Jul 25/26 - tour de thunderstorm

It was a memorable ride for a number of reasons:

-- dodging and waiting out thunderstorms
-- sleeping on the concrete in a library doorway in Embro
-- seeing parts of southwestern Ontario that I thought only existed in roadsigns
-- donning and doffing rain gear so many times that it should make the Guinness Book of Records
-- "who's on first" with this absolutely huge Ukrainian gas station owner / cook
-- and much more


There were six of us on the ride. Henk, Fred and Glen I've mentioned before; Daniel Fisher from the U.K. completed his first Canadian SR on this ride (200/300/400/600); Jakub Ner from London Ont. was a DNF.

The route took us from Erin Mills in Mississauga to Port Stanley on Lake Erie, Strathroy, through the outskirts of London to Stratford, to Cambridge and then back to Erin Mills. According to Google that would be 468km, but of course our route was not quite as direct and we were over 600km at the end.

Jakub was on a small-wheeled (18" wheels I think), high seat and handlebar setup. He'd ridden long rides with it before but had stomach problems on this ride and DNF'd after getting to Strathroy, riding back to his home in London.

I rode with Glen and we got in at 32:43 against the 40 hour time limit; Henk and Fred completed a full three hours faster at 29:33 (that would have been Henk pulling most of the way); and Daniel Fisher was close behind us at 33:30.

Thunderstorms were out there most of the time. In the middle of one, we waited for the better part of an hour at a gas station/convenience store/restaurant that was closed, sitting under shelter until the lightning passed and then heading out into the pouring rain. The largest one was just north of us at the end of the ride and my adrenaline fueled fear gave me second wind and I pulled us along Britannia Road, Eighth Line & Eglinton for almost 15 km at 35 kph. I did not want to put my rain gear on one more time, nor did I want to end the ride in the pouring rain. As it happened, I got the bike into the car just as the big drops started falling and it dumped.

We took an hour plus and cleaned up in Stratford at the residence at Connestoga College. It's called the Nurse's Residence, but I didn't see any nurses. Of course that might be because we arrived at 1:30 a.m. and left at 2:45 a.m. After an hour or so riding, Glen called a timeout -- he was too sleepy to continue. I was almost in the same shape and readily agreed to stop. He knew of a sheltered doorway in what used to be a church, now a library, and we stopped for about 1/2 hour and got 15 minutes sleep. I've never slept on my back on the concrete before ... but I did sleep. I wasn't cold there, but was very chilled when we started riding again and it took me a while to get my body warmed up.

There's not much, and nothing open between Startford and Cambridge although we did find a gas station/convenience store/restaurant in Drumbo. Prior to that, I had thought that Innerkip Drumbo was one place, based on the road sign on the 401. Now having ridden through them, I know that they are two separate towns. Glen had this absolutely hilarious conversation with this huge Ukranian ... he was asking about open restaurants, pointing forward from where we were standing, meaning to indicate the adjoining area. The fellow thought that he was pointing towards town, or was just having fun, ... anyway -- he was the gas station owner, attendant, convenience store operator, probably mechanic, cook (when he was wearing an apron), waiter, soothsayer ...

The scrambled eggs were somewhat lacking although the toast was great. What did we expect ? But then again, it's like having hot dogs cooked on sticks over a fire -- they taste great. It's all in the anticipation and we were hungry.

My fueling was all over the map. Many cups of crummy coffee; a pre-packaged sandwich; a six inch Subway; cream of mushroom soup waiting out one dumping rainstorm; ever-present perpetuem and carb=boom gels, a 12-grain bagel ... more if I think about it. I'll have to be more disciplined at the Granite Anvil 1200, but it's more organized so that will be easier.

I'll add some addendum's to this in the next blog but that's it for now.

We went back to Stef's; I showered; we headed north with Kylie and Abby. We stopped at the Subway close to Stef's and I had a 12" sub then a little over two hours later I had a chicken dinner at the Swiss Chalet in Parry Sound. It's that kind of deficit that would bonk you on a 1200. I slept to Parry Sound and then drove for the last hour. I started watching the Mount Ventoux stage of the TdF and then went to bed after a few minutes. My eyes feel a little puffy now, but overall I've recovered.

Onward ...