The BiQUE Ride - Day One - Part Two

I couldn’t do it. I stopped for lunch even though I wasn’t all that hungry. There were tons of people at the waterfront parks all along the way. I looked at the menu on one of the food trucks and you know what? - I couldn’t eat any of that. But since I wasn’t really hungry - that was a HUGE butter tart, I decided that I would find something later on.

Most of the Waterfront trail at this point is on dedicated paths. But there were times when we had to ride on the road. Most motorists were pretty courteous. At one point, there was a dedicated path beside the road, but it was under construction. I rode through the construction zone only to get half way down that road when I realized that there was a protected bike lane on the road. What was worse was as I was approaching the end, I thought - OH NO - there is a huge fence so I may have to ride back and take the dedicated bike lane. Thankfully, part of the fence was open at this point. Just as I arrived at the end of the construction zone, the bike group caught up with me - they rode on the dedicated bike path and probably thought I was an idiot as I rode through the construction zone. The ground was hard packed so it wasn’t an issue.

I had to consult with Google Maps at one point because I didn’t understand the bike route. Found the road I was to be on and kept going.

At one point we went through Darlington Park, but got into it from the back. Are you kidding me? The trail goes UP on a gravel path. Which wasn’t so bad, except because of the rains, the gravel was quite loose. It wasn’t as bad as I initially thought and I was off and soon back on the road.

Then close to the hotel, we were to take the South Service Road, except there wasn’t a South Service Road along the 401 as it was completely under construction. There was NO road to ride on. Another consult to Google maps and found a parallel (new) road and I was off again. Three roundabouts later and I was over the 401 and heading to the hotel.

I passed a Dairy Queen and thought about ice cream. I said - it’s only 1.5 KM from the hotel - I could walk back. I never did. Got to the hotel about 3:15 PM. The room wasn’t ready so I popped over to Harvey’s across the parking lot and got a cold drink. The hotel staff switched my room to one that was ready and had a welcome shower. Then I sat out in the back courtyard of the hotel and read until others arrived. Most didn’t arrive until 5 ish.

At 6, some of us walked down to a restaurant at the water where I had a sandwich and a beer. We’re in Bowmanville for those of you who know the area.

We’re a good group of people - one couple is on a tandem!!!  And I had forgotten to bring the charger for my FitBit. I noticed one of the guys had the same one so I was able to borrow his charger last night and I’m good to go today.

I think I was in bed by 9, but up early. Now I have time to kill before breakfast. We had a short day at 92 KM yesterday. I’m feeling pretty good this morning and excited to get started again. You know - here’s the thing - so I was on my bike for about 6 hours yesterday. What did I think about? NOTHING. I just love how my brain completely empties when I’m on the bike.

On that note - I’m out of here.

Have a great day!

Ciao!