Ride Report: Zen And the Art of Cycling around Essex

 Route / Event: Tour d'Essex / 200km Brevet [ Ride Log ]

Fred & Michel

"So wait, this course would be a 0.5...maybe a 0.666 or something?" I asked. Michel and I were discussing a method of ranking cycling route difficulty by dividing elevation gain over route distance. It was way too early on a Saturday and my mathematical subroutines were definitely undercaffeinated. 

"It's 125m over 200km. The point is, it's flat. Very flat. It'll be a good day for a personal best." he responded. These are the types of discussions you have with fellow randonneurs when you hit the pre-dawn highway to make an 8am out-of-town departure time. 

Indeed the ride was looking extremely positive. Flat course (0.625 on the 'Hebert' scale), no rain, no wind -- it was looking in our favour. This worked out well because today was a day where I was balacing wanting to have a good successful ride, but also needing to get home to where my son was hosting his eighteenth birthday party. I needed to balance being fast with being effective -- and not making a terrible experience of it all.

“When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on to other things.” -- Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance 

Despite coming from out of town we were still unfashionably early, but I still enjoy taking the time to meticulously pack my bike before a long ride. As I fumbled around with all my gear I greeted fellow riders as they arrived themselves -- many whom I was seeing for the first time this season, and some who I was meeting for the first time. Indeed the nearby city of Windsor Ontario, the location of today's depart, was living up to it's reputation of being the hub of the Huron chapter of the Randonneurs Ontario riding club. 

Tecumseth to Tillbury (0 - 50km)

Today's event was actually a double feature. It was billed as the 200km brevet event that I would be riding, while also hosting a shorter 100km populaire. Both courses shared the same route to the first control whereupon they would fork. The shorter ride would meander back to it's starting point while the longer ride continued its complete tour of the county. While there were only a few riders committing to the shorter ride today I appreciated the spirit of using the populaire as means of making the randonneuring experience more accessible to interested club prospects. 

Rob & Nancy

Despite the spirit of self-sufficiency and individualism that this cycling discipline calls for, there is certainly an aspect of camaraderie that I've come to love which was very evident in the first leg of the journey. We rode as a group of 15 - 20 at a pace where many of the riders could have easily forged ahead on their own. But in the spirit of camaraderie we stuck together, which provided me the opportunity to make some interesting introductions as we cycled the southern coast of Lake St. Clair. 

I met Adam, who was bikepacking to the east coast of Canada and had, a few days prior, posted to the group on Strava looking for someone to join him for a leg in the Windsor area. I responded letting him know that this particular event was taking place and was happy to see that he was able to share this leg of his journey with so many like-minded enthusiasts. (As a side note he also has a technology aptitude that rivals my own; something we didn't get a chance to discuss at length, but perhaps another time.) 

Notable among other riders was Nancy who, along with her sister Lori, had previously toured across Canada by bike, and was about to embark on another journey. I agreed to send her a cycling friendly route through London after today's ride. 

Control 1 (48kms)

Quick-stop at Control 1: I'm not a racer by any means, but I do appreciate an efficient control stop. Making quick pitstops and carrying on was part of the strategy Michel and I had agreed to as we both had to get back to London for the evening. While he volunteered to go in and fill our water bottles I took care of getting our brevet cards signed. Once I had water, I added some Gruppo Ride to it -- a new endurance fueling system I was planning to live off for the day. We, along with several other efficient randonneurs, were back on the road in ten minutes flat. 

Tilbury to Kingsville (50 - 100km)

A few miles up the road we bid farewell to those on the short course as the larger group rode on. Adam, our bikepacker friend also split off toward Point Peelee, and it seemed the family reunion was over -- groups were finding their own pace and breaking up as expected. 

Control 2 (102.2kms)

My quick-stops ride strategy was first challenged in Kingsville. While filtering through heavy downtown traffic less than a kilometer away from the halfway point (a control marked by Jack's Gastro Pub) Ben pulled out of the traffic jam in front of me toward a McDonald's. I would eventually realize that Ben was making a quick stop for food and intending to continue riding through lunch without stopping. By the time I registered the genius of this plan, I was standing at the pub and reconsidering whether I should do the same thing. But, standing at the pub, there was no way I was about to double-back into that precarious traffic, and I needed the rest and real food. I checked in with Michel to see how he felt about taking a longer stop for lunch and he confirmed he too desired the break. The touring sisters along with Tim, Brenda, Rob, Marius and Sadrik were already at a table, so the prospect of hanging with this crowd sealed the deal for me. (Food, folks and fun -- the irony of the old McDonald's slogan was not lost on me either).

“We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone. ” -- Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Kingsville to Amherstburgh (100 - 150km)

The energy I'd regained from my fish and chips lunch allowed me to roll incredibly quickly in the afternoon. I rode in a pack of five, with Michel, Brenda, Tim and Marius, averaging a spirited pace of 28kph over this entire leg. Somewhere along this leg I imagined passing my own ghost rider -- the one who instead stopped at McDonald's for a quick Big Mac, and was plodding along at a mere 20kph, bonking from a lack of quality food. This thought only fueled my resolve to prove that my long lunch would pay off in dividends on the road ahead.  

Two by two, Michel and I swapped lead and draft positions with Brenda and Tim over this distance, Marius remained steadfastly in the sweep position. I appreciated this fifth-wheel role. Having a rider tight at our back prevented us (okay mostly me) from dropping off the group. I learned at lunch that Marius was returning to ultra-endurance riding after several years, and worried he might be suffering back there, but the fact that he didn't lose an inch off our wheels, combined with the rocksteady expression on his face, convinced me otherwise. 

 

Control 3 (142.9kms)

"I'm going to shoot you!" he said to Tim as we pulled into the third control forty clicks later (another Tim Horton's of course). Okay, so maybe we were challenging his pace a little. And yet it was at this poit that I kept checking in with myself. How was I feeling physically? Mentally? Spiritually? I still felt like I could go on. I wasn't begging for the ride to be over just yet, which I found surprising. (Maybe this Gruppo works after all!) 

“Mental reflection is so much more interesting than TV it’s a shame more people don’t switch over to it. They probably think what they hear is unimportant but it never is.”

― Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Sadrik and Rob, who had disappeared in front of us on that leg, had only arrived a few minutes ahead of us, and seemed equally surprised at the pace our pack had maintained. I wondered if we could close out the day at this speed. I could be home in no time flat. At the control we didn't even bother to unearth the brevet cards. I snapped a picture and made mental note of the time (3:19pm) and carried on. Quick stops!

Amherstburgh to Windsor (150 - 200km)

Windsor had me perplexed. Here we were on some of the best inner-city cycling infrastructure I'd ever seen...and we were alone. Our route followed a paved bicycle path through Windsor that paralleled the 401 highway, although the expressway was walled off so it couldn't be seen or heard. The lanes were a smooth and wide series of interconnected bridges that combined for a fun afternoon of small climbs and descents -- and for the most part they were completely empty! As we reached the waterfront, I could see Detroit, Michigan on the other side of the channel and it made me wonder if being in the shadow of "The Motor City" was a factor that worked against the cycling culture in Windsor. 

And speaking of waterfront -- if I thought the biways along the expressway made for nice cycling, I was in for a treat. Windsor's Sculpture Park is the perfect place to slow the pace of a long ride. Many times I've cursed myself for being too caught up in a ride to stop and take pictures -- this was one of those times. The King and Queen sculpture and Eve's Apple among others are works of art that need to be appreciated at speeds less than 20kph. I resolved to come back and take in this path at a slower pace. This far into a brevet, I was still really focused on just finishing. 

“In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame. On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.” -- Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

We pulled into the finish with a finish time of almost exactly 10 hours. I had assumed I could have been about an hour quicker but early social pace and longer than planned stop for lunch added to my overall time. These were both quality moments on the day, and there are certainly worse reasons to be delayed on a long ride. 

Destination: Marius, Tim, Dick, Fred, Michel, Sadrik

Lessons learned on this ride: 

• I can't predict how long a brevet will take. There are too many variables, and I will always be wrong. Being wrong is stressful. 
• I like flat. Compared to the hilly 200 I'd completed a few weeks prior, I could definitely say I prefer this. But this also gives me impetus to train climbing. 
• I'm sold on Gruppo as a nutrition strategy during and after rides. 
• Quick controls are important, but a decent meal needs to remain part of my strategy for a 200. 
• I thought Windsor was just a Canadian Detroit. I was wrong. I need to go back and take in that waterfront at a moderate pace.