Weekend riding and a happy ending.

Alright, what you've all been waiting for.....my update of weekend riding. I hope you're reading this on your iPhone and simultaneously Tweeting! Saturday morning, I got out for the Cyclelogik loop to Carp. I joined a little later in the ride (so I could sleep in an extra half hour), which put the group ride portion for me at 67km, at an average speed of 35.8 km/hr....not too shabby. At one point in our ride, we had to slow right down because the road was flooded over; about a 20 metre stretch was covered in a couple inches of running water! The amount of rain we've had lately has been pretty crazy. Later on, we passed a soccer field that had literally been transformed into a lake! With the goal nets up, it looked better suited to waterpolo than soccer!

Sunday, I rode to Hull to meet up for a ride through Cantley, Cascades and Wakefield. (You can read Matt's account of the ride here, 'cause I'm feeling too lazy right now to tell you myself. That was my plan all along anyway....wait for someone else to write about the ride, and just mooch off of what they wrote!) On the way, I passed these rental bikes by the Museum of Civilization...part of a pilot project by the City of Ottawa. Looks promising, but I'd like to see more money put into building proper bike lanes on some of Ottawa's major roads. But I suppose it looks good in the eyes of tourists!

View across the river...the haziness gives you an idea of how humid it was.

Part of our group, which consisted of Shawn (in orange, cool story a little further down), Matt, Jeff, Rodd and Andy. Not pictured here are Jamie, Glenn, Mark, and myself.

On the Cascades downhill (18%!), Matt hit 101.65 km/hr! BADASS!!!

I managed this picturesque shot while careening no handed down a baby head riddled downhill on my road bike without any shaking or blurring!*
*Slight embellishment.


"Man, I wish Stu would stop making us pose." "Friggin' bloggers I tell ya."

Bikes and Matt's behind at the usual stop in Wakefield.

On the way to hook up with route 105 (which has nothing to do with the Shimano road group of the same name).

Post ride goodness. Just don't try to strap the empty glass onto your head and expect it to protect you in a crash....would do quite the opposite, I would think.

Okay, story time. So Shawn (pictured earlier in Orange), and his wife Keli, are expecting. In fact, they are a week over due. When Shawn met up with us for the ride, he said that Keli started having some light contractions that morning, but nothing major. A couple hours into our ride, when we had come out of the Chamonix neighbourhood near Cascades, Shawn got a call from Keli saying that her contractions were becoming more frequent, and lasting longer. Well that was our cue to practice our team time trial riding along the winding road from Cascades. We were going at a pretty good clip, and just before Wakefield, Shawn split off to do a solo time trial the rest of the way home.....

Monday morning, at 5:06 am, Leiden Virginia Marshall was welcomed into the world by her proud parents. CONGRATULATIONS!!

Watch out, she's gonna be pretty fast on a tricycle in a few years!!!