Sep 5/6 - Mean Streets

It's official ... I've now completed three SR series -- three series of 200, 300, 400, 600. Whew ... but those are just statistics. The fun part is the riding.

Saturday went by quickly with a variety of chores in the morning, lunch at Lost Channel, Mass in town and then driving to Oakville. The highlight was the boat ride to/from the Channel on a glorious end-of-summer day, good company for lunch -- Jason, Lorraine & Kim. I didn't even get irritated by the slow service. It appeared that we were there at a 'tween time when the cook and serving staff had better things to do. Actually, I take that back -- the cook did his/her job quickly ... it was getting in the orders that took time. Abby behaved herself, waiting in the boat while we waited in the restaurant, not budging for the people on and off the dock. She got her just deserts -- a couple of french fries and the bottoms of ice cream cones.

Off to Oakville, it was an easy drive. Traffic north of Barrie was non existent, more like winter driving. I had a couple of bottles of chile sauce for my cousin Kelly Haas but left to late to stop at her house. She lives close to Stef, who will drop them off once I hear from Kelly as to their whereabouts. I got to Stef's around 10:30, unloaded -- plastic bags, gardening pots, pieces of ironwood for Mya, a life jacket for Lauren, a duvet cover to be returned to The Bay, the aforementioned bottles of chile sauce, my bags and me. A half hour later I was in bed, since I planned on getting up at 5am ... which I did.

I had plenty of time to get organized and leave in the morning, eating breakfast, drinking coffee, browsing the internet ... changing and leaving at 6:30. I stopped at a nearby Tim Hortons and added a 12-grain bagel to my stomach's carb load. It would be digested by the time we started riding. It only took 45 minutes to drive to Avenue Road and Eglinton ... actually a few short blocks north of that, via Dundas, the 403, the 401 and south on Avenue Road. Traffic was what you might expect at 6:30 on a Sunday, i.e. busy as usual on the 401.

I puttered in the car, being a little early, listening to music and then getting my bike ready. I was parked one block south of the meeting place on Roselawn. I had toured around a little before I found a place that I could park. Most of the streets are marked "no parking 12:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. without a permit". Although I wouldn't expect any trouble on a Sunday morning, then again it would be easy for a parking control officer to make a tour of the area around 9am and give out tickets.

7:40 and away I go ... no ! no ! I have a flat. I guess (I hope) that leaving the bike in the car in the hot sun for a day has taken its toll on my rear tube. I quickly changed the tube, still getting to the meeting place at 7:45, the planned meeting time, but rattled and annoyed. Soon there were six of us gathered, five guys and one gal, and Mike Maloney the head of the Toronto chapter of Ontario Randonneurs there to give out the brevet cards. I didn't realize until later that the lady rider was the spouse of another rider and since the ride was going by their house, she opted to ride that 15-20 miles and then peel off.

8:00 and we were rolling -- six of us -- 6:38 and we were back -- three of us -- me, Mark, a local rider and Rory from Ireland, here for six months. We lost three along the way -- our lady rider, Andrew our ride organizer at the half-way mark who had not really planned on doing the entire ride and Paul who needed a break and a slower pace after the half-way mark who finished just before 8pm.

It was a fascinating ride. I lived in and around Toronto for 20 years but never did much biking other than a little along the waterfront when I had an apartment on Sherbourne St. for a short time. From what used to be the north end of the city -- Eglinton -- but now is south or mid, we headed down to the lakeshore and along the waterfront by the CNE. Later in the day you wouldn't be able to move in that area due to the CNE, the water show and the air show, but Toronto was just waking up.

We rode many bicycle paths during the day -- the ride could have been called "mean trails", "mean pot holes", "traffic lights galore" ... but perhaps the most memorable trails were at the west end along Etobicoke Creek, by the Humber River and the Rouge River and park. Controls were few -- four in all -- a rider who only wanted to get credit for the ride could have easily skipped the paths and put in a hard-to-believe time by taking short cuts. It was slow going for the most part. Usually you make better time on the roads than on these multi-use trails because they can be rough, partly sand and gravel covered etc. but with the traffic lights the roads became the slow part.

As I said, it was fascinating ride. All the Ontario Randonneurs rides have names and some are whimsical. "March to the Nuke", although I have not ridden that one, probably turns around at a nuclear plant; Mean Streets is the ride in and around Toronto. TOT -- Toronto / Ottawa / Toronto, is self explanatory.

I covered familiar ground from a new perspective (bike paths vs roads), familiar ground from the same perspective that had obviously changed in the 30+ years since I'd lived there (Kingston Road & Danforth, where I lived with my grandparents), familiar ground that never changes (Post Road and The Bridal Path), and new ground (Rouge River and park, Bluffers Park and many other areas). It was all I expected and had hoped for. It was not a ride to be done in the rain, which would have spoiled the visit to old stomping grounds and would have been ugly on those sand-covered paths. The weather was glorious ... and I had way too much packed in my pack, but the climbing was at a minimal 4000 feet. I have to adjust my saddle -- it loosened at one point, the nose moving up a notch when I hit some bump or other -- I'll have to torque it properly. I fixed it when we stopped but want it fully secure.

The ride back home went quickly. I was here by a little after 10:30. I stopped along Avenue Road before hitting the highway to pick up a sub and a pepsi. I stopped at the Service Center just north of the city to change out of my biking clothes and to get an ice cream cone. I stopped at Parry Sound for more snacks and liquids. A hop, skip and jump later and I was home and into the shower. The traffic northbound was like winter ... a car a mile behind me and a car a mile in front of me ... but the traffic southbound was solid until I got north of Barrie and then fairly steady but gradually thinning as I got further north. People were calling it a short weekend, in spite of the weather, heading home with their kids, a day off between then and the first day of school.

So now the summer continues, but the traffic thins. We have a couple of nice days ahead of us before we head south ourselves. I'll do some organizing today, cleaning up my bike which is still in the car, deciding on whether I can bring two bikes or one to Florida. Packing won't take place until tomorrow and then we'll be off early Wednesday.

That's it.