Rando Rambles

  Route / Event: Railway City 100 / 100km Populaire [ Ride Log ] I was first to arrive at the ride's starting point. Today we would launch from the  Railway City Brewing Company , a microbrew located in the center of St. Thomas, ON. I still had forty minutes before the depart time, so I sat back in my vehicle and enjoyed the drive-thru breakfast I'd picked up coming through Lambeth.  Not too long after, another vehicle pulled into the lot. After confirming I was here for the ride as well, the man introduced himself as Jim. Jim had come in from Sarnia and this was his first ride with the Randonneurs Ontario club in over five years. (We would also later learn that today was Jim's birthday!). Michel arrived next, and by this time the rain started to hammer down. With our bikes unloaded and packed, but with no place to shelter, all we cold do was wait inside our own vehicles as others arrived. Once Tim and Brenda arrived, the rain had slightly abated. Before leaving we cal...

  Route / Event:  Railway City 70  / 70km Populaire  [  Ride Log  ]  Spring has spring in Southwestern Ontario. Though old man winter's last exhale threatened us with freezing rain, the early morning forecast reported above freezing temperatures -- that's all I needed to see.  The ride today is a populaire -- a sub-200km route with no required control points to pass through. Early in the riding season these shorter rides serve as great conditioning to the longer brevets which start in May, though I've noticed that some club chapters will run populaires throughout the entire season as they make great entry points for new riders all year round.  This is the first populaire I've participated in with the  Randonneurs Ontario  club because the spring lockdowns of last year saw them all cancelled. Despite the shorter distance, I've approached preparing my bike and myself the same way as though it was a full brevet event. I could have gone...

  Route / Event:  St. Thomas to Paris 200  / 200km Brevet  [  Ride Log  ]  Another Saturday morning arrival at another Tim Horton's for another brevet with Randonneurs Ontario . This one in particular was located on the eastern edge of St. Thomas, Ontario, and the intended route would have the group cycling out to the town of Paris (no, not that Paris ) before looping back to St. Thomas.  I unloaded and packed my bike in the dark parking lot, beneath the crackling of an intimidating transformer tower. I grabbed some breakfast (the usual: Farmer's Wrap and OJ), and greeted other fellow randonneurs as they arrived. One such randonneur approached me and said "Hey man, it's good to see you again!". After a quick double-take, I realized this was my friend sadrik. He and I had worked together in the early 2000s, and though we hadn't seen each other much in the last fifteen years, I had noticed that he was putting down some serious cycling miles, and in...

  Route / Event: Much Ado About Nothing / 200km Brevet [ Ride Log ]  Today was the day -- the day I would try to complete my first 200km brevet; an organized group-depart event with the Randonneurs Ontario club. Earlier this year I didn't think I would be able to make this event, which was a shame because it was the only brevet that starts in my resident city of London, Ontario. I was scheduled to participate in Race the RockStAR , an annual multi-sport adventure race up in the Haliburton Highlands. But it's cancellation freed up this weekend which turned out to be serendipitous.  However, pulling in to the Tim Horton's at 6:45AM, I was in a bit of a state. Sure I was excited about the prospect of completing my longest ride to date, and my first official ride with this club. But it was raining, and that was wreaking havoc on my psyche. I had attempted this route before once , back in October 2020, and the all-day rain had played it's part in preventing me from finis...

As far back as I remember I've loved being on a bike. Growing up in a small town with a population of 8,000, everything I needed to do was within biking distance. Whether it was riding to school, a friend's house, a trip to the pool, a ride out to the lake, I never had to pedal for more than an hour to do anything I wanted. As a kid, bicycles were freedom and independence.  When I moved to Toronto at age 18 I was quick to ditch my car. I wound up living close to a subway, and eventually I picked up a 21" steel-framed CCM hardtail I used purely for a fit way to get to work. I enjoyed my ride-commute along the Lakeshore multi-use trail, but by then cycling had lost it's luster to me. Transit was faster and much more convenient, and cycling, purely for the purposes of transport, was a grind. (Back then I had no appreciation for what a nicer bike with lighter components would have done for me). I can't even remember the fate of that bike -- it's possible I just lef...

Route / Event:   Much Ado About Nothing  / 200km Permanent  [  Ride Log  ] It was still dark, and already raining when Kim and I set off for the departure point; my bike strapped to the hitch rack of the SUV, and all my gear in the back. I couldn't help but think that I should have done this yesterday when the weather was cool but dry. This was not just a casual bike ride that I could decide to do another day, however. When you register a ride through a club like Randonneurs Ontario , the date is logged and there's insurance involved. And besides, battling through discomfort is a core tenet of the randonneur. Kim steered us through the drive through where I picked up two farmer wraps; one of which I ate immediately, and the other I stowed away for later. I thank her for the ride and told her that if I could maintain a pace of about 20kph, I'd be about 10 hours. She initialed my brevet card, we said our farewells, and I set off just before 8AM.  Ride Start: ...