Thursday, April 18, 2013

Spring Thaw Gravel

Last sunday planned a ride via the K&P rail trail to Harrowsmith and back. Put it out on FB on a whim to see if others wanted to come. Only one came out for the little ride. Kurt came down from Verona to join in. So after a bit of waiting. Well, more like waiting for me to finish breakfast at Starbuck's which was the start point and I admit I do dawdle a bit.

 We headed out. I decided to skip the gravel section that goes behind the Crappy Tire which makes the Dalton ride time about half. You know, less time for Arsehat drivers to try see if they can clip you without spilling their Double Double.

 The trail surface was good. Not to soft with the only areas with issues was closer to Harrowsmith on the new addition. Run off had cut mini ditches in the trail. Unfortunately Kurt had his rear wheel pop out of the rear drop outs when be bunny hopped one.


  I was thinking that maybe this would make for a little Gravel Grinder in the future. Maybe something in Spring. Not like the Tour De Buttertart my buddy Marc puts on in Dundas.  Which while I would much rather be doing the reality is that this early in the year it's hard to plan to travel to events unlike later say in the fall. So this was more of an experiment this year to get an idea. I think next year with a bit more planning we can have a little Gravel Grinder in the spring..........kind of a Test of the First Gravel.  The cycling version of the first ski race of the FIS World Cup.




 Since I don't have a GPS or a bike computer right now it was the old school timing system of the wrist watch stop watch. So the time was ,

To Harrowsmith turnaround...1:49:49
Back to Stabuck's on Division...1:32:29
Total..3:22:19

 Really I think it is doable as a event. now I think I'll make a go of trying to do this next spring.