After many many many countless hours of planning…okay so really this was a last minute long shot that somehow came to fruition. We had a itinerary, maps and potential places to stay…all of which were forgotten at home… it was time to boogie!
This trip almost was too easy of a sell to my lovely wife, one week away leaving her with a 5 ½ month old puppy with no car! Did I mention she is pregnant?! Yes she’s that good to me.
Deciding not to get too carried away we set a reasonable departure time of 0900 or in and around that time. I had promised my lovely wife that I would pick her up from her night shift prior to leaving, and despite all my preparations I was still struggling to get out the door and off to the Big Smoke to pick up Randall. Finally, I managed to get everything packed up and in the car. Got to Randall’s place and heeded the warning not to drive under the low part of the entryway at the condo…don’t need any premature bike carnage.
We somehow manage to get all the gear in the car and we are on our way!
So here we are just joking our way down the 401 in search of singletrack having a good old time, bikes are solidly solid up on the roof rack, roof checks every so often through the bike portal (sunroof), then whammo speed trap! BUSTED! Nothing like trying to pullover while passing someone…I think I nearly shut the highway down.
“where you guys going?”
“um, yah biking.”
“January 2006”
“wow, most people don’t know that specifically.”
Yah well it was a significant date in my life…I was on my way to pick up the engagement ring for my then unknowing girlfriend and my soon to be wife…more specifically it was January 21, 2006 around 1:30 pm on Book Rd in Ancaster clocked at 102 in a 60. I also remember this as it is, or was, my only speeding ticket.
“You know you were speeding?”
“really” this big speedometer thing here wasn’t setting off any bells and whistles nor was the Garmin Edge 705 that was riding shotgun.
Then he asks me an oddly perplexing question, “do you drive much?”
I still don’t know what the right answer to this question is but it sure wasn’t, “ya, a little” cause that apparently gets you a 20 over ticket…which all things considered is better than a 35 over ticket that I probably deserved. He informs us that 20 over is the proper speed of travel for those not wanting tickets. And on we go a little slower.
Decide we better top up the petrol in the car and some fuel for our bodies…Randall got the short straw and had to endure the line at Wendy’s in Kingston…I’ve been there half a dozen times and it is always bad…always! The rest of our trip to Bromont is uneventful, although after Randall had the Baconator, the air in the car seemed to need to be refreshed more frequently.
As we are getting closer we notice two things: firstly that all the bikes leaving are clean, secondly that all the bikes leaving have significantly more travel than our XC rigs. These were bad and good signs or so we thought.
Get geared up and grab some passes….skimped out on the lift tickets as firstly we’re dutch and secondly only chumps take the lift. So we climbed, and we climbed, and the air got thinner…and Randall appeared to get smaller...or more distant. Got to admit I hadn’t ridden with Randall in some time, probably 3 years, but if there is one thing I remember from Sea2Sea or riding in the Don Valley with him, it is that the boy can climb like a mountain goat on steroids! The trails were significantly more technical that that of the Hamilton area with a healthy dose of rocks and off-camber corners. I managed to biff it good through this rocky stepped section with a bog on one of the steps, one of those slow-mo over the bars experiences. You would think after 7 years of riding I would be done with those but apparently their still possible. Thankfully I landed on my Camelbak and major bodily carnage was avoided. Randall, although he missed it laughed it up and then informed me that he had adjusted his fancy bling bling fork to 5” and still nearly made the same mistake. The trails in had seen a little too much action the week prior when they were host to some of the finest riders in the land at the World Cup. Those said riders royally chewed the course as the rains came down and the floods went up. Much of the WC course was un-rideable and we abandoned it to the other trails which were in much better repair. All in all Bromont was a good starting location and a fun experience, but not somewhere I have to go again.
In search of lodging we proceeded with our plan to camp as much as possible, so we asked Garmin where to go…his first suggestion was no good. His second was much better, although the frenchie at the desk pretty much told us that we weren’t wanted there. I was a very family oriented campground with scads of kids running and riding in every which directions. We went to check out a couple of spots in the park and due to the 8kph speed limit in a standard VW we had people wagging their fingers at us and sending french flavoured profanities our way.
What is it that makes everyone think they know exactly how fast 8kph is…I was doing 8 kph and still getting shit from the frenchies. This place was pretty cool if you had kids as we laughed at the Timone and Pumbah train blaring hakuna matata en francais with everyone singing along. Thinking better of it I set up camp with Randall biked back to register, as the speedlimit doesn’t apparently apply to bicycles and I didn’t feel like being chastised but 4 year old girls for exceeding the limit.
Ventured out the the local watering hole, had a Pint of some local suds, Watched the Tour in HD and eat some very cheesy lasagna with sugar crème pie for dessert.
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