We arrived home and discovered that Ontario has been suffering a heat wave. I had asked my neighbour to look after my plants by watering them ¼ of a cup water per week. I had an orchid which had a new flower stem when we were leaving for our trip. When we got back we have a beautiful orchid with 8 blooms. Thank-you Diane you are amazing.

I knew that on our return I would need some incentive to carry on cycling. Not that I don’t enjoy cycling, it is just that I need a goal. I have signed us up for a ride in Prince Edward County for September.

The ride used to be called the Cribbage Ride. We have done this ride before, at the end of the ride we had to play a game of cribbage and possibly win a prize.   The organizers also gave you a bag of fall vegetables. We received so much squash – acorn squash, butternut squash, spaghetti squash and apples. We were given two bags, I tried to refuse one bag but the organizers were not having any of that we had to take both bags.

This year we will receive vouchers for five different local companies – winery, brewery, cidery, farm produce and a mustard farm.

Because of the commitment of a ride we have been cycling most days. We get up early have a quick breakfast and head out.

Our first ride

The legs feel quite stiff to start, it has been almost three weeks since we stopped riding our touring bikes in Italy. I am riding my road bike which initially feels twitchy because it is so light and no panniers on the front.

Slowly the legs turn the pedals and the sound of the tires on the road is music to my ears. The wind is in our face and we struggle a little bit as we head to the small village of Lyn. Ralf lets me lead for the first twenty minutes as my legs warm up and get back into the rhythm of cycling. As we head away from Highway 2 the road rises and drops and rises a few more times before we make the left turn into the Village and another left turn that takes us down a steep hill to the Conservation Park that has a small lake and picnic area.

We don’t have the time for a swim or a picnic, I am on a mission. The legs feel good the heart is pumping and I love riding again. I decide on my first ride that I want to complete the Prince Edward County in record time.

I am only going to cycle the 50 kms route and Ralf will cycle the 100 km route. I want to complete the route in less than 2 hours.

We are quickly heading home after a short 20 km ride and feeling good. What a great way to start your day, riding on quiet, rural roads up a few small hills to get your heart pumping and back home for a good cup of coffee.

We now have four training routes – a short Lyn loop (20.25 kms), a longer Lyn loop (30 kms), an out and back on the Parkway (40kms) and a Parkway – Mallorytown – Lyn loop (50 kms).

Warmshowers:

We have hosted two people since getting home: Risto from Estonia. He is cycling around the world and cycled the Nullabor, in Australia. He said that he had packed over 14 litres of water but people were so kind on the road that they would stop and make sure he had enough water.

The second person was Justine from France, she is cycling to Niagara Falls from Montreal into blustery headwinds, and then to New York. She was a really nice person, we had a good laugh about the difference between the English and French personalities.

We also met up with Dan and Mariana and their three children. They hosted us when we cycled through Kingston on our Grand Adventure (2015). They wanted to plan a cycling adventure, however they have three children and could not quite work out the logistics of cycling with the children ranging from 18 months old to 6 years old. They have opted to take a year and travel with an RV, the children are now 4, 6 and 8.  We had a great time catching up and took them through the Brockville tunnel.

We were serious about no more camping on our next Adventure. We have sold the tent and the camp stove! We still have our bigger car camping tent that we will use when we do organized rides in the U.S. where someone else carries the gear, but no more camping for us.

Our “camping gear” will consist of sleeping bag liners (for grubby hotels/hostels), folding plates, mugs and lightweight KFS and the Jetboil to boil water for noodles. We found some great places to stay in South East Asia when we cycled Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and South Korea. Hopefully we will be able to find equally nice places when we cycle Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and China. The plan is also to take the Trans Siberian train to Moscow from Beijing. We have to do some serious penny pinching if we are going to do this Adventure. Which is why I am looking for a part-time job and Ralf is back driving the school buses.