Saturday July 28th
Ride details coming…

Before we start I have to mention some updates to the bike and my gear. All during the week at Ian’s I had a tarp in his garage which had essentially three rows. One for stuff I absolutely had to take with me (e.g. bike pump, water bottles), a second for stuff I might not need (e.g. tent, cotton shirt) and a third for things that were going home for sure which included the front panier bags. I decided that the tent was still required to keep costs down and therefore had to keep all of the tarps. I also kept my fabulous Stormtech fleece and jacket since I knew it could get windy on the “The Rock” (Newfoundland) but I did send home my bike jacket. All in all I sent back 4.7 kilograms of stuff including a USB backup of my pictures and video. I added a new lightweight towel, handlebar bag and the business cards had forwarded to Ian. Overall still a descent reduction in weight and the front of the bike was handling way better now plus I had less wind resistance!

I took the lake shore path and road from Ian’s. It is pretty new and a nice little back road but it is pretty short and it was long before I was on a regular road running West the 400 highway. I took it all the way to Whitby before turning North on the 12 which turns into the 7 highway.

My little send off...

Lakeshore rd.

I eventually stopped in a diner for breakfast which for the price was a big tasty meal but I can no longer remember the restaurant name nor can I find it on the map. Back out on the road I was starting to get my legs. back finally! From Whitby the highway is only two lane and there are a lot of people heading up to cottage country. The road was fine but busy. I turned West at Port Perry and got off the number 7 on highway 45 i think that was a nice but hot country road with almost no traffic. The road was hilly but with the reduced weight it was a little easier n the hills even though I had low energy.

The road runs along Scugog Lake and when I saw a place to stop by the lake I did. There was a little pier and too many fisherman but I sat off to the side where there was a little beach. I can never understand why speed boats and jet skis zoom around close to the shore line even though they are not stopping, however it didn’t bother the people fishing so I guess it isn’t a problem?
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I eventually hooked back up to the number 7, apparently it goes everywhere according to Craig and I believe he is right! Rather than follow it South into Peterborough I went straight down Lindsey Rd and cut through the neighborhoods on the North side of town avoiding a lot of unnecessary traffic. I saw an ice cream factory and just had to stop. I didn’t do the tour but I tasted the vanilla which was excellent. Check out the size of this dish which was two scoops for $6.

This is only two scoops!

I had been keeping Craig posted on my progress since we needed to pick up me up where the road turned to gravel. I had originally predicted 6pm but that slowly changed to 6:30 and now 6:45. I had about 30 minutes to crank out 20 kilometers so I gave her. I was getting great progress but I was near the maximum threshold I could sustain the distance. He gave me some interesting instructions but the one that stuck out was the “Love sick hotel” which I caught out of the corner of my eye. At that time I noticed some movement up ahead on my side of the road. It was Carol and Craig, I made it!

I downed a ice cold gatorade Craig had brought and then got the bike packed in the back of his truck. Before long we were on windy gravel road which would have been hellish on my bike. His cabin is on a more secluded side of the lake and it was quiet there except the Hart’s: Tom (whom I met years ago during the same towel cart incident), his wife Shannon, son Ben, daughter Evelyn and baby girl Rachel. Oh wait I am forgetting a big furry friendly chap named Max who immediate took to me because we speak the same language (Swiss German). Max is a large Bernese mountain dog! I jumped in the lake for quick soak and then put on dry clothes at which point Craig started force feeding me beer. We then went for a cruise of the beautiful which was striking with the clearly defined ice levels marked as a line of no growth along the bottom of the tree line. The water was warm and clear and it was starting to get around dusk which is a good time to see any lake. Back at the cabin Craig got the sauna going and we had a few jumps in the in the lake then back in the sauna cycles. Finally we sat down to a roast dinner that Carol had slaved over while we were gallivanting around the lake. The red wine was flowing well and it wasn’t long before my eyes were getting tired. What an awesome day!