Old 600 Ride Report: June 21, 2003
A Solstice 600
There's no doubt that one of the challenges of qualifying for PBP is
successfully completing each of required brevets in the series (200, 300,
400, 600). I found another is actually fitting the required brevets in
one's busy work and personal schedule. And so it was that my plan to do the
Huron Shore 600 was dashed by an unforeseen requirement by my workplace to
be on site for of testing on the very weekend of that ride. Thus I found
myself busily preparing for the Old 600 the following Friday, having
successfully squirmed out of further requirements to be at work on yet
another weekend.
While I missed Carey and Donna's hospitality, and the full moon that those
doing the Huron Shores enjoyed, I would doing a 600 during the summer
solstice. Since I had planned to ride straight through, I thought this
would give more daylight than usual for the first day.
Things did not seem to go so smoothly the morning of the ride. I had done
most of my packing the night before, and woke up with what I though would
be plenty of time to get ready and ride to the start with plenty of time to
spare. But I found myself strangely scattered and sluggish and left my
house barely an hour before the 6 am start in Markham. This sluggishness
seems to carry on throughout much of the first half of the ride.
As I neared the Tim's I had thoughts that I would find everyone gone, with
a note of regret on someone's car, but I found everyone still there waiting
for me. In addition the the familiar faces of Brian Armstrong, Scott
Chisholm and Michael Thomson (the organiser) there were three riders from
Kingston, Tracey Weissgerber, Christina Sutcliffe and a fellow named Louis,
having driven out in a bright orange VW Vanagon. Brian started off at 6,
with Scott, Michael and myself soon after. The others, which Scott and
Michael soon dubbed the Kingston Trio left sometime later.
The first 45 km of the route were mostly urban/suburban, with brief
stretched of open farm or woodlots. Although the predicted high for the day
was in the mid-twenties, cloud cover from a nearby storm system south of
Lake Ontario keep the daytime temperatures moderate most of the day,
something all of us appreciate. After the turn on Conlin Rd at Durham
College in Oshawa we were finally out in the country. It is also at this
point that the route became hilly. At first I was able to keep pace with
Michael and Scott, but soon found that sluggishness making it hard to stay
with them. Never the less, I enjoyed the lush greenery and the odd quaint
hamlet along the route. The carillon in a church in Solina was play a
vaguely familiar melody, the multiple overtones of the bells obscuring it
somewhat. Near Perrytown the road went through lush woods in a small
valley. As I starting the climb out of it, I caught sight of a red tailed
hawk flying overhead. At this point Scott and Michael were well ahead, and
I did not see them again until the control at Bewdley. I found Brian was
still there as I rolled up to the convenience store.
report and photos by Phil Piltch
As with the others, I bought chocolate milk, butter tarts and water. This was pretty much the way most of the stops at controls were - short and sweet (in more ways than one). Scott had gone over to use the public washrooms in a park near the water but when I said I would make a pit stop there, he warned against it, saying it should be condemned.
I was able to stay with Michael and Scott up to about Harwood, but once again found my legs were less than enthused about the hills and fell back. Every so often I could still see them up ahead, but soon after Roseneath lost sight of them. Although now on my own, I tried to keep a steady pace. As the route meandered east and south, the cloud cover became thicker. I could still blue sky to the north, but it was looking somewhat threatening toward the south. I was finding my energy strangely low, and decide on a brief stop at the general store in Wooler, where I picked up two bananas and a bottle of Starbucks mochachino. I quickly consume the frap and one banana, keeping the other in reserve. It starting lightly raining while I consumed my snack. After riding a bit more, I found myself getting a bit chilled and stopped to put on my jacket. The rain let up as I neared the edge of Belleville.
This was the eastern most point of the route; from now on I would be working my way back west. I made a quick stop in Corbyville to survey what was left of the old distillery there and took a couple of quick photos. I noted very few buildings were left, unlike the Gooderham and Worts complex in Toronto which was nearly completely preserved. In spite of errors in the route sheet, I was able to navigate through Foxboro, largely through memory of doing the route in 1999. I made another quick stop at a Mac's for water, then found the (not at all obvious) turn to Stirling. Having done the route before, I knew there was a significant climb just before the town, every bit as long a grinder as I remembered.
As I pulled up to the Becker's at the control, I found, much to my surprise, Scott and Michael were there. They had somehow missed a turn and spent some time getting back on route. Once again a threesome, we carried on to the next control in Peterborough. We arrived in Peterborough before 8 pm and decided to stop at the Sobey's supermarket for food and a brief break. Both Scott and Michael bought 1 litre jugs of chocolate milk, while I opted for a 500 ml carton. I bought a peach and a small yogurt rather than butter tarts. One interesting surprise was a fellow asking about Michael's bike - he knew of the Tamarack label, and was pleasantly surprised to find Michael a part of the operation.
Before leaving for Bobcaygeon, we put on some of our night things. The sun was now low in the sky and reddish-orange and we were treated to a beautiful sunset. Not long after the turn north on CR 10, the sun set and it grew dark. And then the swarms of flying insects came out. Not fun to ride through. Not long after passing Emily Provincial Park I noticed the flashing of hundreds of fireflies, a wonderful sight. At point as we rode toward Pigeon Lake, we noticed fireworks going off just behind a set of hills behind the lake. Michael said he had seen them last year on the 600.
We had already decided we would have a sit-down meal at the Timmy's in Bobcaygeon, and arrived there just before 11:00 pm to find Brian already there. The staff were quite interested in what we were doing, and one asked if we were doing this for charity. One of the women serving us warned about the bugs in Kinmount - she said they were really bad.
Just before midnight we left the Tim's, now dressed for the long night. Michael, Scott and I all had changed into fresh shorts and jersey and put on our night gear. I looked for my tights, but couldn't find them and had to suffer bare legged. At first Brian stayed with us, but after several kilometres was well behind us. I expressed surprise at this, and Michael replied that Brian does not like riding at night. I was not sure of our speed, but we seem to fly along as if the route were flat. We reached CR 121 in no time, and then soon reached Kinmount. I didn't really notice any bugs, however. We'd ridden through plenty of them on the way to Bobcaygeon though. We reached the control in Norland at 1:45 am and stopped there briefly. Brian showed up soon after. The place was closed tight, with nothing open, but at least there was a Coke machine, and Brian and I both bought a bottle of Coke.
One again we were on the road, off to Orillia. Once again Brian drifted off the back. Ths was the lonely, long stretch and I was getting quite sleepy - the Coke hadn't worked. Somewhere before Uphill, Scott and Michael sped on ahead, and I was again on my own for the last long stretch to Orillia. Somewhere after Sebright I noticed the false dawn in the east - it was just before 4 am! It was quite light out when I finally arrived at the Timmy's in Orillia. Scott and Michael had already been there for about half an hour. We we all pretty knackered. Scott caught a quick nap, and I tried to do the same. Brian arrived several minutes after me.
After about an hour we continued on to Barrie. After a climb west on Memorial, we then did the meander of road along the lake and to Carthew Bay. Michael had initially thought we might have difficulty with this part if we reached it in darkness (as he had done last year) but in the bright morning light it was fairly easy to follow. After the requisite run along Ridge Rd through Hawkstone, Oro Station and Shanty Bay, we arrived in Barrie to find Lakeshore Rd blocked off half way along for a carnival/street fair, and wound up detouring on the bike path to try to get over to Tiffin. Michael and I stopped just after the information centre, thinking Tiffin should be nearby, but Scott motored along the bike path and we lost sight of him. We went over to the Tim Horton's at Essa and Tiffin, but found it closed and went to a Mac's nearby instead to get the cards signed and pick up some stuff. We waited for most of an hour for Scott, then decided to push on.
It was now getting quite warm, and I was glad to have the bulk of the ride behind me. Michael was also showing signs he had yet to fully recover from the Huron Shores 600. We had to deal with rather busy traffic in Newmarket on Mulock - perhaps this part of the should be changed. Just past Musselman's Lake, as we were going south on Ninth Line, we saw James Smith cycling north and exchanged greetings. To our surprise he was wearing a new helmet. Just before we reached Stouffville, we were flagged down by Scott, now in civies. He said he knew the connection to the route from the bike path and found another Timmy's nearby to get his card signed. We wished him a safe drive home and we then flew south to Markham, pushed along by a nice tailwind, finally arriving at around 1 pm at the Timmy's. Brian was just getting ready to go home, having arrived about 20 minutes or so before us. Michael kindly offered me a lift home. I was glad to put the final PBP qualifier safely behind me. After a shower and some sleep, I finished the day with a banana split at my local DQ down the street. A nice end to a solstice ride.