The ride back from the cottage was a lot more than I bargained for. I spent some time trying to figure out a slightly different route to come back on. I wanted to avoid the hills around Hardwood Hills (funny how there are hills there), so I played around a little and decided to go close to Orillia and along the shore of Lake Simcoe. It seemed like a pretty good idea. It was only a few km extra, but there would be a lot less hills.

I retraced my route back, and ended up at Old Barrie Rd. I kept going just past and there was this huge hill. I really didn't want to have to climb it. I looked at the GPS and noticed how close I was to Orillia. It was right there. I debated back and forth about it for a while, but after doing a rough calculation I decided that I might as well go through Orillia and complete my goal of circumnavigating Lake Simcoe.

I don't know how good of an idea that actually was. I had to join Highway 12 right after I got back on Old Barrie Rd. It was still busy, and there wasn't much room. Luckily there was a very big downhill just after passing the 400. There are a few trails and routes that use Highway 12's bridge between Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching, so there was quite a bit of room. In the winter there are snowmobile tracks all over it.

After Orillia while still on Highway 12 I passed a chip truck and had some well deserved fries and a juicy burger with peameal bacon. Rrrrowl! It didn't sit all that well though. I soon got to turn off, and took a bit of an around about way back to Highway 12.

Going around the eastern side of Lake Simcoe sucks. For some sections you have no choice but to take Highway 12 or 48. Especially on weekends they can be extremely busy. They're the biggest routes to go around the lake. There are a lot of people going to or coming back from cottages. There was so much traffic in one section where it was completely bumper to bumper. I caught up to cars that had passed me as long as ten minutes before. It was a pretty good feeling.

There were some lakeside sections which were nice though. I got to pass over the part where the Trent/Severn waterway connects to Lake Simcoe, which was nice. A lot of people were kite surfing in the area too. That must be the new cool hobby. Speaking of the waterway, I think next year I might try and kayak to the cottage from Lake Simcoe. That could be a lot of fun (or pain).

After being unceremoniously dumped onto Highway 48 for a long stretch, I finally made it to my turn off. It was probably the most stressful section from the whole weekend. Around this point I discovered just how far the ride actually was going to be. When I was roughly calculating I took the road routes. It looked like I was only going to ride 10 km more. But when I put the lake shore routes I was taking in, it looked like I was going to be at 200 km by the time I got back to Finch Station. Not quite so cool.

I was feeling pretty down by this point, knowing that I still had 70-80 km more. I went for a little dip in the lake and everything came back! Up to this point I was fighting a very strong headwind. It was coming from the northwest, and it was causing some serious waves. It wasn't easy to get there. But right after the dip I got on Warden and used the tailwind to get back.

Warden was a nice ride. I throughly loved the hill after Stouffville Rd, especially with the tailwind. A little further down I could see cop car lights and pylons. They had blocked off the road to traffic, but the cop was m moving his car. I rode up and asked if I could sneak through.

The cop said nobody's getting through. Someone got smoked by a car. He must have noticed that I looked a little confused (smoked by a car?), so he told me, "he was on a bike," while motioning toward mine. "He's dead." "Shit," was all I could say. What can you say?

I was just thinking about how safe Warden is. Same with Leslie and even Woodbine. If the 404 were never extended to where it terminates now, these roads would not be cyclable at all. I was thinking about Jane Jacobs and neighbourhoods, and how different some parts of our city would look if we had a different highway network. That's for another post though. But all I could think about is how lucky we are to have that highway because of how safe it's made everything.

A lot went through my mind. Why am I doing this? Finally I started thinking that maybe this is pretty safe after all. I was very worried before leaving. I didn't know how courteous the drivers up north would be. I expected a free-for-all. More like how things were on Highway 48. Now that I was almost back I had to see this. I wondered if I was being safe enough, or if maybe I should give in and wear one of those reflective X vests. I've been trying so hard to avoid them. When I drive and see someone wearing one I kinda giggle on the inside (sorry Tanya). ;) It really sucks.

I made it back alright. Things went well with the tailwind and even more hills going down. I even decided to ride all the way back home. Why not? It was only a few extra kilometers.

Distance: 208.5 km
Time: 7:52
Actual time: 8:52
Average speed: 26.5 km/h
Max speed: 58.6 km/h
Average HR: 134
Peak HR: 174
Time in zone 3: 3:33
Total ascent: 3077 ft

I accomplished two goals this weekend that I didn't know I was going to be able to do this year. I circumnavigated Lake Simcoe and I did a double metric century. SWEET! I'm really starting to feel like anything's possible. I haven't felt like this since I was a kid. This is awesome.

Almost forgot. Here's the route I took:



I should have made them easier to see, but the dark blue is on the way up and the light green is the return, just in case you can't tell in the post. I've also signed up for a basic account at MotionBased, where you can read all kinds of cool stats on the return trip here. I'm going to give more info on it when I've used it a bit more. It's looking pretty damn awesome so far.