Tour de Toronto Bike Ride

Signed up for this club ride at the last minute, mainly because it was to go up next to the DVP, then back down, which mimics the Ride for Heart route, and I need the long climb and quick descent practise. The ride would start at Cherry Beach, which is so close, I was gonna just ride straight there.

I wanted to inflate my tires before heading out, and found myself researching the slick racing bike tube valves on the Internet before being able to even unscrew it! Turns out I have Presta type valves. The instructions called for loosening the cap and pressing the valve with a finger to see if it's open. It was open, alright. I managed to instantly deflate the whole tire! What's worse, there is no retaining nut on the valve, so when I tried to put the pump nozzle on it again, it would just fall into the tire, gah! I had to concede defeat and load the bike and pump into the car.

Thankfully bringing a giant floor pump to a club ride makes you quite popular - it got passed around a fair bit, and then a couple of the riders fixed up my tires for me too, haha.

Route Link

We set off up the riverside trail at a very leisurely pace, and after a while, my buddy ML and I decided to make a move and take off; we were joined by another rider who thanked us for being brave, ha. Then we got to Pottery Road and waited for the others, which meant we were starting uphill on Bayview - yay! I needed the hill practise, and that is one big endless hill; I loved it.

At this point, the group was a bit splintered, and my section took a bit of a wrong turn through Mt. Pleasant cemetery, so when we reconvened at Absolute Endurance, we'd lost ML and a few others... eek. We rounded through Leaside and hit the DVP trail again. The pace was still quite slow, so much so that I was mostly coasting and getting cold. A few of us made another move past the group and took off on the flat / downhill trail.

I ended up riding mainly with one other lady right behind me. It was a dreary day, so there weren't any people out in our way on the narrow lane, and we were going at full speed. But the path can be quite uneven at times, and there was a moment when I was in aero, got distracted, and did not get up in time before I hit this awfully ruffled part of the pavement. I got caught in some groove, got pulled to one side then the other, then got launched off the path and onto the lumpy grass, again rocked from side to side, all the while thinking I'm gonna crash in 3, 2, 1... but it never happened! I even started hurtling towards a pole, and managed to use some unconscious reflexes to avoid that too. I finally got back out onto the flat path and slowed down.

I couldn't believe I stayed on that bike. The lady behind me couldn't believe I stayed on that bike! She tried explaining how crazy it all looked from her point of view - I told her I'd love to see that instant replay! The whole ordeal seemed to last forever, and although I really don't have bike handling skills to speak of, I guess I'm inherently strong enough to hold it together. That time, anyway. She ended up riding with me very slowly for a bit to get me calmed down, and then we took off again.

We took the Waterfront Trail east to Coxwell, then back to the Portlands, but we skipped the Leslie Spit because it's a rough ride there. We got back to Cherry, and my new friend continued west on the WT to get her Ironman mileage in. Yikes, what a ride.

--Distance: 34km
--Duration: about 2hrs with all the breaks