What a start for the new G5 road season! Multiple weather sites claiming rain at 10am. Excited amateur weather forecasters mulling it over. So G1-G4 cancelled their ride. But we persisted on. Stay calm and carry on. After comparing mostly lame weather apps (Weather Network) we went with the Weather Underground app which forecasted rain for noon, It’s 11:55 am as I write this and the rain has just started 
Since G1-G4 cancelled we accepted some of those riders into our group. Things were looking potentially spicy but it worked out just fine. Broke up into 2 groups later. It was a shorter route than planned. Back to Sobeys by 10. Dry and got a Saturday ride in. Finally
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I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Great group, great pace, strong riders on the front helping to pull us old timers along.
The shorter route worked out perfectly, we all got back well before the real downburst started.
Thanks to Brent and Brian for the post-ride refreshments.
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It’s the end of May and we finally got our second FastRec road ride in. The weather can be so unpredictable.
11C with moderate NE winds greeted us. G6 had a few stragglers show up for @Sean_Ryans group. G4 looked very popular this morning. G5, the slow intermediate or FastRec started with 7 riders. All were game for this new adventure awaiting them. Off we went to Ariss and beyond for this cool wind in our face ride. Me thinks the bodies were willing but the wind was more dominating. G4 started before us, apparently a few mechanicals slowed them down.
Arrived at the Mews in Elora. Coffee etc was consumed.
Ready to leave then those G4s showed up and took over.
Great timing.
We got out of town then, headed for the Middlebrook. The hounds were released and a brisk ride to West Montrose ensued.
The mandatory photo op in Conestogo was interrupted by some G4 riders.
An informal poll showed everyone was happy with the day. Great. It seemed like we crawled into Elora but flew back. Average 25.6Km/hr. Right on target.
A quick debriefing at the end with snacks and we went our separate ways 'til next Saturday.
Contined…
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Sounds like everyone had fun. A little bit sorry I missed out on the social aspect, but the weather here in Barcelona has been great.
A bit warm but nothing we aren’t used to later in the summer, around 23 - 26C and not overly humid, sunny and a light breeze to keep us from overheating.
Just miss being on the bike.
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So the start to Saturday the sixth of June was interesting. 9 riders showed up for G4 ,5 and 6 rides. The rain had stopped earlier in the morning and there was overcast and winds. G1-3 delayed their start from Sobey’s to 9am.
G4 ride was too long. G6 ride was too short. It turns out the G5 route was just right. We merged the 3 groups into one and off we went into a pretty stiff breeze from the NW. G6’s fearless leader was not feeling up to the ride at all and dropped off.
We continued west to Lisbon.
Break stop in Wellesley Home Hardware lot. Beware or rammy black pickup trucks even in parking lots. Yikes.
Got some relief from the wind once we headed south from Lisbon on Road 104. Fresh pavement and a tail wind into Ratzburg.
Then onto Road 43 east. We flew. Quiet road. Winds +30KMs/hr. Wowza.
Doodled around New Hamburg and headed for Baden Coffee.
Lineup was out the door, and a power outage made for a long break there. Legs full of lead, Kevin and Gerry dropped us. Finally got to Wilby Rd. Another PB! Fast ride back to Sobey’s.
Watermelon and debriefing.
For some a tough ride, but that is where great memories are made. Pooched but smiling. Kudos to Mike for being dragged into this show but coming out looking quite strong.
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June 13th Fondo to New Hamburg. Pre ride the numbers looked promising but we lost some to the G4 group. So we started with 5 riders. Newbie Christine joined us. The winds were light when I left the house but by 9am it had picked up so there was work to do at the front. Thanks Hugo and Peter.
Once we turned east at Ratzburg on Perth Rd 43 the wind was at our back. Nice easy fast ride to New Hamburg.
We headed back to Waterloo. A pleasant return, a few more hills for Christine but the reward at the end was a fast downhill on Columbia. By the way our newbie Christine transitioned from LTGR to G5 FastRec extremely well. What a pleasure to ride with.
A small but ‘share the load’ group ride today. Smiles all around.
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Fondo: blend of personal challenge, ride support, and mid and post-ride celebrations.
Todays G5 FastRec ride was a fondo. Longest ride this year/ ever for some. Group riding at it’s best -we stayed together through thick and thin (hills and hills). Destination was the French bakery in Milverton called the Gourmandise. And lots of chatter after the ride with watermelon, grapes and freezies. It was a great day to ride!
We left Sobey’s with 13. Several seasoned WCC vets, several new post LTGR newbies and some regulars. A good mix.
That Laurelwoods Dr. hill always kills me. It was a little cool to start, more than a light breeze. Some rain fell on us but we persevered and finally got past Wellesley and into the flat lands.
We rolled into Milverton in good time and had a nice rest stop.
We left the cafe, turned east with wind at our back and had a very easy go of it back to Sobey’s.
Returned with 13. No issues all day. I was pleased with the newbies and their stamina and disciple within the group. Well done.
Watermelon and grapes and freezies wrapped up the morning with most everyone hanging about chatting and laughing. What a nice ending to the morning ride.
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Saturday June27, light east winds. Sunny. Warm. Nice start for our ride to the highland of Fergus. There was 1 G6 rider and so we merged our groups. G4 started out from RIM as well
11 riders to start with. No issues at all this morning! The first half of my route went through Inverhaugh up to the casino in Elora. It was the shortest route to Fergus and with school being out the road was busy but quite respectful, not like the past Wednesday evening with a certain unmarked black Chev pickup brushed. Yikes
Elora was busy with tourists. We continued north to Fergus. Nice bike lane all the way. Turned onto Tower St.
We had reached our highest elevation of the morning here in Fergus. Down hill from here. Turned down Union which changed into S. River Rd. I love this road! Shade, a cool breeze, minimal traffic, wind at our back.
Dropped into the Elora Mews for refreshments.
After a very pleasant stay we headed for The Middlebrook. My apologies to the newer members that The Middlebrook was not fully explained. Oops.
Returned to RIM for post ride debriefing and chatter and fruit.
Come again next week.
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Expresso in Stratford and Express train to Punkey Doodles Corner.
Saturday July 4th. 7AM and the fireworks have started. Rain! No rain! Lightening? Winds. I’m bombarded with text questions from some interested parties, while still in my jammies! After careful studying the radar my weather prognostication was a go but with a careful review at 830AM. Some riders may have been dissuaded from going because of the heat and unsettled weather. 8 riders showed up but Karl arrived with a flat and turned around and went home! 7 riders it is
The wind seemed to have died off a little. We made good G5 time to Stratford. Traffic was light and polite
Lemon tarts were a hit, nice and light.
A pleasant rest stop, hydrated and fed.
A different route back to Baden. South out of town then east past the dump. A straight line to Punkey Doodles. Once out of the town the wind was at our backs and the effort was very easy. The lead riders got carried away and the speed went up. Express speed so it seem until Punkey Doodles approached. I heard no complaints though.
Got back to the Rec Centre by 1130AM and as promised watermelon etc appeared.
No rain. No lightening. No problems. Great morning.
