The first stretch was reasonably passable, but soon we hit stretches with a rather soft surface, possibly due to recent grading. While Graham and I were able to make some headway, Jaye was not so successful. Unlike our bikes, hers had little clearance for anything larger than 700x23 slicks, and she had very little traction. Even Graham and I found the going rather tough, and we made an executive decision to take the road which was nearby to the town of Gelert (pronounce like "alert"). Soon after rejoining the trail, it crossed over an original steel truss bridge, and we stopped to take in the view of the rushing stream. As we continued on we encounter a group of hikers and chatted up about our adventures for a few minutes before carrying on.

Several kilometres along we encountered the large puddles that Graham and the others had dealt with two years earlier. We were able to ride around the smaller of them, but with the largest, having the dimensions of a small lake, it was clear this was not an option. Graham attempted to portage his bike around the edge, but found himself stepping into wet bog. Jaye tried following him and wound up with wet feet as well. I decided to ride straight through (don't try this at home, boys and girls), hoping the my feet would not touch water - they did! So much for dry feet.

Making a portage - Jaye Haworth and Graham Hallward navigate
one of the large puddles found on the trail. (Phil Piltch chose to ride through it.)
photo by Phil Piltch

Fortunately the trail condition improved and we soon reached the railway station in Kinmount. Not only was it nicely restored, the local model railway club was headquartered there, and had a set of of what the railway looked like in its heyday. Nearby was an old saw mill that was being renovated. It was at this point that I realised I had left my support pager at the motel and called to have it mailed home. Jaye and Graham used the time to check out the local model railroad club's efforts. The section of the trail south of Kinmount was somewhat better, but still slow going, and at the town of Burnt River, we once again left the trail for the road - we were running short on time to make the first control before closing. By this point, I was feeling the fatigue from riding the trail, and with a strong southerly wind, I found myself struggling to keep up with Jaye and Graham. We reached the control with a minute to spare and decided to stay on road to Fenelon Falls. At the an old railway station we again followed the trail to Lindsay. Finally, we were once again on real pavement and stopped at the Tim Horton's on Kent and Victoria. We used this stop for a welcome break and chance to refuel. Since the services on the rest of the route would likely be sparse, we used this stop to stock up on extra food.

We followed familiar roads out of Lindsay, going south on Hwy 35, the west and south on River Rd and CR 57. By this point I was quite tired and struggled to keep up with the others. At a couple of points before the next control, Graham and Jaye stopped and waited for me. We regrouped at the general store in Blackstock, signed our cards, and enjoyed a food break.

For some reason I found myself shivering uncontrollably and and took refuge at another general store. Perhaps the fatigue of the day was catching up to me. I told Jaye and Graham to carry on - I was going to try to warm up first with a cup of tea. After about 15 or so minutes, I finally hobbled on to the bike, and continued on the route. The chills seemed to have passed and I was starting to feel better. I hardly noticed the climb up Purple Hill, and at the top stopped quickly to take a snap of the unusual painted metal sculptures. The descent down the other side was quite enjoyable, and I soon reach the turn at Simcoe Rd. I found Old Simcoe Road was now gravel, and so it seemed was Scugog Line 2. The sun had set and the clouds overhead glowed golden. The next dozen kilometre were rolling dirt road and in the growing dark I had to navigate around potholes and the odd chasm with the aid of my generator-powered headlight. I arrived at the Balsam control, and finding nothing open, noted the time and carried on.

I soon reached Greenwood and took the road south from the general store, which I suspected was the turn. Since I saw no street sign, I asked a local if I was indeed on Greenwood Rd. At Brock Rd, I stopped for a quick food and stretch break. By now I was feeling stronger and made good time west though the village of Whitevale to the turn at CR 30. The roads were fairly quiet and the wind had died down. Soon I was heading north on Ninth Line to Hwy 7, and arrived at Tim Horton's at 9:05 pm, 13 hour 5 minutes after departing Haliburton (the slowest 200 I've even done!). After taking a short break, I biked home (well most of the way - I bike to Scarborough Town Centre and took the LRT/subway home).

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A Change of Pace
by Jaye Haworth

For Graham, Phil, and myself, the Haliburton Offroad 200 K, was most certainly a change of pace! Fun - yes - challenging - whoa yeah!

A lovely view of a misty marsh, in the early morning near Haliburton.
photo by Phil Piltch

In very heavy mist, and chilly temperatures, we made an eight o'clock sharp start from the quiet, sleepy little burg of Haliburton. The trail started off well enough, but it wasn't too long before we began encountering the first of many stretches, of deep, soft sand. Graham and Phil both had knobbies on their road bikes, but I, unfortunately, didn't. Having just had fenders installed, I was unable to fit a larger, tougher tire on my bike. It was very difficult to keep moving through the piles of sand, and I had to get off and walk quite a bit. If I do this brevet again next year, I will definitely ride my MTB With knobbies.

Luckily for me though, the deep sand was beginning to wear on my companions as well, so when Graham suggested we jump out onto the road for a few kilometres, I didn't argue. When we hit Kinmount, Phil needed to make a phone call, so while we waited for him, Graham and I were treated to a tour of the local model railroad club's recreation of the stretch of trail we were riding. The little train station has been nicely restored, and it was interesting to see the trestle bridge as it used to look back in the early 1900s. The club has been working on this project for 8 years now, and it's almost complete. Our tour guide was quite understandably proud.

Graham Hallward stocks up on supplies at the Kinmount control.
photo by Phil Piltch

The Austin sawmill on the Burnt River, next to the train station, is slated for restoration to begin soon. It's a lovely area - the trees had quite a bit of yellow and orange already, and there are lots of evergreens which give a real forest adventure feel to the trail. Bits of Canadian Shield rock are visible here. The red sumac was brilliant in the sunshine.

The huge puddle Graham remembered from 2 years ago, is still there! I tried to follow him as he portaged his way around the edge (puddle edged by swamp), but when he stepped all the way through up to his mid shin, I gave up and walked through it. Phil rode, but the water was up over his feet. Wool socks were a good choice that morning!

Our first control at the 71.5 K point was made with only minutes to spare - that soft sand really slowed us down. Plus the time we took to stop and take pictures. The trestle bridge, over a rushing river, was quite beautiful. I hope our photos turn out. More than once, as I admired the mist over the small ponds, and the sunlight silhouetting the trees, I was grateful that mosquito season was long gone!

It was rather difficult though, to look around much, as deep ruts and channels in the sand and gravel tended to pull my bike off where I didn't want to go. Sections of sand were varied with sections of hard pack dirt, and jutting rocks, on a decided descent. It was pretty fast going and it made for a very rattly ride. I'm amazed my bike held together, and that I didn't loose any teeth. Again, an mtb would've been the much better choice. The sections which were made up of the original rail bed crushed gravel were nice to ride on though.

A typical view of the rail-trail portion of the Haliburton-Markham Offroad 200 route.
Look carefully, and you can see Graham and Jaye.
photo by Phil Piltch

ATVs are quite popular up around Fenelon Falls, and they were very responsibly driven. Much nicer to share the road with them, than most car drivers. The chipmunks, however, were quite kamikaze. And I think Graham and I ran over a poor little snake. There just wasn't any room to manoeuvre in the deep rut we were riding through. We saw numerous big fat fuzzy caterpillars - black with beautiful reddish brown middles.

After hurtling by the third railroad spike, I decided to stop and pick up the next one, but then we were finished with the trail section of the brevet - too late.

When we reached Lindsay, I was relieved to learn that the rest of our route would be on the road. The trail was fun, but a bit too long for my poor choice of steed. While it was nice to be back on the road, we then had some major headwinds to contend with, especially around the Scugog area. It's always windy there.

Phil was having a bit of a rough day, and after having waited for him at points along the trail, and at the turns in the road, we left him to warm up with a cup of tea and to rest a bit longer in the general store in Blackstock. Finally some tail winds! Graham and I had a lovely, sweeping sunset to ride into, past fields of extremely woolly sheep, a field of elk (!) and a farm of bison (although none were out to be admired). Graham saw llamas too, but I missed those.

The gas station on Scugog Line 2 (or is it Highway 7?) has been renovated since the last time Graham was through, so I had a real bathroom to use! Very handy since there isn't any such thing to be had in Blackstock.

The general store in Balsam was closed, so M. le President signed our cards, and we managed to finish all the remaining dirt road sections in daylight. Chalk Lake Rd, and Lakeridge Rd, are very nice! The descents in this section (Balsam Rd, Concession 8, and Westney?) were very exciting and a lot of fun at the end of our long day.

We pulled into the Markham finish at 8:13. Happy to be done, and off the bikes. Poor filthy bikes! Apparently Phil pulled in about 45 minutes afterwards, so I was glad to hear he made it in time. Thanks for the pleasure of your company gentlemen! Thanks to the route designers! It was a lot of fun, and I will probably ride it again next year, but I definitely have a renewed appreciation for road riding!

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