Jul 30-32 - beating the heat

Ok, so there aren't 32 days in July ... but this was a part of summer that just kept stretching out !

How does one survive a very hot windy 1000k ?

-- sitting on the Rice Lake dock dangling our feet in the water;
-- standing in the beer fridge at one convenience store ... look but don't touch;
-- enjoying the wind in our faces on the Glenora ferry;
-- being oh so tempted to jump into Wolfe lake with the kids at the side of the road;
-- stopping in every, I repeat every, convenience store, variety store, antique store, any place that might sell a cold drink ! even if, as in one case, it's only 4 kms since the last stop !

In the final analysis, as with all of these rides, I enjoyed myself. I had some tough times -- about 100km of incredible cramps on the first day from km 200 to 300; -- hot, hot climbs on the third day; the desperate need to find someplace to stop and sleep, wandering all over the road ...

The cramps were definitely due to dehydration. I think that the combination of sinus/allergy issues prior to the ride and quite likely a little too much wine the prior four days left me partly dehydrated to start. At one of my stops, sitting on a chair in a convenience store, all of my leg muscles were jumping, but of course in all different directions ! Even muscles in my chest, around my rib cage, were spasming ... this isn't good ! My heart is a muscle too ! It took a long time to work this through, consuming gallons and eating many many electrolyte pills, but eventually I got things under control. The legs -- quads primarily -- hurt for the rest of the ride from the tension.

There were funny moments too -- me to Renato -- "don't react" as I hold a container of ice cream against the back of his neck as he's sitting head-to-knees on the floor of one store; our feast in the Picton hotel room -- hamburg buns, bologna, mustard, chocolate milk ... hey, what do you do for dinner after midnight on a Sunday when the only thing open is a Mac's Milk ?

Seven of us to start and six to finish. Stephen finished in some incredible time, never sleeping; Bob finished after 2pm on Monday; Renato and I finished just prior to 11pm that same day; Dick and Stan ... not sure; Rolfe dropping out early on the first day.

Being mostly out and back, I saw Stephen on McPhails road at 7:25 a.m., he on the way back from Ottawa. That put him about 8 hours ahead of me ... I saw Bob a half hour later, which put him about an hour behind Stephen. Shortly after my turnaround at the Ottawa Parliament Buildings Peace Tower, I saw Dick and Stan, who reported that Renato was about 35 kms ahead of me. I didn't see him, but then we were all stopping so much due to the heat, that it's quite easy to go by someone without noticing their bike propped up against a variety store wall.

Renato had passed me outbound as I was nursing cramps, so I did not want him to wait. Stephen of course rode through; Bob and Renato both stopped separately in Perth, which is at the 400k mark, but Bob only showered and changed. I got into Perth around 1:30 a.m., ate at a Tim's and then left the hotel at 6am heading back to Tim's for breakfast. Just to make the ride more interesting, I missed the turn onto McPhails, sun glare obscuring my Garmin (my excuse) and rode an extra 7km before noticing, turning back ... hard to ride while you're kicking yourself !

Much later in the day I caught up to Renato, who'd stopped a couple of times by the side of the road in the shade to cool off. I told him that I had a room in Picton and he was welcome to join me. We made separate ferries; I got the 11:45pm and he got the 12:15 a.m. We rode together the third day, well mostly together since sometimes we were about a mile apart, one or the other of us dragging our feet !

The third day was in four distinct segments -- the first 75kms in the cool morning; the next 100km that took 7 hours in the heat with a million short stops; the next 30km in slightly cooler, windy rolling hills; the last 70km run from Oshawa to Queens Park, slightly downhill, slightly wind at our back or dying ... it's a big city.

After the ride I collected my car at Gavin's apartment and stopped at a convenience store along Spadina before the Gardiner Expressway. I stopped again at the first Service Center on the 400 and then in Barrie at David's car-pool parking lot for a one-hour siesta. I got home at 4:30 a.m., or something like that.

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Back at the ranch, everyone had a great weekend. David's friend Chris and his family were here; David took people tubing; everyone enjoyed the wonderful weekend weather -- perfect when you're by a lake but brutal if you're riding up a hill !

Today ... well, I'll get to that in the next blog !

Onward !