Jul 31-Aug 2 - just another ride, not

From a blog standpoint, it seems that a one-day ride always takes three days.  I don't blog the day of the ride covering the day before, then the day after the ride I'm too tired/busy to catch up on blogging.  This was just another ride, from that standpoint.

Friday was busy, always busy with so many people around.  Stef and Aaron had left the day before but the place was still hopping. 

I had one major objective that day -- to get Lauren through the Boater Exam. She had done her studying and written the test on her own -- failed that time.  Now let's see how much she knows and whether this is simply a matter of ability to write tests ...

That's what it was.  She knew her stuff but was thrown by some of the questions.  Why do we carry maps and charts in our boat ?  Well, that would be in case we're asked for them by authorities ... not.  She knew the correct answer but had answered this one incorrectly.   Ambiguities were throwing her, like the question on how often to replace life jackets -- every four years is a correct answer, as is the expiry date as is a ripped jacket -- so which one is more correct ?  I don't know either; depends on which occurs first, in my mind.  You will never have an eight year old ripped jacket, if you're following the rules.

The system doesn't let you re-write the test for 24 hours, so we had to wait until 2:30 p.m.  An hour or less later she was finished, 92% and temporary card in hand.  Her permanent card will arrive by mail.

So ... it was time to take her boating.  She was a little nervous the first time out and it was starting to rain on us, so we made that trip short.  After the rain stopped, the sun came back out and we went out again. She'd gained a lot of confidence in the meantime.  I let her back the boat out and then drive for quite a while, but I did the docking. Next time out she can do some docking, but that might not even be this year, unless they make it up for Thanksgiving.

At 1am I set out for Bancroft.  It's just under 4 hours using the 522/11/35/118 route.  There was nothing, repeat nothing, open the entire route.  Had I diverted in Huntsville I'd have likely found something.

Six of us started riding at 6am ... and the last one in was Dick around 10:50 p.m.  Peter Grant and I got in 10 minutes before him.

It's a hilly route with about 4,000 meters of climbing, about on par with PBP for climbing per km except that some of these hills are steeper.  There were quite a few spots where my Garmin showed 12% and one short, very short thankfully, where it showed 20%.  That might not have been quite correct but it was steep. 

Peter pushes fairly hard but likes his food; I think that he had three cooked meals.  I did the ride eating a hunk of cheese that I'd brought, a handful of almonds, a fat weiner, a small salad and several diet pepsi's.  I joked at one point that I was having an aspartame fueled ride.  I was definitely in a fuel and fluid deficit. 

Had I kept my mouth open during one part of the ride, that would have helped with the fluid part.  We got some heavy rain for about 45 minutes and then it cleared, stayed warm and didn't rain again.  I finished the ride the way that I started -- wool jersey, wool arm warmers, shorts and pbp reflective vest.  I'd donned my heavy jacket for the rain and bundled that up again when it stopped.

I hit the road immediately after we stopped, picking up some fluid and a snack -- beef jerky, at the convenience store and Tim's on 118 just before it disappears into the night.  I opted to drive the busier route, sticking with 118 all the way to 169/400 and north, even though it's about 15 minutes longer according to Google.  I stopped in Gravenhurst at the Mac's, marveled at the kids out on the street at 2am ... it's peak cottage season, long weekend to boot ... and continued on.  Prior to that, I'd stopped for an almost-one-hour snooze at some side road.  I got home at 4:15 and was showered and sleeping within about 15 minutes.

I talked to Sandy when she got up but didn't open my eyes.  She left around 7:15 to go to Stef's to look after Zoe and Matthew while Jeffrey, Sara and Emma went to Canada's Wonderland.  I was up shortly after she left but snoozed in the afternoon.  In bed around 9pm, I heard her come in and come to bed around 11pm. 

When I got up, I had marveled at how good the place looked.  Sandy had obviously been busy cleaning, but as much as that, it's simply a matter of all the stuff being packed and leaving.  We're pretty much back together but no doubt Sandy needs a couple of days of clear weather to do all the sheets !  She hangs sheets on the clothesline; towels go in the dryer.

Today will be quiet and then tomorrow I head to Barrie; she heads to Oakville via Barrie and will stay overnight.  We're taking Abby to the dog chiropractor ... this should be interesting.  Will she think that he/she is a vet and hide under a chair ?

Onward ...