Up and Down and Up and Down

Today seemed to be a lot of that - drumlins I think they call them. These are glacial deposits that pile up in ridge after ridge after ridge and today we needed to cycle over all of them between London and Hamilton. I started out with Ralph, Scott and Art at about 7. On the way out to Dorchester, Ralph, Scott and I stopped at Ray Sipken's house and woke him up. At least Ralph did. We said hello to this poor groggy sleeper and then pedaled on. Apparently a whole slew of people decided to leave at about the same time we did and we found ourselves in the midst of several groups of riders. At the Dorchester bridge Eritia Smit from Hamilton zooms by. This had happened once before and that time I hung back with those I had been riding with. But today I felt strong and up to the challenge. I announced to the group that I was off and away I went. Eritia has been awarded the title of fastest woman cyclist on the tour and can she ever go. I caught her a little way out and we chatted and agreed to go together for the rest of the day spelling each other up front. It was a great ride! We wound up making camp first - but I have to say we were 'helped' out by a fall in the lead group 7 k from Redeemer. The falled resulted from a touch on the back wheel of the front cyclist and then boom, you are on your side sliding on the pavement. The result, some fairly nasty road rash and a banged up bike, but the pride takes the worst beating - Ouch! I think the heatand humidity may have payed a bit of role. It really piled in the last hour of the ride before we got in at 1.

Along the way the Canadian and Ontario hospitality was in out in full force once again: CRC's in Ingersoll, Woodstock, Brantford (2 stops) and then finally Fellowship CRC here in Ancaster. Josh Krabbe mentioned to me that if you wanted you could have stopped 22 times to chat with groups of cheerleaders along the way. I am now limiting myself to one item of baking per stop, but unlimited watermelon, water and gator aid. Cold water is just great at these stops. I will admit I cheated in Woodstock where they had mocca cake from Vanstratten's Bakery in Norwich (if I am not mistaken).

I will post pictures of some of these stops soon, so that those of you who are interested people can see who people these spots. It is especially wonderful to see the old and the young at these stops. I'd jhave to see the old are the most pumped. They love their church and love the excitement and energy that this ride and what it represents is generating in it. But here in Ontario we see a lot of young people as well and that is great.

And here at Redeemer I ran into 15 people I knew with 20 minutes of arriving. Absolutely wild. We unloaded the gear truck, I set up my tent, took a shower and then headed to the library to hide and blog. Yes even extroverted me needs downtime I am discovering. Later.