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.

Continue reading →

Tuesday July 24th to Friday July 27th

Well I had written a brilliant post for you but the useless wordpress app I use overwrote the local draft with no warning when I connected to wifi. Oh well 2 hours down the drain. Let’s start again shall we?

A special thanks to Ian Shearer and family for putting me up this week. His wife actually went on vacation leaving us four boys to fend for ourselves but I am sure she was thinking about us she relaxed on the beach at the Cayman Islands. I’m sure it was well deserved though!

Actually Ian took care of everything which was no small task with his two boys Will and Jack with me in tow. He made dinner most nights and kept the place clean while I zoomed around Toronto trying to get on the news and caught up with supplies etc. Please note the next few paragraphs are not in any order as far as timeline but I don’t think it will matter much.

In downtown Toronto I managed to get a hold of an Old Whistler buddy Bill Penton and we decided to go for some sushi and drinks. While waiting for him to show up I went to a bar for a few drinks and saw this horrendous sign:

Boo leaf's!

Yes a count down to the next Leaf’s game. As I mentioned in a facebook post “Who the fuck cares?” but of course Facebook doesn’t seem to publish profanity -who knew?

Bill showed up with his girlfriend Nathalie and quickly order Sake before I could breathe a word. The meal was great and we talked about old times like when I smashed my first guitar because “I don’t want to ever play a shitty guitar again and this will force me to buy a good one” or something like that. I later burned what remained of the guitar with Scottish Kevin (sadley Kevin died this year in Peru while doing a motorcycle tour of South America). At the time we were living in a house with Ian, Dan Patterson, Pat Holohan and Mike Jelenko. It was a lot of fun and Bill swears he gave us culture since we had no TV and we listened to music all day. I can’t argue because it was about 20 years ago and Bill had now dragged me over to his house to drink the rest of his wine and have a smoke. It was really great to see him and we may cross paths in Gander if the timing is right.

Chris Wilson who has been friends with Ian for many years came by for dinner. I met Chris the first year he was in Whistler and remembered how he could clear a room, right Crusty? It was good to see him since I hadn’t seen him since Ian’s wedding about 10 years ago. He has two kids now and lives in Barrie but he wished me well on my journey. Earlier that day I had gone to the Toronto Islands which are accessible by ferry for $7. The ferry leaves the harbour near Union Station and takes about 15 minutes to get over to the islands. I went to Ward Island which is probably only a kilometer or two squared. You can walk 10 minutes from the ferry dock to the other side of the island where there is a beautiful sand beach that has water you can actually swim in. In fact there has been a serious effort to clean up Toronto’s beaches and waterfront which is a great idea. How can you have one of the largest cities in the world situated on a fresh water lake without a large beach and boardwalk in the downtown? Anyway they are working on it and out by Ian they have a beautiful beach that is literally a ten minute walk from their house!

On the last day I finally caught up with Craig Reithmacher who is a good friend of Colin “the koho” Morrisson. I met Craig a few years ago during the famous towel cart incident which he has sworn to secrecy on. He did have some printed photos which was an attempt at blackmail but I have some backup. He was just back from a vacation in Alaska and was literally heading to his cabin just North of Peterborough with with Carol the following day. We decided to meet at the Black Dog pub for a few where they convinced me to come up to the cabin. I really didn’t want to go but the look on their faces made cave in, I mean who wants to sit in the sun on a dock drinking beer on lake that is 80 degrees?

Finally after a few rounds on the trampoline with Will and Jack, Ian and I had some down time to polish of a couple bottles of wine on his deck looking at the huge green elm, maple and pines that wrap around the little lake in his back yard. Even though the house is in the suburbs there is a little green belt here and he has a very small lake front along with neighbors. It has been great to chill out with Ian and I owe him one for sure. It is also time to get back on the road as I don’t want to get too far behind the coming season change.

View from Ian's deck!

Monday, July 23rd 2012

Ride details 123 kilometers

I had a pretty good sleep although since I had a late dinner not a long enough sleep. No matter though as I was going to Toronto, actually more exactly my friend Ian’s in Scarborough. where I could stay a few days and do a mini recovery for the legs. Almost right from the get go my legs were shattered. You know that feeling when you have biked, hiked or ran for an extended period of time and your legs feel l have burning soreness like they are full of acid and you have no power left if you put any effort into moving a little faster? Today was going to be one of those days plus it was going to get up to 38 degrees today and was already in the high 20’s at 10am.

I started down the 400 highway which by now was a 6 lane highway with cars going by at mach 7. I was going to ride around 20 or 30 kilometers on this highway and then pull off to a quieter one just so I could make some ground since the big highways are flatter than the country roads. Oddly enough a man pulled over and in not so many words said I was crazy to be on the highway and should take a different road. I didn’t argue with him and it was probably a good time for a small intervention anyway because sometimes 20 kilometers turns into a 100 kilometers when you are making good time but the danger was no worth it.

Continue reading →

Sunday, July 22nd 2012

Ride details – 154 kilometers

Saturdays post was submitted early in the night and therefore missed a few developments. I was writing the post from the Don Cherry bar in Parry Sound and of course it is odd for someone to be blogging from a bar stool so naturally people are inquisitive. I spoke with the nice bartender for a while and a gentleman at the bar named Rick. Rick has a 1968 Shelby 428 Mustang and I believe it. See I told you I would post you!

Everything was relatively calm until Merritt’s staggette came to the bar. I was eaves dropping of course since they were pretty loud and standing right next to me. They were discussing what tasks the bride to be had to still accomplish before the night was through and when I heard “what about this guy” I handed them my card to drum up some donations. I was successful in retrieving $20 but lets leave it at that as I may find my self in trouble with someone. I went with them to the local nightclub which was in my hotel so I knew I could make back alive. After a few hours of drinking the group managed to get kicked out of the bar but I think it was a blessing as I needed to get some sleep. The ladies were a lot of fun and though I am pretty hungover because of it, I think I was able to wipe from my memory most of the bad road in Northern Ontario.

Today I woke up at the crack 9am. I was really groggy but managed to shower and pack in less than an hour. I stopped at the local Subway restuarant in Parry Sound and the owner gave me my meal for free -nice guy! Parry Sound is a beautiful little town that more than doubles it population during cottage season. It is worth a visit if you are passing through. Climbing back up to the highway I was in a total fog figuratively and literally as the afternoon sky was a hazy grey. I was very hot already and I just put my head down and pedalled.

There are no longer gas stations and stops right beside the highway. Each little town or stop is a couple of kilometers from the highway which is a bit of a drag because you never know what your gonna find or how far you will have to go to find it. Eventually I stopped at Iroquois Cranberry farm. It wasn’t too far off the highway but they only had cranberry juice and cranberry jam. The juice was excellent and I drank 950ml sitting in some shade looking over the farm.

I had lunch in Port Severn which is a small channel to Lake Huron to Six Mile lake and a series of islands. They have a swing bridge there which I had to wait at as to boaters where going in land. Back on the 400 highway the shoulder virtually disappeared forcing me to ride close to traffic flying by at 100 kilometers an hour. It was time to cut off so I took the #16 highway which turns into #12 which is only a two lane highway and has very little traffic. This was nice but I knew I eventually had to ride West of Lake Simcoe so I cut over to Moonstone rd which is a farm road more or less but pretty good road with a lot of little hills. Though this sapped my energy it was peaceful and I got some nice pictures and videos.

I stopped in Moonstone at a little convenience store where I met the friendly owner Amtul Bashir. There is a bit of a story here which I will post as a separate message. In a nutshell she is from Pakistan and now lives in Canada and is a poet of sorts. She had one of her poems about Haiti translated to English which she has allowed me to share with you. As I mentioned I will put it in a separate message that I will leave on the home page for a while. Before leaving she gave me a bottle of water and wished me luck the rest of the way.

I finally arrived in Barrie later in the day and decided to go to the camp ground on the South side of town to save some time tomorrow. I rode down the lake shore which is very beautiful with a bike and walking trail and ended up in Uptown on Dunlop street which is loaded with bars and restaurants. I stopped to kind of take it in and noticed an older couple eyeing me. I said hello and they came and spoke with me. Though Danish they had lived and worked in Canada for many years including Banff when they were fairly young. They now lived in Denmark and were visiting some of the towns the used to live in plus seeing a few relatives in the states. Their daughter was also a bit of a cyclist and left university to go work on farm in Australia since she wanted to lean about from more of a hands on level than an academic one. Before going they gave me $3 and wished me good luck!

The campground on the South side of the lake turned out to be a trailer park and not a place where I could throw up a tent. Now I had a dilemma because it was 8 kilometers back to the KOA campground and I was dead tired and it was dusk. I looked for a hotel instead and found the Comfort Inn about 2 kilometers away near the highway. I explained my situation to the front desk person and he was able to give me a nice room for $75. A very good bargain and very timely – thank you Comfort Inn!!!!

I got cleaned up, nursed my wounds and walked across the street to the pub next door but they were closing. It was only 10pm! So instead of getting a cab I for some reason walked back to the main drag on Dunlop street which took me a good 40 minutes. I really don’t know what I was thinking or if I was thinking or how I had the energy. I vowed to cab it home which I did but not before having the best burger I think I have ever had at Donaleigh’s Irish Pub ( http://www.donaleighs.com). I got a ride from an Irish cabbie coincidentally and he gave me a dollar for the cause.

I told Clayton I would be up for breakfast by 7:30 but I didn’t get up until 9. Funny I got more sleep but still feel tired and the legs are little worn out. Downstairs Clayton made breakfast for me: you have to keep these 93 year olds working hard was my thinking.

After breakfast we hopped in the car and sped down the highway for a tour of Sudbury. First was the university which was up on a hill overlooking parts of the city and in the middle of the city is the large Ramsey Lake. People actually have nice lake front property in the middle of a city!

We also went around a smaller Nepahwin lake with a small peninsula in the middle loaded with million dollar homes. This would be the equivalent of Point Grey in Vancouver but much cheaper and water you can enjoy swimming in. We eventually ended up at Gwen and Ricks where I met their son Keenan who donated $20 – thanks buddy!
Continue reading →

Sore bum ride.

I had a great send off today Grandpa Clayton making me breakfast and cool but sunny day. It was pretty good road out of Sudbury on highway 69 which turns into the trans Canada. There is a huge shoulder and fairly new pavement. The hills are also blasted out so there are no climbs just little rises here and there. Everything was perfect except the 20km headwind with 25km gusts and you guessed it the saddle sores- stay tuned!


Continue reading →

Sudbury 175 kilometers!

I slept pretty good last night and subsequently slept in a bit. Outside the wind was blowing pretty good from the East which meant I should wait it out. I decided to worked on blogging instead and finally got on the road around 11 which is very late. The find was 24km/hr plus gusts and I was making it nowhere fast. I was also a bit fatigued from all of the previous couple of weeks and just couldn’t get going.

I took a long time just to make 20 kilometers and around that time I decide to stop for some food: bagels with peanut butter and chocolate, I had two!

Continue reading →

Blind river 140km

Al put on a huge spread again which was really nice and fueled me for most of the day. He got up early to get things going and made sure I woke up. After breakfast I was on the road pretty quickly and took the 17B instead of the Trans Canada highway. It went through a reserve and there was almost no traffic.

I really didn’t have much need to stop because of the large breakfast but eventually I pulled into Bruce Mines for breakfast which sits on Lake Huron. There were three bicycles parked outside so I investigated. There was a French couple from Quebec who were also riding to St. Johns and another man heading West who I didn’t speak with. The couple were very friendly and had also suffered through North Western Ontario. The man Mario almost ran over a skunk along the way but was lucky to avoid it. We had a good laugh over that!

Continue reading →

3 days of riding included here

As yesterday ended the day began with more hills but smaller in scale and our drafting was getting better so we made good time. We stopped in Batchawana Bay for breakfast which has a beautiful downhill heading south into the little town looking over its sandy beach. We had a fabulous breakfast in the Voyageur restaurant before moving on. There a lots of little beautiful homes here for sale right on the lake shore for those looking for a nice property.

Continue reading →

I a rushing through these posts as I am behind three days and I am forgetting to mention little things here and there. Some are not that interesting but others explain the flow of the story.

The park we stayed at had a water warning so I was able to use the purification pills supplied by Global Hydration. Even though I double dosed on the water to pill ratio the water tasted fine and did not have a heavy chlorine taste. I treated about 3 litres of water which not knowing the road ahead was truly a a great “piece of mind” feeling.

The night was pretty hot so I slept outside the bag for most of it and surprisingly woke up up before the girls did from what I could tell (no sounds from their tent). I got packing early and before long Robyn emerged and started prepping for the day. It is so different preparing for the day ahead with companions: pack quickly or not, take time eating breakfast or not, crank out the first 20km or ease into it. These things you do not even consider on your own but as you read on these things were less important than the group motivation.

It wasn’t too long into the ride before we put on our rain jackets. Now I am of course in Stormtech Blue but Kate was in purple and Robyn in lime green. Though the rain was gently soaking through I was happy the trees where getting some water and the air was cooling down.

We climbed a hill into Wawa to see the great goose. I liked it and other than the rain the town was quite beautiful with a view over the the bay. I ran into a Karen Dahl who is working with CES Canada to provide education to orphans and HIV effected children in Kenya. It was too bad we didn’t have more time to chat but I knew I needed to eat my food and get on the road as we had a lot of Kilometers to cover today.


Continue reading →