Early start (6:45am) and we live 1hr north of the city so we took a hotel (30,000 air miles) had a nice evening out to dinner and wandered around downtown. We arrived at the marshalling area and prepped for the day. Weather was perfect, cool, a little hazy.... I was pumped!

We geared up and prepared for (me 75k, her 50k).
While not a race, you can't help but get pumped up when there are thousands of other cyclists around and this is a once a year opportunity to ride on the normally traffic choked 6 lane highway.

Here is the line up at the start, nothing but bikes as far as you can see in front and behind !

On the open road, adrenaline pumping, getting warmed up, Loving it!

Then.....what's this? My left foot seems to be wobbly, loose, like the clip ins are twisting with each pedal stroke... I think I can make it to the next rest stop when.........out pops my left leg, foot and shoe still clamped into the speedplay! The whole left crank is off. I did see something spinning off into the roadway, but with many, many cyclists still racing toward me I could not find a little black ring on the dark black ashphalt. So, I one footed it to the first rest stop. No spare parts to be found. I guess my day is done.

This is how I made it back to the starting area.


Total mileage for the day 4.7km
Total time on the bike (including waiting in line to start.....20min)
Dinner, snacks, drinks. $175
Hotel $250
T-shirt, gifts, $45
Ride registration $80 (it is a charity deal so this I don't mind)

Major mechanical breakdown....Priceless!!!!

What a drag! Did the crank break or come unscrewed? At least you had the sag wagon to pick you up, which you wouldn't have had on a normal ride. Hope it doesn't deter you from doing it again.

I've done this ride several times and this year equaled last year's time of 1hr. 30 min for the 50k (actually about 46). Looping around the top part of the DVP again for 75k doesn't really appeal to me. Shame that we are all doing this on one of Toronto's "smog days" - it was very hazy and you wonder whether you are doing yourself more harm than good. Apart from that, always a great ride as long as the rain holds off, and and lots of neat bikes on view.

Crank just unscrewed itself (and screwed me!)
I've done the 75k three years in a row, so I am bummed to miss this year.

So that's what that haze was. I thought it was overcast due to the forecast of rain. I didn't know it was pollution. Anyway, here's my ride report. I rode on a fixie though, but don't hold that against me.

Alarm clock went off at 6 am. Then again at 6:05, then 6:10, then 6:15 am. Finally rolled out of bed, showered, grabbed my bike and rolled over to the CNE, passing a bunch of riders in their cars waiting to get into the parking lot. I was pre-registered so I just rolled to the start, waited about 10 mins., then took off.

Remember, I was on a fixie so I passed most people on the climbs and got passed by those same people on the descents. I was a little disappointed there weren't any bananas at the rest stops, but the apples and oranges were good and around 2 hours later, I was done. This is the 2nd time I've done this ride so I think next year I'll skip it and do the Tour de Montreal instead (it's the same day with more cyclists).

Here's what handlebars look like w/o all those extraneous cables messing up the view.

Aww, I saw you. Me and my friend saw someone holding a crankarm wandering the left edge early in the race. That's terrible terrible news, but don't let it get you down, there's always next year!

Not a single person on the ride with an allen key?

Not just the pedal, the whole crank arm came off, and I lost the nut thingy that holds it on. None of the repair booths carried Truvativ parts as specific as what I needed.

D'oh! Crappy

This picture is eerie and cool all at the same time. I've driven the DVP a few times, must be something to ride a bike on it. I'll definitely be there next year.

First time doing it for me and the experience was amazing. Going up the DVP to York Mills was one of the most wonderous rides I've ever been on. The beautiful trees, valley and bridges makes it something out of a dream. This year I was putting in a hard effort and getting killed by the hills, but next year I may just do it for the scenery.

This was my 10th year doing this ride. The last couple of years I have been hesitant to do it because I usually only have time to put in one long ride over the weekend and 75km just isn't enough (considering the trouble of commuting to/from home to this event). So, I decided to take my old black Fuji and do the 6:45AM start and go up the "hill" 3 times for 100km.

I rode with my buddy and had a great time. There were some nice bikes out there... someone giving Cervelos away? I normally ride solo and this was a good opportunity to join some fast groups. It was a blast; time and distance flew by.

As usual, there were some nasty falls by some inexperienced riders. I saw a girl with her face flat on the ground. It wasn't a pretty sight. Also, the yearly lineup of mechanical breakdowns in the first couple of km.

The highlight of the day was when I was coasting down the hill alone around Wynford Drive. All of a sudden, I heard this loud noise of what sounded like something forcing its way at high speed through the wind. Next thing you know, this guy flew by me at what I guess was over 70km/hr. He was on a beautiful new BMC (not sure the exact model) and his weight must have been a conservative 350lbs.

That's a youtube moment... I'd hate to be his tires.