Wise!

So, when I left off my previous post about the Rideau Lakes Bike Tour, I had caught up with the girls at a rest / water stop along the way.

The photo's I took along the route do not do the hills, the turns nor the dog leg's in the road justice.

It is a winding road for sure with some pretty nasty hills, not Lake Placid hills, but hills none the less. The scenery in some spots was gorgeous as you cycled past lakes and rivers. There were an awful lot of fishing boats being unloaded at the various boat launches along the way.

Other spots along the way were farmer's fields, crops and cows.

As mentioned, the girls cycled to the water / rest stop where I had parked my car to wait for them. It was a station being manned by two CB volunteers who were sitting at a card table with huge water tanks beside it. You could hear the chatting between the other CB volunteers from the other locations, when it came across the airwaves that an ambulance had been deployed, there was a *cyclist down. Luckily the girls were coming down the hill towards me when I heard that announcement. Otherwise I would have really been worried.

After a very short stop, water bottles refilled and a quick shoulder rub, off they went, straight up a huge winding hill.

I continued along in the car and met them at the last stop before they made their way into Kingston. That is where the U R HERE sign was situated, pointing the way into the park entrance where the RLCT crew had set up tables of sandwiches and drinks and there were even discretely located porta-potties too!

After a short stop they were on their way of the final 35k leg of the trip that would bring them into a heavy, fast moving traffic and construction, then into the old part of town and finally Queens University


This peloton passed me on several occasions throughout the journey and to say the sound from the whirling tires was incredible and the noise from them clipping in and out at streetlights was magical, is an understatement. I can truly understand the allure of cycling from experiencing this weekend.

After heading down this street for sometime, we entered into the common area of the University. I have to say, I've never been through the grounds of Queens, it is very impressive with the old limestone buildings, cobblestone roads and pathways to Lake Ontario.

I waited for Nancy and Karen to arrive so I could get a shot of their happy little exhausted faces!!

And they were on their own to try to locate their own luggage!!

More riders rolling in.

Before the girls arrived, I got the dorm room key and found my way to Victoria Hall, at least that way Karen wouldn't have to wander around tired and lost while walking her bike. We shared a room over looking the track and soccer pitch. This area is used night and day, the sports facilities are spectacular.

We wandered off to the bar tent and waited for Nancy's husband to arrive. They were going to spend a romantic weekend in Kingston and drive back home on Sunday. We finally meet up with our friends Anne and her husband Dean, they had cycled the 177K distance from Carleton University with their friends from the town they live in.

Karen and I ended up meeting some of the guys she had cycled with during spring training and we sat with them in the huge cafeteria to have our meal. The food selection was out of this world! I won't even begin to describe it, well, okay, a little. There was of course pasta with a choice of vegetarian sauce or meat sauce. Various meat (hot and cold) selections, along with frittata's, this was in the "hot" food area, we then passed through the beverage area, sorry no adult BEvERages served here. From there we entered into the grand hall, and that is exactly what it was.

Down the centre of the hall was the salad bar. Again, an incredible selection of salads and fruits. On either end of the hall were the dessert tables and under the expanse of windows was tea, coffee, hot water and their accoutrement's. This was not the place to hold back and stay on your diet!

Afterwards, we rolled our full tummy's back to the dorm room and again we ran into Anne and Dean just as we were waiting for the elevator. We headed to our room and poured some wine and heard about their trip, shared some more laughs.

The night was still young so we decided to go for a walk along the boardwalk beside Lake Ontario. It was a beautiful evening and there were so many people out and about, after a few kilometers, we called it a night and headed off to bed, Sunday morning would come soon enough.

Karen set up her bike for the next day's ride and then it was lights out.

In all honesty, I can say there is no way I could have cycled this event. My knee is just not ready for it and there would have been further damage done to it if I had tried. Even though I had contemplated trying it, it was a WISE decision I made not to do it.

Next year girls, I'll be with you next year, God willing!

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

* Karen spoke with the cyclist that went down, they had been changing spots in their peloton when one of the riders lost control. He had been taken to the Perth Hospital where they stitched up his face. His sunglasses had torn a flap of skin from the bridge of his nose, under the eye over to the cheek bone. A sprained wrist and injured collar bone was also included in the injury list as the result of the fall.

In true bravado he told Karen he'd be cycling home on Sunday....maybe he did, but we didn't see him.