Aug 6-8 - Manitoulin 1000k

No drama.  That just about sums it up.  There was no drama. The weather was great, the scenery was fantastic, the riding company ... incomparable !

Seven of us - me, Jerzy Dziadon, Brian Brideau, Dick Felton, Bob Macleod, Martin Cooper and, last but not least, Arthur Reinstein, our mobile support, met in South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island, for dinner on Friday night August 5th.   Arthur had taken the ferry over with his car, Jerzy, Brian, Dick, Bob and Martin took the ferry with their bikes.  My cottage is actually closer to South Baymouth than Tobermory, so I drove and left my car at the Manitoulin side of the ferry, planning on returning their Tuesday morning after the ride.

As Martin said, an inaugural ride on a new route has a sense of adventure ... will the roads on Google actually be there ?  What will the traffic be like ?  Will we find services when we need them ?

Some of this was taken care of by our Randonneuring friends.  Peter Grant had ridden much of the route from Manitoulin to Sudbury.  Stephen Jones also knew some of the roads and provided some commentary.  Some roads are embedded in other rides.  Arthur, bless his heart, as mobile support, was able to give us a heads-up where the route might give us angst and provide sustenance at key points.

We did hit a couple of kilometers of gravel, nothing significant.  Our second overnight hotel wasn't quite where I expected it to be.  Otherwise the roads checked out.  I don't think that I'd make any changes for a second running of this ride.  It's very much worth keeping on the books.

Traffic was never really a problem.  In fact, we were a couple of hours into the ride before we saw the second car.  Traffic on Highway 6 south of Espanola and then north of Wireton heading to Tobermory were both light. Where we expected heavy traffic -- Highway 17 / Trans Canada -- east and west of Sudbury -- it was a lot lighter than I'd expected.  Starting the ride on Saturday morning proved to be the best option as the traffic was really heavy on Friday night when I drove to the ride start.   

We saw wildlife, the most memorable being a good sized bear running across the road in front of Jerzy on day two.  We saw several deer, porcupine road-kill, I don't remember everything.

From the outset, Brian and Jerzy were out ahead of the rest of us.  Brian's intent was to camp, however, and Jerzy waited for the rest of us at the first Control.  That changed over time to Brian out ahead, Martin, Jerzy and I in the middle, Bob and Dick bringing up the rear.  Brian did camp the first night but ended up staying at the pre-arranged hotel at Sparrow Lake Road and Highway 11 / Washago with the three of us.  Dick and Bob were running a couple of hours behind at that point and opted to stay in Bracebridge.

There were many special moments on this ride.  Randonnesia is quickly setting in, but I can think of a few-- Arthur showing up with huge western sandwiches at that first Control; the scenery south of Espanola; hitting the French River Trading Post just as their Sunday Brunch opened (what timing !); the aforementioned bear; the relief when we finally got to that motel in Washago ... on the OTHER side of Highway 11 (thanks to Arthur, we knew how to get there); Kathy Brouse waiting to cheer us on at Highway 6 and Dyers Bay Road, on the Bruce Peninsula; four of us finally rolling into Tobermory at 9:44 p.m. for a time of 64:44; and last but not least, confirmation that Dick and Bob had finished at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, for 72:30 -- 2.5 hours to spare.

Congrats to Martin and Bob on their first 1000k !  Thanks to Arthur for driving more than 2000k to support us !

We are lucky to live in Ontario.  This was a wonderful adventure !