Countdown to Friday

I had to choose - the Tour de France or the Tour du Lac. It was hard but I decided on the Great Waterfront Trail Adventure. Although the Alps and the Pyrenees aren't too much of problem for me because I always do the Tour from the comfort of my living room couch. This time, instead of vicariously feeling the agony of the climb up the Col du Tourmalet, I'll be in my own endurance test on the peaks of Northumberland County, with only my newly purchased gel cushion to ease the pain.
I must admit to being the proud possessor of an end-to-end pin, proof of having cycled from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Gananoque, where the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail ended at the time. I have done the "new" stretch, up to Riviere Beaudette. But I'm not a real cyclist - the kind that settles in, head down, to ride like the blazes for eight hours. Strictly recreational, way behind the peloton, that's me. Well-padded, not particularly fit and ready for any excuse to stop and taste the wine and smell the roses. I did my 700-odd kilometres in three-day stretches over a couple of years. So eight days in the saddle will be a new experience - a challenge that's being tackled by 170 people between the ages of 9 and 76. It's going to be exciting and difficult and a real adventure. Check in often as I make daily posts July 4-11. Log on to http://www.waterfronttrail.org/ for more information about the event.
See you in Niagara-on-the-Lake!