Day 38 - Tottenham

Sometimes I think if it weren't for this blog, I might lose my mind. This morning I awoke at around 5:15 to the sound of water beating down on the tent... hard. I knew that our tents were in a bit of a depression so it was only a matter of time before the water would start coming in. Sure enough, things got wetter and wetter until half of my mattress was floating. In the dark, I scrambled to get my stuff out of there and ran to the shelter of the truck.

One by one, the others did the same until we were all huddled in the truck. It was really coming down hard for several hours. Here is where my tent and three others had been:

The connection with blogging? When something like this happens, I can always say "at least it'll make an interesting blog entry."

The breakfast routine was further disrupted when the canopy covering the cooking area collapsed under the weight of water. I was ready relatively early due to the early wake up call so I set out on my own.

Fortunately the weather cleared up and I was able to appreciate the scenery and towns. I stopped for lunch at a nice cafe in Creemore.

The special was spaghetti and meatballs for ten bucks. The woman said she thought it might be too heavy for someone on a bike ride but I assured her that wouldn't be a problem.

The scenery was mostly of fields, including lots of corn. And lots of hills.

After the tough start, it turned into a nice day of riding and the kilometers melted away quickly. The one remaining challenge is getting to sleep with the cacophony of screaming kids, latin music, barking dogs and passing trains surrounding us. Ear plugs are my friend.

Today's track

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Day 37 - Mea- (so hungry) ford

Today we rode through the famous Bruce Peninsula. The troops were anxious to get through the day, so they all took a shortcut except for me. I felt like taking the scenic route, despite my bad experience two days ago and this time it worked out much better. I followed grey road number 1 along the shores of Georgian Bay.

The combination of no traffic, mostly excellent road conditions and occasional scenery made for a pleasant ride. It was also overcast all day and a perfect temperature for riding. Hey, check this out. A bike lane!

We're starting to go through some charming towns too. Wiarton (home of Wiartion Willie) was our lunch stop. There were lots of old stone and brick houses, and this one which has unfortunately seen better days.

Our stop for the night is Meaford, another town with lots of character.

There were a couple of very howly dogs next door to the campground but Rick saved the day by throwing his smelly socks over the fence. Honestly, they immediately went silent.

We had a visit from Bill, our Calgary deserter who lives in this area. It was great to see him again. Here he is with soon-to-be-deserter Chris, getting ready to eat dessert.

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Day 36 - (sim)Miller Lake

Today we concluded our short day on Manitoulin Island, taking the ferry to the Bruce Peninsula on the other side of Lake Huron.

It was a strange day that involved a lot of sitting around and only 84 km of riding. The ferry ride was exhausting in its own monotonous way. I fell asleep with my head resting on the edge of a cafeteria table, waking just as a line of drool was about to separate from my gaping mouth.

After that, I wandered around the ship, watching the crew perform a fire drill and picking up a pamphlet for Misery Bay Park (the name caught my attention). It was a worthwhile read because I learned that the parking lot-esque geological feature I had noticed yesterday is called an "alvar" and this area had some of the best examples in the world. Chris and I both had "Pave Paradise" in our heads this morning.

Butt report: steady at 8 today. Things are looking up!

Today's track

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Day 35 - (much to my) Shaguin(, ) dah (road was bumpy)

The day started with good news. When I mentioned yesterday that I was thinking about getting a bike fit, Ilan emailed a friend in Toronto who is a competitive masters cyclist. His friend contacted his "fit guy" right away and gave us his contact information. I now have an appointment for 5:00 Saturday, just when we'll be rolling into town. A professional bike fit is something I've thought of getting for years. Whether or not it helps with my knees, I'm looking forward to seeing the process.

Before I called to make the appointment, I rode at a higher intensity than normal, trying to reproduce the knee problem so I could describe it. Of course, there was no problem whatsoever. I guess these things only show up on their own terms. On the bright side, I made good time. Over the 165 km, I averaged in the high 20's (aided by tailwinds but hampered by bad roads).

Following the instructions we were given, I took the Lee Valley Road between Massey and Espanola. There was no traffic and the scenery might have nice, but I was too distracted by my bones being rattled out of their sockets to notice. The rest of the group wisely stuck to the highway.

As we approached Manitulan Island (the largest island surrounded by fresh water in the world), the terrain became interesting. Expanses of flat rock looked like abandoned parking lots.

Before we knew it (I was now riding with Ilan and Owen), we were at Batman's, a huge campground with a couple of beaches, an arcade, a playground and lots of kids.

It was nice to get into camp early and just sit around for a while. On this trip, every second that the weather is nice and we're not getting bitten by mosquitos is appreciated.

Today's track

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Day 34 - Blind River

We set off from Algoma University this morning and down Queen St., passing many nice homes. For a city of 75,000, there seems to be a lot of wealth. Either that or our route happened to go through all the best parts of town. I felt bad for not seeing more of the Soo, but that's the way the rest days often go. There's a surprising amount of stuff to do and not much energy to do it with.

Owen and Ilan left a bit later than usual and at last I was able to catch up to them.

This was on highway 638 which was less busy than the trans-Canada but also had 13% grades and long sections of gravel. The grades I can deal with but the gravel was not so fun on skinny tires.

After a while, Chris also caught up and all four of us rode together for most of the day in a pace line (as the pros would call it). Chris is much faster now than when the trip started - at one point he was leading us up a hill and I was working very hard to keep up. Ilan also dropped me a couple of times. I guess it makes sense that we'd all be at a pretty high level of fitness after the number of hours we've clocked on the saddle.

Unfortunately, there were practically no places to eat along the route until 125 km in, and this happened to be the day I packed the least amount of food. In Iron Bridge, we stopped in a little take-out place. The others got ice cream and I got chicken fingers and potato wedges. The woman asked if I wanted the lunch size or "large". Well that was a no-brainer, but even I was intimidated by the amount of potato wedges that showed up 15 minutes later. It's a good thing Chris stayed around to help me out because even with his help, I was stuffed to the gills. I felt like I was carrying an elephant in my stomach for the rest of the ride.

At camp a few hours later, we had a lovely salmon dinner with asparagus, carrots and boiled potatoes. I had two servings of everything except the potatoes.

Today's track

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Soo Rest Day

Being just past halfway, this rest day was a time for rejuvenation. Chris, Isabel and I spent a good two hours cleaning our bikes and installing new chains.

It's so nice to see your chain and cogs completely free of filth, and when Chris and I rode down the street for food, we could feel and hear the difference. Comparisons were made to silk, butter and babies' bums.

On the rejuvenation front, there was also a new razor blade, silky smooth legs and clipped toenails. Exciting stuff!

Even more exciting was the morning visit from the tour organizers, Bud and Margo. There has been some discontent brewing among the riders for some time over various things ranging from campsite conditions to route selection to food options. An email was sent a few weeks ago enumerating those concerns and this was our chance to finally hash it out face-to-face.

To say there were tense moments would be an understatement. On the bright side, over a couple of hours the tone improved from hostile to grudgingly respectful. On the down side, coming out of three meeting I don't think the riders had the feeling that many of the concerns would be addressed.

For my part, I have always looked at Cycle Canada's role as supporting my personal quest to cross the country, rather than providing me a luxurious vacation wherein I ride my bike every day. For whatever reason, other's had higher expectations and a few riders are very disappointed. It's a bit of a downer, but I think those same people will look back at this experience fondly when all is said and done.

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