The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Since I started road cycling, I've learned that country roads in these parts take one of three forms: 

The Good -- evenly paved roads with wide, smooth, nicely paved shoulders and a relatively low volume of traffic. The range road that goes straight north from town is one of these, as is the secondary highway that runs perpendicular to the range road at the top of the hill. The township road that curves around by Muir Lake doesn't actually have shoulders and is tar-and-chip rather than smooth asphalt, but it still qualifies as Good because it is fairly wide and has little traffic. Motorists on these three roads seem comfortable with, and even friendly to, cyclists. When passing cyclists, almost every driver moves left to give them space. I've encountered many a friendly wave or nod of the head while riding on these Good roads.

And a bonus -- some of these roads have hills that rate as 'climbs' on the 

Map My Ride website.

Taken from the top of the hill on one of the Good roads

The Bad -- heavy traffic, high speed limit, narrow shoulders, potholes, patchy pavement, or any combination of the former. The secondary highway I traveled south of town, with its narrow shoulders and innumerable double-bucket gravel trucks was Bad, as was the secondary highway I attempted today. This road hosted no gravel trucks, but the speed limit was 100 and every one of the countless cars and pickup trucks I saw was going at least that. On top of this, the shoulders were narrow and only half paved -- the paved part was perhaps 30 cm wide. And we aren't talking nice smooth pavement, either -- there were plenty of cracks and rough spots and potholes. I rode on this for only a few kilometers before turning off in search of an alternate route. Incidentally, I have never been yelled at while riding my bike (other than the "Whoo-hoo" type of yell) until today on this Bad road. The passenger in a pickup truck actually rolled down his window and yelled something as he passed me. It was a wasted effort, as I couldn't understand what he said, but I take consolation from the fact that I didn't hear any "...cking" or "...tch" sounds. I think perhaps he said something helpful and sensible like, "Get off the road" or "This isn't a bike trail."

Which brings me to...

The Ugly -- the road that finally came to my rescue was a township road built seemingly to service a golf course. And Ugly it was. No shoulders. No painted lines. Several different types of pavement, the odd patch of gravel, occasional mounds of semi-smoothed tar. But I passed no more than three or four vehicles and was able to ride along to the nearest Good road without any trouble. Sometimes Ugly is all right.

 
 Also taken from the high spot on the Good road 

It was such a beautiful spring day: the trees were so green, the sky so blue. Today I rode 71.48 km. I am very particular about the last 1.48 km -- when I told him about my ride, Hubby, suitably impressed, said, "Wow, 70 K" and I corrected him. 
I worked hard and I want credit for every meter. This was my longest ever non-stop ride. It was a bit of work, but a great feeling.

 Temperature: 22 C ~ Wind -- who knows? 
The Environment Canada website said ESE at 7 km/hour. 
They got the direction right, but I saw the trees blowing and I felt the resistance, and I think the speed must have been higher.