Grand River 200K 2005 Ride Report and Photos

Grand Heat on the Grand River - Organiser's report

At the start (L-R) Henk, Don, Jerzy, Phil, Marie, Hank, Eugene (photo taken by Cary)

Nine riders showed up to do this brevet, including a two non-members training to ride sections of a cross-Canada tour. We managd to stayed together for most of the ride, up to the second control in Cayuga. This ride seemed to be plagued with many flats. Martie suffered the first of two just before Waterdown and another at the second control in Ancaster. Cary suffered the first of four flats in Cayuga, just as we were leaving Chewy's Pizza. I found out he suffered three more after the last control.

Group effort fixing Martie's first flat.

At some point after the second control the heat began taking its toll, and we split up into three smaller groups, with Henk, Don, Jerzy and me at in the lead group. Henk, Don, Jerzy and I sought the cool comfort of the Tim's in the control in Dundas, with Cary and Marilyn arriving about 15 minutes or so later. After a while we found it too cool in the Tim's but Cary remained inside, still trying to cool off. There was still no sign of the others. Henk, Don, Jerzy and I continued on, while Marilyn wait for Cary.

Pretty run along the Grand River

Control at Chewy's in Cayuga.

The four of us managed to stay together, but somewhere along Millgrove Rd, we lost Jerzy when he stopped to take a break from the heat. Henk noticed a lawn sprinkler busily spraying a lawn by the side of the road and stopped to put his head in it. Don and I soft pedalled to let Henk catch us. A few kilometres later we spotted more sprinklers spraying a lawn with water and this time all three of us doused our heads in the cold water. We arrived at the finish at 7:41, and spent some time cooling down before heading home. Just before we left, Jerzy arrived. No sign of the others when we left. I later found out Cary and Marilyn arrived around 9pm, while the others decided to abandon. One of the non-members was suffering heat stress and all decided to call it a day.

This is a beautiful route, and one of the club's easier 200s, but with the heat made for a very difficult ride. A true test.