The showers at the marina last night were something else. It felt as if I was getting sprayed with a hot fire hose. Not gunna lie it was pretty awesome, and it was free to boot so I really have no complaints. One thing I forgot to write about yesterday was Olivier’s new friend that he met. Hidden under his bob trailer was a baby squirrel that once released ran directly over his feet which caused him to release I have to say the funniest shriek I have ever heard.
Today well it was fun if you are into self-torture. My legs felt a lot better today so I was pulling a lot more then I was yesterday, but really most of the day we were forced to push ourselves at 100% because the peaks and valleys of the shore line are getting a lot steeper. Most would complain about having to do 6 5k climbs in a day but when you are feeling good you just want to do more. Olivier and I we messing around with each other again on the hills playing games of hiding in each other blind spots then attacking when the other was not expecting it. When you are pinned side by side with someone going so slow, on such heavy bikes you can help but look over at each other and smile. And if you looked down all you would see are beads of sweat dripping off your face. The nuts that were in my top bag were a little extra salty today.
The scenery today was defiantly worth the hard work climbing. Every time we would come down all of sudden the surround trees would seem to disappear to reveal the lake and surround inlands. The one moment that stuck with me today was when we were rifling down at about 57km/h and just over this little bridge you could see the most uninterrupted view of the lake so far. It left me saying wow lets do that again.
Our first stop was in a sketchy little can-op in the middle of nothing land. In this store he carried candy, fireworks, and booze. We asked if he had any milk or nuts. Something to keep us going, but his response was “I don’t sell enough of that stuff”. I was thinking about that afterward. As a gas station you would think you would sell a lot of “that stuff”. He has to be selling a lot of fireworks and booze to justify not carrying the basic amenities of life. What does that say about that surrounding area? My guess is that the town slogan is “don’t come here on new years”.
By the time lunch rolled around I was ready for a feast. A chilli pizza was exactly what the doctor ordered. At that point I felt that I needed the little addition thrust that it would give me about 15mintues after eating. When we left the restaurant we decided to make it a short day today simply because my bike was making a weird clicking sound and I needed to take everything around the bottom bracket apart and grease it.
After a quick grocery shop in Terrace bay we got to our campsite, which was backwards 2km. This is the first time I have backtracked since day one but it was the only option because we did not want to go the extra 57k to the next site. The one thing I though was a little weird was although they could have put a site in the bay with a beautiful view, they decided to put it next to a swampy little creek next to the highway. I really have not complaints though because for $7 I got a free shower, a large site, time to fix my bike, and free wifi (while it worked).
I am going to cut things a little short today because I would like to spend some time socializing with the other bike tourists here. 2 of them from last night made it to here I am not sure what happened to the other 2 but I hope they made it through the hills alright.
Trip Distance: 111km
Ride Time: 5:32hr
Avg. Speed: 20.14km/h
Total Distance: 3551km
Total Ride Time: 164hr
Destination: Terrace Bay, Ontario
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Ev there will never be a better time in your life to do this ride!Go as far as you can then push some more, solong as you have bus fare home.Give me a call if you find the time. Dad.
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