The ride this summer that sits with me as the most fun, social and beautiful was the Danforth East Lakeshore Loop that started at the home of Barb and John’s.
The 50-km route takes in lots of crazy hills, but the views are most excellent. Heading eastbound on Telephone Road showcases some of Northumberland’s most beautiful barns and local farms with beautifully painted barn roofs, lovely gardens and low traffic.
When you get to the top of Boyce Road there are lovely views of local farms and tree lined hills. The hill is super fun to zip down and helps you get up the next hill on Telephone Road. Vernonville Road to Telephone Road is always a treat as you pass by an Alpaca Farm where the animals come running toward the road to meet you. The sound they make is quite comical.
Any ride that starts from Barb and John’s always draws a crowd. At end of ride, we changed and gathered under the gazebo for our lunches and drinks. A few members that didn’t ride with us joined in for the social afterwards and it was so nice to see them. Barb being the excellent host she is offered us cold drinks and snacks. It was one of the hotter days of the summer but the breeze and cold drinks felt great!
Just a simple but awesome ride with great cycling friends in a beautiful backyard oasis had me being super grateful for this wonderful group of Freewheelers that I get to hang out with twice a week to ride my bike during the summer months.
Our last ride of the season on Tuesday this week was a little chilly, with occasional gusts from the Northwest almost blowing tiny Jen off her carbon wheels.
Our crew of six riders huffed and puffed up some challenging hills, sped like teenagers down into some glorious valleys, and took in spectacular Autumn views of our beautiful Northumberland Hills. In all, we travelled a circuit of almost 50 kilometres south of Rice Lake, taking in two Lake views – Rice Lake and Lake Ontario.
Though it was our last official ride of the season, we may post the occasional informal ride on our Facebook group. So be on the lookout, if you’re not ready to hang your bike up for the season.
Don’t forget our AGM is at Gail & Steve’s next Saturday, November 15 starting at 2:00 pm.
Shout out to Gail who hosted a special Halloween celebration in collaboration with Music By the Bay Live to raise money for the Uxbridge Food Bank. (See the group’s thank-you note at the end of this post.)
How wonderful to be a kid again, if only for a few short hours. Freewheelers rocked it with creative costumes and fancy dance steps.
They say it’s sometimes hard to recognize cyclists when they are not wearing their spandex and helmets. Well ain’t that the truth!
In the edible category we had a Toasted Western and a Bratwurst.
In the bad boys and girls category, we had three witches, Phantomess of the Opera, a pirate, a gangster, a bootlegger, and a Blues Brother. After all, it’s well known that Freewheelers spent a lot of time in the Principal’s office.
For law and order to keep that gang of baddies under control, we had a sheriff. And of course, we had to have a Canuck to keep the peace.
And finally for humour, one of our alum came as a clown.
What a night! Halloween for Humanity brought out the ghouls, the giggles, and the generosity. 🕷️
Thank you to everyone who donated, dressed up, danced (to keep warm), and spun the Wheel of Misfortune. You turned a spooky season into a season of giving. 🧡🎃
With your help we can donate $1,730.00 to the Uxbridge Loaves & Fishes Food Bank.
Special thanks to VOODOO Pawn Shop for igniting The Blues, Steve Coupland for keeping the Wheel of Misfortune spinning all evening & VERY special thanks to Gail & Steve Lupton for allowing us to haunt their Spooktacular barn.
Marshall treated us to two Blossom Rides this Spring – one in Port Hope and one in Warkworth – they ended up being in the same week due to weather delays.
Both rides rewarded us with the fragrance of lilacs in full bloom and the views that can only come with challenging hill climbs!
Thanks Marshall for making sure we take in the blossoms annually!
The Port Hope Ride with 529 meters of climbing was the easier of the two, but a little long for this early in the Spring, clocking in at 59 kilometers. Warkworth was closer to 700 meters of climbing and a little under 55 kilometers.
In all, two splendid rides for the last week of May 2025.
Anyone out there like a slower pace by which to visit other countries, combined with a cultural holiday?
Four of our members this Spring enjoyed a 7-day cycling/sailing trip in the Adriatic Sea. Departing from Dubrovnik, Croatia, they island-hopped, visiting Milna, Brac, Mljet, and Hvar, while enjoying idyllic vistas and much laughter with their new friends from around the world.
Thanks Jennifer, Andy, Margaret and Rodger for sharing inspiration for our next riding adventure. Any members out there with a favorite cycling tour to share? Send your story and pics to us at ganaraskafreewheelers@gmail.com.
Welcome from your President, Miche and his executive team.
Our season opening ride will be the traditional Good Friday potluck. Lilianne and Barry graciously offered to host again. Hopefully, Barry will order sun this year, so it won’t be as cold as last year.
At this first ride, be sure to corral your Tuesday and Friday Ride Co-ordinators (Sue and Brian) and request the date for your ride before anyone else takes it!
I hope everyone is doing well and starting to wear a helmet and sit on the bike so the first ride doesn’t reward you with neck pain and saddle soreness like it does me every spring. Though not this year. I’ve been riding a trainer in the basement with Rouvy and quite enjoy it.
See you all on Good Friday at Barry and Lilianne’s for our wonderful potlucky.
Welcome to the 2024 Ganaraska Freewheeler cycling season. Your Executive (Michel, Lilianne, Jennifer, Jen and Ruth) and the Ride Coordinators (Brian & Gail, Sue & Paul) are pleased to officially launch the 2024 season.
Season Opener Ride: Friday, March 29, at 2 PM
This year our first official ride will be Good Friday, March 29th starting from the home of Lilianne and Barry in Cobourg. A traditional potluck will follow. Note the change of time from our earlier “Hold the Date” email. We thought it might be a little warmer later in the day! Brian has added the event to Facebook – be sure to comment if you will join us.
Ride Coordination
Friday Rides
Brian H. is your Friday Ride Coordinator until August. Gail will take over from there.
Rides default to a start time of 10 AM. They can be set to a different time by the host.
The deadline for requesting to host a Friday ride is Wednesday 9 PM.
Tuesday Rides
Sue is your Tuesday Ride Coordinator until August. Paul will take care of the second half of the season.
The deadline for requesting to host a Tuesday ride is Sunday at 9 PM.
For un-hosted rides, the Ride Coordinator will select a starting location and route from our extensive route library. All other decisions (such as eating arrangements) will be made by the ride participants, either at the ride or ahead of time through comments on Facebook.
All Year Club
We are now a year-round club so you may host extra events such as hike, mountain bike, canoe/kayak.
Ride with GPS Club Account
As promised at our 2023 Annual General Meeting, we have purchased a 1-year subscription to Ride with GPS. The club has paid for it this year, but if members enjoy the benefits, we will need to ask for a boost in fees next year to be able to continue it.
If you don’t already have a Ride with GPS account, step 1 is to create a free membership by visiting:
Once you’ve completed these two steps, you will have access to all maps in our Club’s library and can get turn-by-turn audio cues from your cell phone. You can also search and filter by start ride area, length of ride, elevation, and map title. Note that you will have both a personal account and a club account. To get turn-by-turn instructions, you need to be signed into the club account. We’ll do an orientation at our first few rides to make sure we can help you overcome any challenges you are experiencing.
New Web Page
As mentioned in an earlier email, our hero Anita redesigned the home page of our website to make it more welcoming to both members and newcomers. She has also restructured it to make it easier to navigate. There are eight main menu items, with small to major tweaks. Here’s a basic orientation to the new structure and a few of the important changes:
HOME is where you arrive and are welcomed into our wonderful club. Note among other attractions the big beautiful mugshots of our Ride Coordinators on our home page, so if you’re ever unsure who is the current Ride Coordinator, you need to go no further than the top page of our site to remind yourself.
JOIN is the second main menu item – we not only encourage this on the HOME page but also devote a main menu item to it. We want to make it easier for cyclists in the community to find us and join us for a ride. See more on how you can help us with this goal later on!
NEWS is the third menu item. We give a sneak peek on our HOME page, but for past posts, visit this link. We’re working on adding a search feature here so you can quickly filter for a specific post. Note that we only go back a couple of years in our posting history, but if you’re ever searching from any time in the last 10 years, we have it in our archive.
2024 CALENDAR is the fourth menu item. We will continue in 2024 to update this calendar with minimum detail (who is hosting + ride start). All other details and communications will happen in our Facebook group. A summary of how we coordinate rides, along with images of our 4 Ride Coordinators are there, along with reminders about Facebook and Ride with GPS.
ABOUT is the fifth menu item. It contains non-password-protected details about our club, who we are, and how we roll.
MEMBERS is the sixth menu item and has two password-protected pages: 1) our Member Directory and Emergency Contacts pages which are now in one comprehensive table, so no need to dig deeper for these important details, and 2) AGM Minutes. MEMBERS also has two non-password-protected pages: a beautiful new public gallery of member images over the years as well as a page with insurance information and forms.
MAPS is the seventh menu item. It replaces our previous “Local Routes” page. Mich has updated it with Ride with GPS links for all maps and reorganized most routes alphabetically by start location. Many thanks to Mich for his great detailed work in updating this page and to his crew who created many of the Ride with GPS maps – Barb, Irene, Marshall, Paul, Peter and Sue.
LEARN is the eighth and final menu item and includes reminders and tips on safety, bike and body maintenance. We’ve lost the recipes pages – if any of you are interested in bringing it back, let me know – we can add it here.
Password – Protected Pages
The Member Directory and the AGM minutes are the only pages that require the password. If you don’t remember the existing password, check the email we just sent.
Note that we will change the password this year. We will announce the new password at the season opener and follow up with an email and date on which we will switch over.
Please verify that your Member Directory information is correct in both the member column and the emergency contact column.
Send any corrections to ganaraskafreewheelers@gmail.com which goes to Ruth our Web Administrator. Use this email as well if you can’t remember the password.
New Members
We are focusing this year again on welcoming new members. We have business cards and flyers to distribute and ask that you help distribute wherever you go. Please pick some up from Michel at our next ride.
Long Ride
Sue and Lilianne are organizing this year’s 4-day long ride. It will take place in the Midland/Penetang area from Monday July 15 to Thursday July 18. Hold the date! And book soon your accommodation if you plan to attend.
Please check our Facebook Page for information regarding booking for this trip. There are 7 rooms available at the Quality Inn and Conference Centre, and it would be easier if our group were in the same accommodation. Sue has also posted information regarding camping.
Generally, it looks like tourist accommodations are being booked very early these days. So act soon if you plan to join us.
Safety
On our kick-off ride, and early in the season, we will try out the default process for going into single file. The rider closest to the curb or shoulder goes ahead, the rider in the middle of the road drops behind.
In Closing
Execs and 3 of 4 Ride Coordinators met on Monday to finalize our plan for the season! It was so great to see everyone, and we’re giddy with excitement to see all of you soon! In the flurry of post-meeting emails, Jen P. stated in her meeting notes summary:
We are a well-oiled machine and the 2024 cycling season looks like it’s in good hands! The Ride with GPS will be a great addition to the club and fingers crossed members find it user-friendly.
Indeed, fingers crossed! We hope you’ll join us in this experiment with technology. Most important, we hope to see you on Easter Friday for our kick-off ride or very soon thereafter.
Let’s have a wonderful 2024 season together – Great Fitness, Great Food, Great Friends.
Hey Freewheelers and their followers – happy February!
It’s early to get the ball rolling for Spring 2024 cycling, but we wanted to invite you to take a peek at our website’s new homepage and let us know what’s to like about it!
Comment if you can!
Looking forward to seeing everyone when we kick off the 2024 season. We’ll keep you posted.
I’m sending this invitation out on behalf of Lilianne, our club’s Vice President.
Lakeridge Health Foundation is having its first annual cycling fundraiser for its Cancer Care Centre.on Sunday May 28th called Pedal for Patients. The registration fee is $50.00, and there are 2 routes, one of 27 kilometres and one of 80 kilometres.
The rides start at Durham Regional Headquarters on Rossland Road, and head North, the 80 km ride starting at 8:00 am and the 27 km ride starting at 9:00 am. A sag wagon is provided, plus refreshments and snack stations along the route. Riders will be provided with a $10.00 voucher applied to any of the food trucks at the finish line.
Participants are expected to raise $300.00, and help can be obtained from the Centre to meet that goal. Read more about the event itself. Note that you must register by May 21.
Why would our members consider participating in this event? Lakeridge Health Centre provides cancer care not only for Durham region, but Northumberland County is also in their catchment area and many patients travel to Oshawa for their treatments.
If you’re interested in participating, please use the comments to let others know. Maybe we can gather a team of riders!
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Lakeridge Health Foundation Fundraiser: Pedal for Patients
Thanks to Wayne and Brenda for arranging outstanding weather for our Friday ride, planning a lovely route and sharing their backyard for your picnics. It was lovely to see everyone.
We also had the chance to try on sample jerseys so we can send our sizes to Lois Garneau. We need to send the fit kit back in less than a week, so those who were not at the ride need to visit Miche in Cobourg at your earliest convenience. He has the kit and will note your size. They fit on the small side so don’t risk making a guess! You really need to try them on. Those who have not ordered one, presumably there’s still that option.
You can email Miche at gfwpres@gmail.com to line up a time.
Ganaraska Freewheelers Cycling Club 