design Company just released their top 20 cities for cycling in 2015 and Montreal came in at number 20. In 2013, we went to Corning and Rochester, New York. The Corning Glass Museum was amazing. Rochester has great cycling infrastructure along the canals and some painted bike lanes. Last year we returned to Rochester.

This year we decided to do a few overnight stays with the sole purpose of cycling and some local cycling events. Our first event was going to be MEC Toronto’s Century Ride starting at Kelso on May 10, however, we didn’t sign up in time and it sold out. So, we started with Spin the Lakes in Huntsville.

We could chose from 20, 60, 96, 115, or 170 km. Initially we signed up for the 96km ride. Just after signing up, I mapped the route on MapMyRide and discovered that it had 1200 metres of ascents. I hadn’t realized how hilly the area is. The most I had done in a day in the past was about 500 metres. I practiced on the Escarpment. However, the week before the ride was stressful and my legs were sore so I decided, with Patti’s blessing, on the Friday to switch to the 60km ride.

Here are the bikes loaded on the car.

Patti left work early and we stopped for coffee in Barrie at Panera Bread when Patti realized she hadn’t locked the bikes to the rack before we left. All was well and we each enjoyed a Panera 400 calorie cookie knowing that we would burn plenty of calories the following day.

The rest of the drive was uneventful and we arrived at Hidden Valley, where the event was being held and where we were staying overnight, just after 5pm. We were in the main building in a hotel-type room. There were also what appeared to be townhouse units available. Hidden Valley is located next to Deerhurst Inn.

After settling in we decided to drive the route. Even the 60 km route had over 750 metres of ascents. I think we were even more worried after driving it than before. It felt like we were climbing about a third of the time, descending about a third of the time and on relatively flat road about a third of the time.

We saw deer on someone’s front lawn at dusk. There were three and they seem very nonchalant.

We always seem to get our meals shifted when we are away and it was about 9pm by the time we stopped for dinner at Kelsey’s. I had a great goat cheese flatbread.

We got back to Hidden Valley and turned in just after 11pm. I’ll write tomorrow about the actual ride.

Still No School and More Trimming of the Ivy

Last week I wrote about enlisting the help of Megan and Alun with trimming the ivy on our chimney, since they are out of school due to a teachers’ strike. Today is Day 9, with no end in sight. Yesterday, the Peel District School Board (PDSB) asked the Ontario Labour Relations Board to declare the strike illegal.

A couple years ago the Ontario government brought in legislation to change the way teachers’ unions bargain with their employers, which created a situation where some issues are bargained centrally with the Ministry of Education and some issues are bargained locally, with the school boards. The negotiations are concurrent. It was supposed to make labour disruption less likely. I wondered at the time how that would possibly work. The answer is that it doesn’t.

The PDSB, claims that the issues for which the union is striking need to be resolved centrally and that the union is acting illegally by striking in only three boards: Peel, Rainbow and Durham. We await a ruling.

Meanwhile we made progress with the ivy. It’s amazing how strongly it clings to the brick and grows into the spaces between the bricks.

Here is what it looked like at the end of our third session on Tuesday.

We spent another half hour today.

Alun managed to smash out water metre reader off the wall while hitting the ivy with a sledgehammer and also cut the wire. Given the way he generally behaves when helping with chores (truculently) I have to wonder if it was on purpose to get out of future chores. I keep telling him that won’t work.

I called the number on the box and reported that we had had a “gardening accident”. Someone will come out on Tuesday to fix it. Megan suggested that we should take really long showers until it is fixed.

Today we cleaned up all the branches and dead leaves at the base.

So far this week we have filled four garbage cans and six bags with debris.

Owen and I have started walking Bailey in the mornings as well as after school. It was a beautiful morning for a walk.

I love how loyal Bailey is. Here he is watching the kids going into the school.

When I told him it was time to go, he sat down and refused to leave without Owen.

I tugged on the leash until he got up and started walking reluctantly, sitting down and looking back several more times until we got off school property. We walked into the valley and then up a shortcut through the woods to the ball diamond where we played catch for a while.

He then led me back to the school again to look for Owen.

Trystan is in Ottawa on a Grade 8 trip. Fortunately, the labour action by the elementary teachers just affects administrative tasks so far and his trip was unaffected.