Turkey Riding

Blustery morning at Westboro beach

Woohoo! I got in TWO (count 'em, TWO) rides this past weekend. Saturday's ride was a quick ride on the country roads not far from my place (same roads used for the Rideau Lakes classic route), but the real highlight was Sunday's ride. This was a bit more of a "mission" than a ride. The mission? Get out for a loop of the park before it got too crowded with leaf-viewing riff-raff. I left the house at 9:15am, a little later than I would have liked, but hey, when you've got a newborn, you've gotta get your sleep when you can. The weather network said it was 2 degrees, with a 7km/hr wind from the west. Whoa! Gotta put on the the windproof riding gear. Crossing Champlain bridge, the winds felt waaaaaay stronger than 7km/hr....it was a chilly morning for sure. 

Near the intersection of Champlain and Gatineau.

When I set out from Gamelin on the parkway, I played a little game to occupy my mind....count how many cars pass me, and count the number of cyclists who pass in the opposite direction. Why the number of cyclists in the opposite direction? I figured they were the smart ones who got out early enough to finish their loop before the riff-raff. By the time I got to the top of Pink lake, I'd been passed by 41 cars. I continued on to P8, and by then I had been passed by 61 cars. And cyclists in the opposite direction? 23. That puts the smart cyclists to riff-raff ratio at roughly 1:3. Not scientific by any means, but a good indication of how stupid busy it gets in the park during leaf viewing season.

 Beaver Dam.

Near P8.