I do love this time of year, but I’m also very sad because this is the last official Thursday road ride for the 2023 season.
It’s not all sad news though. We’ve still got one more Tuesday ride next week and we’ll be doing Sunday road and gravel rides until the weather stops us.
Load the route on your bike computer if you have one, here’s how.
Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
5:30 PM WEATHER UPDATE: The ride is not yet officially cancelled. It’s looking like the current weather system will pass just before 6:30PM. However, if we are still under EC Weather Alerts at 6:30 PM we must officially cancel the ride, clear skies or not. This does not stop members from choosing to ride unofficially. Click here to help make your decision. NB: We are cancelling the Try-a-Ride outright.
These are the Mid Season Routes for the TAM Ride. They will remain the same for several weeks giving riders an opportunity to see how they progress in fitness week-over-week. Bringing lights is always a good idea. Especially this early in the season.
Load the route on your bike computer if you have one, here’s how.
Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
Make sure you’re in the right kph speed group. Speeds are the same but the ‘R’ numbers have changed a bit since last season.
RIDE IS ON!!! Not nearly as smoky as they were forecasting and any rain is nowhere near us. See you at the library!
We’ve done a lot of rides to the southeast lately, so we’re going to change it up a bit and head towards Hespeler. Yes, we’re starting out heading southeast, but we’ll veer west once we get south of the 401. We’ll thread our way through Hespeler before hitting Chilligo Road (my favourite) and back into town via Speedvale. Bringing lights is always a good idea.
NOTE: Due to a bridge closure on the original route, the routes have been slightly modified and will now go up Concession 7 and across Gravel Pit Alley. Make sure to download the latest version (updated as of 3:20pm Thursday).
FAST RIDERS WANTED!! Feel frisky? Want to put the hammer down? The fine folks in R1 & R2 want to meet you! Not ready for R1 & R2… then please keep a steady, cohesive pace without surging. R1 & R2 = race tactics, surging. Sub-R2 = no race tactics, no surging. If someone in your sub-R2 group is surging, don’t chase them, let them keep going until they catch R1 & R2. So remember: Don’t chase, keep a steady pace!
Load the route on your bike computer if you have one, here’s how.
Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
These are the Early Season Routes for the TAM Ride. They will remain the same for several weeks giving riders an opportunity to see how they progress in fitness week-over-week. Bringing lights is always a good idea. Especially this early in the season.
Load the route on your bike computer if you have one, here’s how.
Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
Make sure you’re in the right kph speed group. Speeds are the same but the ‘R’ numbers have changed a bit since last season.
Say it isn’t so! This is supposedly the final scheduled gravel ride for the 2022 season! We’re not going to go down without a fight, so we’re going to take advantage of what promises to be a seasonably lovely day for a ride out to some bits north of town that I’ve never done, and hopefully you haven’t either. We’ll make the mandatory buttertart stop at the halfway point in Bellwood before venturing out and hitting Jones Baseline for the return jaunt through Fergus.
Bring money for a coffee stop and tail lights are a good idea.
Load the route on your bike computer if you have one, here’s how.
Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
Once again, we’re heading out to the copious amount of gravel roads NE of Guelph and making our way into Hillsburgh. Its going to be a spectacular day, so make sure you sunscreen up and bring lots of water. According to RWGPS, this route is 2/3 gravel, which is a good thing, since this is a gravel ride. We’ll make a stop in Hillsburgh to refuel. Bring money for snacks and as always, tail lights are a good idea.
Load the route on your bike computer if you have one, here’s how.
Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
Welp, its the penultimate Thursday road ride and its going to be a banger of an evening. We’re going to do a classic NE route out of town on roads that should be pretty quiet. R1 will do a bit of a bonus on Ash Street and Indian Trail. Bringing lights is always a good idea, but especially for tonight. We’re going to be pushing the limits of daylight, so speed is of the essence (but I don’t have to tell any of you that).
Load the route on your bike computer if you have one, here’s how.
Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
RIDE CANCELLED: There are several nasty blobs of weather headed this way. It could go either way, but I’m not keen on getting caught in a thunderstorm.
I haven’t done any gravel rides to the north and east of town for quite some time. I was hoping to do that for this ride, but it seems as though that area has been well-represented in the gravel ride rotation as of late. Therefore, we’ll be going in much the opposite direction. Its a bit of a shorter rip, but we might be happy with that, depending on which way the weather turns. The weather for Sunday morning is saying “Chance of a thunderstorm”, which really means “Chance of awesome weather”. Cuz it could go either way. Check this page frequently for updates. I’ll post the final go/no-go at 7AM Sunday.
Bring money for a coffee stop and tail lights are a good idea.
Load the route on your bike computer if you have one, here’s how.
Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
This is one of my personal favourite gravel rides that takes us on the winding trails of Kitchener/Waterloo. Its a whole lot of fun and there will be several times where you’ll say “I had no idea this was here!” or “NOW I know where we are!”
We’ll start at the usual spot by the Guelph Youth Music Centre and head out of town and make our way to the straight, flat and somewhat boring Guelph-Goderich railtrail. We’ll make our way to the north end of Waterloo where we’ll hit the Grand River Trail. Lots of tight twists and turns along the Grand River. The halfway point is at the Woodfired Cafe, where you will have a chance to refuel. From there, we’ll ride the Walter Bean Trail through Kitchener to the south end near highway 8. After that, its all road until we get back to Guelph.
The forecast is looking good, so that means there might be a fair number of pedestrians. Ride safely and slowly around people, make yourself known and thank people as you go by.
IMPORTANT: We normally have two groups each led by a sanctioned club ride leader. Unfortunately, the person who normally leads the G2 Intermediate ride won’t be around (yeah, what a jerk, right?). As the sole ride leader, I will ride with the G1 Advanced group and we will make periodic stops at any tricky spots to make sure everyone is on track. Hopefully, this will work for all parties. If this proves to be untenable, then the G2 group may continue on their own, but it will no longer be an official, sanctioned GCC ride. This means that you won’t be insured by the club should something happen.
At least one member of the G2 group MUST load the route on your bike computer, to minimize any chances of getting lost. Please make a comment in the ride sign up form to let others know if you are able to load the route on your bike computer. If you don’t know how to do it, here’s how.
Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
Its looking to be a warm and potentially wet evening for this edition of the mid-week gravel ride. For this one, we’re heading out on the Guelph-Goderich trail until just before West Montrose, so you will have to do your kissing on some other bridge. From there, we’ll thread our way across to Jones Baseline for the return leg, which will take us through a portion of the Guelph Lake trails.
Special Note:
Prospective members who have not joined GCC may participate in tonight’s ride via Ontario Cycling Association’s Tryout Program. In order to participate, you must:
Provide the Ride Leader with a copy of your Ontario Cycling registration confirmation
The forecast right now is calling for potential thunderstorms. If you were on last Thursday’s club ride, you may have noticed me hightailing it home well before anyone else to avoid getting caught in the thunderstorms that rolled through. That’s cuz I’m so sweet, I melt when I get wet. If it looks like rain will happen, I will post a cancellation no later than 5:30pm.
The sun sets quite late this time of year, but bringing lights is always a good idea. Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
For this ride, we’ll ride out to Arkell, across Hume then up to Eden Mills through the lovely Ash Street. From there, we’ll cross Guelph Line and take advantage of the NW winds and ride all the way down to Halton Tract (where we’ll be riding on Sunday’s Great Gravel Ride – sign up for that!). From there, we’ll cross back over Guelph Line, and back up Second Line. With any luck, the winds will have died off a bit by then. Either way, it won’t be nearly as hot as the past few days, and might actually be chilly towards the end.
Bringing lights is always a good idea. Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
RIDE is ON! And we can easily bail if absolutely needed as we don’t get far from town on this ride. The cool, grey weather will likely keep pesky pedestrians to a minimum, which means the trails should be ours for the taking. This is my second attempt at being a gravel ride leader this season, and the weather is looking to be about the same level of crap as my last one. The go/no-go decision will be posted by 5pm Wednesday, so keep an eye out.
Bringing lights is always a good idea. Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
RIDE CANCELLED on account of cold rainy weather and Mike Dennis being the only person stupid dedicated enough to sign up.
This Sunday we are going to ride the same route as the 2020 Big Gravel Ride, but IN REVERSE! This will allow us to get the tough bits along Indian Trail while we’re fresh instead of tired and crashy. It will also take partial advantage of the east winds that are anticipated.
We won’t be riding through any area that has food/drink options, so bring enough snack/water options to get you through the ride.
Dress for the coolish conditions – check out our new weather forecast page, and wear sunscreen! The sun is deceivingly strong and when its cool, you might not think to slap some on your exposed skin. The current weather forecast shows we may run into rain towards the end of the ride. The GCC Weather Team will keep an eye on things, so keep checking this post for updates. We may shorten the route to beat any potential afternoon rain.
Disclaimer: Depending on rider turn out, some Speed Groups may have to be combined.
RIDE CANCELLED: Yeah, big surprise. Hopefully, everyone got out yesterday when the weather was glorious.
As I post this, the weather for this Sunday is looking grim, so this is not likely going to happen. Just in case, here’s this weekend’s combined gravel ride.
We’re supposed to be starting at 11AM this time of year because its typically cold in the morning. Since the overnight temperature isn’t going below 17C, we’ll do this ride at 9AM.
Starting at the Guelph Youth Music Centre, we’ll head out on the Guelph-Goderich trail for a bit before we peel off and head NE towards Bellwood. Mandatory butter-tart stop in Bellwood, then we’ll make our way back to Guelph.
We’ll be doing a combined recreational/intermediate group and will ride at whatever pace the group is comfortable with.
If by some miracle, the weather forecast changes from the expected rain, we’ll ride at 9AM. Either way, check back here for an official go/no-go by 8AM Sunday morning.
Advance sign-up required. Click here: Sunday Gravel Rides. You will have to create an account on Signup.com
Start time: please be ready to pedal at 9:00 AM
Start location: The Guelph Youth Music Centre – GYMC
RIDE IS ON!!! It looks kind of dark right now, but it’s going to be a great day for riding!
And now for something a little different…..
SRCC road riders are intimately familiar with the paved roads south and east of Guelph in the Halton region. However, just off the beaten track are a cornucopia of trails and gravel roads you might not be aware of. We’re going to hit a number of fun spots including Robert Edmonson Conservation Area, Halton Agreement Forest and Hilton Falls before we take a slight detour into Campbellville for a mid-ride snack break.
After the break, we’ll backtrack a bit and hit Limehouse Road and keep going after it ends. Then we’ll ride the Snyder Tract, Mountsberg Conservation Area and then back into Guelph the same way we came down, except we’ll ride the trails on the east side of the Eramosa River north of Stone Road.
This is a bit of a longish one, but the temperature should be perfect for riding. Hope to see you all out there!
There are two groups: recreational and intermediate. Both use the same route at different paces. Check the schedule for complete details.
Recreational Gravel: 21-24 km/h average Intermediate Gravel: 24-26 km/h average
Check back for weather cancellation posted no later than 7:00 AM.
Advance sign-up required. Click here: Sunday Gravel Rides. You will have to create an account on Signup.com
Start time: please be ready to pedal at 8:00 AM
Start location: The Guelph Youth Music Centre – GYMC
Note that start time is now 6:00 PM thanks to the unfortunate fact that our days are getting shorter at an ever increasing rate. We should look at the bright side of things. If we lived in the tropics, we’d never be able to ride past 6/7pm. So, there’s that.
The forecast is calling for quite warm temperatures and light winds, which means its a perfect night for a ride. We’ll ride from the library to Hume Road (which is always more fun to ride on the way out than back) and make our way over to 5th Line. The A-Team will continue on to 6th Line to re-enact scenes from Fury Road.
From there, the routes will eventually converge on 4th Line, scoot across Guelph Line and ride back to Arkell via 1st Line and Hume.
Groups will ride at the following paces:
Thursday A: 35+ km/h average Thursday B: 32-35 km/h average Thursday C: 30-32 km/h average
Advance sign-up for these rides is required. Click HERE to reserve your spot.
This ride is open to SRCC members only. If you have not signed up to be a club member, you can do so HERE.
Rides start in the parking lot of the East End Library at the corner of Starwood and Watson. See the map below for the meeting point for your group.
