Saturday, May 3^rd was not the club’s first run BUT was definitely John’s first time leading. This is only our 2^nd year with the club and we do not know many trails, or as John says “you don’t pay attention when you are following”.

Anyway we were the last to arrive at the Bradley place (thanks so much for supplying parking), met the members, signed up new members, unloaded and we were ready for our adventure, we had rain gear, food and gas………..(gas for the bikes, I should mention) and we were good to go!

So we embark on our journey following a GPS trail that John said would take us on the run we rode for last year’s charity run. We were all eager and looking forward to a fun filled day.

Little did we know we were destined to run into (not literally of course) roadblocks that we would need to overcome? John’s first lead would be memorable!!

Our first test was when we came to a T junction and we were to go left, well Mother Nature changed our plan with 2 huge trees across the trail so we double back and figured we would outsmart her, ha ha ha. Never underestimate……….for she had plans…….we followed an OFSC trail that brought us to our next test, 2 old bridges, did I say OLD, one passable, the other questionable, so the group decided the safest crossing would be through the creek and it was a piece of cake, as long as you didn’t stop on the riverbank, right John.

We proceeded along the rail bed, uneventful for a stretch, so a less traveled trail was explored, and of course Lorie was driving, seems to happen at the technical parts, anyway I lost sight of the trail, but thanks Rob for picking it up, and we continued to weave our way between trees, over rocks, and come to the end of the trail, somebody’s tree stand for hunting…………..so we get turned around and head back out, well let me tell you I think I popped more wheelies with John on the back, yelling for him to lean forward, we burnt rubber, no really we did, could smell the belt. So back on the rail bed we go, uneventful again for awhile!!!! We were stopped for a break talking to a group from Calabogie Run, BUT just behind us was another more technical trail, it was unanimous that the group would tackle it, so of course I was driving again with John on the back, and it did not disappoint us, tight turns, rocks, we met up with a couple other bikes on their way out, they had their lunch at the lake so we thought we would check out the lake……………….Tony we found a wonderful campsite and you would have been drooling over the swimming!!! It was North Frontenac Parks campsite; we marked the GPS so we could find our way back.

So again back to the trail, uneventful but in a good way!!!!! We happen upon a sand pit, and imagine the delight of the guys, just like boys with new toys, so they played in the pit for awhile and then we head out, Rob was leading us as he knew where the trail would bring us out on the 509, so I got to drive and John was sight seeing. We came to the end of the trail and it only went left, our vehicles as per Vic’s calculations were 14 km to the right…………..hmmmmmm. It was at this point that we discovered nobody had a trail map on them, we had GPS but no map………..so we go left and hoped the trail curves right, but not too far down this trail we meet up with Maphead Mark and his group from Enterprise, we ask how to get where we want to go and he says to follow him, he will show us. We had to double back for quite a ways but as promised Mark showed us the turn we needed and he was on his way (thanks so much Mark for your help).

Before returning to Canoto Road we happened upon another sandpit that the boys played in, this one even had a mud hole. It was about 4pm and it decided to finally rain, and rain it did, we were drenched by the time we got back to the vehicles, safe and sound. We all discussed the day for a bit, said our goodbyes and headed out. Was a good day, even getting lost wasn’t bad.

Thanks to those that attended, it was great meeting you and spending a Saturday; Rob Bird, Vic Molnar, Randy and Tracy Laporte, and Rick Bacon, great group, great ride…………until next time!!

Lorie and John Carty