Honeywood Hustle
Soon as that early Saturday morning alarm goes off, I tend to ask myself what the "Fuc$" am I doing with my life as I struggle to get out of bed and shovel in as much food as I possibly can, before embarking on a big 5-6 hour ride. I think about how nice a couple more hours of sleep would be or how it would be nice to be a normal human and spend some time with the family chatting over a coffee all morning. I then quickly realize how anxious I would be trying to relax over that morning coffee as I chose to sleep in instead of riding. More importantly my mates are all up and counting on me to be at County Road 56 and Sideroad 30 at 7:30 sharp. The beginning of my best day ever has officially begun.
I quickly meet up with Jon and will as we head for Angus to meet Trevor and others in pursuit of the infamous Honeywood Climb. This climb is over 8km long and stair steps up the niagara escarpment right into windmill territory. As we head west on the flat country roads that lead up to the climb, the racer's break most of the wind as several of our friends dont have the same miles in their legs.
Soon as we cross Airport Road it's game on and we are no longer friends until Honeywood, it's full gas. Here is where I become "that" group ride guy and announce "I'm just gonna take it easy today" but obviously try my absolute hardest to take the win and likely even throw in the fist attack. Sorry guys. The climb takes about 20 minutes with a very steep section to finish it off. The front runner's recover and wait at the Honeywood arena for the rest of the bunch to catch up.
After a short break to re group, the only climb of the day is over and everyone is happy. Even though we are about 45 minutes away from the Cafe stop in Creemore, the top of Honeywood basically feels like the ride is already over. moral is high.
We push through the open farm roads before the best part of the ride, descending "The Noisy River Descent" into Creemore. Here is the second part of the ride where we rip a pace line as hard as we can before sprinting into the Creemore sign, which Trevor win's every single time. Anyone that wasn't able to hold the pace down the hill catches back on quickly and we all share the beautiful experience of a butter tart and a coffee stop in Creemore.
After some some sun tanning and typical banter we slowly get back on the bikes and begin the journey back to where we came from. Again the racer's break most of the wind on the way home and you can hear chatter and laughter behind you in the bunch. This route is amazing for all levels as the flat roads allows weekend warriors to hide and the the two regrouping sections allows the racers to get a fantastic training ride in as well. It's very unique.
As we get closer and closer to Barrie, you start to see people pulling off and going off in their own direction, thanking one another for the experience. Finally It's back to Jon, will, and I heading through Midhurst before I give the boys a goodbye and "Knuckle's" before I am coasting home myself. This is the start of my best day ever and it give's me pure happiness. The best thing of all is we all get to have our best day ever, every single Saturday morning.
Here's to the turbo trainer season coming to an end and starting the thoughts of getting back into our routines of outdoor riding. The District Flyer's will be continuing our Honeywood Saturday morning ride's going this spring and everyone is invited to come along.
Thanks, and see you on the road.
Eric Johnston