Day 45 Owen Sound
Tobermory to Owen Sound
Distance 131 km

Day 46 Toronto (rest day)
Owen Sound to Alliston
Distance 160km

Since we’ve had seven days of riding, people are tired and have been anxiously awaiting the rest day in Alliston, ourselves included.
My folks are picking us up and will transport us back to civilization-we are really looking forward to seeing our family, and our cat, who probably doesn’t care whatsoever that we have been away, and will be visiting her (making a special trip as she is staying at Lewis’ cousin’s place.)

Someone got to lookin’ at a map of our destinations and figured out a way to shave about 40km off the ride yesterday; the new proposed route kept people on the highway and prevented them from seeing the gorgeous scenery leaving Tobermory.
I was tempted to take the short cut, but since we are bureaucratic masochists who must follow the rules in the pursuit of pain, we decided to take the regular route, and pulled into camp hours after everyone else, who were all sitting back, showered, relaxed with beer in hand.
It’s hard to argue how beautiful the scenery was to people who have kicked back and are half buzzed by the beer and sun.

The following day-the ride into Alliston was a long one at 166 km.
Again, everyone except for 5 people decided to take the regular route; since I knew my folks were picking us up, I couldn’t wait to get back to camp, so again was very tempted to take the short cut.
Again, my masochistic tendencies persuaded me to ride 166km instead of approximately 115km-I dragged myself away from the ‘fun people’ as I have come to call them, to go on my journey.
We were warned by the organizer on the map that the course was hilly; I was not prepared for the frequency and pitch of the hills (Beaver Valley which is part of the Niagara Escarpment.) I felt like we were reliving the Rockies and Northern Ontario all over again, my poor legs were crying out for mercy.
For the first 100 km or so it was nonstop hills, and I felt as if I did not have one more ounce of physical, emotional, or mental strength to get me through this ride; I think because I was so looking forward to the rest day, I just wanted to get the ride over with.
I had a little breakdown on the bike, moaning and groaning as I pedaled; hoping that doing so would somehow give me strength (it never seems to.)
Poor Lewis was also feeling beaten and had to listen to me whinge as well.

This aside, the scenery was pretty spectacular as we climbed to the top of the escarpment and were treated with terrific views of southern Ontario.
It’s too bad that people missed the beautiful country side, as it is very pretty up there, with charming little farm houses and old barns that dot the landscape.
Both Lewis and I hit our all time record for downhill speed on County Road 12 outside Honeytown; I hit 77km/hour and Lewis 79 km-what a rush!
We both had big grins on our faces after that descent, which temporarily wiped away any complaints I had about the ride.
We ended up shaving 10km off the ride by taking another road that had us descend for about 2-3 km on a spectacular road that let us down off the escarpment and onto flatter terrain-that too was thrilling.

Eventually we pulled into camp after what seemed like an eternity, and pulled in to find our group gathered around the organizer, who had dropped in to drop a bombshell-our beloved driver, our supplier of sustenance, support, maps, water, cake, ice cream, and most importantly-alcohol, had been removed from us, for reasons unknown to us.
We are left to speculate and have suspicions as to the reasons, but have not been told.
We are all very upset and angry about the trade, and when we left the group for Toronto everyone was still locked in a serious debate as to how we would remedy the situation.
We want our driver back!