MS Bike Tour Grand Bend to London
This, in a very real way, is the event that kickstarted my return to cycling.
A couple of very dear friends contracted Multiple Sclerosis (MS). That raised our awareness of this horrible disease and my wife and I wanted to do something to help.
The MS Bike Tour - Grand Bend to London is one of many MS Bike Tours that run across the country. These are charity rides designed to help raise money and awareness to try and cure MS. The Grand Bend to London ride has done very well, consistently ranking the #2 fundraiser of all such rides.
The ride runs from the beach at Grand Bend, Ontario along county roads to London, Ontario. Riders spend the night in the dorms at Western University, and on day two of the ride, ride back to Grand Bend. We typically camp at the beach the night before the ride so our truck is in place for our return - and the beach at Grand Bend is incredible, so the ride finishes with a day on the beach.
More details at http://mssociety.ca/ontario/bike_grandbend.htm
My wife was invited to participate in this ride by some of her co-workers. At that point, I had a mountain bike (that was taking up space in the garage and not doing much else) and the idea of riding over 150 km over two days seemed ludicrous. So she rode her mountain bike and I provided technical support.
The second year, she leaned on me until I joined in, also riding my mountain bike. While we were riding, we kept being passed by roadies on real road bikes (notwithstanding the slicks I had mounted on the MTBs) and - being the competitive soul that I am - I started thinking about getting us road bikes specifically for this event.
I bought those road bikes, and ever since we have done the ride on modern equipment.
This year (our fourth) she got tired of me chomping at the bit to go faster, and turned me loose from my escort duties on day two so I could make a solo time trial of it.
This is the route for Day One. The course is 86 km long and is mostly flat, with a bit of a downhill run into London.
This is the route for Day Two, a little shorter at 75 km. There's only one real hill, a 6.4% hill at the 37 km mark, but it is very short and easy enough to get over.
There was a pretty strong wind blowing out of the north that day, so I'm pretty happy with my 31.3 km/h average speed, solo.
This event is pretty much the polar opposite of my weekly group ride, but I very much enjoy it. Getting involved with this ride led to my rediscovery of just how much I enjoyed cycling and spurred on my involvement with road riding. Upon a time, I viewed an 85 km ride as something akin to an epic odyssey; now, it is a good Saturday morning ride.
And on top of that, money is being raised for a very needful charity.
This ride occupies a special place in my heart, as it was the catalyst to get me riding again. If you are in the area, I strongly recommend participating. It is a ton of fun, there is plenty of support along the way, and you are surrounded by like-minded people, most of whom are not "serious" cyclists. Don't let the distance put you off; I have seen nine year olds complete this ride, and I have seen octogenarians complete this ride. It is totally worth doing.