Two Wheels To Nowhere

Road with Grit. Rode with Grit. ~ Honeywood is a bit of a cycling pilgrimage for me and the first ride of the year from Barrie, through Base Borden and up the Niagara Escarpment is always a special ride. This was the second consecutive year that I was able to do it in January and seeing almost no snow on the Escarpment makes me wonder if this area is seeing a climate change trend – I dunno. This weekend’s long climb to Honeywood was the toughest one of many I can recall. Headwinds gusting at forty-five kilometres an hour required grit and determination to conquer a climb that I usually hammer up without a struggle. So, I used the relentless wind as an excuse to stop and photograph things that previously have caught my attention but I never stopped for. Like the name on one country estate sign that hints at an interesting and maybe eccentric person residing on the side of the hill. Or the big stone fence that protects the old brick house just up from the road from the intersection with the townline that heads south like a cartographer’s pencil line, as far as the eye can see. Or the dilapidated barn that clatters as the wind howls through it (I have a thing for old barns). Or the tidy, prohibitive signage that I normally speed by through the military base. Or the sign that indicated I should turn right for “Hope”. “No Hope straight ahead” I thought to myself as I slogged into the wind towards the impending climb.
Today I also noticed several kind folks along the way. A pickup truck driver who followed me patiently as I climbed at a snails pace into the wind around a blind corner, finally passing carefully with wide berth and a friendly supportive honk. Not a typical interaction between a bicycle and a pickup in Ontario. An oncoming SUV with a ski box on top honking enthusiastically when spotting me cresting the steepest section of the climb. A fellow cyclist, I figure. A café owner who spotted me the cash I was short to enjoy a coffee and a generous slice of her “Best Ever Carrot Cake”. “Pay me back next time you’re riding through town”, she said. How kind. And finally a cheerful greeting from my understanding spouse who didn’t complain that my two hour ride had turned into an all day affair with my two-wheeler.