I get some crazy ideas every once in a while... it's just not that often that I actually follow through with them. When I was a kid I wanted to run a mararthon, and then changed it to a run from Marathon to Athens. Why not? Or riding my bike to my grandmother's place, which is 250 km north. This time it was to ride to Ben's cottage and back.
It took a while to figure out a proper route. I found Blake's blog through Tanya's when I remembered that he took a similar route to Midland for a cottage trip. He helped a lot with my route planning, since he had the cool Golden Horseshoe Recreation map that he used to plan his route. I was originally going to go straight up Keele instead of taking Leslie, but I stuck with Blake's route, since after plugging in the various routes it was actually the same length.
The ride was actually pretty good. The route up to Brantford went as expected (where I nearly made the same mistake as Blake). It was kinda funny where I stopped in Newmarket to stock up on Powerade. The guy working in there said that a couple weeks before someone had stopped in on his way to Keswick and he was pretty impressed. I'm sure it's a common enough route, but I couldn't help but thinking how it was an echo of someone else's trip.
Riding up 10th Sideroad wasn't too bad. There wasn't as much shoulder as I would have liked, but most drivers were very respectful. I also saw a couple groups of riders coming the opposite way, so I was pretty happy about it.
After grabbing a slice of pizza in Barrie I kept going. Highway 93 wasn't quite so nice. It was very bumpy, but it was not busy enough to really bother me. I could ride a fair way out from the side of the road until it cleared up. There was a pseudo bike lane for the rest of the ride on it. It was one of those 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 foot shoulders marked with a white line. It was in pretty good shape too.
Old Barrie Rd. (Regional Highway 11) was nice too. Not too busy, very scenic... but the hills. They were a little more than I had bargained for. I climbed the biggest hill of the ride, and right at the top I had the now familiar sound of a blowout. I traced it back to a slash in the tire I thought I had cured by plugging with a piece of spare tube. I guess not. I put a bigger piece of spare tube in and kept going. I was still pretty worried about blowing out again though.
About 5k down the road I passed Hardwood Hills. I was totally not expecting that. It was just by blind luck that I happened to pass it and read the sign about their bike shop. I figured they wouldn't have a road bike tire, but maybe I could at least pick up a patch kit.
I can only imagine what the mountain bikers must have thought when I parked my road bike outside beside their bikes. The shop had a few tires, so I picked up a Vittoria Rubino Pro and threw it on. I even went inside and used their floor pump. I couldn't believe my luck. I still had a bit of a lump in the tire since the tube didn't want to fit in too well, but I made do. I had a new tire and after a kid gave me a crazy look, I was back on my way.
At the absolute highest elevation of my trip I ran into another roadie. It was pretty surreal by this point (as was everything else happening). I nearly took the road he came up on to go down, but I trusted the GPS. Ugh.
Townline Road was very nice. Hilly, but completely dead. I didn't see a car for very long periods of time. I even saw a couple locals on bikes, without hemets, going god knows where. Probably the nicest part of the ride. From there it was a short trip to Port Severn and on through the windy roads to Honey Harbour.
The funny thing was that I didn't really know what the roads would be like after Townline, but I had managed to pick the same roads that were suggested in the Recreation map. I picked up a copy when I got back. So the route was really nice and quiet. Not what I expected on a long weekend.
Distance: 174.61 km
Time: 6:49
Actual time: 7:52
Average speed: 25.6 km/h
Max speed: 73.1 km/h
Average HR: 138
Peak HR: 173
Time in zone 3: 3:42
Total ascent: 2442 ft
It was a good thing I used up all that energy on the way up, because I nearly ate enough at the cottage to make up for the ride. Seriously.
This is getting a bit long, I'll continue part 2 after.
It took a while to figure out a proper route. I found Blake's blog through Tanya's when I remembered that he took a similar route to Midland for a cottage trip. He helped a lot with my route planning, since he had the cool Golden Horseshoe Recreation map that he used to plan his route. I was originally going to go straight up Keele instead of taking Leslie, but I stuck with Blake's route, since after plugging in the various routes it was actually the same length.
The ride was actually pretty good. The route up to Brantford went as expected (where I nearly made the same mistake as Blake). It was kinda funny where I stopped in Newmarket to stock up on Powerade. The guy working in there said that a couple weeks before someone had stopped in on his way to Keswick and he was pretty impressed. I'm sure it's a common enough route, but I couldn't help but thinking how it was an echo of someone else's trip.
Riding up 10th Sideroad wasn't too bad. There wasn't as much shoulder as I would have liked, but most drivers were very respectful. I also saw a couple groups of riders coming the opposite way, so I was pretty happy about it.
After grabbing a slice of pizza in Barrie I kept going. Highway 93 wasn't quite so nice. It was very bumpy, but it was not busy enough to really bother me. I could ride a fair way out from the side of the road until it cleared up. There was a pseudo bike lane for the rest of the ride on it. It was one of those 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 foot shoulders marked with a white line. It was in pretty good shape too.
Old Barrie Rd. (Regional Highway 11) was nice too. Not too busy, very scenic... but the hills. They were a little more than I had bargained for. I climbed the biggest hill of the ride, and right at the top I had the now familiar sound of a blowout. I traced it back to a slash in the tire I thought I had cured by plugging with a piece of spare tube. I guess not. I put a bigger piece of spare tube in and kept going. I was still pretty worried about blowing out again though.
About 5k down the road I passed Hardwood Hills. I was totally not expecting that. It was just by blind luck that I happened to pass it and read the sign about their bike shop. I figured they wouldn't have a road bike tire, but maybe I could at least pick up a patch kit.
I can only imagine what the mountain bikers must have thought when I parked my road bike outside beside their bikes. The shop had a few tires, so I picked up a Vittoria Rubino Pro and threw it on. I even went inside and used their floor pump. I couldn't believe my luck. I still had a bit of a lump in the tire since the tube didn't want to fit in too well, but I made do. I had a new tire and after a kid gave me a crazy look, I was back on my way.
At the absolute highest elevation of my trip I ran into another roadie. It was pretty surreal by this point (as was everything else happening). I nearly took the road he came up on to go down, but I trusted the GPS. Ugh.
Townline Road was very nice. Hilly, but completely dead. I didn't see a car for very long periods of time. I even saw a couple locals on bikes, without hemets, going god knows where. Probably the nicest part of the ride. From there it was a short trip to Port Severn and on through the windy roads to Honey Harbour.
The funny thing was that I didn't really know what the roads would be like after Townline, but I had managed to pick the same roads that were suggested in the Recreation map. I picked up a copy when I got back. So the route was really nice and quiet. Not what I expected on a long weekend.
Distance: 174.61 km
Time: 6:49
Actual time: 7:52
Average speed: 25.6 km/h
Max speed: 73.1 km/h
Average HR: 138
Peak HR: 173
Time in zone 3: 3:42
Total ascent: 2442 ft
It was a good thing I used up all that energy on the way up, because I nearly ate enough at the cottage to make up for the ride. Seriously.
This is getting a bit long, I'll continue part 2 after.
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