Got an official 300K brevet done, another PB, finished in 13:38h for 304km and ~1300m elevation. The wind wasn't much of a factor but the ride started out on the cool side, -2C at the start and in the dark with a 6am start.
Lake Simcoe isn't one of the great lakes but it's still pretty big! A clockwise loop starting in Barrie, plan was to get back to the finish before sundown. I ended up back at the finish just after official sunset but still had some twilight.
Carthew Bay, still -1 at this point and the ride is mostly along forested roads so the early sunrise didn't warm stuff up much.
The eastern portion of the ride goes through an area called Carden Plain, it's a protected bird habitat in spots and a fairly unique landscape, there isn't much topsoil so farming never took off here. Things warmed up here since the roads were more exposed to the sunlight but I still had all my stuff on, including the reflective vest.
A lot of huge cottages are basically right on the shore so there are a lot of private docks and stuff. The cool weather meant empty roads and quiet water, there are usually a lot of boaters and people cruising around the area. It hasn't rained for a while and the quiet winds meant the water was really clear.
After leaving the Lake Simcoe basin the rest of the ride is through familiar farm country, with the soy getting harvested there are some nice scenes in the rolling hills. I used an app to pre-order my drive-thru from a fast food chain, no walk-in available. I like the e-pop kind of controls but it's fun getting random people to sign the control cards, I kind of miss that! All in all a nice day on the bike, I could have used a jacket instead of arm warmers + vest, I didn't take the leg or arm warmers off during the day, even though it got as high as 16C it never really felt warm as the clouds and the wind from riding were enough to keep me cool all day.