Wouldn't someone who woke up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning to go riding deserve some sort of compensation ? Me too. But of course not, it just doesn't work that way. So where to begin, how about with waking up at 6 freakin 30 in the morning ! It took me a good hour to get ready and be awake enough to ride a bike. I was on the road by 7:45 on the way to St. Catharines to meet the StCCC for a hilly ride. I was at Third St. by 8:21, 6 minutes after their departure from the chip shop. I rode out to St. Paul expecting to see a hardcore group of cyclists braving through the cold, winty, rainy, just plain shitty morning. But of course not, it just doesn't work that way.
I turned around and pedalled around for 15 minutes to try and figure out what I would do. I decided to try and make my way to their meeting point in Jordan, the only problem was that I didn't know how to get there. The hammer was down at this point to try and catch up, I climbed into Rockway and saw a sign that said Jordan was to my right. I climbed the back of the escarpment and coasted by a girl walking a dog who let me know downtown Jordan was behind me. I descended into downtown Jordan and ended up exactly where the meeting point was. A photographer let me know that that the group was there 4 minutes ago. Oh shit, the chase was on now ! I put the hammer down for a good hour following the route by flashes of memory from doing the ride twice last year. I saw Cherry Ave. and kept on going, for some reason I decided to ignore my instincts because it felt like they were just up the road. A U-turn after a few km's and I was climbing Cherry.
I took a few turns and ended up on Yonge St., the road I couldn't find on Thursday's ride. At this point I was looking for the Tim Horton's that they stop at in Smithville. I got a big whiff of chicken manure and knew I was close. Once the smell was gone I found myself in Grimsby, almost in Stoney Creek and realised that I was a little too far North. I took some road south and then headed back the way I came. I passed by that Tim's on Thursday so I knew I had to get on Hwy. 24. I passed by a lumber yard, wait a second... The lumber yard ! I was on track now, this was the lumber yard I didn't make it to on Thursday. A few turns later and BAM I was at Tim's. Some guy in the parking lot gave me the good news that I missed them by 4 minutes.
The hammer was down once again, I sort of knew the route from here. By the time I got to Mountain rd. I just didn't feel like chasing anymore. I was back on my Silverdale route again and decided that I would finish with Saylor's Hill. After 4 hours of riding I started the climb, damn I just realised how long this story is... sorry. I climbed it pretty damn fast and made the descent back into Welland, after some motor pacing with a big Chevy Silverado.
4.5hrs of ride time, none-stop, pretty quick, on a shitty day, by the time I would normally be having breakfast... I'll take it.
I love that you hit Saylor's Hill on every ride. We'll have to rename it Henri's Hill.
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