Uxbridge Ice Classic 110km populaire with Randonneurs Ontario
This year, I focus on cycling. And what best than joining the locale randonneuring group? Here is a report of my first populaire ride.
The course is called Uxbridge Ice Classic 110km populaire. I discovered Uxbridge last fall as the head of the trans canada trail, and I was curious to go back there, winter barely past.
I was also the occasion to do my first long ride with Orange Mécanique, and test some gear:
The start of the ride would be north of Toronto, so I decided to ride the 20km to the start which would bring the ride close to a century.
Stephen, the Toronto chapter VP asked me to keep track of the participants, as he wasn’t riding with us today. After a short pause at the Tim Hortons (I’ll discover that Tim Hortons is the randonneur’s favorite spot), there were the 5 of us that would do the ride today: Dave, Henk, Jack, Brian and I, and off we went.
I’m familiar with the road as it’s the playground for a number of local cycling club. Though the ride on Vivian rd to Uxbridge was surprisingly hilly.
We stopped and had lunch at the local Tim Hortons. I got the time to learn more about each of the participants. First impression of the groups was great and I’m glade I joined them. We splitted in two group on the way back and Dave was kind enough to shield me from a persistent head wind. When we finally turned South on Leslie St the wind eased but we saw flurries… Guess winter wasn’t done.
Well, it was a good introduction ride and my first long ride of the year. Overall it went well. I started strong and gently suffered and the way back. Winter training was showing its fruits but I would have to keep training for the next ride dubbed “Gentle Start”: a 200km west off Toronto.
Originally published at gravier.io on April 4, 2015.
