I got to spend a whole week camping with my friends Kathleen and Olivia! I had a lot of fun!
He said
Last week at the trailer was all that we needed and more. It was the perfect mix of wonderful weather and nothing to do but enjoy time with each other. As much as we spent a ton of time at the trailer last year and really absorbed in as much a we could, this year it has started to feel like some semblance of normal may return to the world. But, add in – as I mentioned last week – this being Danielle’s first paid vacation in over thirteen years and it just felt all the more relaxing for us all.
With the plan to attempt to make the full run of the G2G Rail Trail on Saturday I mixed up my daily rides to do some longer distances to make sure my legs were ready for the work that would be needed to do the full 130+ kms on Saturday. On Monday Steph, Justin & I had Danielle drop us off on Livingston Line just west of Monkton so that we could ride back to the trailer from there. The ride ended up being just shy of 40 km, and a good test for us not to mention a change of section scenery to boot. I did a couple of Blyth to Walton runs for 25km while Danielle & Emelia did their own shorter runs on that section with me.
By Thursday we were settled that Saturday would the day we would take a swing at the full run. The weather lined up best, we could Danielle to drop us off at the Go/Via Station in Guelph early and then Justin, Stephanie & I, could make our back towards Goderich with the thought we should get there just around dinner time and reconvene with the rest of the group for Fish & Chips and a beer in the Goderich harbour. We planned food, rest & water stops and were all ready to go. And while the 7:00 am alarm Saturday morning wasn’t my favourite thing, we were up and off as planned.
Now, I will preface that prior to this ride attempt, my longest ever ride was about 53 km so I really had no way to wage how possible this was going to be, except to just try and see. We blasted through the first 30 km which a good portion of it was just getting out of Guelph on a mixture of city streets, urban trails, highways and then, finally rail trail! We grabbed some sandwiches and hydrated in Elmira and then hopped back in with the next planned stop just over 30 km down the line at Milverton. That stretch was tough, I won’t lie. Especially the trail detour that takes you on one long, steady-ass incline on gravel road, and then one as-long incline on a highway that became a town street. That section kicked the crap out of all us.
By the time we caught up to Livingston Line, the place we’d ridden from earlier in the week, I think we were all collectively having our doubts. We started taking rest breaks at every single rest stop bench along the way. The trouble is every time it became harder to get back on. By the time we got to Walton, we all had out doubts—the skies were getting very dark to the west and Goderich where we were headed and our legs felt as ominous as the weather. Between Walton and Blyth we all crossed 100 km together and then unanimously decided as we pulled up for a rest at Blyth, that we didn’t have the last 40 km in us. I called Danielle and told her should could meet us at Cowbell, where we’d be celebrating doing 109 km, unanimously all of longest rides ever—by far!
In the end sure I would like to have done the whole thing, and I will one day for sure. But I am also super happy with how far we made it, and to have crossed off my first ever century ride! And for those that are wondering yes, I was right back on my bike on Sunday for my usual 20 km Cowbell Run. And then 17 km more today back at home on the Thames Valley Parkway. And considering last week I racked up 328 km on my bike, while on vacation!
She said
What an amazing week of sun, family, friends and lots of time on the trails! After 13 years of no paid vacation I enjoyed my first week off since starting my job last October. I was so excited to finally get a real long stretch at the trailer and the best part of the week is that we were all together and our really close friends Greg, Danielle and their daughter Kathleen were there for the week. Emelia was sooooo excited. She and Kathleen along with Olivia all met back in gymnastics when they were all 9 years old. They along with their parents have become some of our closest friends and we love spending so much time with them this week.
This last week was all about spending time together and that is exactly what we did. As a family we did a ton of riding together and we got in some longer rides all together. I was thrilled to be able to get back on the trails after having some real struggles earlier in the season. It was exactly what we needed. Emelia loved having so much time with us as it has been quite an adjustment for her that we are both working outside the house and she is home solo so much. She really needed this time.
The other big highlight for Emelia this week was the return to cheer training. After 17 months cheer was finally able to go back to real full stunting training. Emelia is so excited by her new team, and she got such great feedback from her coaches on her stunting and strong tumbling. She loved hearing such great words from them and she is already loving cheer, the entire way home back to the trailer from training she talked my ear off. To see her so happy means the world to us, Emelia has had a real rough go of things lately so to see her this happy is everything.
The rest of the week was all about relaxing and spending time with friends and family at the trailer – it was just about perfect!