Thanks for the offer to ride with you but I will probably turn you down as making it up there and back on the same day might kill me! I am thinking of trying Keswick and back sometime or other, for an easier lake Simcoe ride (how was that one?) Hot day for it yesterday. Ya it seems that you have to take "trail" on the map with a grain of salt.. I tried yesterday going on the Hickson Rail Trail and it was almost entirely overgrown with weeds and then prickly things protuded across at face level.

Best of luck with your upcoming ride, and can't wait to read all about it!

I didn't figure you'ld try to bike up and back in a day.  Even Darren isn't that crazy.  ;)  (I was thinking more that you might want some company up to Holland Landing, after which I would cut over to Bradford and then Barrie, while you continued on to Keswick...)

The route I took to Keswick and back on Saturday is at http://www.bikerally.org/trainingmaps2006/126k_FinchKeswick.pdf and it was really quite a nice ride, if a little hot.  (Heck, I'ld bet that most of the rides listed at http://www.bikerally.org/maps.html are quite nice...)  Warden is slightly more hilly than I would like, but the hills get a lot smaller after Aurora Road, and I remember it as a fairly leisurely ride after that.  The trip back completely rocked, since it was both net-downhill, and we had a killer tailwind.  It seemed like I effortlessly averaged 40km/h for hours at a time...  (I know I didn't, but it really seemed that way.)

Actually ya that might be a good plan, I could bike up with you to Holland Landing. Any reason for starting from Steeles instead of Finch? (ya I know its closer, but the subway stops at Finch) That sounds good to me, and I can always hit Lake Ontario on the way HOME so it can be the lake-lake tour (and home is downhill, yeah!) I hope I wouldn't slow you down though...

Well, my bike map shows that there's a bus with bike racks on the front that goes from Finch to Steeles, and I always wanted to try one of those.  Also, any distance I don't have to ride is distance I don't have to ride.  ;)

I've been averaging about 23 km/h on the long rides (actually, I've averaged 23.2 km/h on all three of them.  Spooky!) so as long as you think you can go near there I'm happy.  To tell the truth I should probably be going a little slower at the start, to save my energy for later, so anything above 20 km/h would be great.  And if I end up going slower that's fine too.  Like I said, I've got about 13 hours to travel the 135 km, so there's plenty of leeway built in to the schedule.

Do you think you'll be able to make it to Finch or Steeles by 8:00am?

Which route has the bike racks? Would it be Willowdale bus? That runs hourly from Sheppard so were you thinking the 7:15 or 8:15 bus? I think I should be able to average 20-23 on a longer ride but with all the climbing up the moraine may be a bit slower.

Yeah, it was the 98 Willowdale-Senlac.  I was thinking of catching the 8:15, but we might just be better off leaving from Finch at 8:00.  Did you have a preference?

Yeah.  You're going to do just fine, sir.  Just keep hydrated and it'll be a blast.  Enjoy.

Well, I made it.  Both there and back.  More details in an upcoming entry.  In the meantime, check out Tanya's tale with a bonus photo of me at http://crazybikerchick.blogspot.com/2006/07/my-first-century.html

Hi Blake, on that ride to Keswick, did you actually ride with the Bike Rally group, or did you just follow their route? I was on that ride, but I left a bit late, so I probably didn't see you.

I was wondering about the map where you marked the route. What map is that, and where would someone find it? I'm planning on riding to Honey Harbour on Saturday, and it looks like they have suggested roads marked on the map. That's very handy, since I've been sitting here with google maps and a couple paper ones. They don't have that good info.

On my ride to Keswick, I rode with the Bike Rally group.  I was rather slow, though, so you might have passed me along the way.

The map is a photo of an actual map I bought at MEC, the Golden Horseshoe Recreation Map.  They're only $5, so even with the few flaws (as detailed on the next weblog entry), I think it's quite worth the money.  For your trip, it looks like you might just want to follow my route to Barrie, then go north to Highway 11 (which may be called Doran Road or Forbes Road), and then up Highway 17 (which may be called 14th line), because if you try going further north first, the jog east will be quite hilly.

Good luck on that trip, by the way.  It looks like you might actually go more than 170km not counting any unplanned detours.  Definitely take the road bike, and stick to the paved roads, and you should be able to do it.  Be sure to post about the trip, okay?  I've just subscribed to your blog (at http://www.pornstarsonecstasy.com/ which I'm typing here more for the other people reading, since they can't view the comment file directly, and I strip it out).

Thanks!

Thanks for the tips! I hadn't considered any hills going up. So by that route it'll be a bit longer, but it'll take those dotted routes for most of the way. That sounds much better! I was worried about running into unpaved roads and tight shoulders, but that helps relieve some of my worries.

I was considering taking Keele up, since we did use it for a ride with the Bike Rally group, but looking at the map Leslie really isn't that far out. It might add 8k, but the peace of mind of being on Leslie might be worth it.

I'll definitely blog about it when I make it back. I've subscribed to yours too, it sounds like you're having some pretty good aventures too!