Ok - so yesterday Trent and I hit the road for a planned 120-130k ride. Started off well - we were heading up the Gore road towards Hockley Valley and it actually seemed substantially easier than I remember it being a few months ago (YAY) 30k flew by really quick and we stopped at the general store for a drink and a gluten free cookie. Then back on the bikes and we head north past Hwy 89 and into a small town that I cannot actually remember the name of. It was small - we were in and out of there quickly. We stopped to figure out where we wanted to go next and Trent asked if I was interested in a big hill - I quickly shot that idea down knowing full well that we had Mount UnPleasant in the plans for later in the ride. Off we went again starting to head back towards home (at this point we were at about 45k I think. Around 60k we stopped for poutine at a chip stand. It was awesome - NY Fries not even close! Have to laugh at the insanity of riding 60k and stoping for poutine :)
So as we are sitting there eating, the clouds were looking super ominous. A storm was definitely on the way but we were hoping that it wouldn't be too bad. Sadly - that was not the case. As we started to ride back south the sky literally opened up and we were pelted hard with hail, and rain and some of the craziest wind I've ever experienced. It was actually terrifying. The wind was literally blowing me across the road and making it really hard to stay in control of my bike. At one point a truck came and all I could do was pray that the wind didn't blow me into it's path (it didn't). Looking around there was literally NO place to take shelter - we were literally in the middle of nowhere… some houses and some farms but no shelter.
Thankfully a lovely man saw us riding and offered us shelter in his garage. We sat there, called Caron for a rescue pick up and hung out with the lovely family who's garage we were seeking refuge in. It was actually cool - they must have thought we were nuts with our fancy bikes having already gone 60k and still with another 50 or 60 to go… turns out they are chicken farmers. One of their biggest clients is Swiss Chalet. Pretty cool actually. It was quite the adventure.
I'm glad we got 60k in before the storm - but a little annoyed that we couldn't get the long ride done. Just means I'll have to make sure I ride long on Saturday. Shouldn't be a problem…
Guess you just never know what you'll experience on the day.
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