Maple-Orillia 200K Ride Reports: April 20, 2003
With contributions from Jaye Haworth, Phil Piltch, and Cameron Ogilvie.
Ride Organizer's Report
by Jaye Haworth
Our club's first 200 K brevet of the season was blessed with a truly wonderful day!
Sunny, and dry, and warm! That lovely south tailwind could've been more accommodating though by not remaining a south wind - that was one tough ride back to Maple!
19 official participants (including Mark and Julia on a tandem) and one unofficial (got to bring those safety vests and lights folks!) left Maple at 8:00 (right on the nose, I believe). Cary, Graham, and Geoff rode partway to keep us company. We quickly broke up into a few differently paced groups and the guys I was fortunate enough to ride with, got us to the halfway point in 3:48. Alas, the return leg was much slower.
We missed Isabelle's secret control - even though we stopped in that vicinity to do a route check.
I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did - it's a great route. I was happy to see once again, my favourite farm on Ridge Road - the gorgeous old stone foundation, and the purple barn doors - it's James' favourite too! The restoration of the lovely gothic mansion in Oro Station is coming along. There is still ice on the lake (bay?).
Whew - big blast of thunder, and now it's raining - I'm so glad it held off until everyone got (hopefully) home. Great day!
The Joy of Group Riding
by Phil Piltch
Jaye, the organiser, can give the exact official turnout for the Toronto Chapter's first brevet, the Maple-Orillia 200, but I heard estimates of around 20 riders, a truly astounding number. Could it have been the far warmer weather that what we've had on previous rides?
As we went north on Keele to Teston, the bunch quickly split in to a fast group and a slower one. Alan and I rode with the slower group, which included Bill Mercer, Paul Regan, and new member Michel Potvin. Marilyn Freeman also rode in our easy paced group (Dan rode out part way, before heading back). Also in our group was Cary Weitzman, who was going only as far a Barrie.
The route is a out-and back one, retracing the route out after the control in Carthew Bay, just outside Orillia. Our group kept a nice steady pace, but found things much too easy as we headed north, obviously helped by a strong tail wind. Even so, Michel was having trouble keeping the pace, especially on the rollers north of Hwy 89, but we tried to keep him in our group. About a km after crossing Hwy 89, we were intercepted by Keith and Isabelle, out on their bikes, to do a secret control. Woo hoo - now we're really official! We mentioned that they missed the faster bunch - they would catch them on the return.
We arrived at the first control, in Barrie, to find most of the faster group still there. Seeing the large lineup, our group decided to just get our cards signed and carry on to Carthew Bay. Cary volunteer to sign our cards and we after a short break, continued north. The faster group had just left and were now getting well ahead of us. Martin Heath was now part of our group. We encountered a bit a headwind as we followed the route parallel to the shore. Kempenfelt Bay appeared to be still ice-bound and we felt a very chilly breeze off the bay. But the day was quite beautiful, and I always enjoyed the scenery along this road. In Shanty Bay, we stopped briefly to let Michel rejoin the group. Just before the left turn on 13th Line and to the road into Carthew Bay, we saw the fast bunch zooming south. After a short break at the control we contined back, now finding the tailwind was now a rather strong headwind. We tried to keep the group together for the return, and we mostly successful, although it broke into 2 or three smaller groups as the combination of headwinds and hills took their toll. The one hill I dreaded doing on the way back, just after crossing Hwy 400, (which has been dubbed Pumpkin Hill), proved every bit the brute that it is, but I was pleased to say I climbed the sucker (if one considers a 40x16 a climbing gear).
We once again met up with Keith and Isabelle at Hwy 89, were they signed Martin's card (he had been in the group ahead of us, and missed them on the way out). As we neared Hwy 88, I starting feeling something loose with my right pedal. At first I thought it was the pedal itself, but then realised the cleat was loose, and stopped to find all three bolts on the cleat were quite loose. After quickly tightening them (ah that's better), and the sped up to catch the rest of our group and found they stopped at the bridge just before Canal Rd. We stayed together for a short bit, but soon broke into two group, Alan, Paul, Marilyn and myself in the lead group, with Bill, Martin and Michel behind. We regrouped one last time at the gas station/general store at Lloydtown-Aurora SR, restocking with water, before doing the last 20km stretch. Once again, the group soon broke apart - now with Alan, Marilyn, Martin and myself in the lead group, with Paul, Bill and Michel behind us. More hills and an unrelenting headwind slowed our progress, but we finally rolled in at around 6:50, to find Dan cheering us. Although the sky was by now quite cloudy, the rain did manage to hold off until the evening.
All in all a nice first brevet. It should be especially noted that Michel did his first 200km brevet "unofficially" - he did not have the lights or vest necessary, but never the less did the entire ride anyway! In spite of flagging on the hills and feeling less than energetic, he never the less finish the ride in a respectable time and met all the control times. It should also be noted that through group riding we were able to keep in with us most of the way back, in spite of the strong headwinds.
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The Real Reason for Riding
by Cameron Ogilvie
Officially, this is my second season with the Randonneurs, but I would tend to disagree. I joined in June of 2002, and only rode ONE brevet all season long. Mind you, even though it was 100 km longer, today's 200 km seemed much much harder.
The commute up to Maple in the wee hours of the morning was as calm and peaceful as you would expect for 6:00 am on Easter Sunday. It was wonderful to see some faces I hadn't seen for quite a while as my brevet schedule last year was oh so busy.
After the bike check and requisite shrub-visitations, we headed off at the crack of 8:05:02:03, according to the nice folks that run the atomic clocks around the world. The tailwind was very favourable, the company was delightful, and a bit of social catching up was accomplished before the stoplight on highway 9 caught the early breakaway, and I was compelled to stay with them.
Wow, did we go like the wind after that. It took 2 hours, 17 minutes to cover the 69.1km to the first control in Barrie. Guess where, chez Tim's! I immediately ran in and bought the soup/mega-sandwich special to quell the noises coming from within, but Jaye wanted to keep rolling. So, off went the lead group, I was finally able to bridge the gap thanks to Michael Thompson (aka He-Man) on his fixed-gear machine, and Rob Byron, a chap from BC on his road-converted MTB. I got to the control in Carthew Bay just as they were getting ready to leave. So, I ran in, had my control card signed, and hopped back on the bike. I was immediately dropped on the small 10 metre climb out of the bay back up to the ridge road, but I was able to slowly bridge the gap back into the delightful wind-shadow.
The sights and sounds along the ridge road were wonderful, as many of them are familiar sights from my childhood, as my aunt and uncle had a cottage on the lake in Hawkstone. The others were that of the signs of spring finally coming to Ontario. The lake was still quite frozen, but showing definite signs of becoming mostly liquid, and the air was ripe with the smell of new earth that comes from the breakdown of the autumn leaves. There were some small blue wild flowers here and there, but that was about it for plant life.
Back in Barrie, I decided that I wasn't quite ready to get rolling to stay with the lead group. I was once again famished, but my stomach wasn't ready for any more solids. So after about 15 minutes of waiting, I got bored waiting for other riders and left. Rob Byron came with me, but he faded after about 10 km with knee troubles. After that I was left to my own devices, which were quickly diminishing!
I started to ponder rather basic questions, but tended to dwell on what makes for a true Randonneur? Is it the ability to not give up, not complain, or overcome huge personal and/or physical challenges to make it to the finish? Naaa! Finishing is of course important, but if you ever heard one of our bodily-function discussions on route. Yesterday morning for example (this one is tame, don't worry) there was a comparison made between the Carbon Dioxide output of a car vs. the nasal output of an average rider.
As for overcoming huge physical and mental obstacles, that ability is important to if you want to finish quickly. A slower pace would have perhaps made my day less physically consuming (defeating actually) but I wouldn't have the lovely 9:58 as my finish time. I pulled into the start/finish at 6:03 pm, but we did start a little late so the "official" number listed above may differ slightly.
Some members of the club believe it's not just the ride, but it's the ride to and from the start that signify "true" rando spirit. This I would have to say is hooey, hogwash, malarkey, jive, and then some. In my career as an ultra-marathon cyclist if the event is over 200 km, I will almost certainly need to be "rescued" from the finish. I have always ridden to the start, but with the long rides, I have never made it back. My breaking point seems to be 220-230 km for the event and the commute. If it's less, I have always made it home. If it's more, help! This is not to say that my limit is 230 km. I completed two 300+ km events last year (347 km and 354 km). So, (I can hear you shaking your heads) what stops me from returning after a measly 232.6 km? (200 km Brevet + 32.6 km commute) Well, today's trials and tribulations, mostly in the form of a 50-kph headwind on the return route took everything out of me on the return from Barrie. I was faced with 69.1 km of hilly road, so what do you do?
I'll put it in simpler terms - between Barrie, and my forced rest stop at the gas station at the intersection of Jane St at the Lloydtown-Aurora Road, my pace was a blistering 16.85kph, and aside from the rolling hills, the average gradient is downhill!!! Earlier in the day on the way up to Barrie, the pace for this section of road was a much more interesting 32.3-kph. But, on the way home the blistering pace of 16.85 could not be maintained. After the secret control, I stopped a gas station for a reality-check. I bought some water and sat on the curb wondering what to do. Shortly before, while in the Holland Marsh, I was having delusional thoughts of abandoning in a rather dramatic fashion. This involved casting my bike into the river and hitching a ride home. After about 25 minutes, a good samaritan approached me and asked if I had broken-down. To which I replied, "only my spirit!". But my response finally clued me into the fact that my body and mind were recovering nicely. I finally realized that I had started to feel better, and I had just called my dad hoping he would be able to retrieve my defeated body from Maple. So, I thanked the man for his kind offer (which would have disqualified my brevet anyway) and pressed onward into the headwind.
Thankfully, with somewhat renewed vigour, (partly due to the sandwich in my stomach which actually had a chance to be processed now that my legs had stopped for a minute) my pace increased dramatically to a completely respectable 27-kph (not up the hills though) and I was a mere 30 minutes from the finish. With my improved speed a grin finally reappeared on my face and I finally landed at the finish.
A quick stop at the Tim's just south of the "closed for the holiday" bakery at the start/finish greeted us with a Wendy's restaurant as well where Jaye and I enjoyed large servings of potato products.
Many thanks to my dad for driving up to rescue Jaye and myself from our respective perils. There were so many wonderful reasons as to why this was the right thing to do, thunderstorms being forefront on my list, as was fatigue and hunger.
Once home, the only thing on the agenda was a hot bath, and eating. I tried to soak in a hot bath for a while, but I didn't last because I got to hungry to stay in it!
Ah - my real reason for Randonneuring has been revealed! Rampant gluttony!
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