Sideways
Aug. 25 - There's a bit if a chill in the air, which makes me feel like it's fall, but that's just a cooler system (righttt?). The cool weather makes for some cold starts on the bike, and I am appreciating my arm and leg warmers which transform me into an insulated bike ninja. Now that I am away from Lake Superior there are actually roads other than the Trans-Canada Highway, so I managed to get off the Highway! The ride today was on a marked route on a combination of gravel and paved side roads. They were fun, especially the gravel, and I enjoyed the remnant glacial features dominating the landscape - some pretty hill-arious hills! The day passed quickly, which is good because I miscalculated my anticipated travel distance for the day and didn't catch my mistake until early afternoon. The now shorter days of the south (and okay maybeeee it's actually fall) are making squeezing in 215 km of riding between sunrise and sunset a little trickier than it was earlier in my journey... still possible though! The day ended at a popular fall, oops, I mean late summer, fair in Massey, Ontario and I camped in the overflow camping area at Chutes Provincial Park.
Aug. 26 - 10 000. 10 000. 10 000. Although it's just a number and it was just another day on the bike, when I was doing some math (using some of that good ol' engineering training), I discovered that today included cycling through kilometre 10 000 on my fully loaded bike in less than 3 months. M&Ms never tasted so good! I remember doing my first 'century' ride last summer... never would have guessed that would become a daily occurrence less than a year later. Yahoo!! Needless to say, today was a good day. It included free ice cream from a couple who liked my style when I chatted with them over lunch, a gift of a tiny 10 000 year old fossil from some collectors who cheered me up a hill and then waved me over, and a lotttt of big grins as my legs felt strong and solid powering up more hills. My 130km tour today took me over Manitoulin Island to the Chi-Cheemaun ferry and a water assisted ride to meet @jacqgrhm!!!!!! Definitely worth biking this far just to see you:) After my smiley day in the saddle, catching up over some quality baking and snap peas was the perfect end to a wonderful day.
Aug. 27 - After a chatty breakfast, I left Jackie and encountered some massive headwinds. I felt slightly better about fighting them because I could see them also sending numerous Dufferin County wind turbines into a speedy spin. But still... why couldn't they be tail winds? :'( After a few hours, I connected with my two biggest fans - my parents! They met me for lunch in Shelburne and hung out with me for the afternoon - as my squad car!! That ended up being very useful as we navigated 140 km through a mix of some very busy 2 and 4-lane roads and a few less travelled, country sideroads trying to find a good way into Newmarket and the home of a family friend (thank you for your hospitality!!). My parents scouted roads, snapped photos, fed me snacks, and swapped grins with me as I meandered by. Their banter was unintentionally hilarious, and I was glad for the 'company' today. Thank you parents for joining me for a day of fun, and for all your help, love and support.:)
Aug. 28 - After starting the day riding on 30 km of city and then country road, the most magical thing happened - I was able to detour off-road onto a superbly well-maintained section of the Trans Canada Trail!!!!! As it was so enjoyable to not have cars beside me, I proceeded to follow this crushed gravel miracle for about 140 km of TRAIL. This was the longest tour bike friendly, off-road trail that I have encountered so far on my journey and it made the day's ride exceptionally enjoyable. The section through Lindsay was downright flowy, and it routed me right over some small lift locks! The trail had gorgeous wildflowers, weeds and shrubs on either side - Queen Anne's lace, brown eyed susans, blue cornflowers, buttercups, sumacs, goldenrod, daisys, buttercups, you name it! The forests were primarily maple beach and a few leaves were starting to fall, just to add a colourful, 'crunch factor' to the path. The fields were mostly growing corn, hay and soybeans, with several in various stages of harvest. The birds were talkative and bright with finches, red-winged blackbirds and robbins most notable. The trail was alive with countless frogs hopping across, a few snakes, a barn cat, a chipmunk and a field mouse... Can you tell I had a very good time off of the highway? The last part of 175 km ride took me through some glacial drumlin fields to one of the places in the world I am fortunate enough to call a home - my grandparents farm! My Grandpa surprised me by biking me in, and when I arrived at the house, I met a wonderful welcoming committee who set the alarms off on their cars to make the atmosphere quite festive. It was fantastic to see everyone and I enjoyed chatting while eating some of Grandma's delicious home cooked food and pies!!!! It felt good to be back, and so good to actually see some of the people who have been cheering me on from a distance. :)
A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow - Ontari-ari-ari-o!
Aug. 25 - Aug 31 A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow - Ontari-ari-ari-o!Aug. 25 - There's a bit if a chill in the air, which makes me feel like it's fall, but that's just a cooler system (righttt?). The cool weather makes for some cold starts on the bike, and I am appreciating my arm and leg warmers which transform me into an insulated bike ninja. Now that I am away from Lake Superior there are actually roads other than the Trans-Canada Highway, so I managed to get off the Highway! The ride today was on a marked route on a combination of gravel and paved side roads. They were fun, especially the gravel, and I enjoyed the remnant glacial features dominating the landscape - some pretty hill-arious hills! The day passed quickly, which is good because I miscalculated my anticipated travel distance for the day and didn't catch my mistake until early afternoon. The now shorter days of the south (and okay maybeeee it's actually fall) are making squeezing in 215 km of riding between sunrise and sunset a little trickier than it was earlier in my journey... still possible though! The day ended at a popular fall, oops, I mean late summer, fair in Massey, Ontario and I camped in the overflow camping area at Chutes Provincial Park.
Aug. 26 - 10 000. 10 000. 10 000. Although it's just a number and it was just another day on the bike, when I was doing some math (using some of that good ol' engineering training), I discovered that today included cycling through kilometre 10 000 on my fully loaded bike in less than 3 months. M&Ms never tasted so good! I remember doing my first 'century' ride last summer... never would have guessed that would become a daily occurrence less than a year later. Yahoo!! Needless to say, today was a good day. It included free ice cream from a couple who liked my style when I chatted with them over lunch, a gift of a tiny 10 000 year old fossil from some collectors who cheered me up a hill and then waved me over, and a lotttt of big grins as my legs felt strong and solid powering up more hills. My 130km tour today took me over Manitoulin Island to the Chi-Cheemaun ferry and a water assisted ride to meet @jacqgrhm!!!!!! Definitely worth biking this far just to see you:) After my smiley day in the saddle, catching up over some quality baking and snap peas was the perfect end to a wonderful day.
Aug. 27 - After a chatty breakfast, I left Jackie and encountered some massive headwinds. I felt slightly better about fighting them because I could see them also sending numerous Dufferin County wind turbines into a speedy spin. But still... why couldn't they be tail winds? :'( After a few hours, I connected with my two biggest fans - my parents! They met me for lunch in Shelburne and hung out with me for the afternoon - as my squad car!! That ended up being very useful as we navigated 140 km through a mix of some very busy 2 and 4-lane roads and a few less travelled, country sideroads trying to find a good way into Newmarket and the home of a family friend (thank you for your hospitality!!). My parents scouted roads, snapped photos, fed me snacks, and swapped grins with me as I meandered by. Their banter was unintentionally hilarious, and I was glad for the 'company' today. Thank you parents for joining me for a day of fun, and for all your help, love and support.:)
Aug. 28 - After starting the day riding on 30 km of city and then country road, the most magical thing happened - I was able to detour off-road onto a superbly well-maintained section of the Trans Canada Trail!!!!! As it was so enjoyable to not have cars beside me, I proceeded to follow this crushed gravel miracle for about 140 km of TRAIL. This was the longest tour bike friendly, off-road trail that I have encountered so far on my journey and it made the day's ride exceptionally enjoyable. The section through Lindsay was downright flowy, and it routed me right over some small lift locks! The trail had gorgeous wildflowers, weeds and shrubs on either side - Queen Anne's lace, brown eyed susans, blue cornflowers, buttercups, sumacs, goldenrod, daisys, buttercups, you name it! The forests were primarily maple beach and a few leaves were starting to fall, just to add a colourful, 'crunch factor' to the path. The fields were mostly growing corn, hay and soybeans, with several in various stages of harvest. The birds were talkative and bright with finches, red-winged blackbirds and robbins most notable. The trail was alive with countless frogs hopping across, a few snakes, a barn cat, a chipmunk and a field mouse... Can you tell I had a very good time off of the highway? The last part of 175 km ride took me through some glacial drumlin fields to one of the places in the world I am fortunate enough to call a home - my grandparents farm! My Grandpa surprised me by biking me in, and when I arrived at the house, I met a wonderful welcoming committee who set the alarms off on their cars to make the atmosphere quite festive. It was fantastic to see everyone and I enjoyed chatting while eating some of Grandma's delicious home cooked food and pies!!!! It felt good to be back, and so good to actually see some of the people who have been cheering me on from a distance. :)
Aug. 29 - I somehow managed to actually get a farm rest day (something that would normally seem like a bit of an oxymoron). Community spirit and Canadian pride is alive and well in these parts. Southern Ontario and especially this rural area seems to have more Canada 150 signs and flags than I have seen anywhere else. The level of effort and care put into beautifying and maintaining community spaces is truly special - all along the Trans Canada Trail there were flower urns by the public benches! My grandparents and I went to Tuesday Breakfast at the Codrington Community Centre where we met lots of kind folks, had some great grub, and returned to the house so I could give the laundry machine a work-out! The day passed quickly - a bit of time in the gorgeous garden, more catching-up, grazing on all sorts of good food, and planning my upcoming route. A particular highlight was the opportunity to take a good look at my Grandma's Canada 150 project - a gorgeous quilt. It is a true, patriotic red and white work of art and a very special gift from my Grandma to me to celebrate my cross-Canada journey.:)
Aug. 30 - After some country road riding I once again cycled onto the Trans Canada Trail. However, this time my experience was different that a few days ago. Rather than a well-manicured trailway, this section was more of an ATV trail. Drawing on my recently acquired Dempster Highway 'riding' skills, I was able to manage the challenge, and even had some fun doing it. I only had to take off my shoe through one glorified puddle-swamp but probably should have taken it off again through another! Other than the 'puddles' and a few sections of thick, loose rock and gravel, the rest went down easily but it did slow me down a fair bit and made the day's 160 km take longer than usual. But taking this route allowed me to meet another cyclist - Dorosz - who has been cycling around the world for a few years. We spent the afternoon together grinding gravel and chatting cheerily. Later we stopped at the grocery store in Perth as I was planning to grab some food and continue on, and Dorosz was planning to get some food and camp. In the store a lovely, friendly local cyclist spotted us and offered her backyard as a camping spot. I decided to alter plans a bit and before long was happily showered and setup for an evening of story swapping and relaxing. Also, I snapped a photo of a favourite sign that I keep seeing in restaurants and grocery stores (presumably in response to the new calorie labelling requirements on Ontario restaurant menus).
Aug. 31 - Because the daily sunlight hours seem to quickly fade, I got up at the crack of dawn today to give my best a college try towards making it to Montreal for the night. My ride took me along country roads and a highway into the capital of this wonderful country - Ottawa. Once there, I was compelled to make a little detour to see downtown Ottawa and, of course, the Parliament Buildings! My timing was perfect as I was able to enjoy some great songs from the Peace Tower's 53 bell carillon. After zigzagging over the Rideau Canal as I headed out of town, I rejoined the Trans Canada Trail for about an 80 km ride on hard-packed, stone-dusted goodness. However, the farther I went. the less packed it became and when I finally reached the Ontario-Quebec border, I bailed off of the grass RV track and onto roads to try to make-up some kilometres. All total for the day, I managed 229 km but that wasn't quite enough to get me into Montreal, so I set up camp in Louiseville and enjoyed the fresh, cool evening air.:)
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