Jun 21-24 - MF 1200

In brief -- very long ride; wonderful weather; wonderful scenery.

The ride was somewhat strange since we started at 8am.  Everything was set back as a result and all the times seemed late.  The days were roughly 350, 350, 350 and 160k respectively.

Day One ended around 1:30 a.m. for me, which wouldn't be bad if you subtracted 4 hours; Day Two started later than my usual rides, at 6:15, but if you think of that as 2:15, probably about par for the course, and ended around 1am;  Day 3 started at 6:30 and ended at, ugh, dawn, but before the sun showed itself ... a very long day; Day 4 at 9:30 and ended at 6:30 p.m. -- a finishing time of 82:30.  That's actually quite good for this ride ... more on that later.

The scenery was spectacular, stunning.  It's right up there with the Rocky Mountain in BC and the Miglia in Italy.  This, in my opinion, is a must do for Randonneurs, must have this ride on your bucket list.

The days were long mostly because the roads were tough.  Rough surfaces on farm roads make for a lot of rolling resistance.  Navigation on these roads in the middle of the night is also a challenge, even with a GPS.  Some people were complaining but not me.  This was the inaugural running of this ride and they did a wonderful job organizing and supporting.

Hamid and I rode together for days 2-4.  On day 1 he was about 1/2 hour ahead of me all day long.  I had a GPS problem and started at the back of the field of 95 riders.

I'll write more later in a summary for the Randonneurs Ontario membership ...