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Story by Bill Little. Photos by
Carey Chappelle
Welcome to the Huron Chapter 600. 8 brave riders set off on
Saturday morning on a beautiful day in Bruce
County. Everyone had high hopes of an uneventful
ride and for the first few hours that was exactly what we
got.
Riders included illustrious Carey “the Chapter
President”, Bill the “Zebra”, Nathan the
“Kid”, “Honey” Rolf, Rudy and
Con “the Goderich brothers ”,
“Macho” Maccio, and our designated import the
lovely Merry from Ohio.
To say it was hot would be an understatement. By
late morning it was 30 C, and then we entered the ‘valley of
death”, or the Beaver Valley, and started to pay the
price. By this time the “Goderich brothers
” and Merry decided that they should go it alone and the
remaining 5 of us struggled along behind. Out of the valley
we went and across the lake and back down the escarpment into
Creemore. The climb out of Creemore along the river has to be
one of my least favourites. By the top, we all had
to find a tree (33 C in the shade) and strip off a little clothing, to
cool off. We were now in “banjo
land” of Ontario. In Bajeros, we saw a
Mennonite Limo (a wagon with 4 rows of car seats – no photos
allowed!). After a few km of gravel (second of the day) we
started our decent – guess what? it gets hotter as you go
down! I hit a personal record of 94.8 km/hr heading
for Thornton (better than the 92 on the Sella). Once down the
hill the temperatures were unbearable and the highest recorded was
41deg C, when I left my bike in the sun at the corner
store. The 5 struggled into Thornton with
visible problems – some of us barely managing 20
km/hr. The fast three came by looking fine … but
trouble was stocking them as well. At Thornton the 5 became 3
as Honey and the Kid needed more time to recover. The
VP’s gang set out only to find another unplanned 3 km of
gravel. Eventually we arrived at Kleinburg, only to
find everything closed-up. We did find some staff smokers
outside a restaurant who were kind enough to get us
“restaurant quality” water, so we could
make it through the night – Yeah for smokers! The
Kid and Honey had a mechanical problem and came in late to Kleinburg
and made the right decision to quit. The P3 got into the
control at 12:30 am to find that one of the Goderich
brothers, more Grimm than the other. Rudy was
forced to quit. Tough luck Rudy! After
our illustrious short order, chef Scott made us supper and we got
showers, and onto the couch at 2:00 am.
Up again at 05:00, we were on the road at 6. What once was 8
was now 5 as Rudy , Honey and the Kid were now all down for the
count. Thanks again to Isabelle for picking up the dead!!!
(and reviving them).
The P4 group (Con now with us) followed Merry into Alliston and
recognized that we would make her feel good if we let her go
ahead. Ahem. A beautiful morning ride into Creemore
, over the hill, and into Nottawa for breakfast where we got a quick
pep talk from Merry.
Another big climb, Ravenna, decent and another big climb to Walters
Falls. At no time did the temp go less than 33 deg
C. The wind was now starting to really play a part and when
we got to WF we knew we would have a tough ride.
Onwards to Owen Sound, pizza, and then to Wiarton.
As usual the “little” hills now started to take
their toll.
When we got to Wiarton, the skies opened up and the wind
howled. It was a tough ride to Sauble.
Then it really started to rain and the temp dropped from 30 to
18. By this time the rookies had shed their extra clothes at
previous controls but some of us were still with all our needed
warmth. A rain filled cold ride met us for the next
35 km
As usual,(but never assumed) the V-Pres
provided an extraordinary meal and after a few Guinness’s we
sent Con home in a towel.
A typical Huron Chapter Event.
A special thanks to Scott Chisolm for being the control, chef,
hotelier, molly-maid, and breakfast chef. We owe you one!!
A special thanks to Isabelle and Keith for checking -up on us and
effectively giving us some help when riders had to cancel
early. Your help was immense and I’m sure the
“dead” have let you know.
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