Started 8:15am ended 8:30pm
It was a little warm last night and I had trouble sleeping even though I relaxed all day yesterday. I had been waking up on and off all night and thankfully Margie rang a bell at 7am to wake me up. We chatted while I ate breakfast and I packed up reasonably quickly which included some leftover chicken from the night before.
Back on the road I was feeling lethargic and it took me a while just to get to 40 kilometers. The hills are deceiving here and there is a lot of steep grade between 6 and 7 percent. Near Rossport the Trans Canada wraps closely along the lake so I decided to take a break on a piece of Canadian shield on the lake shore. I ate the rest of the chicken and grabbed a 5 minute nap.
I lazily climbed back on the bike and started riding only to find a real rest stop 500 meters up the road but I hadn’t seen the sign before I stopped. It was good to drop off the garbage anyway and when I rode back onto the road I saw two cyclist going my direction. It was two women and I let them pass before catching up to them. They were planning to stop at Rainbow falls which was just up the road so I agreed to join them. Their names are Robin and Kate and they are on their way to Charlottetown from Calgary. In different years they had ridden from Calgary to Vancouver and Ottawa to the East coast so this was finishing a gap for them.
We rode to the Rainbow falls campground and then hiked to the actual falls. You can do a round trip to Rossport which includes a look out point where you can see the islands in Lake Superior but we just walked to the falls as Kate was set on getting in some water. It was a little dicey but she managed as Robin and I looked on. From there we rode to Terrace Bay. Along the way we did some drafting and hit a few ugly climbs. The little town of Schriver is quite pictureque as it wraps around a little lake.
We decided to go grocery shopping for lunch and ate on the grass behind the lighthouse which is just a tourist attraction and is non-functional. I wanted to go to the tourist office to get some wifi while the girls wanted to get going. We figured it was hilly and I was a little stronger on the hills and would eventually catch them. This proved to be not the case as I started out with a good pace and was pushing hard up the hills but after every crest they were nowhere to be seen. I was starting to get discouraged as the hills are really tough out here and I was having my ass handed to me. In some ways they are tougher than the BC mountains because while the grades were about the same in BC once you summit you are more or less on a fast ride into the next town. In Ontario there is just another climb ranging from 500 meters to 1 kilometer.
As the day moved on I was wondering if I was going to make it to Marathon (my destination for the day ) or not. I made a pit stop at Nays Provincial Park restaurant for a grilled cheese sandwich, two Gatorade and an ice cream sandwich before battalling the last 25 kilometers. It helped a little but as soon as I hit a hill my energy was sapped. The hills seemed to never end and I was looking for any kind of inspiration which I got when a silver car passed and a large muscular arm stuck out the window with a thumbs up. He held it out until I signalled back – thank you!
Finally I reached the outskirts of Marathon where there are a couple of hotels along the highway but I found them to be too expensive for me. This makes for a 5 kilometer ride down into Marathon (unfortunately i will have to ride this to get out tomorrow)and slight detour to reach the RV park. I showered, shaved and ate some noodles. Tough day but tomorrow will have a few less hills to deal with.
