Hutch's Social Ride

Everyone has a story. It's the rider's experience that really captures the heart of cycling. That's why we love hearing stories from our riders - and now, you can too!

Here's a story from Gregory Cuff:

A couple weeks ago, Cycling Canada cancelled the 2020 road cycling national championships, given the development of the covid-19 situation. Nationals was one of the only road races left on the calendar for the summer, and they were already postponed from their scheduled start in June. Granted that having no racing—especially nationals--is disappointing for a lot of riders, it also means we have a lot of time to relax and enjoy the other parts of cycling, including the social aspect. ​

So on Tuesday (August 4th), a few of the other road riders and I went on a short “exploring” social ride along the Waterfront trail. Although we’d hoped for sun, the weather didn’t cooperate; there was heavy rain and a thick fog in the morning. By the time we got to the meeting spot--Hutch’s by the beach--we were all fairly soaked. The rain also put off a few people, so the group ended up being smaller than we expected; it was just five of us. 

Luckily, the weather quickly improved. The forecasted downpour and lightning never showed up, and after heading out towards Burlington, the rain slowed to a drizzle before stopping altogether. The fog stayed for most of the ride, but it made for some good pictures along the water; we wound up taking a few scenic stops.

    After cruising along the trail for a while, we got to Burlington, where we rode around the city and stopped a few times. After getting part way through a park, however, we realized it was temporarily closed to cyclists—meaning we spent a good portion of our ride walking out with our bikes.

    Eventually we made it back to Hutch’s, by which time the weather had completely cleared up and the sun had come out. Hutch’s didn’t open for another 5 minutes, but there was already a line up outside, and a steady stream of cars pulling into the parking lot to join the queue. But fortunately the wait wasn’t too long, and 15 minutes later we all sat down to have something to eat before heading home.

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