Barb & John will host this Friday’s ride – their invitation is below.

Join us for a Summer Solstice ride at the Spencer’s. That should guarantee a long day of sunshine and what better way to celebrate the longest day of the year than to ride and dine with friends?  We’ll do the East Danforth route.  If the route isn’t long enough (50 and 33 km) for some, there are likely ways to add a loop or two. 

The usual drill. 5:30 start, lots of parking in the driveway, bring your own eating gear and beverages. 

Tuesday’s ride host Sue invites you to join her for our ride from Trenton!

We are going back to the Trenton area this Tuesday. The ride is about 58 km, more or less as you wish. I’ll bring maps.

Please park at the Bleasdell Boulder Conservation Authority parking lot off Highway 33, a couple of kilometres north of the 401.

Lunch will be at the Riverbrake Cafe (11 Front St.), on their patio if the weather is warm enough.

Hope to see you all there as it is a beautiful ride.

Friday’s unhosted ride will start from the Port Hope Town Hall @ 5:30 PM. We’ll follow the Hope to Hamilton route which offers a 50 km or shorter ride.

Please comment if you plan to ride. Riders will decide a post-ride venue. Fingers crossed for a break from the rain!

Join Bob and Liz to ride the Baxter Creek Route (long route 51.8/ short route 40.5) starting at the Baxter Creek Golf Club.This route’s topography is a delightful mix of a few very big hills, some short up and downs, and a great series of undulations to our lunch destination at the Baxter Creek Golf Club.

See you there!

 Thanks so much to Katherine who has graciously swooped in and offered to host this Friday’s ride. Her invitation is below. Please comment if you plan to ride.

We are going to ride the Perrytown Pedlar route this Friday.  There are several options to lengthen or shorten the route.  I am looking forward to seeing all on Friday night at my place. Non riders are welcome to hang out with the cats while we ride!

Please print your own maps for the adventure.

Alas, the weather did not cooperate last Tuesday, so Marshall is going to try again. If this posting looks familiar, it’s because it’s an exact copy of last Tuesday’s. The only difference for next Tuesday’s ride is that the weather is going to be awesome, right? Over to you Marshall.

Although Mother Nature seems a little slow of the start line, it’s that “blossom” time of the year – i.e., time for the Ganaraska Freewheelers’ 6^th annual “Port Hope Blossom Ride”. Yes, it’s been 5 years since we headed out from the Port Hope Town Hall on our first blossom ride ending with an amazing time on The Beamish patio. 

Come on out this Tuesday and join your biking friends on this annual fun ride. The route has been changed up a bit this year, but we’ll still be hitting all the usual “not to be missed” views – Baulch Rd lilac tunnel, Loyalist Road and 4^th Line apple orchards, Bethel Grove hills of lilacs, Vimy Ridge lilac show plus climb and the amazing fields of lilacs at Cranberry Road and the 401.

All ending with lunch at The Beamish, hopefully on the patio.

Ride details at a glance are:

• Start location: Port Hope Town Hall (Victoria Street Ball Park for the non climbers)
• Time: 10:00 a.m.
• Distance: 58 kms with 3 shortcuts of 39, 45 or 50 kms
• Lunch: The Beamish (hoping for patio weather)

Here’s hoping that Mother Nature AND the Weather Gods are with us on Tuesday.

In lieu of a Friday ride this week there will be a special ride on Saturday June 1st^st. We are planning a Doors Open Northumberland ride in which we will visit some of the 28 available locations. Although there are venues located throughout our county, we are only visiting a few that are located in Cobourg, Grafton and (for the longer route) Castleton. Since this is a 2-day event, you may wish to visit some of the others (particularly those in Port Hope) at your leisure on Sunday. Details of this exciting event can be found here.

Logistics for Saturday June 1st

• Meet at the home of Diane McCormick in Cobourg. Di’s address can be found in the member section of our Website. There is ample free parking on her street.
• The ride will start promptly at 10:00 AM.
• There will be a pot-luck lunch at Di’s, but not starting until 3:00 PM. You should, therefore, consider bringing some snacks, or $$ to purchase some. The new café at the Grafton Inn has excellent coffee and munchies!
• A small lock for your precious bike is recommended.

The Rides

There will be two rides – a short 33km and a longer 62 km ride!

• The short ride essentially goes from Cobourg to Grafton and back and is 33 km in length. Di will be in charge of this group.
• After visiting one or two venues in Cobourg, the long ride heads off along C.R.2 to Grafton, where we will linger for about one hour. There are a number of interesting Open Doors locations in the village and, of course, there is the café at the Grafton Inn. We then head to Castleton via Shelter Valley Road, Pipeline Road and Old Shelter Valley Road. The return to Cobourg is by means of C.R.22, Broomfield Rd., Eddystone Rd., Boomerang Rd., Clouston Rd., Grills Rd., The Scots Line, Hoskin Rd., Danforth Rd., Brookfield Rd., and C.R.2. It is 62 km in length.
• Please print, and bring with you to the ride, a copy of the linked Doors Open 62 km route map. Brian H. has offered his services as a Tour Guide for the long ride group.

The Venues

The short ride group will likely visit more venues than the long ride group. The venues we could visit are as follows.

• (Cobourg) Sifton-Cook Heritage Centre
• (Cobourg) Golden Rail Pub at Legion Village
• (Grafton) Barnum House
• (Grafton) St. George’s Anglican Church
• (Grafton) The Canning Factory
• (Grafton) The Weslevan Methodist Meeting House
• (Castleton – long ride only) The Mill at Piper Creek
• Also in Grafton, across from the Grafton Inn, is Art Salad (an outdoor art show and sale). (Note: Ruth and Pete participated in it last year and thought it was a great event.)

There is obviously a lot going on in Grafton (including a café visit) so the long ride folks may wish to read up ahead of time in order to maximize the one hour that they will have there. The “express train to Castleton” will not wait in the Grafton Station for more than 60 minutes!

Be sure to join us on Saturday for a bit of local history!