I think I'm in love

[applegum]

I dragged three friends on my first mini tour last week! It was a Wednesday to Friday 200k thing, so not too much, but none of us had trained. I've never had so much fun in my life. This summer is shaping up to be amazing and I'm getting a touring club together for fall semester with a friend who came on the trip with me. So great . But I'm so sad about being back in the city now .

[sgtiger]

Congrats on your first tour!

[shootingstar]

Where did you go? Good memories for everyone..on this ignaural ride tour!

[tulip]

Great fun! Where was it? Do you ride with RABA? I don't right now, but I will after vacation in May. www.raba.org

[applegum]

We rode the first 90 k on Wednesday to Barrie and crashed in my friend's cottage (and passed out on the rocks for a while behind his place-there were quite a few more hills than we expected and they killed us), then Thursday from Barrie around Lake Simcoe to Bradford, then Friday was Bradford to Toronto. We were dead at the start of Friday morning, but got back almost to our starting pace around halfway through the ride. It was good times for all, even the guy with the mountain bike. The poor boys (two of them, one other girl) were lagging for most of the ride though. It was a nice change .

[applegum]

I haven't the last two years with RABA, but I'm thinking this summer I might. I need to get used to group rides more so we can get bigger groups out in the fall.

[shootingstar]

Apple, I lived and cycled in Toronto for over 12+ years (lived in city longer before cycling passion snared me).

we did a self-guided bike trip with other family members and friends. About 8 of us. About 400 kms+ round trip between Toronto and just north of Orillia near Gravenhurst. The Muskoka region is beautiful in the fall...I miss Ontario most for its gorgeous fall colours.

You can do a 90 kms. round day trip from Toronto to Kleinburg where there is a small village and famous art gallery of the Canadian Group of Seven painters. About 80% of the trip can be all done on dedicated bike paths that connect the entire Toronto parks and ravines...ie. Don Valley, Humber, Black Creek, etc.

We did several bike trips to Kawartha Lakes and Peterborough area. It's lovely up there. It is approx. 120 kms. 1 way from downtown Toronto to Peterborough. You could blend in Waterfront trail with some highways/secondary roads.

http://www.thekawarthas.net/nature_outdoors_trails.html There are bike routes, including a bike route over rail trestle bridge that take you straight out from downtown peterborough to countryside.

http://www.bikely.com/listpaths/coun...n/37/city/3474

http://www.canoemuseum.net/ The Canadian Canoe Museum is a cool place! I strongly recommend it when visiting Peterborough. It's downtown.
And it has some cool real Inuit sealskin kayaks...

Othere areas recommended is the Prince Edward County area past Coburg....about 120 kms. one way east of Toronto.

[applegum]

Wow, thanks for the suggestions, those all sound awesome! I'm supposed to be leading tours in the fall and it'll definitely be nice knowing some good routes to start off without having to check out all the roads myself. We really wanted to go to Wasaga Beach, but two of the people we were with were in pretty poor shape and we wouldn't have been able to make it back to Toronto on Friday I don't think if we had pushed it. Further north would be really pretty though, especially when the leaves are changing. Plus no pollen like spring rides!