A Personal Best
by Steve Briggs

Well, I did it - my first 200K bike ride! I would like to thank all the people on the ride for welcoming me to the club, and giving me lots of encouragement and companionship. I really enjoyed riding with Phil Piltch and Henry Furlott, and Alan Thwaits with whom I did most of the trip. But most especially to Alan, who invited me out and stuck with me right up until I finished. And I better not forget Cary's unexpected gift of "Melange de Randonneur" which I enjoyed about 180K into the ride and was surprisingly good, much better than those chewy Power Bars.

I'm obviously not as strong or experienced a rider as the rest of the riders that started the brevet, and I appreciated the group waiting for me several times toward the start. Riding along flat roads I did alright, but I didn't seem to be able to stay in sync on roller sections. I suppose part of that is riding the recumbent, and part the extra mass in the form of my "aero-belly" I had along with me for the trip. I often seemed to overtake the group as soon as we started a downhill, but then get easily dropped on the upgrade. After a while I sort of developed a strategy of charging into the downhills, often getting up to 45 kph, to get the extra inertial assist on the far side. But no matter, the ride in general was beautiful, there was NO RAIN, and my only ultimate goal was to finish. I had a fantastic day.

After getting out of the flat section on the city outskirts, we travelled through a really nice if hilly section of twisty road alongside a river. Very scenic, but I found that was the first time I had to stop and let the rest of the bunch go. I had a water break right where our route crossed the Bruce Trail, which looked inviting. It was at this point that I realized I hadn't pushed my cycle computer all the way into it's mount, and it hadn't been working since the start of the trip. I guess I was so eager, I hadn't even noticed the speedo reading zero up until then! Soon Alan doubled back to see if I was still alive, and we caught up to the rest of the group who were graciously waiting ahead.

photo by Phil Piltch

Somewhere just after Killbride, around the junction of McNiven and Steeles, I think, I managed to overzealously shift into my big cog both front and rear on a short but steep uphill. This is not recommended as my chain is just a tad too short for this gear combo, and sure enough, I locked it up requiring removing the rear wheel to get back into business. This was just after Phil had passed me after getting the first of his pager calls. After I had just got the bike back into driveability, he doubled back to make sure I was still in the running, which made me feel more secure.

The approach to Cambridge was a really excellent twisty two lane through a forested area, again very scenic with a lot of short ups and downs. Our first control seemed to have vanished, but a brief visit to Barnacle Bill's fish and chips emporium soon put that right. We had a brief respite as Phil continued his conversation with distant computer guys in Montreal or somewhere. After our stop, it turned a little cool and looked like we might get the rain after all, but no. I remember feeling strong and eager to get back on the road.

After the city, we went through an area of farmed fields, with long vistas over tilled acreages. The sun returned and the emus at one road-side pen hardly bothered to look at us as we pedalled by. I think it was about here we encountered the first gravelled descent. The road surface was pretty mushy after the previous rains, and the road very hilly, so as to preclude flying downhill at full speed. After a couple kilometers we returned to pavement still happily RSD. After a long climb over the Grand River bridge we took a brief wrong turn, but Phil quickly got us turned around and we headed into Glen Morris.

I see on the map we then passed the Adelaide Hunter Hoodless Heritage Homestead, of which I have no recollection. Something as alluringly alliterative as that almost always attracts attention. I'm not sure if this was the trailer park Phil, Alan, Henry and I got grouped up again in, but it must have been close. Phil was back on the phone, so Alan and I struck out, Henry electing to remain with Phil.

The road through Harrisburg was pretty flat and dull, but soon turned nicer as we got into the rollers between Jerseyville and Ancaster. Having never been through Ancaster, I was impressed with the nice homes, horse farms, and scenic areas. I was soon further impressed with the long luge-like paved descent of Sulphur Springs Road, which saw my top speed of 72 kph. At the bottom of the hill I stopped for a map consult, and was passed by a guy not part of our group who said "you can really get going on those things". I had to agree.

Then the long grind up the gravelled lower hill commenced. I ended up walking the bike up most of this really long and steep hill, pausing to talk to a couple of young mountain bikers along the way. It was a relief to get to the top and start riding again. I was soon rewarded with another very scenic area along Crooks Hollow Road and into the Greensville control, where Alan was keeping the local kitty company waiting for me to turn up. A quick break for water and we were off again.

We soon found a nice long descent off the escarpment into Hamilton, where we made a wrong turn but again quickly realized the mistake, and got going the right way onto Snake road. I was beginning to wear on the hills coming into Waterdown, and noticed my speeds were more in the 13-20 range, rather than the 20-30 of the first half of the trip. However, another really long gentle descent appeared on the 1st Sideroad, which required no pedalling for about 2K and during which I was doing about 40-50, which was absolutely glorious. As Alan remarked, "Sometimes everything in the world is just right" and again I had to agree.

By this time I was really whacked, but managed to concentrate on keeping the rig going at 15-20 or so, and followed Alan's lead back into Erin Mills. I was getting kinda light-headed during the last 30K or so, probably from the unaccustomed hill work, and happily grabbed a Wendy's burger at the start/finish point. On the drive back to my friend's apartment down Eglinton Ave., I had to fight to stay awake, and actually had a 5 minute catnap in his parking lot before going up. But I can now say I've done my first brevet, and France is preparing my medal as this goes to press (I hope).

I hope to do a couple more 200's during the season, probably the Bracebridge trip in Muskoka. And again, thanks to all for a great experience, and for helping me pass a personal milestone.

Hills and Butter Tarts
by Phil Piltch

The turnout for this 200km brevet was rather small. Perhaps it was the rather gloomy weather forcast, or perhaps most club members felt they needed a break. Or disappointment that the original route had to be substituted with Tour of the Valleys? In spite of the somewhat dreary forecast, the weather was on the whole quite agreeable. It was lightly raining when I left my house at 5:45, but as I pedalled west on Eglinton, the clouds broke and the sky began to clear. It was sunny by the time I arrived at the Tim Horton's at 7:40.

I found six others there waiting in the parking lot: Alan Thwaits, Scott Chisholm, Michael Thomson, Tony Kaduck, and new members Kaz Bieniak and Steve Briggs. Scott was only there to see us off, having done a 400 the day before (I later found out that Michael had ridden with Scott!). Cary Weitzman, the organiser, was handing out the route sheets and control cards, with rider name, controls and times neatly printed by his ink jet printer. I quickly dashed off to use the facilities in the Tim's. My friend Henry Furlott was also signed up for the ride, but had yet to show up. He did a finally make his appearance shortly before the ride start.

We set off west on Eglinton and rode as a group. We were passed by another group of cyclists, doing duathalon training, but curiously they never got all that far ahead of us. They turned north on 8th Line, while we continued west on Lower Base Line though the a couple of river ravines before going north on 4th Line to Britannia. As we neared the escarpment, we encountered rolling terrain, and Steve, who was on a short-wheelbase recumbent, started falling back on the hills. The stretch of Britannia from about Tremaine to Cedar Springs is among my favourites - the scenery is alway lovely, and with the recent rain was a vivid green. Steams were flowing strongly. We even caught sight of a pair of American gold finches, always a visual treat of bright yellow, and a pair of King birds. I was also hoping to see a few trilliums in among the woods and was eventually rewarded with a few sightings.

photo by Phil Piltch

We regrouped at the Cedar Springs Rd, then went north to Kilbride. Once again Steve fell back on the long climb before the village. I stopped in Kilbride to respond to a page, letting the rest of the group go on ahead. After attempting to sort things out, I continued on the route and quickly caught up to Steve just before the turn on Steeles. I guided him along the route over to Guelph Line and then north to Campbelleville. Just after the turn west on Campbelleville we found Alan and Henry waiting for us. From there we kept together most of the way to the control in Cambridge. Rather than stopping at the M&M restaurant or Mr, Subway, we naively thought the Tim's at Concession Rd and Water St was still open - alas it was closed! Instead we made a stop on the other side of the Grand River, then another short stop at a convenience store on Glen Morris Rd for water.

The sun was playing hide and seek behind the clouds, and it started feeling a bit cooler. Still it remained quite pleasant. One amusing moment was seeing a young boy quickly pedalling his bike and finding ourselves taking a bit longer than anticipated to catch up to him. He looked somewhat bemused as we passed him. Quite soon we were once again in open country side, climbing rather large rollers along the Grand River valley and Steve was again having trouble keeping pace. Even still, he was quite enjoying the ride. The route did a bit of meandering before definitively turning east and back to the start. We were all enjoying the scenery and chatting on various topics.

photo by Phil Piltch

It was somewhere before the turn off Lynden Rd south on Misener, that we lost sight of Steve. Alan was a little ways ahead of Henry and me as turned east on Jerseyville Rd. As we neared Ancaster, a fellow on a mountain bike caught up and past us, then caught up to Alan, who matched his pace and they disappeared over the crest of a hill. We thought Alan was still ahead of us as we turned north on Lover's Lane (yes that's what it's called), but then found him behind us as we turned on Sulphur Springs Rd. This stretch is pretty, but also quite rolling. Soon enough we faced the gruelling climb up Weir's Lane. The reward for that climb was the pretty scenery on Crook's Hollow, including the ruins of an old mill near Spencer's Gorge. We stopped at the control in Greensville for a well needed break, and all of us bought water and butter tarts. A friendly cat came to keep us company, and she even ate a bit of my butter tart.

Alan decided to wait behind for Steve, while Henry and I continued on. We faced yet more climbing, and both of us found our legs not so energetic. We missed the turn for Snake Road (there was no sign), and went about a kilometer along York before figuring the unmarked road might be the one we wanted. Two women we passed riding road bikes confirmed that it was Snake Road. From Parkside Road in Waterdown, the route was quite familiar. Henry and I tried to pick up the pace, but found the one climb out of the ravine on Lower Base Line a rude surprise so close to the end of the route. Soon enough we could see the outskirts of Mississauga and sped along for the last few k's. We rolled in to the Tim's with an official finish time of 10hr 20min. While getting our cards signed, I bought Henry a coffee - he finished his first ever 200 km brevet! I found out from Alan that Steve arrived at the Greensville control not long after Henry and I left and successfully finished the brevet. Alan said enjoyed it so much he wants to some more!

The route we did wasn't the Grand River 200, and was probably far hillier, but is still a pleasant route. Congratulations to both Henry and Steve on finishing their first brevet!