My bike ride

I was an avid cyclist in my youth. I used to ride my bike no hands all the way from my house to Elora Public School back in the day, including that downhill stretch from Bird's store, across the bridge, and around the corner!

In my U of Guelph days I was a mad-man on that Gordon Street hill, passing cars on the left, on the right, and generally making a bad name for cyclists.

I fell away from bike rides once dogs came into my grown-up life. I'm a firm believer in vigorous daily exercise, but once you have a dog, that means walking the dog, not solitary bike rides.

Can't say enough about that daily dose of exercise. Get's the heart pumping and the blood circulating, and that's a good thing. Then about a year ago, I was forced to face the fact that my walking buddy, Boomer, wasn't up to much of a walk anymore.

So I bought myself a new bicycle. Apparently that's no mean feat these days. The Globe and Mail had a story on the bicycle shortage just yesterday. They had a cool infographic that showed how a $5000 made-in-Canada Rocky Mountain bike was totally dependant on parts from Taiwan, China, and Japan.

Pretty much the only thing "Canadian" about a Rocky Mountain bike is the frame, unless that's been offshored too and I don't know it yet. Which led me to reflect on the inputs on that $5000 bike. I'm sure they're paying maybe $500 tops for all those foreign bits.

So their frame is worth $4,500?

I don't know, but I'm asking because I can't imagine there's more than 20 minutes of welding involved in fabbing up a bicycle frame. Twelve feet of tubing, twenty minutes of welding, $500 worth of foreign-supplied value-added bits, and you've got a $5000 bike.

And there's a waiting list!

But I digress.

I didn't pay that kind of money for my new bicycle. Mine came from Canadian Tire. I'm a sucker for a mark-down, and this honey was reduced from $600 plus to something that started with a 3. That was good enough for me.

First bike I ever had with disc brakes and shock absorbers.

So I got in quite a few bike rides last summer. Boomer didn't mind me leaving on a bike, whereas if I walked she desperately wanted to come with. After we said goodbye to Boomsie,  I was walking again, and then Bruno came into our lives.

Bruno loves to walk, but not in the hot weather, and so I've been getting some bike rides in again.

Today I headed down Concession 20 all the way through Kemble, and then took the "Kemble By-pass" out to the Lookout. 

Nobody knows why Kemble needs a by-pass. There's like two dozen houses, a church, and a post office, and traffic congestion is generally not an issue. It does come in handy for the locals on those rare occasions the OPP puts a ride-check in the main intersection.

I don't know anything about the outfit, but that look-out is a project of the Kemble Women's Institute, which actually has a fascinating back story. And you catch a fine view there, all the way to Christian Island, and on some days the headlands behind it.

From there I headed downhill and found myself on the Presquille Road, which is a nice little waterfront subdivision. A couple of years ago you could still get a waterview lot there for under $200. The lots are all gone and a decent home in the hood is gonna come in close to a million, if you can find one.

It's a nice bike ride because most of the way the waterfront road is between the houses and the shore, so you get that waterfront experience. I experienced it to where it goes back up the hill at the south end. Then I doubled back and took Grey Road 1 to where it hits the end of Con. 20.

That's considered a "multi-use trail" these days, and the sign informs you that ATVs, snowmobiles, motorcycles, bicycles are all welcome, and watch out for pedestrians.

Twenty-five years ago, when my children were children and spent summer with me, we used to be able to drive that road in our Subaru.

From there it was straight up the road and home to Falling Downs. Two hours and 20 kilometres... I earned my six-pack today!