Spring rides

Not quite enough snow to ski
Spring continues to roll along. There have been a few hints at a flurry which might bring back the ski season… but they are brief moments that don’t amount to much. I’ve gotten out the bikes for now and am getting a little riding in. First mountain bike of the season was from the P19 along the Pine road. Mountain bike season doesn’t officially start in the Gatineau park until May 15th to let the trails dry out after the snows melt. I hope the NCC will bump that number up a bit this year as – with the early disappearance of the snow - the trails will be well dry long before then. On this ride I stuck to the Pine road through the campgrounds and down along Lac Phillipe for now. The “road” was good and dry so no worries there. Rode to the end of the lake and then back out to Taylor and I must say it felt strange to be riding these trails in March. A few tiny patches of snow hinted at winter but for the most part it was spring. Even people who had booked the yurts had resorted to bicycles to ferry their gear in for the night… something I had thought to do back in December when we were forced to walk in because of too little snow.
Lots of action on the Seaway as they gear up for the shipping season
First long road bike was along the Seaway trail this past Monday. Rode from Morrisburg to the Long Sault parkway and back. A pretty stretch but there was more of the “trail” along the side of Hwy 2 than I anticipated. A lot of the Seaway trail is totally separated from traffic so one doesn’t have to think about cars at all. Of course once I was on the Long Sault parkway the traffic all but disappeared which was nice. A beautiful little island hopping parkway that travels the high spots that were flooded when the Seaway was damed up between Iroquois and Cornwall in 1959. It was nice to be out but there was a pretty cold north wind blowing which was a good reminder that it should still be wintery.
Sometimes the GPS lies to me...
This past Sunday we measured the half marathon course for the Race Weekend. Probably the earliest we’ll have ever done that and true to form it started to snow just as we wrapped up the measurement. More measuring this weekend to get the marathon and 10k courses certified so fingers crossed for some warm sunny mornings over the long weekend.