Point to point

I no longer think I can start and stop a ride at the same place anymore. Seeing the same section of road at the beginning and the end will be the start and finish of torture after dong a point to point ride Saturday. It was another attempt at a Top Gear style race, a bike versus a car, not just any bike but the Chuck Norris bike and not just any car, but my old man sedan which as many know isn't all that old mannish.
The challenge, see how far I can get before I get caught, the true end goal was Shannon's parents place in Peterbourgh.

So I did have some advantages over Shannon in the car. I was leaving before her, obviously. I also wasn't going to be affected by traffic the same way. Shannon had to drive north from work in cottage country traffic before changing vehicles and then heading south chasing me. In a race type mentality I hoped she got held up in traffic, in a personal thought I was hoping the roads were clear. The later was the case and I roughly had a 2.5 hour head start. I did screw up my lead a little with a couple stops that lost me valuable miles and time. What I did get though was a great tail wind most of the way. It almost balanced out. Almost.

Once south of Orrilia the new road thrills began, it was great riding somewhere I'd never been. Being slightly off the beaten track traffic was next to non existent, on a side note so was cell phone coverage. I wasn't to concerned about that until I came across a very long stretch of ripped up pavement. I was traveling with a little protection but of course you don't want to use it if you don't need to. There was no option to bypass it, many km heading in the wrong direction that would have lost my current huge lead. I had no choice and took to the gravel. Luckily it was pretty solid, pace only dropped a little but that 4-5 km of non blacktop was a bit nerving. I waited for that feeling of a soft tire, it never happened. The next construction sign I saw was at the opposite, fresh pavement. Must love balance.

Saw sections of the Trent Severn waterway, small towns, huge farm land, great rolling hills, then came the texts. They were random but when they came there were lots as I gained and lost cell coverage. She was gaining, quickly. My 35 km/h was no match to the old man sedan's 80 plus. I subconsciously picked up the pace, I had a secondary goal, I knew there was no way I was making it to the house. Had I left at my originally planned start an hour earlier maybe, but not now. The lead was falling fast. The good thing, the legs weren't.

Some random lefts and rights for me lead to some confusing directions for my rolling stalker gave me a slight advantage. There was hope for the second alternative meeting point. Km's counted down then with returning text on locations between Shannon and I. She was only 3minutes behind me. I was only 5 minutes away. Gotta go, gotta go. That's when the phone rang. "Where are you?" We were two roads apart and some how now on a head on collision. I wasn't being chased, I'd already lost, to the car. Shannon beat me to Lindsay. We crossed paths, I'd lost, I spun my legs out slowly with my head down. The bike lost to the car, Chuck lost to an Old Man. I pulled over and put him on the roof of the car and finished the trip by car.

It was amazing though with just shy of 4 hours of new roads. Legs felt great, very great actually. The ramp up for the Fall 8 hour has started, a new reminded love of the road bike has begun also. Another spin yesterday on the road and once the coffee is gone this morning, Chuck will come out of the shadow's for another blast, this time at a pace he is used to and one that I cringe having to do. It hurts, Chuck likes it, Chuck doesn't feel hurt, Chuck brings the hurt.