The Great Canadian Cycling
Adventure
Across Canada by
Bicycle in the Tour du Canada 2000
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> Ontario Heartland > La
Belle Province
Ontario
Heartland: Tobermory ON to Ottawa ON
Day
42: Tobermory to Craigleith, ON
August
9, 2000
"Happiness,
I've discovered, is nearly always a rebound from hard work."
David Grayson
This
morning felt a bit strange. After
getting to bed late last night, and my tent being pounded with rain and blown
around for hours, I got a decent sleep and awoke around 5:30 a.m., before my
alarm. I'm feeling better than I
should given the short but very hard ride yesterday, and the fact that we
haven't had a real rest day for a while. Jules
is late getting moving this morning, and tells me later than he wasn't sleeping
well. If I'd known he wasn't
feeling ready to tackle the world this morning, I would have waited for him and
cycled with him. As it was, I was
just a roaring to go!
My
tent is dripping wet and covered with mud up the sides about 20 cm, thanks to
the heavy rain, wind, and muddy lot we're camped on. Nevertheless, it comes down and gets packed up on the
assumption I can put it up early enough to dry it out later in Craigleith.
Breakfast this morning is canteloup and french toast.
Belly full, packed up, a heavy load of Gatorade on my back and bike, my
rain jacket, and an extra, dry pair of socks in case it does rain (my insurance
to prevent rain), I turn out of camp onto highway 6 south just after 7:00 a.m. Neri beats my out of camp by a minute or two, yet I'm passed
him and spinning a nice warm-up speed with a quartering tailwind within minutes.
My
route today will take me south on highway 6 through Ferndale and Wiarton.
Bud's map tells us to take some county roads into Owen Sound just after
Wiarton, mainly because it's more scenic than the highway and it avoids traffic.
However, I know this area well, the traffic is pretty light on a midweek
morning, and I elect to go straight south on 6 to Hepworth, and then turn left,
following 6 & 21 into Owen Sound.
The
NW tailwind I start with just out of Tobermory is blowing about 15 km/hr.
As it freshens, it backs to a prevailing W wind, gusting out of the SW at
about 20 to 25 km/hr. One of the benefits of leaving early today is that I get a tailwind
along hwy 6 at least for a while. Jules leaves
about 25 minutes after me, and by then the wind is stronger and out of the west
-- a cross-wind for him.
I
had said to Jules earlier that I'd wait in Wiarton and meet up with him, yet I'm
running so well and so fast, and feeling so strong, that Wiarton is here
already, I zip down the hill, scoot through town without stopping, power up the
hill on the south side of town, and keep going. I stop at the roadside to get some food out of my trunk pack
-- I've already eaten one banana and I want another in my jersey back pocket
ready to devour. Today could turn
into a long slog -- 160 km almost, so I'm watching my burn rate and fluid and
caloric intake pretty closely. By
the time I approach Hepworth, I'm almost bang on 1 oz per km of Gatorade
consumption -- just about right for the temperature and my burn rate.
One
of the advantages of going the hwy 6 route all the way is that I know there's a
Tim Horton's at the corner of 6 and 21 in Hepworth. I've gone about 80 km now, and in I wheel for morning coffee
and a bowl of beef barley soup. One
can always count on Tim's for great biking food, especially on cold days; their
soup is always excellent. The coffee and soup puts me over my fluid requirements
for a while, but that's certainly okay. My
Camelbak is empty, and it's easier to use a Camelbak to drink on the road than
to use the water bottles on the bike, so I refill my
Camelbak from my water bottles and I'm ready to roll again.
Spinning
along hwy 6/21 from Hepworth to Owen Sound, I've got a quartering tailwind
from the west that's blowing about 20 km/hr.
I'm scooting along between 35 and 40 km/hr most of this stretch.
When I hit the outskirts of Owen Sound and turn left to follow hwy 26
through town, the wind is right at my back and I'm rolling at 40+, enough to
comandeer one of the two traffic lanes past the strip malls and down the hill to
downtown, keeping me out of traffic trouble. The hill climbing out of
downtown is a tough one -- it must be about a 10% grade.
It's just long enough and steep enough that I can't power through it, and
have to drop down to my 1-1 gear. It
turns out to be steep enough that I end up working pretty hard by the time I
crest it, even though it can't be more than about 30m up.
Now
I'm back in Owen Sound's strip-mall territory again, on the east side of the
city this time. Seeing a Shopper's
Drug Mart with a Canada Trust ATM sign, I stop to get some cash, some cheap
sunglasses to replace my original cheap sunglasses which are now pretty scuffed, some new
insoles for my bike shoes, and some Tea Tree Oil for my butt (stuff is just
amazing! try it!).
Back
on the road again, I'm just pulling up to a red traffic light as Brook pulls up
beside me in the truck and beeps hello. We
wave, the light turns green, and she's gone down the highway.
I've got about another 55 or so km to go, and my tailwind has increased
to about 25 km/hr, which is just great. Most
of this distance is covered with me in my big sprocket, spinning away at 95 rpm,
running 37 to 40 km/hr on the flats. This
is great. It's a bumpy ride, however, as the pavement is severely
cracked for kilometre after kilometre. The
traffic is a little heavier now as well, and there's no marked shoulder strip
along here. This isn't a problem
except for one truck that's faced with me on the side and another truck
oncoming. I do the only decent
thing -- I go for the shoulder to give him room to pass safely.
A little further, a truck pulling out of a sideroad to my left doesn't
realize I'm going so fast - about 45 km/hr - and starts to pull out in front of
me. He starts to brake, but I hit
my brakes and wave him on, getting a toot for thanks in return.
The truckers have generally been very accommodating to us all the way
across Canada, so I'm quite happy to accommodate them as well.
The same can't be said for the woman in the green Ford van who watches me approach
down the side of the highway for several seconds, and then pulls out just as I'm
coming even. I hit the
brakes again, but this time it's accompanied by a one-fingered salute and a
choice expletive from me. There is
simply no excuse for the way some people drive.
I
roll through Meaford and Thornbury in a blur, and in the distance I can see
Georgian Peaks looming above. I
know I'm getting close. Somewhere
along here I catch "bike store" in my side vision, look again, and
decide to wheel back and drop in. Jolly's
Bikes, it turns out, has been here for 35 years.
It's well stocked with mountain bike and road bike apparel, parts and
know-how. I come away with some
bearing grease, some new aero bars for Barbarella, and a new tube to replace the
one I threw away two days ago.
The
route into Meaford is particularly fast. There's
a long downhill grade and I've got a great
tailwind. I speed down the hill in
a blur, clocking 75.3 km/hr, and zoom along the flat at 48 - 50 km/hr before
slowing having to slow down to enter downtown. What a
rush! Barbarella is singing!
After
Thornbury I'm flying along hwy 26 past the end of the Beaver Valley, past
Georgian Peaks, and there's the sign saying "Craigleith Provincial Park - 1
km". Gearing way down, I use the
last kilometer to warm down, hoping to clear out the lactic acid
buildup in my quads from riding so hard for so long.
Pulling
into the park entrance, I get my second nice surprise in two days.
Standing there is Rolly Barrett, a colleague from work.
He's got a chalet at Craigleith less than 2 km away, and is on vacation
this week. Knowing I'd be coming through, he's dropped by to visit.
This is great! He's already
introduced himself to Brook, and we chat away while I set up my tent and start
to get my camp setup organized. Rolly
has brought homemade chocolate chip cookies too! Bonzer! What a
treat this is! It's great to see
friends in the middle of this journey. Soon,
however, Rolly departs, leaving me to chase a shower, and then get to work on my
bike.
First
though, I want to check out the beach. This
area below the escarpment is all level shale beds, about 230 million years
old. Before oil was discovered near
Sarnia, and to satisfy the demand for oil for artificial lighting at the time,
these shale beds used to be mined and the shale crushed for oil extraction. It
was a pretty inefficient and expensive process, and ended when oil was
discovered in Petrolia. The oil in the shale
came from the decomposition of rich marine life when the sediments were laid
down. One of the byproducts is that
the rock here is very rich in fossils. After
just a couple of minutes, I've found three or four excellent trilobite fossils.
Rolly says he's got some that are a couple of inches across.
I find one that's about an inch across -- pretty good for a couple
minutes searching!
I'm
hoping to spend the rest day in Toronto with C, and getting my rest-day bike
maintenance done tonight will help that a lot. I start by overhauling the back hub once again. I want to see
how the bearings and cones are doing, and then will repack the entire hub with new
grease. I'm pleased -- it looks
great. Repacked with grease, and
the cogset cleaned and reinstalled, the rear wheel is turning silky smooth now.
I also take the opportunity to take the chain off and check it for
stretch. We've done a ton of
climbing since this chain went on in Thunder Bay, and I'm curious.
I find that the chain has already stretched about half a link.
I could let it go until Ottawa, but decide to replace it now.
We've got about 2,500 km to go, so this new chain ought to be just fine
for the remainder of the trip. That
leaves me with one spare in my parts bag. As
well, I check the back tire and find it getting pretty thin and cut up already. It's been on for about 2,500 km, since Fort Qu'Appelle.
It too could last another 500, yet the thinner it gets the higher the
risk of flats. I really like these
Continental Grand Prix 3000 tires. They
have a very running tread, giving a very resilient feeling ride on the road
even when running at 120 psi. The
only downside is that they wear quickly. What
the heck! This trip is worth it.
When I take off the old tire, I inspect it and find a piece of glass
buried in the rubber. It's worked it's way through the threads, but hadn't
punctured the tube yet. I am one
lucky boy! Back wheel and drive
train done, I turn my attention to the front tire, where I find another piece of
glass embedded in the rubber. Taking
off the tire, I can see that the threads aren't damaged, meaning the tire is
still fine. Reinstalling and
inflating the tire, both wheels are now ready to roll.
One last chore is to install the aero bars.
These are hand grips that extend out from the handlebars, allowing a more
stretched out and aerodynamic position. Mine
are baby aero bars, and I'm thinking they'll give me a greater variation of hand
and upper body positioning to lessen fatigue, especially on the very long rides
to come over the next week. With the aero bars mounted, it looks like Barbarella has
horns!
Bike
maintenance done, all the tools put away, me cleaned up, and just in time for
dinner! Dinner tonight is mashed
potatoes, tomato-onion salad and a scrumptious chicken dish that's tough to
describe but totally delicious. Two
big helpings of everything later, out come three pies, one with candles in for
Kiwi Craig's birthday. After a
totally off-key, loud but sincere and heartfelt "Happy Birthday"
chorus, we dig into pies and ice cream. Cherry,
bumbleberry crumble and blueberry -- what a treat! And Rolly's cookies on top of it all. As Craig would say in his new Kiwi-Canadian patois, "Bonzer,
eh!"
Just
as the sky's darkening, I take advantage of good cellphone coverage now we're
in civilization again to call my sister Lisa in Whitby.
I'm going to be spending the rest day at her home, visiting with family.
Hopefully, my wife C will be joining me there too, driving down from
northern Georgian Bay after her vacation. I
also call my daughter R, who with her friend Chris is now in Ottawa.
They've just come from a Laser 2 regatta in Beaconsfield where they
finished 10th out of 35 boats in one race. Not
bad for their first season racing! Now they're in Ottawa for the Canadian Youth (under-18) Championships.
What a summer they're having! They're well and having a blast, and may be
in Ottawa when I get there. We're
trying to coordinate schedules so that I'll see them.
It sure is great to be in contact with friends and family again!
Fully
belly, feeling good from the day's effort, bike in great shape and ready to go,
a visit with another friend, renewed contact with family -- what a life!
It might rain sometimes, and the wind might blow in our faces sometimes
(a lot!), and it might be cold sometimes, and the days are definitely getting
shorter; yet this is the best way I can imagine to spend a summer and see this
great country from coast to coast. What
a life!
Day's
high: Great
ride today - very fast to thanks to tailwinds.
Visit and cookies from Rolly.
Day's
low:
Absolutely none at all; nothing even close that could mar the day.
Daily
Stats:
Weather:
Warm
start to day (about 17C); cloudy until afternoon; warm and clear in afternoon.
Official
distance: 159
km Distance
actually cycled: 153.2 km Avg
speed on road: 32.6 km/hr
Total
distance cycled to date: 4,739 km
Bananas
consumed to date:
127
...alan
Craigleith
Provincial Park,
Town
of Blue Mountain, Ontario
Day
43: Craigleith to Toronto (Scarborough), ON
August
10, 2000
"How
great it is to have the freedom to dream and the power to make those dreams come
true." a card from a friend at
work.
I'm
awake at 5:00 a.m. this morning and need to get up. Coming back to my tent, I notice it's nice and warm out and that
the first light of dawn is appearing in the sky. I walk down to the beach and
find Craig there already, sitting on the rock shelf, watching the stars
disappear as the first blush of light creeps across the sky. It's a beautiful morning and we talk in whispers for
a while about the Great Lakes and the sky and things that are different here
than in the southern hemisphere and New Zealand.
As
the light gets stronger, I start taking down my tent and getting ready for the
day. While breakfast is being prepared we're entertained by a large number of
small bats, finishing their nightly mosquito feast, and looking for places to roost for
the day. Breakfast this morning is
scrambled eggs, bacon and toast -- the bacon is a birthday treat from Craig, and
a very well received one at that. We've
got a long day ahead - it's advertised as 183 km, and it'll be hilly - and people are trying to get
a way in good time. Our little
group will be scattered for the next few days. There are so many of the group from the Toronto area who are
meeting friends and family that the number in camp will be very small.
John
and
Karin and their friends from London Corrine and Ron, Jules and I leave camp to
start our journey at 7 a.m. It's
warm already, good weather is forecast, and we're traveling light today -- no
rain or cold weather gear. The day's ride is confused already.
The official maps are directions only, without a visual map, and there
are no distance measurements for the first part.
Many are going to stop at Isabelle and Keith's place in Alliston for lunch,
and Isabelle has prepared a different map to get people there that follows the
TDC route as much as possible. We look at both of these as well as the Ontario road
map,
and picks a simpler route. We'll
end up avoiding any near-escarpment climbs, we'll shave 9 km off the
"official" distance, but we'll put up with a little more traffic
initially by taking hwy 26 from Craigleith through Stayner to Sunnidale Corners
to pick up regional road 10 running south towards Angus.
We're
running fast this morning -- it doesn't take long before we averaging 30 km/hr,
with John pulling the group most of the time.
John is a very strong and very smooth rider, and riding behind him seems
effortless. We're suprised by a van
pulling over to the side of the road in front of us, only to find that it's
Rolly, out early to wave us on our way. Nice
touch!
We
power over the few rolling hills, and the long flat stretches for hour after
hour with only a few quick stops to check the maps. We go south on a regional road just east of hwy 400, up and
down the rolling hills, then descend down to
and across the Holland Marsh, and then up the hills on the other side.
Four hours and about 2,500 to 3,000 calories later finds us in Newmarket, where we
stop at a deli and coffee shop in the old downtown for lunch.
We've covered 120 km in 4 hours -- bang on a 30 km/hr average; not bad!
I wonder though if this will be trouble later - we've still got about 60 km to
go!
After
lunch, we find it's much hotter outside. We
agree to take an easy pace for while to get loosened up again and to let lunch
get settled. Once warmed up, John
and Jules pick up the pace somewhat. I'm
somewhat depleted from this morning's efforts and am having trouble finding
energy this afternoon. I can really
feel it on the hills -- I've got no reserve left to power over the little hills
at all. Some of the hills are very
short and very steep, and I really struggle with them, standing up and lugging
in my 1-1 gear. This is supposed to
be fun,isn't it? After about an hour, when
stopping to check maps, Jules and John decide to power on ahead, while Ron,
Karin, Corrine and I will continue at about the same pace we've been keeping.
It
takes me about an hour and a half after lunch to start to feel some energy
again, and with only half an hour left to ride, at least I'll finish feeling
good. We're clearly in the Toronto
area now -- traffic much heavier, and much more impatient. These people need a few weeks on Saskatchewan roads to slow
them down a tad.
Barbarella
is starting to complain -- I'm hearing crackle, snap, pop noises from the rear
wheel, the one I so carefully worked on last night. There's nothing I can see, the wheel is spinning freely and
true, and
I can feel no vibration in the
pedals, so thank goodness it's not a bottom bracket problem. This back wheel is beginning to annoy me.
The sound is very similar to how Jules' bike was sounding before he
tightened the cogset retaining ring, leading me to believe I've got the same
problem. There's nothing to do but
keep going and repair it at camp. On
the bright side, Barbarella's new horns - my aero bars - are nice to ride with.
They give me a different upper body position which provides some hand, wrist,
shoulder and back relief through the ability to change positions more often.
Pulling
into Glen Rouge Park, we find the truck of the group ahead of us and a few
minutes later find our truck. Phoning
my sister's number, I'm surprised when my step-mom answers the phone.
A few relayed messages later, and we've arranged that my sister will pick
me up at the park in an hour, on her way home from work. That
leaves me little time to try to repair Barbarella, sort out all my stuff, and
take a shower.
Taking
off Barbarella's back wheel, it takes me all of ten seconds to discover that the
cogset retaining ring is torqued nice and tight, so that's not the problem.
@#$%^&!!!! Taking off the cogset I check the alignment and spacing of the
cogs, reassemble and tighten. I
check the rear derailleur, chain, clearances, in short everything I can get at.
The noise occurs when the cogset is engaged and driving, and when
coasting. It's not aggravated by
back pedalling. It doesn't occur
when I'm not on the bike, only when there's weight on the bike.
It speeds up and slows down with bike speed.
About all I cannot check easily without special tools is the freewheel
body and the bearing assembly in it. Ergo,
that's where the problem must be.
Now
I've got a real problem -- how to get this repaired tomorrow?
John very kindly offers to take my bike along with his and a few others
to the bike shop tomorrow. They've
got a mechanic lined up to look at three or four bikes.
I'm overwhelmed by the kindness and team spirit in our group at times,
and this is one of those times. I'll
leave my bike in John's capable hands.
Lisa
arrives and I introduce her to the few people around, and give her a tour of the
truck, then it's into her car and off we go! At Lisa's house, I'm reunited with family and it feels good.
Today was another "dig deep" day to get through the post-lunch
energy doldrums. We also climbed
more than 1,100m today which is a surprising amount given the seemingly flat
terrain. I now have much better
appreciation of the east-west ridge lines north of Toronto!
Again, both during the ride and John's kindness afterwards, I'm reminded
of the interdependence and teamwork within our group.
We really are quite a crew. We're
cycling across Canada together! What
a life!
Day's
high: Seeing
family again.
Day's
low:
Tough ride after lunch. More bike problems.
Daily
Stats:
Weather:
Warm
start to day and hot and sunny all day.
Official
distance: 183
km Distance
actually cycled: 174 km Avg
speed on road: 29.3 km/hr
Total
distance cycled to date: 4,913 km
Bananas
consumed to date: 131
...alan
Glen
Rouge Park,
Scarborough,
Ontario
Day
44: Rest Day in Toronto (Scarborough), ON
August
11, 2000
"The
bicycle is a curious vehicle: Its passenger is its engine."
John Howard, coach
Ahhhh!
A real rest day. After arriving at my sister's place in Whitby yesterday and being
re-united with some of my family, I settled down to a real rest day.
In the evening, after a relaxing dinner, I got caught up on my journal
and got my laundry started. A hot
shower, a real bathroom, a real bed. What
luxury after living outside for 43 days!
This
morning I wake up at 5 a.m. though -- this internal alarm clock will not be
quieted. Up anyway, I have a little pre-breakfast and do some reading, then make
a batch of blueberry pancakes to be
ready for the others. My
brother-in-law is first up and off to work, followed by my sister a short while
later. 
My niece, nephew, wife and
step-mom each get up at different times, and the day gets started. After
breakfast is all done, I've got a couple of chores that my nephew Scott, who's
5, is eager to help with. We start
with a big bucket of soapy water and a garden hose, and clean my ground sheet,
tent inside and out (picture, right), and tent fly, and spread them out on the deck to dry. Scott thinks this work is great fun as uses the hose to spray
water all over the place. He also
helps me wash off my Thermarest. It'll
be like getting on the road with all new camping gear.
Those
chores done, we need a rest, so retire to the family room to watch some of the
latest Star Wars video. Our favourite
part is the pod race, and we fast forward the tape in fits and starts to get to
it, and then watch it together, having great fun.
In
the afternoon, Scott and I spend some time swimming in the pool, and then C
and I sort through my 280-something digital photos to date. Doing this brings back a ton of memories that had already
faded into a jumbled blur.
Yesterday
was my brother-in-law Malcolm's birthday, and today C is preparing a
celebration dinner for him and the rest of us.
BBQ t-bones, potatoes, lots of veggies, a black forest cake and ice
cream. Quelle feast!
Yumm.
All
too soon, rest day comes to an end and C drops me off at Glen Rouge Park,
helps me set up my tent quickly as the edge of a thunderstorm drifts over and it
starts to rain, and meets a few people. A
lot of Brook's family is here
visiting, and it's great to meet them too.
Then
it's time to say goodbye to C, who's heading home after two weeks away on
vacation, visiting family, kayaking in Georgian Bay, and spending time at her
brother's cottage on Georgian Bay.
As
I sit here catching up on my journal, I hear lots of cars and voices outside as
other group members return to camp and hit the sack for the first of three long
days tomorrow, as we resume our journey across Canada with a three day jaunt to
Ottawa. We're cycling across
Canada. I still can't quite believe it. What a life!
Day's
high: A
very nice relaxing day with family.
Day's
low: Only thing that comes close is evening rain on my nice dry, clean tent.
...alan
Glen
Rouge Park,
Scarborough,
Ontario
Day
45: Toronto (Scarborough) to Campbellford, ON
August
12, 2000
"The
century (100
mile ride): A cheap analogy for life. Little pains happen.
You adjust. A lot of it is
dull stuff indeed, but you make the effort.
Man and machine become one organism, stroking away, correcting, favouring,
compensating, and trying to enjoy the little moments of magic that come along.
At the end of it, you get off the bike, or fall off, or are pushed off,
and that's it." John D.
MacDonald, 'Condominium'
After
the light rain last night, everything was drenched this morning -- tents got
packed away wet once again. No
problem, though. The weather
forecast is good so we can count on everything drying out later on when we set
up camp in Campbellford.
My
bike, Barbarella, is back from the shop when I return to camp, and I'll soon
find out whether or not she got the repairs and attention she needed on the rest
day.
There
were lots of visitors around camp last night and this morning, showing the
number of group members with family in the area. I met all of Brook's family,
and this morning a number of others returned to camp from visits with family and
friends.
A
common theme from those who've seen family is how much weight we've each lost.
Craig last lost 35 lb since the beginning of the year, Eric has lost
about 16 lb on this trip, Jules and everyone else seem to have lost weight too.
My trip to the scales reveals I've lost 15 lb in the last 43 days!
That's the good news. The
bad news is that this means I'm running a calorie deficit of about 1,200 a day,
one reason I'm having trouble on longer rides.
I need to eat more!
Our
ride today takes us from Glen Rouge Park in Scarborough to Campbellford.
Bud's map, like the map for the trip into Toronto, has directions only,
and no visual map to accompany it. It's
a route with lots of turns that's difficult to follow for those who don't know
the area at all. The majority of us
decide to take a much more direct
route. We're planning to retrace
the end of yesterday's route north to county road 4 (Taunton Road) and follow it
due east to highway 115 where 4 ends, then jog one concession north to pick up
county road 9, following it east to county road 30 which will take us directly
into Campbellford. Our route will
not have lakeside vistas, and it'll have big hills. It'll also be much
easier to follow and will shave many kilometres off the official distance.
Later
on we'll find that Tim and C Hope (TDC riders from a previous year) are
hosting a luncheon for riders as they go through Port Hope.
With many people headed a different route, I hope they're not too
disappointed.
Jules
and I leave camp together around 7:30 a.m., hitting Taunton Rd heading east a
few minutes later. The first hour
and a half is spent getting away from the city.
Starting from Scarborough, Taunton Rd takes us through Pickering, Whitby
and Oshawa. This isn't pleasant
cycling -- there's lots of Saturday morning traffic -- most of it impatient, and
lots of traffic lights. Cycling a long
distance through this kind of suburban wasteland really highlights how ugly the
strip malls are. For kilometer after kilometer there's an endless
repitition of about 10 fast food places with other stuff mixed in. Groups
leaving later face much heavier traffic -- there's a bad crash on hwy
401, and the traffic is diverted on to surrounding roads, including Taunton Rd.
The later groups find Taunton Rd clogged with bumper to bumper traffic
for kilometer after kilometer.
Eventually,
Jules and I are out of the denser city and headed for the countryside.
We've got a building headwind today.
Our route is generally ENE, and the wind is blowing from the NE at about
10 km/hr early in the morning, and will be about 15 km/hr later in the day.
It's just enough to make us think we're always going uphill.
Approaching
hwy 115 on county road 4, we start to run into the Northumberland drumlin field.
This presents us with great soaring uphills, followed by great downhill
runs. The headwind is just enough to defeat the speed we might
otherwise get plummeting down these big hills. The best I can do, pedalling
like mad, is about 65 km/hr. After
crossing hwy 115 and taking Jewel Rd one concession north to pick up county road
9, we encounter a few more big drumlins to be crossed.
Having
to pedal down big hills is something we don't encounter very often. Through
this though, I discover how much I've strengthened on this trip.
I used to "spin out" at about 110 to 120 rpm. At that cadence,
my spin would get "lumpy" and lose power.
Spinning down these big hills, my cyclometer tells me on one that I'm
turning 136 rpm! And my spin is
still smooth and transferring power to the pedals.
Bonzer! I'm finding that I'm
spinning more powerfully up the hills too, although I'm still not as strong as I
want to be when climbing.
And, Jules is getting stronger too, so I still can't match him on the climbs.
The
reward over the last big hill is Betty's Bakery in Elizabethville (picture,
right).
This place only does dessert type pastries, and they're famous for their
buttertarts. At this time of the year
Betty bakes 100 dozen for Saturday alone! Sure enough, after
taste testing sausage rolls, brownies, lemon tarts, tiger bars and butter tarts,
I have to agree that the butter tarts are indeed to die for.
The stop at Betty's Bakery successfully accomplished, we're back on the
road.
From
Elizabethville, the road runs straight and fairly flat for about 15 km.
Then, entering a 10 km stretch leading to Warkworth, the terrain changes
to kettle and kame countryside -- the road twists and turns as it climbs and
descends short steep hills. This is
very much like the countryside around Bamberg that I train in at home, and I
love it. Jules and are are zooming
up and down the hills like there's no tomorrow.
This is really exhilarating riding.
The
only downside is that Barbarella's back end is still making squeeking,
crunching, popping noises. Yet the
wheel is running true, free and solid. Hmmmm!
I think I'll just think on this and keep riding on the wheel in the
meantime.
At
1:30 p.m., after 123 km of riding, we pull into Warkworth and stop for lunch,
meeting Craig who's just cycled in from Port Hope where he spent some time with
Tim and Celia Hope, former TDC riders. Celia hails from New Zealand like
Craig, so it's a bit of an ol' home visit for them. After a good lunch, we've only got about 20 km left to Campbellford, and
it passes uneventfully, other than a couple of adrenaline rushes thanks to big
dogs running free.
The
campground is Ferris Provincial Park, where we've got a great site once again.
We've broken lesson number 1: don't beat Brook to camp. As punishment, we
have to lounge around in the shade until she arrives. (picture, left, of
Jules). We're all being treated to dinner tonight, courtesy of the local
Prudential Real Estate office, arranged by Isabelle.
The park ranger ferries us over in a van, and we're treated to drinks,
BBQ hamburgers and corn on the cob. This
is great! After dinner, just as the
mosquitoes are coming out, we're ferried back to camp again.
It has just gone dark and it's time to crash again.
Another
day, another 145 km under our wheels in our odyssey. We're cycling across Canada.
I'm still in awe of this undertaking.
What a life!
Day's
high: Buttertarts
to die for.
Day's
low:
Barbarella's back wheel still making strange noises.
Daily
Stats:
Weather:
Warm
start to day and hot and sunny all day.
Official
distance: 173
km Distance
actually cycled: 144.7 km Avg
speed on road: 25.8 km/hr
Total
distance cycled to date: 5,057.4 km
Bananas
consumed to date: 135
...alan
Ferris
Provincial Park,
Campbellford,
Ontario
Day
46: Campbellford to Fermoy, ON
August
13, 2000
"Your
biggest challenge isn't someone else. It is yourself. It is the burning in your legs, the aching in your lungs, and
the voice inside that yells, 'Can't do it!' But you don't listen. You
just push harder. Then you realize
that the person you thought you were is no match for who you really are."
unknown
The
dew and condensation on my tent this morning is awesome.
I pack it away soggy at dawn. I'll get a chance to dry it out later.
I hope. Breakfast this morning is french toast and porridge, and it goes down
quickly while getting everything together for today's ride.
A usual part of my morning routine is a visual check of Barbarella to
ensure she's in good shape for the day. Last
night I'd checked the tires for cuts and bits of glass from the ride out of
Toronto, and found nothing of concern. This
morning, however, my pump is missing! It's a small pump that mounts on a bracket beside one of the
water bottles, and is secured by a velcro strap. The strap has been undone, it's
just hanging there, and the pump is gone. It's
nowhere around to be found, and nobody else has seen it.
I can only surmise that while we were all away at dinner last night, some
kids in the campground were snooping around and one of them scooped it.
Bummer! As luck would have
it, Jules just got a new one, his old one is now surplus, and he agrees to give
it to me in return for a couple of beers! A
good enough deal for me, especially since his old pump is exactly the same as
the one I lost.
Once
ready, Jules and I leave camp together at about 7:10 a.m.
We've got 145 km ahead of us today, and a weather forecast that couldn't
be any better if we'd written it ourselves. Our route today will take us from
Cambellford ENE through a chain of small towns along the country roads, to a
campground on Canoe Lake just past Godfrey, about halfway between Campbellford and Ottawa.
The
early morning air has just a slight chill -- just enough to be refreshing once
we're warmed up. The route today
turns out to be a delight. From the
start until noon when we stop in Verona for lunch, five hours worth of cycling,
we have one of the best rides of the entire trip.
The air is still and fresh, the sky is clear blue, the pavement is smooth
and the terrain interesting yet not overly challenging. The traffic on this
Sunday morning on these back-county regional roads is light to non-existent.
What traffic there is is very relaxed.
Nobody's in a hurry. The
early morning sun slants down through the trees lining the road, throwing shaded
strips across the pavement. As we
spin along we flash in and out of the shaded strips; it's like being washed with
alternate waves of cool and warm water. The
road twists and curves and we never know what's around the next bend.
There are short rolling hills from time to time that give us a chance to
stand and flex our muscles going up, and drop down and spin up the speed as we
go down the other side. Jules and I
are in sync this morning; our speed and cadence is pretty close and we
alternately pull ahead and fall back on each other, seemingly urging each other
to maintain the charge through the countryside.
Several times I find myself grinning from ear to ear as we crest a little
hill side by side to hurtle down the other side -- this is cycling at it's very
best. We're healthy and fit, we're
working hard, our bikes are handling like they're extensions of our bodies, and
the rolling terrain passes by quickly beneath our whirring wheels.
What a life!
From
Campbellford we pass through Pethericks Corners, Springbrook, Crookston and then
Tweed. In Tweed we run into Karin's
husband John and his RV in front of the Becker's store, and stop for
refreshments. Jon is there too --
he left camp ahead of us, and will hit the road again here before us.
I buy a large Gatorade, drink some of it, and use the rest to top up my
Camelbak -- this is turning out to be a hot day and I'm drinking and eating lots
as we cycle along.
Back
on the road again we pass through Stoco, Larking, Marlbank, Tamworth, Reidville
(which is nothing more than a cemetery now, but still shows as a town on the
map!), Enterprise, Bellrock and then Verona.
A couple of times we sprint for town signs, with Jules edging me out each
time. I'll get him yet!
As
we approach Verona, we turn onto highway 38 and there's traffic. There's a fair
in Verona this weekend, and lots of people are coming to town.
It's noon now, we've been on the road cycling for five hours, and decide
it's time for lunch. Stopping at
Mom's Restaurant in Verona, we find a basic menu, basic good food, good-sized
portions, and great prices. After
club sandwiches, heaping fries and cole slaw, and cold drinks, we hit the road
again about an hour later. We've
come 118 km so far today, and we've got just under 30 km left to go -- just over
an hour. Coming back outside, we step into a heat wave.
It's nearing 30C out here now! Good
thing I've been drinking and eating lots today!
The
last stretch to Canoe Lake Park goes quickly, and the few hills we encounter are
not an obstacle. Just outside
Verona, Jules signals a stop. There's
a big turtle just starting to cross the road, and there's enough traffic that
it's not likely to make it. Given
the heat, it might even expire before it gets squashed. We do the kind thing; we pick it up, turn it around, and set
it in the roadside grass to find a better place to while away the afternoon
heat.
Coming
to the Canoe Lake turnoff, we head down an unmarked gravel road for about 3 km,
assuming it'll take us where we need to go.
The park is confusing, yet we eventually locate the camp office where
someone tells us where to find Brook's truck and our campsite.
We're in a somewhat secluded corner of the park, it's quiet, there's
shady and sunny spots, its all nicely grassed -- a little bit of heaven at the
end of the day. We've been on the
road 6 hours and 45 minutes today, cycling for nearly 5 and a half hours of
that.
Once
sopping wet tents are set up and dried out, I'm showered and my laundry done (I
simply wash the day's bike clothes in the shower each day), it's time to
relax and get caught up on my journal. Others are relaxing too, some catching a
nap. Brook is busy studying for a Stats credit she's taking by self-study
this summer. (picture, right) Pretty soon it's dinnertime, and then
crash time.
Tomorrow
we're off to Ottawa and then another rest day.
I'm looking forward to seeing my 17 yr old daughter R in Ottawa.
She and her friend, Chris, are competing in the sailing Canadian Youth
(18 & under) Champs in their Laser II, and will be staying in Ottawa an
extra day before heading off to Kingston and CORK (Canadian Olympic Regatta at
Kingston), their next regatta. I
haven't seen R since the end of June and it'll be great to get caught up
with her again.
Day's
high: One
of the best day's rides on this entire trip!
Day's
low:
My pump was stolen ( I'm assuming) from my bike while away at dinner last night.
Daily
Stats:
Weather:
Warm
start to day and hot and sunny all day.
Official
distance: 144
km Distance
actually cycled: 147 km Avg
speed on road: 27.2 km/hr
Total
distance cycled to date: 5,205 km
Bananas
consumed to date: 139
...alan
Canoe
Lake Park,
Fermoy,
ON
Day
47: Fermoy to Ottawa, ON
Day
48: Rest Day in Ottawa, ON
August
14 & 15, 2000
"I'm
having so much fun. And our
accomplishments are all our own -- we've got no coach, no support crew, just
ourselves, and when we do well, it feels really good." Robyn reflecting on first summer of competitive sailing with friend and crewmate Chris
.
Once
again there's a heavy dew last night and everything gets packed away soggy wet
this morning. Jules, Karl and I are
up a bit earlier to get a good start on the day while it's still cool and fresh.
Besides, Jules and I will be meeting family and want to be in Ottawa in
good time. After packing everything away the three of us hit the road
out of camp at 6:45 a.m. Sunrise
was at 6:20 a.m. this morning - it's getting noticeably later each day now - and
first light is still glowing in the clouds.
There are tentacles of mist writhing on Canoe Lake in the still morning
air, as if scared from the water by the cry of the loons earlier this morning.
We stop to take a few pictures to try to record this magic, knowing that
the best we can do is capture a picture which in years to come will evoke the
memory of the cool air, the mist and the loons.
The scene we pass is visually forgotten in a moment; perhaps the pictures
will help trigger the memory for years to come.
The
road out of camp is hard packed gravel, and it's a couple of kilometres out to
the county road. We're not even at
the county road when we come across Jon, bike on the ground, tools in hand,
attempting to free his chain from its position wedged between the chainstay and
the inner chainring. He'd thrown
the chain and somehow it got jammed. Karl
gets his fingers in there and between the two of them, plus some freedom gained
by removing chainring bolts, manage to free the chain. (picture, right) All reassembled, the four of us hit the road after the 15
minute repair stop.
We
find the road much like it was yesterday morning. There's no traffic, the air is still and cool, and the sunny
patches are just beginning to soak up and radiate the slanting sunbeams.
Leaving the village of Fermoy behind us, we spin along county road 12 to
Salem and then Westport. The lake in Westport is particularly pretty this morning, and
I stop to take a few pictures of willows and clouds perfectly reflected in the
dark water (see picture below). Then we face "the
famous Westport Hill" on a side ridge of Foley Mountain.
This is the biggest, steepest hill in this area.
That may be true, but we've seen and conquered much more fearsome
monsters than this! It's about a 10% grade, but is quite short.
Nevertheless, it's an all-out effort for a minute or two to get over it.
While I'm standing on my pedals, pulling up on one side of the
handlebars, pulling up on the same-side pedal, and straining all my weight onto
the opposite pedal, one side of my brain is saying, "You've climbed bigger
monsters than this -- keep going." The
other side of my brain is saying, "If I've got rear wheel spoke fatigue,
this is when one's going to snap." After
solving Barbarella's creaky spoke problem yesterday, I'm very aware now of how
much the back wheel flexes when under strain.
With each pedal stroke I visualize the spoke tension as the chain
transfers tremendous torque to the hub, and all that energy flows through the
spokes to rotate the rim and tire along the road up the hill.
Barbarella and I come through unscathed.
The hill wasn't nearly enough to go anaerobic over, and my straight-laced
Crane Creek wheels are still intact and running true.
That
hill behind us, the remainder of the route will be essentially flat all the way
to Ottawa. From Westport, we spin
along in a loose four-bike paceline at speeds from 29 to 40 km/hr on clear roads
and smooth pavement, with not a trace of wind to bother us.
Our next stop is Perth after 45 kilometres on the road, and Kelly has
given us a tip on a great coffee shop one block off the main drag.
Perth is a very picturesque town, with colonial eastern Canadian
architecture -- big limestone blocks used in construction.
The coffee shop is "Coutts Company Coffee Emporium" at 17
Wilson St E. (picture, left) Stopping there, we find a delightful place in a renovated old mill
building where they roast and grind their own beans.
The coffee is great, and two cups go down very easily along with lemon-cranberry
muffins still warm from the oven.
Leaving
Perth, fuelled by great coffee, we're full of zip now and zoom along Tennyson
Road beside Mississippi Lake. Then
it's a quick run along Beckwith and Flewellyn roads through Ashton and
Stittsville.
We've
got a choice of routes into Ottawa today. Jules
is an Ottawa native, and knows the bike paths and roads very well.
Jules becomes our tour guide and we follow him as he charges
down this road, turns here, charges up that road, turns there, and eventually we
end up in front of one of his former residences in Kanata.
It's a very nice neighbourhood for sure, yet to three of us it's just a
very nice neighbourhood and a very nice house.
I can see by Jules reaction that there are a lot of memories here that
we'll never know, but hold part of a lifetime for him.
From
there, Jules deaks down a little path on a greenbelt between two houses and we
find ourselves on a bike path crossing a golf course, then crossing a schoolyard,
through the playground, through a few more cul-de-sacs, across a few more roads
(leave a trail of breadcrumbs, please!), and onto a maze of bike paths where he
unerringly turns right at this intersection, left at that one, and brings us out
right at the Nortel optical components plant in Kanata.
From there we cross the road and disappear into yet another maze of
bikepaths through the fields and wooded areas.
There are very few other people around and we're zipping along at 25 to
29 km/hr along paved or hard-packed crushed lime paths.
The worst stretch of bike path we traverse is no worse than the best
roads in Saskatchewan.
One
last stretch of bike path and we emerge onto Carling near the start of the
Ottawa River Parkway. We follow the
bike path along the river a bit, and then take the Parkway to speed into
downtown, onto Rideau St, and then straight onto Parliament Hill.
We've done it! Ottawa! 5,300
km from Vancouver!
We
take a full set of pictures with our bikes in front of the flames and parliament
building (see left), then do a victory lap around the Hill, including passing under the
clock tower, and stop to take some pictures by the Mountie and visit the
scandalous washrooms under the statue of Queen Victoria.
Completing our victory lap of Parliament Hill, we cross the road to the
Info Centre and enjoy an ice cream cone.
Back
on our bikes, we've one last run today -- along Colonel By Drive, following the
Rideau Canal, all the way out to Carleton University. The bike path along here is busy and not as smooth as the
road, where we paceline at about 30 km/hr from the Westin Hotel to Carleton.
We find the check-in, Brook and truck, and get settled pretty quickly.
I
take a quick spin around the parking lots to see if I can find my daughter R
and her friend Chris. (picture right:
R, me, Chris) They've been
racing their Laser 2 in the Cdn Youth Champs in Nepean this week, and we're
getting together for dinner. I
don't find them, so return to where the truck is parked, where Brook tells me
they were by earlier and will be back shortly.
No sooner said than I turn around and there's R pulling up in my car,
towing trailer and boat behind. Big hugs
all around. It's great to see R
again -- she's looking fit, healthy, self-assured and pretty in a new sundress.
After introducing R and Chris to my biker chums who are around at the
time, they help me cart my stuff from the truck up to my room for the next two
nights. Then they go off to entertain themselves while I get cleaned
up for dinner.
Leaving
the boat trailer beside the truck, and festooned with drying tents, off we go
for dinner. We have a great time
together. R and Chris are
having a great summer. This is
their first summer racing together. They've
bought their own boat through savings from part-time jobs, they're self-coached,
and they're traveling without benefit of coach or support crew, unlike a lot of
the sailors they're competing against.
They're also on a shoestring budget, sometimes sleeping in the car. They
finished mid-fleet in the Cdn Youth Champs, which is no small feat indeed! And
as R says, because they've done it all themselves, the accomplishments they
share are all the sweeter; every gain in placing is hard won.
For two 17 year olds, this is a dream summer, and I can see that there is
self-confidence, self-reliance and pride of accomplishment in these two that
wasn't shining as strongly two months ago.
What a life!
After
dinner, we return to campus in time to see Jules' wife Helene arrive.
At least I assume that's his wife he's greeting like that, or he's sure
to be in
deep yogurt when she does arrive. Sure
enough, it is Helene, and we're introduced all around.
R
and Chris need to get on the road to Kingston for the CORK Youth Fest and then
the CORK regatta series over the next two weeks. We say goodbye, and I watch with immense pride as these two
young women drive away, boat in tow.
Meanwhile,
a number of other cyclists have arrived, and we congregate in the residence for
a pizza and beer party to celebrate the end of another leg in our journey.
Partway through, the last group of cyclists arrives.
Big Bruce had bike problems that spilled him today, and he and the group
he was riding with stuck together to get it fixed at a local bike shop.
After swapping stories for a while and filling up on pizza (the record
today is eight pieces -- no names!), it's off to do laundry, journals, and get
ready for a day of playing tourist in Ottawa.
We're
cycling across Canada! (No, I can't quite get over this little fact.)
We've come 5,300 km from Vancouver to Ottawa.
We've only got 2,000 km and 5 provinces left to go.
Our little nomadic tribe of adventurers is happy, healthy, strong and
enthusiastic.
Day's
high: Add one more day to the best series of days on this trip. Seeing
R.
Day's
low:
Not a one.
Daily
Stats:
Weather:
Warm
start to day and hot and sunny all day.
Official
distance: 140
km Distance
actually cycled: 147 km Avg
speed on road: 28.8 km/hr
Total
distance cycled to date: 5,351km
Bananas
consumed to date: 143
...alan
Carleton
University
Ottawa,
ON
Day
48: Rest Day in Ottawa
It
was a treat to be in an air-conditioned building last night, to have a washroom
steps away from bed (instead of having to water the forest undergrowth), and to
have a shower that wasn't shared with assorted bugs.
Rest
day is planned to be just that. A
number of people are going to do the tourist thing, and I'll do a bit of that,
but also just relax a bunch too. Several
of us catch a ride downtown with Brook in her loaner Ryder van - she's on her
way to pick up the truck from Ryder's after overnight servicing.
My first stop is Pecco's - a great cycling shop in the Market district
(78 Murray St for those in future TDC's looking for it). They've got another
store over in Hull at 79 Laval. I'm
looking for a particular brand of cycling shorts, but alas they don't carry
them. I do have a talk with the
mechanic, who's impressive in his knowledge of components and bike repair and
maintenance. He puts my mind at ease about my Crane Creek wheels, which he also
rides. He says the flexing is
normal and I shouldn't expect any problems at all with the spokes. If they
start to talk to me again, he says simply lubricate them at the hub with a bit
of WD40 or the like.
After
that I visit a few touristy places looking for souvenir pins for provinces where
I couldn't get them. I start at the
Ottawa Visitor Centre, who don't have them but refer me to Four Corner's, who
don't have them but refer me to the souvenir section at Zeller's, who don't have
them but refer me to the Green Dragon, who do! They tell me that the little firm that used to make
them for all of Canada was located in the Gatineau area, and that since the
proprietor died, the business has gone under and nobody else has stepped up to
making the little provincial shield pins again.
Routing through a box of odds'n'ends we manage to collect a pin for each
province but New Brunswick, which I'll try and get when we pass through there in
a week's time.
Then
it's off to the Clarica Centre and my colleagues on the 10th floor.
Without my security badge, I knock on the door until someone lets me in,
and run into Martine right away. She
says that the rest of the crew is gathered at Oscar's across the street waiting
for us. Walking over to Oscar's I find about two dozen people waiting
for me. We enjoy a great lunch, and
I'm peppered with questions about the trip, the people in the group, and
everything else.
Post-lunch
I head back to the Clarica offices with them so that I can find a phone jack to
plug into and send/receive my email. That's
where I am right now.
Once
I'm done here, my plans for the afternoon are to wander back to Sparks Street
to find a huge ice-cream cone, then catch a ride back out to Carleton.
Maybe I'll go for a swim in the pool there.
Maybe I'll just lounge in the shade and read.
Maybe I'll have nap. Maybe I'll just do nothing at all except watch the
breeze ruffle the leaves on the trees. Rest
days do present difficult decisions to make!
Picking
up this journal later on, I note that I never did get my ice cream cone.
Instead, I decide to jump into a taxi to go back out to Carleton, and ask the
driver how far out the Mountain Equipment Co-op store is. It's not all
that far, and he drops me off there about 15 minutes later. He asks me if
I'll be doing back out to Carleton, and gives me his card and phone number at
home. Turns out he lives a couple of blocks away from the Co-op, and he'll
go home for a break while I shop around, then come back for me.
Shopping
around in the Co-op, I find a pair of bike shorts that fit like a glove, and
have stiff padding right in pattern and configuration that just feels right.
Instance purchase; no brainer. In the Co-op I run into Bruce McCormick and
his dad who are shopping around too. As I go outside to wait for my ride,
I run into Bruce's dad, and we chat for a while. He's a long-time-retired
meteorologist, and opines that forecasting today really isn't much better than
it was in the "olden" days, despite all the wonderful
technology. Pretty soon my ride arrives, cutting short our friendly
conversation, and off I go to Carleton.
Yesterday
evening and today were relaxing. I'll
be well rested tomorrow for our first of four days' cycling which will take us
to Quebec City for another rest day. I'm
cycling across Canada. What a life!
...alan
Carleton
University
Ottawa,
ON
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