Good morning everyone.
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to be part of a group of WCC gravel riders that completed a ride to Port Dover.
The group was a mix of recreational, intermediate and fast riders but the goal of the trip was to ride as a team, and enjoy lunch together on the beach.
Most of the group started in the Brantford area and chose to ride around 100 Km.
Myself and a few others opted for the shorter ride of 47 kms. By the way, I never thought I would think 47km was a “short” ride. Lol
From what I heard from chatting to some of the longer riders, the route from Brantford to Waterford, where the 47km ride started, was mostly paved and they said it was a nice smooth ride.
The route from Waterford to Brantford had a mix of paved and gravel trails. The trail was wide and allowed us to safely travel side by side while conversing, always keeping an eye out for pedestrian or cycling traffic.
Since I was the slower rider in the group, I am kinda glad for the narrow openings on parts of the trail that we had to pass through. As much as the faster riders were mostly leading, the narrow opening after crossing a road or before crossing a road, made everyone slow down. However, whenever the group started to separate, the faster riders would either slow or stop and wait for everyone to catch up.
The ride was fantastic and although I was a bit intimidated at the beginning, I soon realized that no one was in a race and everyone was there to have fun, get some exercise and eat fish and chips! The scenery was very nice on the trails and of course the beach at port dover and the lighthouse made for some picture taking moments.
I would highly recommend joining this type of ride and I would do it again in a heart beat.
I did hear that a Friday night ride is planned and I am excitedly waiting for the details. It will be a night time ride where bike front lights are a must.
Here are some pictures that I took. I know a few others have some photos of the day as well.
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