Latest News

Off to Goodwood before the Centurion

by Matt Smith

September 10, 2011 - Filed under: Company

Comments (1)

Just a little over a week to go before the ride in Collingwood at the 2011 Blue Mountain Centurion. Trying to get the bike dialed in for the ride and make sure everything is up to snuff. Well, those were the plans.

I got a call from Thorben last night asking me if I wanted to join him and a few others on a ride to Goodwood, just north east of the city. The destination there is one of World Tour rider Michael Barry’s favorite stops, a small restaurant/bakery with some really artery clogging stuff. Yes, that is a destination to go to all right!

We started out from Jet Fuel, one of the local coffee hot spots whose owner John is bike crazy. His shop has sponsored the Jet Fuel cycling team for a long, long time. Thorben was a rider on the team a few years back.

The group consisted of Thorben who used to be in Customer Service at Cervélo and is now doing his PhD at York University, his wife Ireen, Mike who Thorben knows from his PhD studies and who just finished his own PhD, Hans, another PhDer (geeze, I am suddenly feeling very under-educated here), Cheryl, who also just finished her Masters at York. We road east along Kingston Road to the Toronto Zoo where we were finally able to get out on country roads. There we were to meet Joe who also used to ride with Jet Fuel.

Joe got lost, well kinda. Living out in that area he was used to riding down from his place to meet people riding out of the city. He mistook the route Thorben relayed to him and automatically took a route with so of the old Jet Fuel riders would use to get out of the city. Once we finally got our signals matched up, he joined us just outside of Stouffville. From there we rode up to Goodwood at a nice steady pace. You see, Thorben while probably being the best rider in the group, doesn’t really like to go fast on rides like this. A nice steady pace between 30 and 35 km/h is just his espresso (he doesn’t drink tea, just a lot of double espressos).

As we pulled into the bakery in Goodwood, a few other cyclists were already there partaking in the offerings of the bakery. Once inside, Thorben, Hans and Mike suddenly realized as a sandwich wrap was picked up by a customer they could have a sandwich. So, they order up a full sandwich and wait for it to be served to us outside. I just go for a pecan butter tart. Probably gained a kilo just from that.

That is Thorben and myself just before we start back with his new/old bike and mine. His weights probably close to 10 kgs (22 lbs.) whereas mine is half that. He just built up the bike and it is an old steel frame with the down tube shifters and funky stem. It is a gorgeous looking bike and very deceiving. It looks really like, but, it isn’t. Not even close. Even on that bike, he is quite able to rip your legs off.

Once suitably fueled up, we head south over a gravel road. Yes, it was interesting to say the least. Not a supreme bike handler like Thorben and Joe, I watched as they and most of the others noodle off into a dust cloud. Me, I am crapping my drawers because of the lack of riding experience on such roads. The only other who isn’t with the group is Cheryl who I assume didn’t like the road either. We finally catch up on a paved cross road and I check the back tire and it is soft as a marshmallow. Even before the ride, I was concerned over the air loss of the tubular and was quite surprised to see that after just 5 hours it was really soft.

Luckily, Joe had with him a good pump and we were able to get enough air into the tire to make it ride-able. Also on the way back, depending on which gear I was in with the back cassette, it would make a horrible noise. Not sure if it was just a setup issue or because of all the dirt that made its way to the chain and cassette. I will have to get out the cleaning brush tonight for that.

I was hoping to do the Ride for Karen tomorrow which is where all this stuff started from in the first place but really can’t afford the full day it will consume. Just too much work on the plate. So, tomorrow will probably be the last ride on the road before next weekend as the weather forecasts are showing rain for most of the week. Looks like I will need to drag out the trainer to keep the legs nimble.

You can receive instant updates on the Crazy Light project by following me at http://twitter.com/#!/cervelomatt

Also, to read the original blog series, you can check them out at http://crazylight.cc