Wet leaves

I went skating again today, on the trail. I could go to Scooters, but I cannot really go. Now that my wife is home and I have to work tomorrow morning driving all the way out to western Mississauga and heading back home at 10pm just does not sound like a prudent use of my time.

Like the title of this Blog suggests, the trail was covered in wet leaves. By Sunny Side outdoor pool, melted snow and ice had put parts of the trail under as much as an inch (2.5 cm) of water. The water made that section of the trail effectively impassable. I eventually gave up in more than a small degree of disgust and did a few circles around Marilyn Bell park. (Actually there is a nice little loop you can do there that is just shy of 2km long. Starting at the top of the hill just East of Aquatic drive, (near what I think is the Toronto rowing club) skate down the hill and along the water's edge towards Ontario Place, at the East end of Marilyn Bell turn around and take the North trail that rubs against Lake Shore Blvd. One thing to be very mindful of, do not skate clockwise, always counter clockwise! There are a couple of good reasons:

1. For one thing you will be doing left hand turns which is what we always seem to practice anyway.
2. If you go clockwise when you get to the East end of the park you have to make a really sharp right hand turn while going down a hill. If you don't time the turn right on the first try you fall down some steps and if you have not come to a stop at the bottom of the steps you hit a fence. If the fence does not stop you, you get a nice cold bath in Lake Ontario. I did that turn the first lap and my heart was in my mouth the entire way down the hill. (It does not help that the ground is leafy and damp.)

As for the rest of the trail, too leafy, too wet. With the exception of Marilyn Bell the trail conditions were in various stages of appallingly bad and plain impassable.