Days 27-30. 4 weeks and counting...

Day27

I awoke to light rain and by the time we packed up it was raining pretty hard.  We went for a long breakfast and used the internet access from the motel across the street - so the blogs got updated and pictures uploaded, etc.  By the time we were done it was nice and sunny out.  :)  We made a quick stop at the Winnie the Pooh gift shop (which sucked), grabbed some fuel for the road at the Husky, and were on our way. 

Today was a short hop to Wawa.  <100k, I figured it would be an easy chill day.  It was for the most part.  There were some pretty awesome swirling winds that seemed to shift around every 50m, but the terrain was just "rolly" and the weather turned out to be pretty good.  Guillome was really tired from a poor night's sleep, so he took off down the road to make it to Wawa so he could get some rest.  Ania claimed to be exhaused and feeling like crap, and Kasia wasn't feeling it either - so they said that they were going to roll on their own.  I rolled with Seb, and James did his own thing as usual.  Seb and I roll at a pretty similar pace, so we just chilled out and had a good time enjoying the sun and roads.  The girls ended up riding really well, just killing it down the road.  The last 20k were into a brutal headwind, and my chill day pretty much went out the window.  I was pedaling moderately hard downhill, barely maintaining 20kph.  We finally rolled into town shortly after 16:00 and met up with Guillome at Timmy's.  Then it was off to the beach for a spell.  Seb, and I are going to make a run for the Sault tomorrow, so we decided that an early start would be much easier from a motel.  The girls and Guillome are going for a later start and a shorter day, but they got a lot of sun so a motel worked for them as well.  Off to dinner at a pretty weak restaurant where Kasia (who's a vegetarian) was served meat again - for the third time this trip.  I told her it was the universe telling her that it was time to start eating meat, but that pretty much killed the meal for her.  Early-ish night tonight, and a hopefully early start tomorrow.  ~220km to the Sault over some of the most challenging terrain ON has to offer - including what I'm told is the biggest hill in the province. 

Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 5:30
Actual Ride Time: 4:32
Total Distance: 98.51 km
Avg Speed: 21.6 kph
Max Speed: 48.4 kph


Day28

Today Seb and I had a plan to try and make the Sault.  It's "only" ~225km, but the terrain is extremely hilly.  Whether or not we made it would depend heavily on the weather.  Jamie had a plan to try and stick with us, with a fallback plan of spending the night in Pancake Bay.  The girls were planning on a much shorter day, and a late start.  Thus fractured the group.  It was bound to happen sooner or later, but it's always a little sad when good groups part company.  Seb and rolled out fairly strongly into a wicked headwind with James tailing behind.  We fought that blasted headwind all day - having to push hard downhill to maintain 18kph and occasionally getting blown to a complete standstill by heavy gusts while climbing.  The terrain was challenging as well - unrelenting rollers with some longer climbs thrown into the mix, and a fair amount of heat. 

Just after lunch things went South for me.  My stomach turned inside out and pretty soon I had to make a pit stop.  After about 3hrs in the can at a rest stop things were "slightly better".  Not good, but better.  I also had some issues with my front derailleur and had to stop a couple of times to fix it.  That was kind of annoying...  Who has front derailleur problems?  A little while later my ankle decided to quit on me and I was left limping along one one leg with a stomach that refused food.  Still into a wicked headwind.  AWESOME.

Seb tried his best to help me out, going to the front to break the wind and by slowing the pace to something that I was able to hold on one leg.  Eventually the ankle worked itself out as it typically does, and my stomach recovered enough to allow me to eat once more.  By this time however it was nearly 18:30 and we were still ~75k out of the Sault.  With the killer headwinds still blowing, we had to take a serious look at our options.  We were both pretty tired, and knew that we'd likely pull into the Sault at ~22:00.  We ended up at a hotel a little past Pancake Bay, right across the street from a nice beach on Lake Superior.  Seb relaxed while I "iced" my legs in the lake, and then we hit the restaurant for a pretty decent dinner.  Somewhere between the Sault and Sudbury tomorrow - wind, weather and body dependent. 


Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 10.5
Actual Ride Time: 8.02
Total Distance:  165.09 km
Avg Speed:  20.5kph
Max Speed:  63.1kph



Day29

S & I got a very late start, having had our legs chopped off earlier in the morning so we didn't hit the road until just after noon.  Another day of killer headwinds, relentless rolling hills, and pounding out mileage head to head with Mother Nature.  Funny thing about doing battle with her - you never win.  We made it to the Sault and played a little "Cloak & Dagger", had lunch at a sad excuse for a BBQ joint (only one item of actual BBQ on the menu, and they were out!) and then rolled on - finally pulling the plug in Bruce Mines when we ran out of daylight.  Not a high mileage day, but not bad given the conditions.  Pushing on toward Sudbury in the AM.



Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 9hrs
Actual Ride Time: 5.51hrs
Total Distance:  140.82 km
Avg Speed:  24kph
Max Speed:  N/A (overridden by high tension power lines, it read 155kph)



Day30

Up kind of late last night, we didn't hit the road until after 11.  The winds weren't brutal today but it was cool and raining for the better part of the day.  Very humid, the weird atmospheric pressure was bothering my knee (though the ankle seemed to hold up with only minimal complaints).  Seb and I battled the cold and rain moreso than the wind today, and the roads weren't terribly unkind.  Neither of us was feeling particularly good however, and after a brief stop in Spanish to use the restroom and refuel we both groaned in pain upon remounting - and decided to pull the plug on the day.  Completely soaked to the bone, we took refuge in the only hotel in town - Vance's Motor Inn.  I asked the lady about in-house laundry facillities or a  laundromat in town that might possibly be open late on a Sunday and she said that there was one, but that it was closed.  Then she did the completely unexpected and called her boss/owner and asked if she could do our laundry using the hotel facilities.  I told her that I didn't want her to have to deal with our nasty laundry so she told me to come by and get her whenever we were ready.  She unlocked the room and showed me the machines, and left me to use them.  Another example of how awesome so many people that I've met on this trip have been...  We didn't make Sudbury, but it was a halfway decent day given the challenging conditions.  ~230 to North Bay tomorrow.  That might be pushing it - we'll see what the weather gives, and if the body holds up.



Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 7hrs
Actual Ride Time: 5:29
Total Distance:   126.26 km
Avg Speed:  23 kph
Max Speed:  50 kph