Waterloo Ramble Report: a heavenly day!

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What a wonderful day to be out and about outside!

I drove to Waterloo and started at noon, last Saturday, and rode around the park. Cool temps, clear air, blue skies. A heavenly ride.

I was on my own but that was fine. Hey, I only put the word out here about splendid outings. If anyone wants to come along, great, if not great, too. This is a zero overhead style of event organizing. Grassroots. I’m going, come too if you like.

On the drive over I passed a clan of hardcore clubbies who were out for a 70-miler. It was a windy day and they were on the open farm roads—they seemed a bit windburnt and stressed. I note that my Ramble route is very sheltered—I really never felt the wind.

My ride pace was perfect. Happy as a clam. The greenery and glacial terrain is lush now. At the halfway point—which came all too soon—I stopped for a wonderful picnic of heavenly leftovers (fried chicken, pita, hummus, cookies) followed by a bowlful of Full English and a nip of corn juice. Ahhh… (Notice: there’s no reported health risk associated with occasional puffing, only good things like measureably lower stress and lower heart-attack incidence.)

I wore my new iBOB wool jersey. (iBOB is the Internet Bicycle Owner’s Bunch, an email list dedicated to bike culture, a spinoff of the group Grant Petersen started at Bridgestone.) It’s my first “bought new” wool jersey—and one that I helped design! It felt great to ride in. I’ll even wear it as streetwear (usually under a shirt or sportcoat). In one of the pics below, the cursive writing below the logo which you can’t read says “Steel, Leather & Wool.” Cool! Check out the first photo to see what the special custom reverse side says!

I rode the whole thing at a building pace, just kind of dancing and flying along, slightly panting. All small-ring all the time, I think (well, bigring on a few paved sections). The last few miles of the ride got real hilly, with a few max-effort climbs that I enjoyed attacking. I finished feeling great and strong.

This route is 90% dirt but, man, the brief sections of pavement are great, too. I was passed by a handful of cars in 3 hours. The road conditions were mostly great with a few slightly loose sections. 28-32mm tires are dandy.

Then I had another snack and went for a hike to a lake overlook for about an hour. Lush greenery!

Then I drove a moment to the nearby wildernessy Winnehanna (?) impoundment and had just the greatest C1 canoe paddle.

So, I rode the roads, felt the geography and the scope of the park, felt the lushness. Then I got into the lushness and saw a wild lake on the horizon. Then I went and got into that lakeness. A perfect progression.

There are a couple houses on one side of this tangley, mile-big lake. Blue water, blue sky, Canadian fresh air. I felt I was in a wilderness, all right. Heaven. I could see way down in the water. The bluegills are bedding and they were swarming like flies. It was neat to see them darting so. I’ve never seen so many. Maybe 3 other people were on the water, often none in view.

Twice that day I saw couples with wicker picnic hampers—one pair coming off the lake in a canoe, another going out for a trail hike.

When I was leaving from my paddle, a young guy was coming in with a tiny pickup pulling a tiny trailer and a tiny rowboat. He looked ready to fish. Yet peaceful and content. It was hard not to be having a perfect time.

I made myself take a few pics on the bike ride but darn I forgot the rest of the time. I don’t think I could’ve taken a good hiking pic but maybe the paddling was just too pretty to catch. No, I should’ve brought the cam out on the water. It could’ve been done. Just “snap.” That would’ve worked. Rats. I have a real hard time keeping that journalistic head awake. The best times are most likely to get no pics. It only makes sense, but I like trying to make the effort.

I noticed that I really like moving at a strong hustle pace. I felt like running on the trail hike. And I paddled mostly with a stoking style. I think I prefer spending my days at about a 170 heart-rate. Putting the coals to the fire. I like the make a boat fly. I like cruising the woods.

Mt-biking this area would be lovely, too. It’s home of the famous Poto and Waterloo has a loop. The shady lush trails and smooth dirt strip rolling away would be neat to experience.

I tell ya, that whole Waterloo area is just gorgeous. It would be great for doing anything. I’d love to fish or do any kind of hunting there. It’s great for skiing, when there’s 6″+ snow. It’s just a great, diverse area.

Well, that was my afternoon! I got home at 5pm.