Well I have my second Quasimodo eye, thanks bugs. I actually purchased a really attractive bug hat somewhere on the other side of Thunder Bay because the bugs are driving me nuts. Now, after seeing my reactions to a few of them Neil finally understands and supports my decision.... even though he laughs at me every time I wear it. The swelling isn't too bad though, should still be alright to bike later on today!
So I had a slight fall on the other side of Marathon. I would like to say it was some kind of wicked spill that produced sparks and includes me outrunning a bear or successfully traveling down a cliff.... but no, my chain came off and I was restarting up a hill and couldn't clip out before I hit the ground. Unfortunately that teeny tiny fall got a lot of really loose sand into my rear shifter. It's not broken, but it is messed up. We stayed in a motel that night in Marathon to try and take it apart and clean it up... but we ended up stripping the screw on the back and didn't really get anywhere. SO the next morning we biked into the actual city of Marathon and I grew squeamish as an auto mechanic took vice grips to the screw and got it out and then used brake cleaner and high-powered air to clean it out. Sounds good right? Well.... somehow we messed it up worse. So I've now biked 406km to Sault Ste Marie with only 3 gears.... one of which most people would refer to as "coasting."
I never would have imagined that hills like this exist in Ontario either. I don't think I would have believed you if I hadn't seen it myself. There are the Precambrian mountains (really old rounded off mountains that used to be bigger than rockys) that go through this area, and while they have blasted through the rock the grades are way tougher than anything we saw in the Rockys. At one point we gained 300 m in one hill alone, my quads have been burning a lot lately. That being said though, I think Northern Ontario has been my favourite scenary so far. There is just so much to be said about the Canadian sheild. It is gorgeous here and the views never stop. One of the coolest things about it here is that even when you climb a hill you can ride beside a lake since the rock creates water tables at all different elevations. We've also seen a fair bit of wild life here (I saw my first wild moose that wasn't hit by a car!) and we've stayed in some downright beautiful provincial parks.
Sometimes though we feel like someone should have put us in straightjackets when we decided to do this trip during the end of April/May. We've definitely been questioning our sanity when we hit a cold rain or bike through a cloud of bugs. Our recurring joke of the moment is how after convocation we are going to take the money we will spend on bike repairs in the second half of the trip and go somewhere tropical. Pride, stubborness and the number of people we've told about this trip is all that keeps us going somedays. But we do keep going, we are so close to the halfway point of the trip we can taste it. After doing the bike from Nipigon to the Sault we have biked the worst hills until Owen Sound. With a working shifter the last few days shouldn't be too tough. We biked by the TransCanadian Highway halfway point plaque yesterday which was exciting! More than 1/4 of the highway is in Ontario alone. That is crazy!
Last night we stayed at a free campground for cyclists at the Velorution bike shop. They have a really cool set up here, promoting more of a lifestyle than just biking. Hopefully their mechanics are as good as the mechanics as Petrie's bike shop in Thunder Bay (he works wonders on bikes if you are ever looking for a superb mechanic in that region). We are hoping to make this only a "pseudo-rest day" hopefully biking the 50-60km we got behind the night I broke my shifter. But either way we are still on track to make it back in time for convocation as long as we can handle biking in rain for the next three days!
I know this blog seems a little down, but we are still having a really good time. We've met some real characters along the way who have just been sweethearts. At a roadside cafe the restaurant owner bought us some hot chocolates on a cold rainy day. We have had nothing but encouragement from the locals along the way. Questions we get the most:
1.) Where you coming from?
2.) How far do you bike in day?
3.) What are those things on your shoes? (Bike cleats)
Hope all is well... will update again from Owen Sound!!
So I had a slight fall on the other side of Marathon. I would like to say it was some kind of wicked spill that produced sparks and includes me outrunning a bear or successfully traveling down a cliff.... but no, my chain came off and I was restarting up a hill and couldn't clip out before I hit the ground. Unfortunately that teeny tiny fall got a lot of really loose sand into my rear shifter. It's not broken, but it is messed up. We stayed in a motel that night in Marathon to try and take it apart and clean it up... but we ended up stripping the screw on the back and didn't really get anywhere. SO the next morning we biked into the actual city of Marathon and I grew squeamish as an auto mechanic took vice grips to the screw and got it out and then used brake cleaner and high-powered air to clean it out. Sounds good right? Well.... somehow we messed it up worse. So I've now biked 406km to Sault Ste Marie with only 3 gears.... one of which most people would refer to as "coasting."
I never would have imagined that hills like this exist in Ontario either. I don't think I would have believed you if I hadn't seen it myself. There are the Precambrian mountains (really old rounded off mountains that used to be bigger than rockys) that go through this area, and while they have blasted through the rock the grades are way tougher than anything we saw in the Rockys. At one point we gained 300 m in one hill alone, my quads have been burning a lot lately. That being said though, I think Northern Ontario has been my favourite scenary so far. There is just so much to be said about the Canadian sheild. It is gorgeous here and the views never stop. One of the coolest things about it here is that even when you climb a hill you can ride beside a lake since the rock creates water tables at all different elevations. We've also seen a fair bit of wild life here (I saw my first wild moose that wasn't hit by a car!) and we've stayed in some downright beautiful provincial parks.
Sometimes though we feel like someone should have put us in straightjackets when we decided to do this trip during the end of April/May. We've definitely been questioning our sanity when we hit a cold rain or bike through a cloud of bugs. Our recurring joke of the moment is how after convocation we are going to take the money we will spend on bike repairs in the second half of the trip and go somewhere tropical. Pride, stubborness and the number of people we've told about this trip is all that keeps us going somedays. But we do keep going, we are so close to the halfway point of the trip we can taste it. After doing the bike from Nipigon to the Sault we have biked the worst hills until Owen Sound. With a working shifter the last few days shouldn't be too tough. We biked by the TransCanadian Highway halfway point plaque yesterday which was exciting! More than 1/4 of the highway is in Ontario alone. That is crazy!
Last night we stayed at a free campground for cyclists at the Velorution bike shop. They have a really cool set up here, promoting more of a lifestyle than just biking. Hopefully their mechanics are as good as the mechanics as Petrie's bike shop in Thunder Bay (he works wonders on bikes if you are ever looking for a superb mechanic in that region). We are hoping to make this only a "pseudo-rest day" hopefully biking the 50-60km we got behind the night I broke my shifter. But either way we are still on track to make it back in time for convocation as long as we can handle biking in rain for the next three days!
I know this blog seems a little down, but we are still having a really good time. We've met some real characters along the way who have just been sweethearts. At a roadside cafe the restaurant owner bought us some hot chocolates on a cold rainy day. We have had nothing but encouragement from the locals along the way. Questions we get the most:
1.) Where you coming from?
2.) How far do you bike in day?
3.) What are those things on your shoes? (Bike cleats)
Hope all is well... will update again from Owen Sound!!
3 comments:
I love you guys!
It's so much fun to read your posts Kate, can't wait for Thursday!
Heather
... and by Thursday, I mean Wednesday!
HA HAHAHAHHA!
I just saw the curling rock pic! I love it because that is the exact club where my curling team won OFSSA (ontario championships)!
YOU ROCK!!!! (ha ha a little curling humour)
H
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