by Peter Wood & Carole Laflamme

Thirty Seven cyclists gathered at the Festival Inn in Stratford, Ontario on Sunday evening May 26^th for our annual Spring CCCTS Eastern Canada Hub & Spoke.  It was great to have two couples from BC! This trip was the largest yet in terms of participation and our organizers, Nel Ahmed, Carole Laflamme, Geoff Kennedy, Don Taylor and Ed Weber did a lot of preparation to insure its success.

Nancy Hough made sure the tour would have a cultural component by arranging theatre tickets for the opening night performance of Fiddler on the Roof at the Stratford Festival. As is tradition at Stratford everyone dressed up in business suits and formal dresses for opening night. We had trouble recognizing our fellow cyclists!!

Stratford and its surrounding area was first settled in the late 1790’s by United Empire Loyalists who left the United States after it became independent from Great Britain following the American revolution. Subsequent immigration came from Germany (especially in the area closer to Waterloo) which included Mennonites fleeing persecution in Europe.  The land is flat or gently rolling, so cycling was similar to what I would expect in southern Manitoba.

Day  1, Monday May 27^th

The destination was St Mary’s, Ontario with routes in gentle terrain for either a long ride (distance approximately 90 km) or short ride (distance approximately 65 km). The groups were further subdivided into those who wanted to cycle fast (average speed 25 km/hour) and those who preferred a more leisurely pace (18 to 22 km/hour).

St Mary’s (population 6600) is nicknamed the Stone Town as most of its downtown buildings are constructed of stone. It is the burial place of Arthur Meighan, Canada’s 9^th Prime Minister, and is also the home of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

After returning from St Mary’s, many of the participants relaxed their cycling muscles in the swimming pool and hot tub at the Festival Inn.

Day 2, Tuesday May 28^th

Tuesday’s scheduled ride was to New Hamburg, Ontario.  New Hamburg (population 7900) has North America’s largest waterwheel. Notable residents include Howie Meeker, who provided colour commentary on Hockey Night In Canada prior to today’s man with the outrageous jackets. However, the weather gods were not on our side with rain, thunderstorms and lightning forecast. A small vanguard of cyclists headed out on the short route and rode approximately 55 kilometers, returning to Stratford before the skies opened up and poured rain. The rest of the cyclists headed to downtown Stratford to explore the shops, museums, or take in an afternoon concert with Cynthia Dale.

Instead of burning our heals at the Festival Inn while it was raining, Brian Finch organized a great tour of Oneway Manufacturing,  a Stratford company that makes high-end wood lathes and exports them all over the world. Ten of us went on this tour Tuesday afternoon learning a lot about Canadian inventiveness and marketing.

Day 3, Wednesday May 29^th

The destination was Monkton, northwest of Stratford. Half the group elected to ride to New Hamburg to cover the ride missed the previous day. The morning departure was postponed for one hour to allow a thunderstorm to pass. With the radar showing clear sailing everybody departed at 10:30 AM. The day was hot, humid and windy. The long ride was 103 km, including about 14 km in the pouring rain. Paul Hough and Carole Laflamme drafted me or I wouldn’t have made it against the persistent wind. The middle long ride was 87 km. Most of the participants on the shorter rides missed the rain completely.  Both of the longer rides ended with a 25 km tail wind from Mitchell to Stratford. It was so nice to be pushed along effortlessly at 25 km/hr.

Day 4, Thursday May 30^th

Our ride started with car transport to our remote start at St Jacobs, Ontario, about 30 minutes from Stratford. St Jacobs, (population 2,200) is known for its Mennonite heritage and popular farmer’s and craft market.

The lunch destination was Elora (population 3600) famous for the Elora Gorge on the Grand River.  This route was hillier than the rides around Stratford. Unfortunately, we were unable to cycle through the famous covered bridge known as the “Kissing Bridge” as workmen were shingling the roof and the road to the bridge was closed.  “Hot Lips” Paul was royally ticked off… I think he had sizzling plans for Nancy!?!?

The heat and humidity were intense, cheeks were flushed and sweat was pouring. But spirits were high! Mennonites passing by on their horse-drawn buggies stared at us with serious faces and the odd child shyly waved back at us.

After a stroll to visit the Elora Gorge and a welcome air-conditioned lunch, we cycled against a persistent headwind – in a race with menacing clouds – trying to beat a stormy downpour… Some did (sitting smug on a patio, cold beer in hand); some didn’t (yikes!).  The storm was short-lived though and we all left our St. Jacob’s remote start under the sun… minus Christine’s front wheel… Yes! It was forgotten in the middle of the parking lot!!! But it was brought back by Barb and Geoff, our “wheel rescuers”. My, my… at our age, thank God our heads are attached; otherwise they might be left in the parking lot!

The day ended with our group dinner at the Country Golf Club where we shared wine, food, stories and great friendship.

Day 5, Friday May 31^st

Our last day of cycling – with a remote start in picturesque St. Mary’s – brought more sun and very, very muggy weather. As we socialized along quiet, serene country roads, pastoral vistas and lovely homestead farms, we reminisced about our week in beautiful Stratford, home to the famous Avon and Festival Theatres. Amongst our group of 37, we managed to take in the amazing musical “Fiddler on the Roof”, the Cynthia Dale concert, Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure”, Schiller’s/Oswald’s play “Mary Stuart”, topped off by Pete Townshend’s “Tommy”, an exhilarating production using  the very latest in audio-visual stage technology. Now if anyone ever tells us that we are just a bunch of “astonishingly athletic folks”, we can modestly add “sophisticated and cultured too!!!”

All in all, a fabulous time was had by all, whether on our bikes, at a show or lounging with a glass of wine during our extremely popular “Happy Hour” (graciously hosted by Marg and Peter). We are grateful for the many friends who came along, for the work done by the organizers, and we definitely brought back fond memories of our 2013 Stratford experience.