Started early on Saturday, with a Don ride with Wes. For some reason, I find it impossible to get out the door by 8:30 in order to get to work on time. However, ask me to be ready to ride by 8am, and I am totally set! Our ride was part ride and part photo shoot - and part flat-fixing workshop. I hadn't ridden with Wes in a while, so it was nice to hit the trails, and it was early enough that it was still fairly cool. And felt totally deserted! We planned to do a figure 8 around the lower Don - Starting at Pottery, it was the Ridge up to Don Mills, cross over to the River trail, and at Cricket, come south on the ridge, and finish on the River, going through the dirt jumps. Wes needed to take some photos for a feature in Dandyhorse's next issue, so we stopped near Loblaws for some camera time. I was coming off a two week break, so I was taking it pretty easy, just enjoying being out. The trail was dry and great... until we were doing the northbound River section, and I heard that familiar pop followed by hissssssssssssss, and felt my rear end get rather squishy. The valve was nearly pulled right out. Luckily, the Boy had talked me into taking CO2 and a spare tube, and even though I was a bit slow, I got it all changed up. It was a nice reminder of how to use my CO2 valve, since it doesn't normally see a lot of action.
We continued on our ride, but when we came out at Cricket, realized that it was much later than anticipated. And Wes had a deadline for getting home. So we turned around, and came back down the River. Wes was ahead of me and, again, I heard the dreaded pop. Seriously?!? I hadn't had a flat in years, and here I was with my second one in half an hour. I kept riding, hoping Wes would eventually realize that I wasn't with him, since I needed a tube, which is what happened... eventually. After getting my required supplies, I let Wes go so he wouldn't be late(r), and took my time changing the tube. Same problem - big hole, right at the base of the valve. This time, I put lots of extra air in, and rode home as gingerly as possible to avoid any other problems.
The next morning, we lazed around the house for a bit, and at about 10am, threw our shit together for the 10:30 GO train to Niagara. We packed up camping stuff onto the trailer, and headed out to Exhibition Place. There were a few other cyclists waiting, and on-board the special bike cars (bike racks on the first level!), it was busy. Awesome! The two hours to Niagara Falls passed by quickly, and it felt so euro to just hop off the train and ride off on our own.
Saturday was the "low mileage" day - we took a look at the falls first, and then had a picnic lunch before heading south. Mostly concession roads on our way to Lake Erie. Our first break was Crystal Beach. We stopped for a break and some food, and it turned into about an hour at this little burger shack, after I got hit with the worst combo of heat stroke and/or bonk. I went from "feeling good, ordering food, looking forward to ice cream dessert" to "pretty sure I am going to barf" in about 5 min, coupled with overheating. It was bad! I managed to eat the chicken souvlaki, but it was slow-going. I had a ginger ale, and lots of water. You know I am not feeling well when I pass on ice cream! We took it easy along the Friendship Trail for most of the afternoon, going through Port Colborne, where we stopped briefly but didn't really want to deal with the Canal Days crowds with bicycles and a trailer of stuff. The map showed camping at Camelot Beach, just outside of town, but we didn't see anything. We just kept going until we found a beach that was somewhat secluded, and seemed quiet enough, so we stopped. 70km done - in three hours of riding time, but about six hours of real time. Made dinner, ate, and set up camp as the sun went down. We could see the Canal Days fireworks back over the bay, which was a nice little show before bed.
The next morning, we were up early, and after breakfast, headed back into town for coffee, and then up along the canal for our day of riding and exploring. I had ridden along the Welland canal before, and remembered a smooth paved path, with minimal hills. Hmmm, that must have been the other side of the canal - on the east side, the road eventually gave way to a gravel road, which we gave up on after about 10km. I'm pretty sure it would have taken us as far as St Catharines, but on road bikes, it was far from ideal. We exited onto some concession roads, and followed a small river for a bit, heading back to Niagara Falls.
At one point, we realized we had two options - pushing the pace to grab the 12:30 train back to Toronto, or maintain the more relaxed pace, plan lots of stops, and go home at 7:30. We chose the latter, so in a circuitous route, we went from Welland back to Niagara Falls, along the parkway to Niagara on the Lake, and followed Lake Ontario to St Catharines. Highlights were: descending the escarpment into Queenston, coffee break in Niagara on the Lake, and hitting a bit of a wall, energy-wise, shortly after arriving in St Catharines (yet before navigating industrial-land to the train station). We ended with a massive wait for the train - 7:30pm being about two hours or so later than ideal - most of which was killed at a Starbucks. 105km, all told, at a pace that was good but gentle on my stomach, which was still feeling a bit weak from the previous days' malaise. It was near-impossible to stay awake on the train, and we pretty much collapsed into bed as soon as we got to the apartment. Still, such an awesome little break from the regular, and a trip easy enough to do on minimal notice should the desire strike again (as I'm sure it will).
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