Mon, Oct 9 2006 - Thanskgiving Day Bike Ride on the Georgian Trail: Cycle 65-70 km in a Day! (View Original Event Details)
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Our challenging 75 km ride on the Georgian Trail, on Thanksgiving Monday, proved to be a spectacular and memorable occasion. Tony, Coco, and I, Jim O, all arrived at the event departure point within about 5-10 minutes of one another (Coco was calling Jim on her cell-phone just as he pulled up beside her in the parking lot), and so the event got started promptly once the bikes were unloaded from our vehicles.
As our photographs from the event demonstrate, the colors of the season were nothing short of spectacular. The green, red, yellow, and orange leaves, set-off at points against the blue of the sky and of Georgian Bay itself, were wonderfully rich and vibrant to the eye. Not only were the trees showing their full repertoire of fall colors, but the sun spread its warmth upon us for the whole day, and the temperature was perfect for the ride we had planned.
Early on, we established a good riding speed, but we did stop periodically to take photographs and admire the scenery.
While Coco initially appeared a little concerned as to whether she could go the distance—the full 75 km—she quickly proved to be a strong and able cyclist with much endurance. And she only fell off her bicycle one and a half times! During the course of the ride, it was revealed that, about 10 years ago she had completed a 3,000 km ride in China with some other cyclists. Given such a cycling history, she was certainly up to the task we had planned for ourselves.
Tony, who is committed to a life of outdoor activity which includes playing on a men’s hockey team, was also up to the task. As it turns out, Tony has a cottage somewhere in the Georgian Bay area, and he may, hint-hint, be able to organize some rides out his way in the future. The thought of a fall ride out his way, with a barbecue to follow at his cottage, is inviting! Throughout the afternoon of riding, Tony was frequently the one to set the pace and to keep us on track to complete our journey.
As Tony felt that the 75 km ride would surely eliminate some unneeded rear-end flab, Coco was enlisted to take “before” and “after” shots of our rear-ends, so as to enable us to gauge, at the end of our journey, whether any progress had been made.
At the half-way point, in Meaford, we enjoyed some lunch, including some hot octoberfest sausages. Tony reclined for a short nap on a bench next to the picnic table where we ate, while Coco devoured an ice cream cone that was nearly larger than she was, as our pictures show. We even found an ice cream advertisement that appeared to be a picture of a much younger Coco enjoying a similar size of ice cream cone. How surprised Coco was to discover this image of her former self!
The sun was shining so brightly that it was possible to take photographs of our three hidden companions—our shadows!
Throughout our day of riding, the conversation was varied and enjoyable, and given the lovely setting for the event, we all felt quite satisfied and thankful for our lovely time together on the Georgian Trail.
At the end of the day, we each went our separate ways. The traffic on the way back to Toronto was a little slow in or around Barrie, but it was not nearly so bad as it was expected to be.
Our ride on the Georgian Trial was so pleasant that it is likely to become an annual Thanksgiving Day event. While it takes a couple of hours to drive out to the trail, and a couple of hours afterwards to return to Toronto, the trail is in excellent shape—good for both mountain bikes and hybrids—and well worth the trip there and back.
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Erik Sonstenes at photos@torontooutdoorclub.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.