I didn’t expect to blog about this ride, but it became memorable in the last hour when we got soaked with heavy rain. I’ve previously blogged about the Waterloo Cycling Club Thursday rides here, and because theses rides start close to home (RIM Park), it’s hard to make excuses to avoid them.
The riders split up into at least three groups. I always ride with Giles M. and April B.’s “Intermediate” group (although this group seems to be getting faster each week, and I’ve routinely been dropped by them this year). This week, we had 9 riders and I was able to hang on for most of the ride (I got gapped a bit on some small climbs, but managed to get back on thanks to generous pulls by Brad S. and others).
The ride left RIM Park at 630 pm, and we headed towards Conestogo and on to Crowsfoot and Ariss, then northwest towards Inverhaugh. Once there, we stopped for a quick break, and debated about what way to take back. Back towards Waterloo, there were very dark clouds and flashes of lightning. Our best bet (according to our group meterologist/weather-enthusiast Brent D.) was to head further west/northwest. So we rode towards Middlebrook Rd for the “cycling expressway”, and on to West Montrose, where we decided to head further west towards Northfield, in an attempt to avoid the storm.
As we headed back to Waterloo along Northfield, it looked like we might get lucky and avoid the rain. This hope didn’t last long as the skies opened up and we found ourselves riding in a downpour. The rain felt cool and refreshing, and I could feel the rain washing the salty sweat off my skin. The heavy rain didn’t last long – maybe 10-15 minutes, and by the time we got to Waterloo, the rain had let up. I got home soaked but refreshed after a hard but rewarding 60 km ride.
I don’t have any photos to share, but if you click the photo below, you’ll be directed to a link that shows a cool video of the route.
RideCycleSpin 