My first "Group" ride of 2009

Having missed my regular Saturday ride this past weekend due to the horrible weather around the Toronto area, I decided to join in on my first group ride of the year with the Toronto Bicycle Network on Sunday morning. I could have certainly done my usual solo ride on Sunday, but wanted to join the group for two main reasons..(1) to enjoy some of the comraderie of riding with a group for a change and (b) to use the group's energy to try and crack the 100k mark for a single ride.

A fairly large group of riders had assembled at the start point and things looked very promising for a good ride. The weather was OK, with a cool but bearable temperature of 10*C. The wind was up a bit though, but with the group, that looked like it wouldn't be a big problem. So off we went. The group took a little getting used to, making sure to keep safe spacing from the wheel of the rider(s) in front of me. One of the things I don't like all that much about group riding is that it's hard to see the road ahead. Little did I know what was ahead.

My bike mugging for the camera at Musselman Lake.

No more than 15k into my 100km ride, while sitting on the wheel of another rider, I slammed a pothole as hard as I've ever hit one. My front tire immediately collapsed and after I peeled off and dismounted,I heard the telltale hiss of a puncture coming from my rear wheel as well. The group of course checked to see if I was OK, but ultimately and as I would have expected carried on without me. So here I was again, just like 4 weeks ago (see 999k to go) stuck with 2 flats from 1 pothole. To make matters even worse, believe it or not, I'm almost 100% certain it was the very same pothole I hit 4 weeks ago. I set up next to the same fence and started my repairs. I was better prepared this time with a couple of extra tubes, but by the time I was ready to hit the road again, the group was long gone. I joined in with some of the slower riders who were bringing up the rear and stayed with them for a bit, but ultimately, I wanted to ride a little faster pace. So I set off on my own thinking my hopes for 100k had been dashed, especially now that I was into the headwind on my own.

After 30k and my normal turnaround point, I was feeling pretty good though and decided to keep going north. The scenery further up was fantastic and made the extra effort worth it. By the time I headed for home after a loop around Musselman Lake, I was close to 45 k in and started to think 100 wasn't out of the question. My return trip, punctuated by a quick stop for a cup of coffee at Tim Horton's, was as nice a ride as I've been on and my legs felt great. When I pulled back into the starting point parking lot, my computer read 103km in a total riding time of 4h05. Mission accomplished.

Next stop was Spokes and Sports for a resupply of tubes and then home to re-true my back wheel. Unfortunately the rim has a nice dent in it now, but so it goes.