Stupid Thing #9 - Tour de Greenbelt

Our September Stupid Thing was a cycling tour of part of Ontario's Greenbelt. The Greenbelt is a 1.8 million acre protected area that encircles the urbanized Greater Toronto Area, stretching from Niagara Falls to far east of Toronto. The land is preserved for agricultural and recreational use. The Greenbelt Foundation sponsors the Tour de Greenbelt, a series of bike rides through various parts of the Greenbelt. We chose a 23 km ride through bucolic and only-somewhat-suburbanized northern York Region. And maybe because it is our employer, the fine government of Ontario, that created the Greenbelt, several of my friends from work joined us!

Touristes de Greenbelt at the start

There were 23, 50, and 100 km options for the ride. We opted for the 23 km in hopes of enticing more people to ride with us (it worked!). This ride was billed as "mostly flat" and perfect for families and beginners. This assessment was probably made by either someone driving a car or some serious cyclist who is used to riding 100 km up and down the Niagara Escarpment. It was not mostly flat. Ashifa and I had rather stupidly decided to run hill sprints the night before, thinking this ride would not be so hard. Shortly after the ride started, we began a very long, gradual uphill where my quads told me the hill sprints had been a serious mistake. And the hills kept on coming after that. Considering we had completed a 200 km, three-day bike ride about three weeks before (our stupidest thing of the year, which Shif seems to have forgotten to blog about), it was a little embarrassing that I was the one chugging along at the rear of the pack.

David, Ashifa, and Maria at a rest stop

Paul and me, resting and stopping.
The green shirt makes it easy for friends
to locate me should I ride into a ditch.

Most of the ride was through pleasant rural areas, but there was an alarmingly high proportion of the ride on suburban roads that I wouldn't exactly call cycling-friendly, especially since this route was promoted as being great for families. But we all survived and it was actually a nice ride, just challenging enough.

Not-so-scenic Newmarket

The ride began and ended at the Newmarket farmers' market. After the ride, we were treated to a great lunch made with all local food - organic burgers, corn on the cob, fruit, and homemade cookies. And we all did a little grocery shopping at the market before we headed home. Shif and I got the best strawberries we've had all year and I spotted a purple cauliflower in David's bag.