I’m getting closer to completing my “50 memorable rides in my 50th year”. If you’ve been following, you’ll recall that my original goal was to complete all 50 rides in the calendar year when I turned 50. After my crash on Labour Day weekend, however, it became clear that I wouldn’t be able to complete all 50 rides in 2016. 

This May long weekend, as has been the tradition for over a decade, my brothers and I and our families (at least parts of our families now that many of the kids are older and no longer come) and friends and their families have been going to Killbear Provincial Park for a weekend of camping. 

Each year, we go for a bike ride somewhere. One year we rode on the pavement to Parry Sound (the home of Bobby Orr!). Other years we might ride in the park along the bike path or on the beach or rocks. 

This year my bro Greg found a craft brewery (Norse Brewery) about 30 km away and Saturday seemed like the perfect day to check it out.  

Eight of us hopped in our bikes and made our way to this destination: my bros Jeff and Greg, avid, fit cyclists. A friend Hal (another fit mountain biker) and his buddy Wayne (not an active cyclist but willing to ride for beer), Jeff’s neighbour Henrik (rides a lot on his Kona CX bike), Jeff’s spouse Elaine (training for a long ride for cancer) and his youngest Sarah (who is tearing up the MTB O-cup series in her age group!) . A wide range of ages, fitness levels and tire sizes!  Henrik posted a photo on his Instagram of the ride to the brewery. 

When we arrived at Norse mid afternoon, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. The host at Norse gave us samples of their dark, golden and red ale, which we enjoyed while relaxing in the sun. 

The ride back to the campground was slow but enjoyable. Five us went back on the road while Jeff, Hal and Henrik found a trail….. if you can call this a trail… 

We arrived back at Killbear before dinner. I was tired but smiling, as were the others. A fine day, a fine ride with fine company. Oh… and fine beer!

Concussion update: after my commute to and from work on Wednesday, I’d been feeling concussion symptoms because I didn’t manage my effort very well that day. It was really hot and windy  that day and I rode too hard and let my heart rate get too high for too long. On this brewery ride, I carefully monitored my heart rate and was able to ride the 60 km distance mostly symptom free. It’s still a learning process to determine how far I can ride and how hard I can ride.