Round The World; now it’s your turn

I’ve never completed the first ascent of a mountain. I’ve never been the first person to run a section of white-water. I’ll never be the first person to step foot on Mars, nor break the seal of a newly found ancient ruin. Yesterday, however, joined by three fellow cyclists, I became one of the first people to ride their bike around Prince Edward County. Yup, Luc, Peter, Wayne and I become the first people to fully circumnavigate The County on bicycles. Yesterday, we rode Round The World.

When I first thought of this ride back in the spring, it was just a little dream. “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” About a month ago, I started making noises about actually doing it. With a date set and a course mapped out, I started looking for a posse to join me. Folks who could finish it, were either un-interested or un-available. Looks like I’m doing it by myself.

Finally, Luc, with whom I’ve been riding all summer, started to mumble his interest but he was waffling. When Peter said he and his friend, Wayne(whom I’d never met), might be interested, I was actually a little upset. I rather wanted to do it by myself. Then Luc confirmed he was in; Rick agreed to roll out with us; Peter and Wayne confirmed their attendance. I had a posse!

Peter has ridden down here extensively and is probably the strongest non-professional road rider I know. His friend, Wayne, rode with Peter in Colombia and Mallorca this summer. He’s also raced The Tour Divide. Dude’s legit. Luc has shown himself a consistent and mentally strong rider all summer, both during our balls-out Thursday night fast rides and during four Club centuries.

The route took us from the Bloomfield Bicycle Company at 5:15am to West Lake and through the Sandbanks Provincial Park. From there, south over all those seldom-travelled dirt roads towards Point Traverse. After coffee and a shot of local maple syrup at Luc’s, we rode through Wappoos for the Cressy Loop. That’s where Brett joined us. In Picton we ate and drank coffee at the Bean Counter, refilled bottles at Stephanie’s house. Brett turned around a little while later, as our posse of four continued to Green Point. From there, around Big Island and a necessary water stop at Village Automotive. West then north-east towards Marsh Rd. True to its name, that dirt road was completely washed out with huge, deep puddles(lagoons) that turned us around. Up to Rossmore for pizza, west to Carrying Place for water and Sprite at the french fry stand. Down the Millennium Trail to Consecon for our last water/food resource. As we finished riding Partridge Hollow, Rick again joined us for the final 30kms along the Millennium Trail through Wellington and home to Picton. Done.

All in all, we rode 295kms; subtract 10kms where we got turned around, making the final Round The World course 285kms long. We did about 1000m of climbing, riding for about 14hrs 20mins. The weather was a perfect sunny mid-twenties(70’sF) fall day with hardly any wind. Asphalt, gravel, dirt, rail-trail. Awesomeness.

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It was a long day, no doubt. There was so much pain and suffering, myself fading on any little rise during the last 50-60kms. We all worked hard, did our pulls–especially Peter–and encouraged each-other with the knowing nods of friendly solidarity or a pat on the back when the going got tough.

No-body achieves anything by themselves. Ever. We are always part of a team; supported by family, friends and coaches; thankful for all the assistance necessary to get to the point where we can achieve that first ascent or the walk on Mars.

I wanted yesterday’s ride so badly. I wanted to do something nobody has ever done before. I wanted to achieve something special. I did, but only because “I” was actually “us” and we just rode Round The World. Now it’s your turn….see you next year?

https://www.strava.com/activities/2718260077

[Thanks to Rick and Brett who joined us for a few miles each. Thanks to Village Automotive for the water. Thanks to the Bean Counter for feeding four hungry cyclists. Thanks to Stephanie for offering us her home. Thanks to the lady with the “bait shop” on Big Island. Thanks to Franco’s Pizza in Rossmore for saving my life with a slice. Thanks to the friendly lady at the french fry stand in Carrying Place. Thanks to Kt for making a scrumptious dinner for our return. Most of all, thanks to Luc, Peter and Wayne for making my dream come true.]