So I finally did it.
After many years of thinking about it…I did it! My first Paris to Ancaster!
I knew it would be a big race but it was huge...2350 riders this year! For sure the largest crowd of people & bikes I have ever been in. It was even exciting just waiting in the start line!
The first 60K was awesome. I was having a great time. A nice day riding country roads, farm lanes, muddy off road sections of trail, some rail trail, some fun adventures too - like getting my foot stuck in a hidden-in-the-mud wire fence, etc....all part of good times on bikes.
Then the last 10K happened. What the heck? I was just riding along a nice fire road with a nice (!) NE wind in my face when my legs decided happy times were over & started cramping up. Ugh. I had to totally slow down to soft pedal mode to keep spinning to just get done.
Either it's just my perception or it's actual fact - the last 10K of Paris to Ancaster is the most killer part. I was expecting it too - but really didn't know what I was in for. Earlier on (somewhere in the first happy 60K) was a mudslide. I partly carried my bike & partly rode down it (proud!). After that I was thinking this mudslide business isn't so bad. But I learned they saved the real crazy one for later.
The last 'mudslide of death' went on forever and ever and ever. Thank goodness my bike is pretty light to carry but hiking down a steep chute keeping my balance with my bike on my shoulder with legs screaming at each step of deep mud sucking at my feet...was a long way from happy times. All I could think was "why am I doing this? what is wrong with me? I paid money for this?"
And then...not too far after that...THE hill. I was warned about the awful hill at the end. I knew it was coming. I had done practice rides to include a big hard hill at the end to be ready. But - I never practiced climbing a big hill at the end of a long ride with cramped up legs & shoes full of 100 lbs of mud. The Martin Rd. climb at the end of those final 10k with delicate crampy legs was pretty awful. Some hike-a-biking helped get it done & I managed to mostly stay on the bike and pedal quite a bit including the last steep part near the end though I didn't know I was near the end...
I knew it would be a big race but it was huge...2350 riders this year! For sure the largest crowd of people & bikes I have ever been in. It was even exciting just waiting in the start line!
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| Me & my P2A friends at the start. |
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| 60k of Happy Times! |
Either it's just my perception or it's actual fact - the last 10K of Paris to Ancaster is the most killer part. I was expecting it too - but really didn't know what I was in for. Earlier on (somewhere in the first happy 60K) was a mudslide. I partly carried my bike & partly rode down it (proud!). After that I was thinking this mudslide business isn't so bad. But I learned they saved the real crazy one for later.
The last 'mudslide of death' went on forever and ever and ever. Thank goodness my bike is pretty light to carry but hiking down a steep chute keeping my balance with my bike on my shoulder with legs screaming at each step of deep mud sucking at my feet...was a long way from happy times. All I could think was "why am I doing this? what is wrong with me? I paid money for this?"
And then...not too far after that...THE hill. I was warned about the awful hill at the end. I knew it was coming. I had done practice rides to include a big hard hill at the end to be ready. But - I never practiced climbing a big hill at the end of a long ride with cramped up legs & shoes full of 100 lbs of mud. The Martin Rd. climb at the end of those final 10k with delicate crampy legs was pretty awful. Some hike-a-biking helped get it done & I managed to mostly stay on the bike and pedal quite a bit including the last steep part near the end though I didn't know I was near the end...
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| I had no idea I was at the top at this point of total misery. 10 seconds later I was all smiles! |
And then it was done!
And I want to do it again.
And I want to do it again.
