The Road to Metcalfe

This was truly a great day. I felt really happy. Content, happy, in love. I love days when you know you're making a memory. It seems to be that the truly great memories are of spontaneous happiness rather than planned occasions like birthdays and anniversaries, although I have many happy memories of those, too.
I wanted to take Peter and his new bicycle on a good long ride to help break it in and decided that the ride to Metcalfe would be perfect. First we cycled to Cyclelogik so that Peter could pick up a spare tube. From there we headed over to the arboretum so that we could cross the locks to Colonel By. Our route took us to the airport parkway, around the airport to Bowesville Road and then into Emerald Links. I was following Gail's map and proceeding backwards from the way we had cycled home from Metcalfe the week before, so I got a bit disoriented in the golf course after missing a turn. I eventually figured it out and got us over to Greely. From Greely, we continued on side roads, following the map, until we arrived on Victoria Street in Metcalfe.
I was ready for a break when I located the Tea Biscuit Cafe on the main street. I had noticed signs for this shop on our last trip, looked them up on the web, even posted a note on their blog, as a matter of fact, and so I was looking forward to trying this spot out. We put our bikes on the verandah and they very graciously agreed to let us put chairs outside so we could drink our coffee and watch the bikes. In fact, when the pitcher of iced coffee was ready, they brought it out with a table. The iced coffee tasted wonderful. Peter had a tea biscuit and I had an oatmeal walnut square. Both were very good.
I was sitting on that verandah feeling very content. Those moments spent sipping our coffee and listening to the country music being performed just down the street (there was some kind of fair going on) were already becoming a pleasant cycling memory. As we were leaving, the owner of the cafe, Crystal, came out to ask if she could refill our water bottles with fresh, cold, filtered water. That was very nice of her and very much appreciated on the trip back to Ottawa.
I took us on a longer route back, traveling further east before we began the trek back towards town. As we were heading north on 9th line, I did my best to keep up to Peter and draft all the way down to Mitch Owens. At times it was tough to stay on his wheel, but worth it, because I would have found the cycle much harder on my own. Peter says that there were times on the way home when he was drafting off me and working hard to keep up. (Hard to believe, since his bike is so much faster, and he is naturally so much faster, but I'll take the compliment.)
Peter wanted to extend our trip a bit to drop in on his Mom since we were in their neck of the woods, so that's what we did. We had a short visit with Rosie, Franz, Erika, Mark, and Peter's mom. By the time we cycled home, we were feeling the ride and stiffening up a bit. All in all, we cycled 90k.
At home, I sat in the yard with a tall glass of water and truly enjoyed the warm burn, I guess an endorphin rush, really. Peter brought us out a great snack of leftover pasta and sausage in a bun with leftover couscous on the side, and a glass of pink sparkling wine. Just as I was ready to settle in to an evening spent in the backyard, Peter suggested we pull together a quick picnic, grab our festival chairs, and bus to Lebreton Park for the free Ian Tyson concert. And that is exactly what we did. (We had taken my Mom to Opera Under the Stars at the same venue on Thursday night. That will be another great memory.) It was a terrific plan. Peter made us sandwiches of roast chicken, arugula pesto, roasted red pepper, and mango and packed some red wine. We managed to get pretty close to the stage and really enjoyed the concert. We bused home, had another glass of sparkling pink in the backyard, followed by maple walnut ice cream. I didn't want to turn off the little white lights in the yard and put an end to such a fine day but we were both awfully tired, so we did end the day by reading a few pages under our new bedroom ceiling fan, then finally falling into a deep, well-deserved sleep.