Maple-Erin-Hockley 200K Ride Report: April 27, 2003
Reports by Phil Piltch and Cameron Ogilvie, with photos by Phil Piltch and Cary Weitzman.
Ride Organizer's Report
by Phil Piltch
For once Environment Canada delivered on its promise, and gave us near perfect weather for the Toronto Chapter's second 200 km brevet. Twenty one registered for the ride and all showed up. One of the hazards of being both organiser and rider is that you may find yourself playing catch the pack, and so it was with me. While most riders showed up well before the 8:00 AM start, Fred Weinstein and Martin Heath arrived just a minute or two before the official start, and James Smith arrive a few minutes after, just as I was about to take off. Those already signed in left as I did a quick bike check of Martin and Fred's bikes and handed them their route sheets and control cards, and both of them were gone when I did the same for James.
While the day was near perfect, there was once again that pesky wind, and it was a tad chilly. As I wheeled north on Keele, I noted the wind was a strong north-northwesterly, which was only marginally easier to ride against after turning west on Teston Rd. Once again north on Jane and into that infernal wind. I soon caught up to Fred and Martin, but found their pace of 20 kph was much slower than mine, and pushed on (I was once again riding the Dawes fixed). Once again I got a bit of relief from the wind going west on King-Vaughn Townline, but again fought the wind going north on Weston Rd. The rollers on Weston helped to warm me up, but it was still rather chilly out. Still the day look quite lovely: blue sky and clear views. What more could one ask for? Just after crossing Hwy 27 on Lloydtown-Aurora SR, I met Dan Herbert, returning back to Maple; he had only ridden part way out with Marilyn, and had done as much as he could.
After the turn south on 11th Concession, I spotted was looked like some of the group off in the distance, and sped up to catch them. Just after the turn west on SR 17, I caught up to Marilyn Freeman, Paul Regan, and Cary Weitzman, and we rode together to the turn on to Old Base Line and Airport Rd, where I made a much needed pit stop at a gas station. I eventually caught up to them again in Inglewood, and we rode together to the next two controls.
On the loveliest part of the route is the run along Forks of the Credit Rd, which winds though a narrow ravine, giving the appearance of travelling through an Appalachian valley, with a rushing mountain stream. Cary pointed to an odd cluster of large birds circle nearby and wondered if they were hawks, but they were turkey vultures. The switch back on the climb proved a convenient spot for Cary to take a photo of Paul and Marilyn as they ascended the climb, and I decided to try the same.
I also used the stop to do a thermal adjustment, since there was to be more climbing before we reached Belfountain. We caught sight of the really fast bunch taking the turn north on Mississauga Rd. In Belfountain, it looked as if the place had been invaded by biker gangs - there were motorcycles parked everywhere.
We saw more of the group cycling south on the main road out of Erin just before we reach the control. We found Carey Chappelle and Rolf Hauckwitz at the control; they had arrived about 10 minutes before us. I decided to pass on the Coffee Time there, and instead got my card signed at the convenience store next to it. I bought a small bottle of white cranberry juice and then ate two of my four "burritos", small flour tortillias stuffed with peanut butter, raisins and dried cranberries. Carey and Rolf left a several minutes before us, and we didn't see them until the next control.
As we went south on the main street out of Erin, I noticed the wind had shifted, and was no longer a northerly wind, but was now from the south. It seems the fickle wind would be facing us as we headed south. The hordes of motorcycles were still in Belfountain, and Marilyn also pointed out an ugly olive green car. Mississauga road became violently hilly and twisty, a real test to how fast I could take the turns with my fixed. Marilyn and I took one particularly sharp curve a tad too fast. Marilyn drifted into the sand that had gathered at the pavement edge and her rear wheel washed out. I though at that moment she would crash, but she managed to briefly right the bike, but once again went into the sandy patch and lost it. Luckily no serious damage to either bike or rider. We soon caught up to Paul and Cary, and she told them what had happened. As we followed CR 136, I was watchful for the turn in Alton, where the temptation to keep straight caused others to go off route in past iterations of this ride.
Soon enough, we reached the turn on to Caledon-East Garafaxa Townline, and then north on C Line, seeing the wondrous sights of industrial and suburban Orangeville. A quick jog on Hwy 9 to CR 16, and then north out of the city. Almost immediately we faced non-stop climbing, and I found I was well ahead of the others. The top of this long climb was also the point where we turned east. Marilyn wasn't far behind as I soft-pedalled along, and we regrouped at Hwy 10, before doing the descent on Hockley Valley Road.
This was, I think, the best part of the ride, and I quite enjoyed the descent and the scenery. When we reached the control we found most of the group still there. I was amazed to see the changes to the store in Hockley - the old building had been replaced with a new, much larger one.
The consensus was to stay together for the rest of the ride, and we pretty much did. We flew along east with the strong tail wind, but soon we hit the abrupt climb out of the valley, and I made a strong climb up the hill, passing everyone. In our exuberance with the tail wind, we blew past the turn on 4th Road Line, but did not realise the mistake until we reached Hwy 50. After a bit of consultation we decided to continue on to Adjala-Tecumseh Townline, which was the road we were to turn on anyway (but further south). Once again we had a nice roll east on 5th Line, but had a big climb just after crossing CR 10, north of Tottenham. We regrouped at the top of the hill, then carried on.
I had initially thought we were going to turn south on 20th Sideroad to Schomberg, but after a careful perusal of the route sheet as we rolled east, I noted we in fact were going straight on 5th Line and then zig-zagging through the Holland Marsh. Three riders in the lead turned south on 20th, perhaps out of habit (or had I accidentally mislead then when quizzed earlier on?). I shouted "straight on" several times, to shake them from their disbelief. We once again regrouped at the bridge on Canal Rd, before carrying on.
After meandering through the Holland Marsh, fighting the strong wind all the way, we then had the "wonderful" climb south on Keele and then west through Kettleby to Jane and Aurora SR. Facing long drives home, Carey and Rolf continued on. The rest of us managed to stay together the rest of the way, but the two Pauls well back on the last climb south on Jane. Cameron managed to keep with us until just after the turn on Teston, where he bonked. But we all arrived safe and sound. All in all a wonderful day.
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A Perfect Day
by Cameron Ogilvie
202.5 km distance
1660 m ascent
7236 kcal food energy
This ride was perhaps the most fun I've ever had on my bike. The company, the views and vistas, the weather, and the food all came together in such a wonderful way.
The prior evening's events led me to believe that I might not make it to the start as I am without car. But somehow I managed to get up early enough to get to the start on time. I even put in a little extra distance. On my 30 km commute up to Maple, I took a wrong turn in town and wound up in an industrial complex. I had to loop back to where I started to get back on track. Little did I know that extra distance would be a feature of the day's ride.
Upon arriving in Maple at the frightfully early hour of 7:23 AM, I opted for a bagel and coffee at - you guessed it - Tim Horton's. The staff in the establishment looked as bleary-eyed as me, but I suspect they had more than 5 hours sleep shut-eye. I put the bagel in my pocket after realizing that my stomach was not yet prepared for more solids, as I had done much damage the previous evening using pizza, nachos, calamari, and veggies galore. So, I got back on my bike with my coffee in hand and/or cup in teeth and went the rest of the way up to Centro Bakery where the official start takes place.
The usual suspects were gathering doing the usual pre-ride stuff, which included lamenting about the current temperature which was still a mere 3 degrees. As usual, I was dressed for riding and not standing around gabbing so I got a bit chilly while standing around waiting for things to get going. Soon enough, we were off and running on the familiar roads that tend to send us off, and welcome us home on our long rides.
I once again foolishly decided to try and be a contributing member of the lead group, but as fate would have it, that ability only lasted for the first 70 k or so. I soon realized that my legs were just not interested in answering the captain's call for full-steam ahead. So, at about 10 km away from the first control point I decided to just enjoy myself. Surprisingly enough, I had this revelation just before the most scenic location of the entire ride.
It started at the northward turn on McLaren Road to the Forks of the Credit Road. As the route sheet pointed out, this 2.2 km section of road has gravel sections. What the route sheet didnāt point out is the section of road that has a great deal of silt in spots. If you wander outside of the beaten tire tracks, you are in for a surprise. Gravel roads? Silty sand? What the heck are we thinking riding skinny tire racing bikes on roads like this? Well, for the one second of panic involving both front and rear wheel deflections, I experienced through the brief silt patch, the view made it worthwhile. On the left was a steep embankment about 100 m tall, completely covered with trees. Sadly, even the old growth cedar trees didn't do enough to stop the erosion that made the road so soft. There was a delightful little babbling brook where some locals had stopped to catch fish, and peaceful isolation with only the sun, the trees, and the road.
Shortly thereafter, I was on the Forks of the Credit Road, which provides a delightful array of quaint homes and cottages all along the riverbank. Much to the dismay of the locals, the river meanders quite a bit and the road follows every twist and turn, which provides one of the best motorcycle roads in the entire area. I was treated to a dizzying array of exhaust notes, and exhaust fumes of all sorts of two, three, and four wheeled vehicles on the gradual ascent along the river valley.
Climbing out of the river valley is always a treat as the steep slope has switchbacks, which is the closest thing in Ontario we have to anything in the real mountains in western Canada or in Europe. Sadly the ascent only involved two switchbacks and only took a couple minutes to climb, but it is a worthy slope. The climb out of the valley at this point only involves 50 m of vertical ascent over 800 m of road. It's an average grade of 6.5%, but on the inside of the curve on the second switchback, I was boxed in by a van and forced to muscle my way directly up the face of the valley wall for about 5 metres. I was pushing and pulling as hard as I could with both my arms and legs and just so happened to look down at my speedo - 4.8 kph.
Shortly thereafter, I found myself speeding through the picturesque town of Belfountain, where seeming every motorcyclist that had zoomed past had stopped to get a sandwich. As I turned right at the restaurant, I had stopped at many times before for much needed repast, I noticed fellow club member Paul Dicks, who, as I found out later, had stopped to catch his breath.
I pulled into the Erin control and noticed that I had, just like last week caught up to the lead group. Thankfully, I had already decided earlier that I wasn't interested in keeping up with the leaders. I was just interested in enjoying the ride. The locals at the Erin Coffee Time looked like they were still living in 1987. The man in the line in front of me said, "I'll have 4 large triple-triples please," and then proceeded to light up another cigarette lest the one in his mouth go out before he had a chance to insert a new one.
I added two bottles of Nestea, one bottle of water, and one large Rice Krispie square to my reserves and immediately went back outside to escape the smoke, sit in the sun, do some stretches, and recover for a few minutes. I was quite tired at this point, I suspect from late night the night before and the early start this morning, but thankfully the Rice Krispie square and a few sips of Nestea managed to restore my vigour. More importantly, shortly after I arrived Paul Dicks and Alan Thwaits rolled into the control, so I continued to bask in the sunshine and enjoy the extra minute of rest before we joined forces and continued onward.
The route sheet had a couple dodgy instructions on it, so we decided to stop at a gas station to ask for some clarification. Sadly, the attendant was from Brampton and had absolutely no useful knowledge of the area. So, we decided to blindly carry onward hoping for the best. Thankfully, there was a nice couple that overheard our plight while refueling and caught up to us shortly there after. They had found a map of the area and thanks to their help we were pointed in the right direction. The road we were on previously had just run out of pavement, and there were some scary looking hills that we thought the better of on our skinny-tire machines.
After nearly avoiding Orangeville, we found ourselves on the most wonderful decent I have ever been on. There was a strong wind at our backs, and we were going down hill for 18.1 km. Ontario isn't known for its large hills, and we are only talking about 240 m or so of fall, but this was absolutely sensational. Just when I thought it was about to end, we would just come around a slight curve revealing even more decent. This happened again and again, and after the third time that I thought it couldn't go on much longer, I said to Alan, "Toto! I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!" In hindsight, that was only at the halfway point. This lovely decent continued to gradually fall and fall and fall all the way to the General Store in Hockley. We stopped to get our control cards signed and pause for some more lovely refreshment. I ordered a cappuccino and a very large brownie. The brownie disappeared into my stomach in about three bites much to the amazement of my friends, but at this point we were joking about ordering everything they had left.
About 15 minutes into our stay, the bulk of the slow group arrived, so, we decided to wait some more and return home with them, as a good portion of the return would now be into the strong wind that so gloriously sped us down the Hockley Valley Road.
The return from Hockley was not nearly as fun as my right Achilles tendon started giving me grief. But, the pace was slow enough, and the group was large enough to make the return both possible and still enjoyable.
It was only the last 1.5 km where I slowed down considerably. My stomach was demanding nourishment and was threatening to consume itself! At Centro, I had a pizza square, a very large grilled vegetable focaccia sandwich, and half of a veal sandwich (thanks Paul!) which all seemed to make me more and more hungry with every bite.
Thanks to the wonderful sense of well-being, feelings of accomplishment, and hunger after completing a brevet, I will keep coming back again and again.