Day 40 – Pancake bay to Thessalon

Last night was one of broken sleep, first of all we had a thunder storm with very heavy rain that lasted a couple of hours and then one of my colleagues snored most of the night and kept me awake. Having finally got back to sleep at about 3am the first zippers started going at 4.45 and woke me again.

After clearing a wet and soggy camp site we hit the road for what was supposed to be along but relatively easy 105 miles. About 20km along the way we stopped to have a look at some waterfalls and as we moved off I only got about 100m and my front tyre blew.

Upon inspection there was a large slice across the side wall and tread of the tyre so we had to change both tyre and inner tube.

I would add, for the benefit of Mrs Rogers, that at my time of crisis, you should be proud to know that your son cycled off over the horizon and didn’t even look back. He later claimed he had his ear phones on and didn’t realise I was in trouble.

The tyre change only took Randy and I 10 mins or so and then we were back on the road. Between that point and Sault St Marie there were two killer climbs, one called 1 mile hill that we had to grind up and then we had lovely 20km downhill run into town, made even better by the beeping sound from my saddle bag which told me I finally had a mobile signal.

We hit the bike shops for spare tyres and then went for a sandwich, not a dangerous thing you might think, but we managed to enter an organic sandwich shop with a couple of “toms” outside.

After catching up with Z we headed out of town expecting a gentle rolling second half to our day, sadly we were to be disappointed as Buds definition of rolling and mine are clearly different and we had 50km of some rough roads and stiff climbs which really tested us. Thankfully we got back to freeway for the last 20km or so and we were able to get into camp about 4pm .

Once the tent was up and drying I checked the bike and saw that the rear tyre also had a large slit in it with the inner tube sticking out, I had been a lucky boy to get in without that blowing as well. I spent half an hour changing tyres and now hopefully all should be well.

The camp site is beautiful, we are almost literally on the beach tonight and we are sitting her looking forward to shrimp jambalaya as the sun sets.

Tomorrow is hopefully a little gentler with only 100km to do, maybe a lie in and then some sight seeing. 

Onwards and Upwards

Day 39 Wawa to Pancake Bay

Today was a great day.

Our departure was chilled as people unpacked the motel rooms onto the truck again and we had poached eggs and rosti potatoes as the hot portion of the meal.

Breakfast done we headed out shrouded under mist which took a while to clear. Tom had obviously rested well as he took off over the horizon and we never saw him again all day. I, however, felt a little sluggish and just eased my way into the day knowing this was only number 1 of 7.

Today’s ride continued with the shield theme; rolling hills and the occasional stiff climb and then long winding descents to help you recuperate as we skirted along the western edge of Lake Superior.

Services were limited all day but by calling into various park offices and visitor centres we were able to get plenty of water. The temperature wasn’t too high but even when it was misty it was really humid and I was losing a lot of fluid so it was important to keep the intake up.

As the day wore on the hills got easier and the last 50km were relatively flat and although it was still misty there were some spectacular views of Lake Superior and the many island just offshore.

I have seen bit of wildlife today; a mink ran across our path this morning, a dead moose was lying by eh side of the road having been hit by a car, it was rather smelly though, and then just before we got to the site I spotted some Sand Cranes, a relatively rare crane walking across the fields next to the highway.

Our campsite tonight is another provincial camp, once again we are nestled amongst trees and on the edge of Lake Superior, facilities are good and so far Mozzy free and tonight we have a tans pasta dish for tea. Looking ahead we have found out we should be cooking Peanut Chilli on Thursday; we have made a request to change that to normal chilli as even the vegetarians don’t fancy that.

Tomorrows run is probably going to be the last difficult climbing day for a while, although it’s long at 105 miles there are only a couple of stiff climbs in the early part and then we start to get into more rolling countryside as we head toward civilization in Southern Ontario.

Onwards and Upwards!

39 rest Day Wawa

After a quiet night in catching up with family I was about to head for the bar when the heavens opened. That was all I needed to dissuade me so I spent the rest of the night reading up on the sports news etc before getting to bed at about 11.30pm.

Morning arrived wet but mild and we walked into Wawa to get the washing done. Wawa is struggling to exist; it has very high unemployment and is three hours too far from anywhere to be a tourist town so it’s quite a depressing place to be. The population has shrunk from 5500 to 3100 over the last few years. We tracked down the local Laundromat, which by the time we got there was already full of TDC’ers, then went for breakfast. I finally cracked after 5 weeks and ordered Eggs Benedict, the true athlete’s breakfast, which now means I don’t need to eat again till dinner as it was massive.

 

Washing done we headed back to the Motel and sorted the bike and I tried to upload some videos to Facebook but the link is so slow it was going to take hours so I gave up on that idea.

I have given the bike the once over and cleaned the chain ready for tomorrows exertions and now I’m just pottering around doing bits and pieces, loading audio books onto my iPod and drying out my tent bag that was left out in the rain last night before I go for a siesta. Sods law is that I have mislaid my third water bottle and there are no services along tomorrow’s route so I might have a few water problems if it’s hot. The suggestion from a few of the riders is to ask the truck to stop half way and allow us to fill our bottles, but I don’t know if they will do that or not, failing that I’ll have to buy a bottle of water before I leave town and pack it into my saddle bag.

I don’t think there are any plans to go out tonight, I just need to find some food somewhere, probably at the Motel Restaurant and then hit the sack. Tomorrows ride is 105 miles with two big climbs towards the end. The word is once that is done we are over the worst of the climbing for a while.

Onwards and Upwards.

Day 37 – White Lake to Wawa - 81 miles

After another decent night’s sleep we left Randy behind doing his cooking duty and headed off once again into the Canadian shield safe in the knowledge that only 80 miles or so away was a Motel and a rest day waiting.

Today’s ride was really a continuation of shield riding with a succession of rolling hills and descents to keep us busy all day. The wind was still against us so at times it was hard work making headway and a couple of the longer descents we had to pedal quite hard just to maintain speed downhill. There were also large areas where fire had obviously swept through a couple of years ago, which just served to remind us delicate nature can be around these regions.

After about 40km we pulled into White Lake the birthplace, if that’s the right word, of Winnie the Poo. The original Winnie was the property of a Canadian First World War Soldier, named after Winnipeg and donated to London Zoo whilst in the UK I believe. He was spotted at London Zoo by A.A.Milne and the rest, as they say, is history.

Following coffee and the obligatory snaps we headed off again and managed to maintain a decent pace for most of the day stopping briefly again half way between White Lake and Wawa. At this point I was joined by Trevor and with Tom and I we formed a pace line to try to get the remaining 50 or so KM rattled off ASAP. Trevor is a lot stronger cyclist than me and I had to work my socks off to stay with them but after about an hour and a half we rolled, or should I say wheezed, our way into Wawa, the home of the giant Goose. The Goose comes from the local First Nation Tribe word for Goose and there are a number of giant geese around the town.

I didn’t mess about in town and headed straight for the motel as I wanted to get hold of Z and the family. I have been without a mobile signal for a number of days now and have been told I probably won’t get one for another few days so it was important that I got caught up. Quick use of Face Book and Matt and his mate Lewis managed to get a message to Z and we were able to Skype, I also managed 10 mins with Mark Lee who has now got himself onto the Skype directory, although I cut him at the end by mistake, sorry Mark.

Having caught up with the gossip we had dinner. It is the National Day of Switzerland and so we had a specially cooked meal and singing of traditional songs and anthems by our two Swiss guests. The food was lovely but once again the portions were ridiculously small and many of the gang were left hungry. 

After dinner some went to the bar, it is Holliday weekend here and most things are closed, but I just relaxed in the room and caught up with my blog etc, besides I’d had a few beers during the afternoon whilst catching up with the family. The Motel looks OK but we are three to a room and one of us is on a camp bed! I also can’t find the controls to the air conditioning so it could be a hot night.

Tomorrow is a rest day so its housework time, washing clothes cleaning the bike and repacking my baskets are the priorities and if time permits a look around Wawa, which is only small anyway.

Next week is a long one 900km and 7 days on the trot, although one is very short due to a ferry crossing there are two days of over 100 miles in amongst the 6. I hope to arrive in Alliston next Monday 9^th for a well earned rest day and a chance to meet up with the Lake family, most of which I haven’t seen since I was 18.

Onwards and Upwards! 

Day 36 Neys to White Lake 66 miles

After the stresses of yesterday today has been a pleasure. After a brief shower at about 5am the weather, although threatening rain early slowly improved all day. We had a lazyish start as we all knew we only had 30km to cover before the half way celebrations in Marathon, planned for 1030am.

A slow ride meant we got to Marathon at about 9.30 and had an hour to kill so we did a bit of shopping and hit the coffee shops before heading to Pebble Beach where Erin and Matt, our crew, had knocked up some sandwiches, cookies and ice cream. The grub went down really well, there were the usual group photos to celebrate the half way point and then in dribs and drabs we all moved off.

I spent the rest of the ride either on my own or with Simo, Jody and Carol as we just bumbled along at about 30km/hr, there was no point in hurrying as we only had 50km to go and it was only mid day.

The ride had its challenges though as we came across a number of stiff climbs and long winding descents.

I got into camp at about 2.30 and have spent the afternoon catching up on sitting still and relaxing, much needed after yesterday’s long day.

Dinner tonight was Spaghetti and very nice indeed. The campsite is nestled in amongst trees and a lake and again thankfully Mozzy free so very pleasant.

Today is my third day on the trot without mobile phone access and the second without internet. I hope when we get to the motel in Wawa tomorrow I will be able to contact home and update the blogs. Apparently we are three to a room! The ride itself is not too bad, relatively flat compared to the last few days and only 88 miles.

Onwards and Upwards!

Day 35 – Nipigon to Neys 106 miles

A tough day in the office!

After cooking breakfast Taso, Don, One Sock Bob and I set off to perform sweep duties.

Our first stop was only 2km away, Don has spent his formative years in Nipigon and wanted to go back and see if it had changed, after a 30 second tour of the town we concluded it had not.

Whilst there Don was interviewed about his experiences and Taso also had a brief conversation with a family of bears all of which was captured on video for further dissemination.

After Nipigon we had to get a move on as there were no services for about70km other than a small shop.

The terrain was challenging and within 30 km the hills began to appear one after the other and they were big!

Although the hills were shorter than in BC they were at times much steeper and we were in granny gears for long periods of the day and for most of the day we were battling against fairly stiff head winds.

The payback for the climbing was some fantastic views of Lake Superior as we wound our way around the lakeside.

We stopped for lunch in pretty village called Rossport, I had a blackened chicken burger and salad, the restaurant had had our groups before so were ready for us with water for bottles etc which was handy. We had to wait for all the others to leave ahead of us so Taso grabbed the chance of 40 winks, we tried to sneak off but he heard us and woke up.

The climbing took its toll on me though late in the day as I nearly bonked at about 120km, luckily I recognised the symptoms and we were only a couple of KM’s from food so we all stopped and gulped down a  12” Subway and lots of drinks.

In total today we did over 5000ft of climbing which is our biggest day by far. It was made much more difficult because of the need to keep at the back of the pack, we must have stopped and waited for riders at least 20 times during the afternoon and we ended up doing an 11hr day which in honesty was probably 3 hours longer than necessary. The problem is you can’t ride at your usual comfy pace and you end up using much more energy. 

|To cap it all today was also a bad hair day!

Today’s camp site is on the shore of Lake Superior, so far Mozzy free but because I was so late in I have only really had time to put my tent up shower and feed before its time to hit the sack. 

Tonight meals was also disappointing, whilst there was plenty of it they didn’t have the right ingredients available again; macaroni cheese without enough cheese is just macaroni. I don’t know why but for some reason it seems the poor meals always seem to coincide with the longest days.

Onwards and Upwards!

Day 34 – Thunder bay to Nipigon

A lazy start to the day as we couldn’t hand our keys back until 7.30am; I got up at 6.30 and went for a huge buffet breakfast at the Uni Cafeteria, then back to the bike sheds, loaded the bike and then handed back the keys.

We rolled out at about 8am and took a scenic route out of town, climbing to a viewpoint/memorial gardens.

Having taken a few final shots of the Bay and surrounding islands we moved off and a few km’s down the road came across the Terry Fox memorial. 

Terry Fox was a cancer sufferer who in the late 70,s early 80,s lost a leg to cancer and then in order to raise the profile of cancer research attempted to run across Canada from East to West. He made it as far as Thunder Bay running a marathon each day but sadly the cancer got the better of him and he had to retire hurt and subsequently lost his fight against the disease.

The Canadians found it particularly moving as he is one of their top national sporting heroes; he has been awarded all sorts of honours from across the globe, all that for someone who packed up half way!

The rest of today’s ride was through some beautiful country but quite hilly in places and also into a quite stiff head wind. Nevertheless, I got to camp at about 3pm and had plenty of time to get set up, showered and changed before getting stuck into dinner duties.

Tonight we had burritos, the same meal we cooked in Merritt but this time they got the quantities right and everyone was full after dinner.

The weather has been great again and the forecast is reasonable however Lake Superior has such an impact on the local weather that you can’t guarantee anything. 

Tomorrow is a 105mile ride, but this one has some significant hills along the way so it will be a challenge. We are doing breakfast so I will be sweeping which will add to the time on the road but hopefully the weather will be kind.

Onwards and Upwards!