Simcoe County Loop Trail : July 2021

 Yikes!! My last post was from 2019! And it was the last time I did this route!!

Well, here's an update from July 2021. I did the full Simcoe County Loop trail, though with a variation that added about 40km 😀

I did the route clockwise, and going eastward at the northern end of the loop, I decided to add on the loop around Lake Couchiching.

Here's the story!

I had pretty much a free day, and had been thinking of doing the 165km (ish) loop for about a week. As my 2019 post describes below, I never did the southern section through Barrie on that trip. So this time I was determined to do the whole thing.

The only bikes I had at my disposal (due to my 'cross bike being in the shop) was my Kona Dew Deluxe hybrid, and my road bike. Although many people DO INDEED do this largely gravel loop trail on a road bike, I've never liked that idea much. Though I now know enough tricks that I could replicate much of this loop on a road bike without needing to go through too many loose gravel sections.

Anyway - I chose the hybrid. So i was on a hybrid with fenders, rack, and one panier.

I went clockwise, and already knowing the Orillia to Barrie rail-trail section pretty well, I just put my head down and pedaled. The stretch of trail along the north side of Kempenfelt Bay, which I've never been on before, was actually quite nice, as is the Barrie waterfront.

I also had no problems at all with the navigation through Barrie. It's actually dead easy. From the waterfront go up Maple, turn left on Ross... and you're pretty much on your way out of the city.

The entire Barrie section is road riding, and pavement, and therefore having a road bike on this section is not only possible, but preferred. And from Orillia to Barrie, the rail-trail is really pretty darn firm, and provides little problem for road bike tires. And if a person wanted to ride on Ridge Road through that stretch, which is very popular for road cyclists anyway, you'd even be avoiding that stretch of railtrail.

When you turn off Snow Valley Road onto Vespra Valley Road, you're on a gravel road, and then when you leave Vespra and are on the actual rail trail again, you're back on full gravel trail. In my opinion, most of the WEST side of the Simcoe County Loop trail is annoying for road bike tires. But again - people definitely do this on road bikes.

I cheated and got off the rail trail twice over there - once onto Phelpston Road. And then heading north from Elmvale I did a trick I often do, and just rode Highway 6 north all the way to Concession 9, which avoids a lot of loose gravel. For both my Phelpston road ride, and the Highway 6 ride, you can see the rail trail right beside you, about 20 feet off the road, as you ride north. And I've been on Highway 6 (Country Road 6) a lot through the early to mid-morning, and the traffic has always been very light.

In Tiny Township you get into what I think are called the "Tiny Rollers", a stretch of trail that loops and winds up and down over these little bridges that cross over a meandering creek. It's a really fun stretch of trail. And then from Penetanguishene all the way over to Waubaushene, you're on the "glory" stretch of the loop trail - where it is ALL paved and much of it is right on Georgian Bay waterfront.

This is actually the Loop Trail running right along the Midland waterfront.

  Just a beautiful stretch of trail and definitely the best stretch of the Loop Trail.

 My Kona... near Waubaushene I think for this photo. My Kona is also the bike that got me through my entire GAP Trail trip in Pennsylvania. 😊

From Waubaushene to Coldwater you're back on railtrail, but this again is really nice firm railtrail, so wouldn't be a problem on a road bike, if that's what you choose to do.

For the version that I did on this particular day, I avoided the Coldwater to Orillia stretch of railtrail - and to my mind, much of this section is pretty darn bad for road bikes. I ride it all the time, but am always on my hybrid or a cross bike. I'd never choose to ride this whole stretch on a road bike - even though, and again, people do do it.

For my trip... I began thinking of adding on the Lake Couching Loop as I was in the Elmvale area. I assumed I would talk myself out of it somewhere through the Midland / Victoria Harbour / Waubaushene area... but nope... I kept pedaling, and kept feeling fine, and by the time I got to Coldwater, which is close to where I was going to have to make my decision to keep heading east to go around the Lake, or to turn more south to go directly to Orillia, I decided YEP! Let's do it!!! 

Part of my thinking was that I had never recorded a 200km ride on Strava before, and despite being on the hybrid with a panier, I decided that that was going to be the day.

And... it was fine really. I wasn't rushing. My legs were okay. I stopped at the little grocery store in Washago and ate two chocolate bars and had two big drinks... and then I went down the Rama Road stretch, which I'm very used to riding, without much problem.

SO... let me think... what are some helpful tips if you're trying to decide to do this ride:

1 day vs 2 days : I think in my 2019 post, I said "do it over 2 days so that you don't have to rush through it". Well, fair enough if you're really taking it slow. But if you're a fairly good cyclist, you can definitely do this in one day.

Barrie : Plan your trip so that you're through Barrie early or mid-morning. Barrie represents the worst traffic on this whole loop.

Bike : As I've said, lots of people do this successfully on a road bike. I wouldn't, unless I was planning to swap over to Ridge Road, Country Road 6, and a couple roads north of Orillia (Foxmead + Burnside + Carlyon for example) to get away from gravel as much as I could. I think a 'cross bike with about 32mm slick tires is still the ideal choice for this loop.

Highlight : The "must see" section is the northern stretch, from the Tiny Township "rollers" east over to Waubaushene.

Lowlight : The west side near Phelpston and Country Road 6 are pretty much just "head down and pedal" sections. But... what are you going to do... it's a 165km rail trail in rural Ontario , that's what much of it is going to be like.

Pro Tip : Find a way to tag CycleSimcoe somehow on Social Media, you might end up receiving a nice T shirt.

Simcoe County Loop Trail

Cycle Simcoe is a great cycling advocacy group that promotes cycle tourism in Simcoe County. One of the routes they have curated, is the Simcoe County Loop Trail.

I did it recently, and somehow managed to turn a 160km ride into a 175km ride, and I even got lost and didn't actually complete the whole thing!  :)

Executive Summary? I loved the first 1/3, from Orillia to Penetanguishene, I was mostly just hammering south on the western section, and had two mishaps (see below), and on my "cheater" route home on Line 15/16, I was simply hanging on by my fingernails, desperate to make it back to Orillia.

Starting in Orillia, I did the route counter-clockwise.

Three quick observations:

One day or Two days: I did it in one day. I don't recommend this though. I was pretty much just pedaling to try and get home the same day. "Pedaling" as opposed to enjoying the ride as much as I would have, if I'd been taking it easy. I'd recommend two days if you can, and having a more relaxed ride.

Bike: I rode a cyclocross bike with 32mm slick tires. I also had a rack and panniers, carrying a bit of gear. In my opinion you need one of the new(er) "adventure / gravel" style bikes (which are essentially 'cross bikes), or a hybrid. A road bike with narrow tires will be aggravating as hell with all the gravel, and a mountain bike will be too slow.

Fitness: Well, not that I'm fit, but to do it in one day at the very least your butt needs to be able to handle being on a saddle for 160(ish) kms. And to get home before dark you need to be able to hammer pretty decently all that while. Two days you could do a much more recreational ride.

Knowing the Uhthoff Trail and it's sometimes thick and loose gravel pretty well, I decided to use mostly country roads to get to Coldwater, avoiding the rail-trail. All these country roads are quiet and easy to ride, if you want to try this. The rail-trail is nice here is nice though, going through farmland and forest.

Trail just south of Coldwater.

Waubaushene to Penetanguishene is the crown-jewel of this route. Entirely paved, largely right beside Georgian Bay waterfront, and simply gorgeous.

Waubaushene

St. Marie among the Hurons

Midland

Just south of Penetanguishene the trail becomes this really cool series of "rollers". Steep descents to short wooden bridges over meandering creeks. It's really cool - you feel like you're slalomming up and down through deep woods (and you are!). This is the north part of the Tiny Trail. In fact, the west side of the Simcoe County Loop TRail, and the Tiny Trail, are part of the North Simcoe Rail Trail.

Tiny Trail

My first misadventure was that one of the Tiny Trail bridges was closed for repair, and I couldn't get through. I had to turn back to something called Overhead Bridge Road, and Concession 11 E, and thankfully noticed the return of the Tiny Trail while I was cycling along Concession 11 towards County Road 6.

North Simcoe Rail Trail

North Simcoe Rail Trail gravel

The west side of the Loop Trail, for me heading south parallel to County Road 6, I had a blip or two where the trail somewhat disappeared on me. I guess I found my way though. This whole western edge of the trail is not exactly spectacular. There's no water, and it's a long slog through farmer's fields. I also missed some signage somewhere that must have been telling me to get off the North Simcoe Rail Trail, and head east on-road for a bit, because I went at least 10km out of my way further south on the North Simcoe Rail Trail, before I realized that I was no longer actually on the Loop Trail.

At this point, now about 125km into my day, tired, and thrown off by no longer knowing exactly where I was on the trail, I gave up on the idea of navigating back to the trail and heading south down into Barrie, and then home along the Oro-Medonte rail-trail along Lake Simcoe. Instead I went into Midhurst and then back into Orillia via Line 15-16. Line 15-16 is beautiful by the way, but damn the pavement is torn to crap for long stretches, and makes for very rough riding.

While I didn't actually ride the east section of the Loop Trail, which is the Oro-Medonte Trail, I do know this trail between Orillia and Barrie quite well. It's flat, with good traction, and easy to ride. It's also entirely forest (and some fields). You don't get a glimpse of water unless you turn down one of the lines (Line 14 takes you to Carthew Bay which has a good store with ice cream).

So what I didn't see and can't comment on, is the route from Snow Valley Road (near Midhurst) south down into Barrie, and the Barrie waterfront.

Otherwise, here's my cheat-sheet:

Orillia to Penetanguishene: Spectacular fun and scenic!

Penetanguishene to Barrie: Farmer's fields, some wayfinding issues, County Road 6 usually visible off to the side.

Barrie to Orillia: Forest forest and more forest. (Go down to Carthew Bay on Line 14 to see water, and maybe do 8 mile point and up Line 15 back to the trail, in order to mix things up a bit).

And my particular "ride" on this day?

I was in love up until Penetanguishene, and then it started to sour when I got turned back on those Tiny Trail "rollers". It felt like from this point on, I was fighting the trail a little, both with way-finding and with enjoyment of my surroundings. By the time I realized I was off the trail, somewhere above Snow Valley Road, I was pretty much shattered, and no longer in the mood to head down into Barrie.

I absolutely inched along Line 15/16, and would have been an absolute wreck of a cyclist and human being if the helping tailwind that I had on 15/16, had instead been a headwind.

Virginia Capital Trail : June 2019

Folks, in Virginia U.S.A, running between Williamsburg and Richmond, is the Virginia Capital Trail.

I rode it one way to Richmond, and then back again, the next day, to Williamsburg.
I wish I had something better to say about the experience!

Let's do it this way...

Williamsburg
The city of Williamsburg is quite lovely, and was pretty darn receptive to cycling. I found a bike lane on Richmond Street, and a bike lane / wide shoulder on Jamestown Road, which leads you down to the start of the Virginia Capital Trail. Jamestown Road is one of the two main ways to get to Jamestown (where the VCT actually starts... it does NOT start in downtown Williamsburg), and Jamestown is the one I'd recommend a person use to get down to the trail.

Colonial Williamsburg, and Jamestown down on the river, are popular tourist spots. The old town of Williamsburg largely preserved as it existed in the 1700s.

This (below) is a view of the James River, from the Colonial Parkway.

The Colonial Parkway (picture below) is the other main route from downtown Williamsburg, to Jamestown and the start of the VCT. BUT... despite the fact that you get some better views and vistas from the Colonial Parkway (as compared to Jamestown Road)... the Colonial Parkway is a really rough stone aggregate surface. I was riding my Jamis 'cross bike with about 32 mm tires... and I still hated the experience of riding on that surface. I wouldn't even consider it on a road bike with 23 or 25 mm tires.

The Virginia Capital Trail

Is boring.
I'm really sorry. I hate to be critical. But it's boring.
The trail is 50+ miles of pavement, running alongside highway 5. Mostly forest on both sides, but sometimes fields of wheat.

I'd been thinking that there would be nice views of the James River as you rode along. That there'd be little beach areas with concession stands, park benches, and places to stop and look out over.... something! But there aren't! Not at all! So... Saturday morning... I found myself just pedaling and pedaling and pedaling... not because I was trying to make good time, but rather because there was nothing else to do.

Now, if you view the interactive map online, and click on the various "attractions", you might find a few things that interest you. But, you might not. And not all of those attractions are even open to the public at any given time. AND... they're not alongside the trail. If you want to see them, it's a detour. AND... another beef I have... is that there's no physical / printed map or guidebook to the VCT. At least not according to the bike shop I stopped in at, in Williamsburg, to try and find one. So cycling along the trail you're riding blind, not knowing what you're passing.

The VCT... I hate to complain about 50 miles of paved trail... but I don't know what I'd use it for, if I lived down there. It isn't fun to ride.. so I wouldn't spend weekend mornings on that trail. It's not super convenient for fast road bike rides, though I did see some people doing that on the trail. So, I don't know. Better to have it than not have it, but I got the impression it was most heavily used by people riding from Richmond. about 10 miles east (to this little parkette where the big bike is, below), and then back into Richmond again - neglecting the other 40 miles of trail towards Williamsburg.

Richmond
Finally! People! Life! Stuff!
Good God... it was such a relief to get into Richmond and see people again. Richmond is pretty cool, especially since I ride on Zwift, and one of the Zwift courses is Richmond (due to the World Championship which happened in Richmond in 2015). So, some of the streets of the city were "known" to me from my virtual experience of riding them on Zwift.

This big bike (picture above) is about 10 miles east of Richmond.

Street art along the Canal walk in Richmond.

The Canal Walk is really fascinating. I found myself wishing I didn't have my bike with me so I could just wander along more slowly and enjoy everything without pushing a bike and wearing hard to walk-in-footwear! I also wish I'd had a Richmond travel book in my hands, so I knew more about the civil war history I was passing by, and which a few of the bridges are historical reminders of.

The VCT running under old trestle tracks heading into Richmond.

I was in Virginia due to a conference, and my eyes really opened wide at discovering the existence of a long dedicated cycling trail between Williamsburg and Virginia. So, my 'cross bike (equipped with rack and panniers) came in the car with me, and I was hoping for some lolly-gagging along... stopping here and there for coffee, ice-cream or beer, as seemed appropriate. But... with nothing to see or do... I just kept pedaling.

Maybe that's what the VCT was for me... just some exercise, in between the history of Richmond on one side, and Williamsburg on the other. That's not the end of the world, but I was honestly hoping for more.

Letters to a young cyclist...

First of all - I'm obviously never going to blog again the way I did during that crazy downtown Toronto, to Oshawa, bike commuting phase that I had. I've changed, but blogging has changed as well. Twitter came along. I think a lot of bloggers choose to micro-blog these days, and that's likely how I now use Strava. A bike ride, a few words of description, a photograph, and I'm done. No need to open Blogger and try to be eloquent. One brushstroke in a Strava ride report does enough of the job that I don't need to explain any further.

Today is unique. I had a miserable ride that I thought I'd comment on a little bit, AND, I happen to have time to open up blogger. What a surprise!!!

It rained like mad on my commute this morning. I wore full rain gear and almost immediately began questioning why I bother to wear full rain gear. It really does nothing except become an extra layer of sodden clothing you have to deal with when you get to work. The rain was warm - I could have just ridden naked and it'd have been less hassle!

Oh - and that phenomenon, which I've potentially written about before in the long history of this blog - where the rain washes through the cushions in your helmet, and sweeps all the old sweat out of the pads, and the old sweat washes down your face, into your eyes, into your mouth... and you've enjoying a salt bath as you ride.... priceless...

Anyway - in the spirit of Rilke writing letters of advice to a young poet, here is one piece of advice from a seasoned bike commuter to a young bike commuter - carry bungee cords with you.

Bungee cords are good for lots of things, like securing a 12-case of beer to your bike-rack. But they're also good for wet clothing situations. 

Your pile of wet gear on the floor of the showers can become something like this:

Plus - does everyone know the newspapers in your shoes trick?

If your shoes are soaked, stuff them with newspapers, and through the course of the morning or afternoon, the newspapers absorb the moisture from the shoes. Often your shoes are totally dry by the end of the day - if you replace the newspapers once or twice.

By the way, this passage (see below) from Rilke is quite intimidating:
if you feel like you could live without writing, then you shouldn't write at all.

I assume he would extend that to the arts generally (painting / dance etc), but how much further would he extend that? If a person is a hobbyist painter, who gets pleasure from it in the few spare moments he/she can do it, but is also a busy parent and can live without painting, do you really never paint at all?
Seems harsh. Only practice your art if you can commit 100% of yourself to it. Otherwise you're a fraud. That's too harsh Rainer.

 "But after this descent into yourself and into your solitude, perhaps you will have to renounce becoming a poet (if, as I have said, one feels one could live without writing, then one shouldn't write at all). Nevertheless, even then, this self searching that I ask of you will not have been for nothing. Your life will still find its own paths from there, and that they may be good, rich, and wide is what I wish for you, more than I can say."
Rilke. Letters to a Young Poet. Letter #1

Shedding plastic like a crazy man

Riding your bike on a trainer in your basement leads to a lot of laundry.
A LOT OF LAUNDRY!

On a longish ride of 40km or more, I've often pulled one wicking sports-shirt off and dropped it on the floor beside me, and put another one on. And, I've yanked off my head band and wrist bands and replaced them with others, and I've mopped my forehead and neck and head with a variety of scrap clothing.
So, I often get off the bike and toss all this sweat-drenched stuff right into the washing machine and run a wash.

Lycra shorts, some manner of micro-plastic, sweat-wicking, sports-shirts.

Which makes you think about the plastic microfibers in clothing problem.
You're an active person - you own a lot of this sweat-wicking athletic clothing - you wear it, and wash it, over and over again, and you're sending plastic microfibers into your local waterways and adding to the large range of environmental problems the world is experiencing.

Yay Us!

If you want to stay active, and also want to minimize your impact on the earth, what do you do?
I guess - as a cyclist - you look at wool.

There are wool jerseys out there, but they're a bit hard to come by, they're expensive, and it worries me a bit that Vintage Velos (where the image below comes from) has a REPAIR link has one of the three main links on their homepage.

Image from Vintage Velos.

I don't think I can ever buy another one of these sweat-wicking shirts. It irks me too much from a tree-hugging perspective to think of buying even more of these things. And I guess I'll start trying to phase my current ones out, and treat myself once in a while at Christmas to one of these expensive wool jerseys.

The Zwifting Treehugger

It's May, and finally warm in central Ontario. I've been bike-commuting to/from work again, and it's as rejuvenating as it always is. There's really nothing quite like the feeling of pedaling away from your workplace on a summer afternoon.

I Zwifted like a madman this winter. My Strava account tells me that I have nearly 3200km in my legs, from Jan 1 to May 10, 2018. In comparison, I did 4280 km for all of 2017. I think I'd be pretty bored with Zwift if I hadn't discovered all the races that you can do. And then the big organized group rides, like the Tour of Watopia. The races obviously fulfill a competitive urge, and the organized rides provide a nice social element - both much more interesting than simply pedaling around Watopia (or London, or Richmond) by myself.

Now that it's spring and bike-commuting season, I anticipate my Zwifting will be relegated to just two or three races (or a group ride) per week, with the bulk of my mileage now coming from the commuting.

I've started using Strava the way that I used to use this blog - taking pictures of things I pass on my rides, musing about the things in those pictures. It's interesting how the "medium" changes over the years. Instagram is obviously where everyone is these days, but for someone who is wordy, a blog still makes some kind of sense - though people have to go to SO MUCH TROUBLE to navigate to your blog these days!    (as opposed to having your instagram / twitter streams come up on their phone every five seconds).

I like this tree.

It's on a route here in my town that I don't take often, but every time I do, I look out for this tree that looks like it'd be very much at home in a Tolkien book or film. It looks like it is waiting to give you a hug - one that you may not be terribly pleased to receive.

Strava news, and a few reflections

Strava is in the news this morning due to some data that has apparently been online for a few months now. At first blush - it is somewhat astounding that Strava exercise data and maps can reveal hidden military bases. But then you realize - wow, this makes total sense!

Of course military personnel use Strava to map their rides, runs, workouts. And of course a number of these people - like the rest of us - don't go into the settings of the app and really figure out what information they should and should not be sharing. Though, at the same time, you would have figured that some military officer who uses Strava him or herself would have thought about this in the past, as he looked at the map of his daily run on the Strava site, and realized that it showed the exact distance around the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan (here's a good version of the story from the BBC).

In active transportation circles, the Strava heat maps are a tool used when talking to cities / municipalities about streets and routes that need safety upgrades. You can use the heat maps to tell what the popular routes are through your town. Fairly often, you'll see a stretch of road that is legitimately dangerous for cyclists, but also pretty much the only choice to get through that part of town. So, the Strava heat maps get placed in front of the noses of city council as you describe the need for improvements and alternatives in cycling infrastructure.

More personally, Strava is just awesome. And I'm not even really a data geek like all the other cycling data geeks out there.

I had a fairly lazy and slothful fall 2017, and have hit 2018 very keen to get some fitness back. And Strava let's me compare lots of things, including Jan 2018 to Jan 2017, and I can tell that I'm totally blowing both Jan 2017 AND Feb 2017 away right now (thanks to cycling on Zwift).

And, Strava being as easy to use as it is, I like seeing ride data like this below for a Jan 21 ride. I'm getting to be a bit of an old guy now, and it tickles me pink so see that I can still hang out pretty much at my maximum heart-rate for 3 or 4 minutes. 

Anyway - Strava is an amazing trove of data about your life as an athlete, or your quest for an active lifestyle. I wish I'd been using Strava back in 2006/2007 when I started this blog, and was doing the downtown Toronto to north Oshawa bike commute!