Last year I had the pleasure of joining the Racer Sportif crew up at the Campfire ride hosted out of the wonderful Hockley Valley Resort for a wonderful ride and lunch. Although the Campfire ride starts at 9 am, my day began much, much earlier than that. My ride started at 5:30 am, departing from Etobicoke to ride to Hockley Valley Resort. It was a casual 70km with some great company with two of my coworkers from the shop. We rolled out in the darkness and had some mishaps along the way. Although a mechanical and some shaky encounters with some trucks on Dixie road tried to interrupt us, they couldn’t slow us down… We had to be at the resort for 9!

The first 70km were just a warmup for what was to come, we had our 140km to and from the ride along with the 100km Campfire ride. When all was said and done my total ride distance was 243km. 

https://www.strava.com/activities/1861751356 

So what can you expect at this year’s edition of the charity ride? Just an all-around awesome time. The ride starts and finishes from the beautiful Hockley Valley Resort and offers two ride distances: 100km for those up for the challenge and a 70km route which caters to those looking for a shorter distance while still showing off the lovely scenery and roads in the area. The two rides depart together for a few photo-friendly kilometers before the event kicks off. After the ride, all fueling needs are taken care of with a BBQ lunch at the resort after the and several great prizes up for grabs at the live auction. The Campfire ride is a great way to celebrate the final weeks of the 2019 outdoor cycling season, while supporting a great cause. The best part of all is that 100% of registration fees go directly to Camp Ooch as the great sponsors of the event are picking up the bill for your kit, nutrition, and lunch on event day.

Camp Oochigaes

This year Racer Sportif will be celebrating the 5thannual edition of the Campfire ride in support of Camp Oochigaes. Camp Ooch is a privately funded and volunteer-based organization which provides youth affected with childhood cancer the opportunity to attend summer camp. The idea for the ride came to fruition when Frank Mizerski met some of Camp Ooch’s biggest supporters and wanted to find a way for Racer Sportif to support the camp while on two wheels! That was several years ago and with the continued support of some great partnership sponsors the event has grown and is always an event I look forward to attending before the end of each season.

I hope some of you can join us for the 5thannual Campfire Ride this Sunday! I look forward to seeing many smiling faces out on the road and enjoying the post-ride activities to celebrate not only the event but another great riding season!

https://www.campfireride.ca/