May 27-29 - two down

There are a number of things that I wished that I had done Friday, chief among them using the weed eater.  That rain made the grass spring out of the ground and the side yard is no overgrown.  Ugh.

I did get the car packed, obviously, along with my stuff, for the Barrie 200 & 300 rides.  I left at 4:30 a.m. having heard Cassie give a little whine since she heard me bustling around and wanted to get up. 

It was an easy trip to Barrie; not much traffic at that point, even less traffic back last night !

The rides were something else -- brutally hot.  We all suffered.

The first day, the 200k, was the Big Chute ride.  It was going far too well on the way north to Honey Harbour with a slight tail-wind.  After a brief stop the heat and headwind made short work of us.  12 riders became 11; we had one DNF. 

With an 8am start, the last riders were in at 8:15 p.m., which is pretty darn good.  The cutoff was 10:30.  The two in at 8:15 included a newbee.  Actually the DNF was a newbee as well; apparently he was overdressed.  He threw in the towel early.

I finished up at 5:20; Henk, Jerzy and Albert finished a little before me; Peter was an hour earlier -- but paid the price the next day.  Bob, David, Michel, Graeme, Charles and Gwineth rolled in at various times.

I went straight over to Stef's, figuring that once I got to the motel it was going to be hard to pry me loose.  That worked out well.  I visited for a bit as they got supper ready and then headed to the motel, meeting up with a group for dinner.  We ended up going to the Mandarin; everyone as happy for a walk-to dinner.

We ate a lot.  Peter was convinced that the Chinese food was what gave him stomach trouble the next morning; I believe that it was the heat.  He was ready to throw in the towel but I rode with him, trying to convince him that cooling down his core was the answer.  He persisted, setting a new personal record for longest 300k.  He and Henk and I finished together at 9:59 p.m.

Albert and Jerzy finished before us; Bob, David and Michel at midnight.  2am was the cutoff.

Albert rode a fat tire bike through this, probably putting out 50% more effort than the rest of us.  It sounded like a large SUV on the road as he pounded away !

With a stop at Subway for a chopped salad, I hit the road.  I stopped again at the Service Center south of Parry Sound for some coffee, getting to the cottage at 1:10 a.m.  A shower, hunk of cheese, few pepperoni's and V8 completed my day.

Cassie is now wearing the invisible fence collar.  She's been zapped a few times, apparently, knows her boundaries.  That doesn't stop her from going to the Davies, but no further.

So ... today ... do some bike checkup; I'd love to get out with the weed eater but I'm pretty stiff; have dinner and head back to Barrie for Tuesday's 400k. 

The week is going to march by pretty quickly !

Onward !