Lisa Stokes

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.

Mother’s Day Ride

Trystan brought me breakfast in bed this morning, just before 7am, for Mother’s Day. He thoughtfully got it ready early so that I could head out on a 70km ride before it got too hot or too wet. As it turned out, it didn’t get up to the 30 degrees Celsius predicted a couple days ago for this afternoon, but I did get rained on three times.

Like last Sunday I headed straight north and up the Escarpment. Two thirds of the way up the second hill, that becomes steeper as you near the top, I stopped to catch my breath. I spotted two cyclists approach the bottom of the hill. Both men were older than me. One climbed past me, outwardly showing no signs of strain. Here he is about to crest the hill.

The other man also made it to the top without resting however he was quite slow and wobbly – like I would have been had I not stopped to rest. Here he is coming up to my rest location.

It was a humid, misty and occasionally, rainy day. The trees are in blossom and there were lots of this purple flower in bloom in the grass.

The dandelions are also out in full force.

Here is a view of the final hill. I did rest less today than last week.

This little guy wanted to visit with me.

However, I didn’t stop for long as I wanted to get up this final short, but steep, hill.

Just south of Highway 9 I found this handy spot to stop and have a snack.

Then I headed back south into Caledon East for lunch at Subway. After lunch I rode east, out along Old Church Road for 5 km, to extend the trip by 10km over last week’s trip. I saw this verdant scene along the way.

The sky opened up just south of Caledon East on my way back home. There is nowhere to stop between Caledon East and the Tim’s just 2km north of my house, a distance of 15km. It didn’t rain all the way, but I did arrive home quite wet.

After a cold bath to calm my legs, I got into bed with coffee and cookies, left over from lunch, and had a lazy afternoon.

What a great Mother’s Day.

No School and Trimming the Ivy

The Peel District School Board secondary school teachers went on strike on Monday May 4 which means that Megan and Alun are not in school. Mostly, they have just been doing as they please, however, I asked them to spend 30 minutes yesterday and today, and each day until we are done, cleaning up the English Ivy on our chimney.

The ivy was there when we moved in. It has generally stayed green year round. I trim it one to three times a year depending on how organized I am. The more often I trim it, the easier and quicker the job. However, that entails getting the ladder out of the basement and taking the time to trim and dispose of the trimmings. When I do it on a timely basis, it also means that it doesn’t grow up through the soffit and under the roof shingles.

I set up this picture four years ago when I got Trystan and Owen to help with the chore. I licensed the image to Getty Images and it has sold several times.

The last two winters were exceptionally cold and long. The ivy was covered in dead leaves each spring. In 2014, I just let the new growth grow through the dead stuff. This year, it is even worse, so I decided we should cut it right down to the ground. English Ivy grows like a weed, so it is unlikely that I will kill it by cutting it right down, and in future perhaps I will try to trim it before it gets to a height requiring a ladder.

When I trimmed it in the past I would just trim the top part as in the picture above to keep it away from the soffit and roof. I have never cut out the old growth in the bottom half.

Megan, Alun and I spent about 45 minutes yesterday with large bypass pruners, for cutting the branches that are thicker than my thumb, screwdrivers to pry the smaller branches away from the way, and a crowbar to pry away the larger branches. The years old branches stick to the brick with incredible tenacity.

I didn’t think to take a picture before we began so in this picture above we have already cleared the ivy that went around the corner of the porch toward the door and the ivy in front of Megan on the ladder. As much as Alun hates helping out with this type of thing I think he was enjoying wielding the crowbar.

We had to wear dust masks and safety glasses as there is a huge amount of dust when you pull the ivy away from the bricks. I have never found a dust mask/safety glass combination work without the glasses steaming up and me feeling like I am breathing in oven hot air. Ugh. Here is what it looked like when we finished working yesterday.

We filled four garbage cans.

Today we spend about 45 minutes again. I figure we are about half done getting it off the wall. Then another session or two to get all the dead stuff out of the bed.

Our new doors and windows are in. Compare this picture to the first. The final piece of work is being done tonight as I write this post. I will blog about that experience in the future.

We found a nest at the top of the chimney on the left. There were no eggs in it.

We didn’t have any more garbage cans and this stuff in hard to get into the paper bags without cutting it up into smaller pieces, so for now we just stacked it beside the full cans from yesterday.

I bet Megan and Alun would rather have been in school than helping out with this activity. It’s now been a full week since the teachers went out on strike. Durham Region teachers have now been out three weeks. I haven’t heard anything to indicate that the strike will be resolved any time soon so I will probably have them home to help again next week. Hmmm, what else needs to be done?

Trystan’s and Owen’s teachers are working to rule starting next week so for the time being, at least, they will continue going to school.

Sunday May 3 – Success Climbing the Escarpment

It was the Brampton Quilters’ Guild quilt show this weekend. Trystan and I helped with set-up on Friday afternoon. I am the photographer for the Guild and I photograph every quilt in the show. I captured about a quarter of them on Friday.

On Saturday afternoon, I returned, with Owen for my shift on mini-quilt raffle sales. Owen had a look around, bought some raffle tickets and bought a snack in the tea room. Lara and Ryan came a little later, to do the same, and took Owen home with them. After my shift I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing the photography. As usual it was a wonderful show and for the first time ever I won a mini-quilt.

On Sunday, I volunteered for take-down so I could go on a long bike ride first

Last Sunday I tried to ride up the Escarpment on Mountainview Road and failed. I had only done it once before in the middle of September last year. Last Wednesday, I tried again, stopping to rest, but not walking my bike, and got a little further, but turned back before getting to the top.

Today I made it. I had to stop and rest several times, my average speed was only 14kph, but I did it. This is look back down the second hill. It’s a killer. It’s long and gets steeper as you get closer to the top.

This is the view from the top of the third hill. It’s a great ride down, around a bend and back up again.

Another long hill, looking back south from the top. I’ve now lost track of which one this is.

I think this was the second last hill going north, looking back south from the top again.

This is the last big hill, looking south from the top. As you can see from this series, each time you go up, you give a little back, before going up again. It takes 7 km to get to the top.

Here I am at Highway 9, my turnaround point.

On the way back, the momentum from going downhill carries me almost effortlessly to the top of the next hill in some cases. In others, I still have to pedal madly up the top half.

When I got back to Caledon East, I rode over to Airport Road for lunch at Subway and then back home for a total ride of 61km.

I will be doing this ride a couple more times before Spin the Lake which has a lot more climbing and is longer. I hope to be ready for the 96km route, but might have to settle for the 50 depending on how my training goes between now and May 23.

Sunday April 26 – Failing to Climb the Escarpment

Patti and I have signed up for Spin the Lakes on May 23 near Huntsville. It starts at Hidden Valley resort, and they have a deal with the resort for participants to stay at a reduced rate, so we will drive north on Friday, stay overnight, ride and head home after the ride.

The routes offered vary in length from 20 to 172 km. We signed up for the 96 km route. After booking the hotel and paying our non-refundable registration fee, I then mapped the 96 km route using MapMyRide and was horrified to see that it has 1206 metres of climbing. The most climbing I have ever done in one day is 479 metres climbing the Escarpment last September the week before I did the Tour de Mississauga.

I have been doing physiotherapy for years for my left leg. The top of the fibula is slightly rotated towards the front of my leg. This leads to tightness and pain on the outside of my leg from my hip to ankle. I saw three different physiotherapists before the underlying issue was determined. The treatment was to use tape to hold the fibula where is should be and then to strengthen the muscles in the area to keep it there. I also had to change my running style from a heel-toe strike to just a toe strike. It all helped and I was able to get back to running again. However, whenever I get lazy and slack off on the strengthening exercises I get pain again. Over the winter I slacked off. Now I am back to physiotherapy visits every couple of weeks and strengthening at home in the evening.

On Friday, my physiotherapist worked me particularly hard. My legs were very sore by bedtime, no better on Saturday morning when I went running and worse by Saturday night. I had planned a 60km ride on Sunday, but could tell that was unlikely given how my legs felt.

The winds were from the north about 20kph with gusts to 35kpm as I set off to the northwest. I saw a truly impressive sight about 7km into my ride as I approached an intersection. Look how many bags he’s carrying! I stopped to pull out my camera to take a picture, but he turned the corner before I caught up to him.

I love this tree. I often stop to photograph it.

Here it was last fall.

When I got to Walker Road West in Caledon East I had to decide whether to go over to Airport Road to get lunch or to try to climb the Escarpment. From Walker Road to Charleston Sideroad, a distance of about 7 km, there is 180 metres of climbing up and down rolling hills as the land rises. Here I am looking back from the top of the second or third rise.

I had to walk my bike up the top part of three of the first six hills. 3 km into the 7km, I gave up, turned around and had a wild ride back down hitting my all-time maximum speed on a bike of 57kph, starting at the top of this hill.

Then I headed into Caledon East where I tried Paradise Farms Beef Bistro. I noticed it last fall while cycling to Gabe’s Bakery for a coffee. It is owned by Shane Baghai. From the website:

Shane Baghai is a successful real estate developer who purchased farmland in the rolling hills of Caledon in 2008. As an advocate of the local food movement and responsible, sustainable living, his initial intentions were simply to raise a few cattle without the use of artificial hormones.

Today, the Paradise Farm herd has grown to include thousands of Purebred Aberdeen Angus, hundreds of rare Japanese-style Wagyu (Kobe) cattle, Scottish Highland cattle and Italian Chianina. They are all grass fed and grain finished, with a zero-tolerance approach to the use of added growth hormones. The result of all this care is a more delicious, superior quality cut of beef.

The opening of Paradise Farms Prime Beef Bistro is just a natural extension of Shane Baghai’s concern for fresh and healthy eating. When you enjoy the delicious offerings at Paradise Farms Prime Beef Bistro, you do so with the knowledge that the meat was raised in Ontario with only the highest standards.

I was really in the mood for an interesting salad with some juicy steak on top, but the salads didn’t appeal to me, so I ordered an 8oz sirloin on ciabatta bread. It was a good steak, but too heavy a meal for half way through a bike ride.

The ride home was much faster being slightly downhill and with a tailwind.

I’ve got to get back up there again, once my legs are rested, to work on my climbing for Spin the Lakes.