Our 46-mile ride started out as did yesterday: Overcast and cold. We’re expecting an ordinary pedal. We couldn’t have been more wrong as the day becomes progressively stranger.
A superb breakfast at the Lochiel Street B&B in Renfrew prepares us for the ride as we enter the OVRT/Algonquin trail heading for Petawawa. Stopping over the Bonnechere River, just outside town, we take in the sweeping views of farmland and the meandering waterway. This leads us to vast farmlands on either side of the trail.
We see a few animals: rabbits, a groundhog, as well as a lone deer. A gradual climb takes us away from farmland and into more forested surroundings that change from deciduous to coniferous trees that are separated by a wetlands filled with cattail reeds and gray trunks of dead trees.
Stopping for a hydration break a few hours in, a lone hawk circles fallow fields next to the OVRT. The nearby birds quiet their chirping.
Our B&B proprietor loaded us up with cinnamon buns, vegetables, and fruit. Stopping next to enormous, silver grain silos, it seems the perfect time to carb up as the sun has burnt through the clouds and the day is warming quickly. We need this as our nemesis, the wind, has returned.
We pass over the Muskrat River closing in on our lunch destination: Hugli’s Blueberry Ranch, which is a picturesque blueberry farm selling a wide array of baked goods, ice cream, and other treats. But there is a hitch. On one of our stops, my bike fell over and now the gears are not shifting as they should and the front brake is rubbing the disc. We need a bike shop, but first we need lunch.
Hugli’s is a little bit of nirvana as we rest eating our sandwiches. Ted and I are worried as this farm is chock full of yummy looking pastries, pies, and cakes. What to pick? We settle on a blueberry cheese cake and are not disappointed. But before sampling our dessert, a pair of 3 1/2-week old goats descend on our space, not shy in the least.
I look on Google Maps for a bike shop and find one, Yantha Cycle, in nearby Pembroke. After a quick call to the proprietor, I feel much better that my bike problems will be attended to.
Just when we are about to leave Hugli’s Ranch, a fellow bicyclist walks up to me and Ted asking about our trip. Turns out he is Larry Warden, who has posted many wonderful videos of biking in this area. We talk about the trail, swapping stories.
After lunch, the Algonquin now is much more populated with ATVs than this morning. I am shocked at the size of these engined behemoths as they seem to be just as large as my first car—a 1974 Toyota Corolla 1200.
Reaching Pembroke, the OVRT soon meets the Ottawa River, who’s expanse reminds me of the Hudson RIver in spots. Leaving Pembroke, we reach the entrance of Yantha Cycle, which is one of the most funky bike shops I have ever been in. Its owner, Adam, greets me and Ted and discovers that beyond the rubbing brake and misfiring derailleur, there is a broken spoke in the rear wheel, which will need repair. “Don’t worry,” says Adam. “I can get it all done in 15 minutes. Just rest and look around.”
And we did.
The bike shop is in an old barn that has been skillfully restored. Inside sits a wide variety of high-end and super cool bikes as well as a mint Ford Model A. Beyond the barn is a graveyard of bike frames and parts that have out-served their purposes. I was lucky that Adam is here now. He only works in the bike shop three days a week; three other days he tends to his nearly 100-year family farm raising cattle. His wife has a manicure and pedicure space curtained off on the side.
It is a privilege to watch someone work who knows their craft and Adam is no exception. The speed and alacrity with which he repaired my bike was a pleasure to observe with a classic Crosby, Stills, and Nash soundtrack playing in the background. Surreal does not begin to describe this eclectic establishment and its owner. And soon enough, my bike is good as new with a clean up and lube to boot.
I can’t think of a better way to end the day.
