Riot On Racing: From Away

So...sorry...no post last Thursday...as I was away on a 'holiday' of sorts; visiting family who have a cottage on Bob's Lake, near Tichborne, Ontario....about an hour north of Kingston...and no proper internet connection to allow a post.

And special thanks to Joel, who generously offered to introduce me to the mtb trails in Kingston...however, my schedule didn't really work out to get to Kingston. The offer much appreciated though! One of these days...

Oh, but riding was done! Great riding...better than the best medications...

There was no MTB trails that I knew of in the vicinity, however, the gravel roads, and lanes around the cottage were numerous, forever, and glorious to ride! Many curvy, steep hills...and various surfaces....some hardpacked like pavement...some fresh gravel. The lanes were rougher surfaces, but fun to ride for an mtb-er, steep and curvy, and spotted with cottages...and mostly around various lakes. Light vehicle traffic, and mostly people who actually waved 'hello'!!

One of the smaller gravel roads...most were wider than this one...

One of the lanes....many were narrower than this!

And then the cherry on the ice cream...the K&P trail!! An old rail trail system that currently runs from Tichborne to Kingston (I suspect that the K&P stand for Kingston Pembroke...)....with plans for it to run farther north withing the next year or two. As a rail trail, it is relatively flat, but it was very well groomed, and dusted with gravel dust...almost too much in many spots, which made the surface comfortable...and made for a great endurance workout plowing through the thin gravel.

But the best thing about the trail was the rich variety of environment, and sights along the way! The trail takes you over various creeks, by various lakes, farmers fields, through forests, and Canadian shield rock...

A tunnel of rock...

A tunnel of cedars...

An open field...

And the trail crossed other trails and many gravel roads, giving the rider (me) so many options...of which I tried as many as I could fit in...a fraction of what was available...

A point where the trail followed along Fish Creek Rd...(I had to ride both)...

In fact there were so many crossings that it could lead to confusion...but luckily my native tracking skills kept me on course...or maybe it was the very adequate signage...

There were educational signs/plaques...there were historical signs...and there were directional signs...

Although some did confuse me....like this one...

How did they know I was there....and why are they so judgmental??

And the fact these two were so close together could be confusing...

And then there was this one...

I suspect it was more of a suggestion, as it would be difficult to enforce...still, I made a conscious effort to keep my speed within the limit...(yes, there is significant tongue in cheek here...).

Apparently paid members get other trail benefits...

I'm kidding, of course....I don't think there are paid memberships...

Although, I did run into these ladies on the trail...

Don't worry Lois, my heart is still yours...

Actually, there was plenty of wildlife along the way...from vultures, to deer, bunnies, and plenty of these guys sunning themselves in the 30degree+ weather...

Anyways...my gravel bike got plenty of work this weekend...100+km on one day...75 the next (which was planned to be 100 or more again, but a stan's spewing puncture, that stubbornly but eventually sealed had me worried enough to turn back...). And I look forward to returning to do it again as soon as possible...