Our plan was to head uptown to the Yonge Street location first, so it would all be downhill from there. I rode my mountain bike, as we had plans to take a “shortcut” through some trails in the Don, and get some trail time in at the same time. The highlight of the ride up was definitely the section on Yonge, southbound from Lawrence, where they had recently repaved, and still had sectioned off. Our own private lane on Yonge, with smooth, fresh pavement!
First stop was the lunch stop. I was hungry – best not even joke about taking away my spanakopita, or I may stab you with my fork. We also got Tour de Dufflet water bottles, and much needed (and very refreshing) water.
From there, we went back north on Yonge, and cut across into some ravine, cruising down some trails the Boy knew. See, the adventure was part easy road coffee shop ride, part Ted ride. A Ted ride, as some readers know, involves trails and ravines in territory unknown, has an exploratory/expedition kind of vibe, and may feature hike-a-bike sections. They are often more demanding than other rides, but they are also more fun. The first section of ravine was really fun, and we cut all the way through to Sunnybrook park. We took the bike path most of the way down, and then took a “shortcut” through Taylor Creek. This section was not quite as much fun – it was hot, the trail was in the open, had these boggy little sections that I was not doing well with, and ended with a big hike-a-bike out under the O’Connor bridge. But we were right at the top of Woodbine, and only had to cruise downhill to stop number 2 (by which I really mean: cruise down some side streets, hop a fence, ride down a big grassy hill, race down Woodbine and duck through a back alley).
Second stop was in the Beach(es), where I opted for the sour-sour combo – lemonade and a lemon square. The Boy enjoyed a brownie and a coffee.
Time to head back west, as our last stop was on Queen West. Mostly just ran across Eastern – the only rough spot is going over the DVP, otherwise it wasn’t too bad at all - and over to Richmond on the other side of the river. We went through the CBN’s back alley before swinging back around to Dufflet. Two spots of shared history with the Boy – the place where we originally met in 2005 (the Community Bicycle Network), and the place where I finally agreed to our first date in 2009 (Dufflet).
Harder to decide what to have, knowing that this was the last delicious reward. I finished up with another lemonade and a square type of thing containing peanuts, peanut butter, rice krispies, caramel, and held together by chocolate. I’m getting hungry again just thinking about it!
Our Tour (including not-so-short shortcuts and off-road sections) was 37km. The whole thing gets huge thumbs up, and I can’t wait to do it again next year.
Other awesome bonuses: $5 off my next large cake just for finishing, plus the $5 registration fee goes to the Toronto Cyclists Union. Win-win-win!
1 comment:
i know that section in taylor creek, it is super overgrown, makes me rashy. you're making me hungry.
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