Bridgewater Century Ride

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 Under ideal weather conditions the inaugural Bridgewater Century ride/sportive took place today on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Travelling through Luneneburg and Queen counties the ride sponsored by the Wildwood Cafe could not have asked for a better day.

 I departed Bridgewater in the company of fellow club mate SM with the objective of having a fun day in the saddle but not pushing the pace too hard as I am(probably) racing the Provincial ITT outside of Windsor on Sunday.  My plan was to enjoy the scenery and relish the lack of traffic on country roads. I was not disappointed! The landscapes were scenic and the car free roads were awesome!

 It was kinda neat cycling through Chelsea/Buckfield, childhood home to my parents and current residence for my mother, sister, grandmother and a bunch of cousins, aunts and uncle.

 The pavement from town to Buckfield was prime. From Lapland to Middlewood it was typical rural NS secondary roads with lots of chop and rough spots...including a stretch of hard pack dirt. This was a sportive though and in typical Euro tradition it offered Nova Scotian "cobbles"(rough pavement) and dirt track. Once at the coast the return trip up the Lahave also provided excellent blacktop and some challenging climbing through Mount Pleasant. The final push back to Bridgewater was against a shoulder/head wind and probably made the last 7km feel much longer.

 I ended up with 122kms in the books with a modest 25.6kph at the finish line. Perfect. I kept my effort in the 50-60% range so should have some fuel left in the legs for tomorrow's 40km time trial. Overall it was a prime day on the bike, met an old gym buddy enroute and had a great conversation with the ladies at the Petite Reviere store and did I say how awesome it was cycling on traffic-less country roads? Priceless!

 Many thanks to the organizers and especially to the cadre of volunteers that sheparded us cyclists across the countryside with lots of smiles, cheers and encouragement.Well done!

Comments

Anonymous said…
HELLO MOTHER,WAVING AS YOU WENT BY.GEORGE IS THAT YOU!
YOUR MOM WAS SO PLEASED TO SEE YOU.
2:24 PM
George said…
LOL!

Too funny. The look on her face was priceless!
2:53 PM
Cari said…
haha! just read those comments:) that sounds like an awesome route for a race!
3:14 PM
Alice said…
Oh, I know the excitement in her voice when she was telling me.She was so happy to see you.Hi Cari.
10:36 AM
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