Paradise Rider.

*This memory is a continuation of the 'Impressive Skin Grafting Skills' memory.

The spring of 2005 finally arrived and it had been a long, brutal cold winter my first winter living in Bracebridge. It seemed like it never stopped snowing and there were so many times when I questioned as to why I had even moved up there in the first place. In my heart I knew it was the right move because living in Mississauga was no longer where I wanted to be. I could see the demographics of big city life were changing rather quickly and I did not like at all what I was seeing.

I have never been a person who likes or accepts change very much.

My longtime goal anyway was to someday move up to Huntsville so I thought the sooner the better. In September of 2004 I quit my job and full-time employment. We sold our house and the three of us moved up to Bracebridge, a picturesque little town just 40 km south of Huntsville.

With the warmer weather finally arriving, I was eager to begin riding my bike again after being shut in all winter. I felt great as I started out with much shorter rides since it still had not even been a year since I was hit by the landscaping truck. I had no lingering effects from that crash. I was completely healed and most importantly my knee was no longer a source of burning pain. As the weather got warmer my distances gradually increased. It was not too long before I found what would become my all-time favorite ride up in Muskoka. I just simply called the ride My Taboo Ride. 

Taboo Resort Is located on the shores of Lake Muskoka in Gravenhurst. It is located on Muskoka Beach Road and was approx. 20 km from my house in the north end of Bracebridge. Muskoka Beach Road is a 13 km winding, challenging cycling road and runs through both the towns of Bracebridge and Gravenhurst. For the most part the road is a very scenic route with hundreds of granite rock cuts. There are literally thousands upon thousands of much appreciated tall mature trees providing shade from the hot summer sun.

A public beach just before the turnaround with a washroom was where I was able to refill my bottles with cold water before heading back home. The ride back home was always harder and took me a bit longer since it was gradually uphill for most of the way. I always needed to stay alert; it can be a very busy road on most weekends with all the tourists visiting the popular resort. I always preferred riding on Muskoka Beach Road over the much busier highways that most of the other cyclists rode in the area. 

For me Muskoka Beach Road was the perfect road for cycling.

When I first moved to the area, I found the road to be very meticulously maintained. Extreme winter conditions are tough on all the area roads and sadly after a decade or so the paving and maintenance was not kept up as often as it once was. The pavement became cracked and potholes were now everywhere. The road became severely rutted and layered with numerous asphalt patches. Narrow road bike tires could easily become a hazard for any unsuspecting cyclist not aware of the tire pinching ruts that were hiding on the many shady sections of the road.

During my first decade living up in Muskoka I easily rode the 40 km round trip My Taboo Ride well over four hundred times and I never tired of riding the same ride that many times. On average the ride took me just under two hours to complete and I absolutely always loved riding My Taboo Ride.

That first summer in Muskoka, I had another bike accident on a hot summer afternoon in July. I was quickly heading downhill at just over 40 km/h in Port Sydney and I simply was not paying attention. I forgot that the paved lane I was riding on was about to end and become a gravel shoulder. I hit the stones at full speed and crashed after overcorrecting my front wheel. I was extremely lucky once again after my second bike crash in just over a year. With the exception of some severe road rash, a sore collarbone and a damaged front wheel, both me and my bike were pretty much okay. 

Although, Janine was not at all impressed. She had to travel up to get me and my bike in her Jeep. She spent the whole drive home berating me while I was in pain. She went on about how I was not acting my age and how I was not twenty years old anymore. How I needed to stop this nonsense bike riding and I needed to stop pushing my luck or my next accident might be my final accident.

Blah Blah Blah.

I guess she was a bit frustrated after seeing me all messed up after my second bike crash. Maybe she had forgotten that the first one was not my fault. I was pretty sore after the crash, but within a week or so I was back on my bike and picked up right where I had left off. I had already done some long distance riding with a group I found who were looking for new riders while I was still riding my Marin bike. I realized that if I was going to continue riding with groups, I would need a much quicker and lighter bike going forward. I struggled at times to keep up on some of the group rides, but I never got left behind and I never rode at the back of the pack.

I ended that first summer with a very difficult 130 km round trip ride out to Carnarvon along Hwy 118. It was a very hot, hazy, humid day and the ride took me almost six hours to complete. That ride would be the last long ride on my Marin bike and I knew I would have a new bike before the following spring. Comfort would now be taking a back seat over speed. However, I also knew I didn’t want to go back to my old bone jarring Norco road bike riding days.

I needed to find a happy medium.

I visited many bike shops in Muskoka and finally decided on another hybrid bike also with a raised straight handlebar, narrower rims and tires. The bike was a larger frame yet it weighed a lot less than the Marin. I still had comfort, but I was now much quicker on my new Rocky Mountain bicycle. My average riding speed really began to accelerate as I was always out riding my new bike. 

I had got caught a few times in heavy rainstorms; I hated riding in the rain and tried to avoid it as much as possible. I found myself now always checking the weather radar before any of my longer rides. If it looked like rain was on the way, I stayed closer to home on that day. For the most part I rode alone, I preferred riding alone because I liked to push myself. I don’t like waiting for other riders to catch up or riders who always wanted to take little breaks. I also didn't like how some riders always complained it was too hot or that my pace was too quick.

I found those riders for the most part to be very annoying.

Whenever I rode with a group I concentrated on riding up at the front for as long as I could. The better, quicker riders would eventually break away; I would stay with them for as long as possible before getting dropped.

There are some serious cyclists who live up in Muskoka.

Muskoka truly is a paradise for any cyclist. The region has hundreds of kilometers of roads all built with a wide paved shoulder. Bracebridge is known as the Heart of Muskoka, more so because it is centrally located within the region. From my house I was able to venture out on a few 100 km loop rides around some of the area's larger lakes. The terrain was never flat and on every ride there would be numerous very difficult elevated sections. I always rode wearing a heart rate monitor and on every ride my heart rate would max out in the 170 bpm zone while attacking the hills. I also had a computer on my bike and on a good day I would average 20-25 km/h. I vividly remember the fastest speed that I ever hit on my bike computer.

The scenic Huckleberry Rock was about 20 km from my house. It is approx. a one kilometer long sloping hill on Hwy 118 west of Bracebridge. I always preferred the challenge of ascending the hill on one of my Lake Muskoka loop rides. One week during one summer workers were laying new asphalt on the hill from top to bottom. The job had just finished on a Friday afternoon as I drove by and I could hear the freshly paved road calling out my name. I made up my mind on that afternoon; I would attack the hill the next day, but this time descending downhill as fast as possible.

On Saturday morning I woke up very early and rode out to the newly paved hill. I could still smell the freshly laid asphalt and I was a bit nervous while pedaling as fast as I could. I was tucking like a pro cyclist all the way down attempting to hit the big eight-zero on my computer screen. But alas, I fell just short at 79.3 km/h. Riding downhill that fast on a bicycle had truly scared the hell out of me and I would never attempt to ride anywhere close to that speed ever again.

During the first decade while living up in Muskoka, it would be a safe bet to say that cycling occupied most of my free time during the riding season. The riding season generally would be weather dependent. Snow could still be on the ground well into early May and could begin falling again by mid-October. A good solid season for me consisted of 50-60 rides between the Victoria Day and the Thanksgiving long weekends. Once the winter arrived, I put my bike on an indoor trainer and I rode in my basement while watching hockey on television.

Time flew by rather quickly and I was about to face many changes and challenges in my life. There were changes in my relationships with both my daughter Stephanie and Janine. There would also be changes as to where I would be living, but most importantly there would be some serious challenges regarding my health.

My unhappy daughter left to go live in the States with her mother back in July of 2006. Also unhappy Janine and I split up after a decade together. She left in 2011 to go back and live in the city once we sold our house. I decided to stay in Bracebridge where I was no longer living in a house, instead I had elected to live alone in a small apartment condo in town. 

Riding my bike became such a hassle while living in an apartment because my bike was now kept in a basement locker. I hated not having the easy accessibility of a garage anymore. However, my bike riding hassles would pale in comparison with the hassles from a serious health issue I was diagnosed with in my tenth year living in Bracebridge.

Bike riding was about to take a back seat for the upcoming season in 2014. Seriously, this Paradise Rider didn’t know if he would ever ride his bike again.