Since today was going to be a century day (100 miles or 160
km) we decided to leave relatively early today. I was up around 5.30 am and
started packing up and was ready for breakfast at 6.40 am. The temperature
plunged last night to 10C and there was dew on almost everything and it made
packing a little tricky. I had oatmeal
with yoghurt and GORP, bread and fruit. We (Ron, Michael, Keith, Justine and I)
left camp around 7.30 and it was a 4 km ride to get to the main highway which
we got at 7.45 am.
After last night’s wonderful spaghetti dinner I was full of
energy and was able to keep the steady pace of 27 kmph. The chilly morning
continued and the air felt cold and everyone was in their arm warmers, leg
warmers and extra layers of clothing. We formed a pace line and got through the
first 40 km in to White River within 1.5 hours. We stopped at Robin’s donuts
and I had a ½ L of chocolate milk, Black forest Danish and a banana nut donut.
White River is also the town that is connected with “Winnie - the pooh” bear
and we took some pictures at the information centre. After a cheesy picture
session we carried on with our pace line and were on road again at 9.50 am. At
around 60 km mark, we picked up Cor in our pace line and about 10 km later
Howard joined us and we had a 7 person pace line changing every 3km. Although
the greater number of people made it tricky to change positions, it also
reduced the amount of work on each rider and we just ripped through the day
making distance at a good pace. At 80 km mark, Ron dropped back to stay with
Emilie and Alan as Alan wasn’t feeling well and they needed someone to break
the wind for them. We continued from thereon and took a break at 94 km. I had a
banana and 2 PBJ sandwiches at this time.
The next big stop for today was town of Wawa and we moved
after our lunch break for another 40 km to bring us in town. The terrain today
was mostly flat with some rolling hills, which with the proper paceline made it
look like a piece of cake. We had a nice hill going in to Wawa, which I climbed
gracefully compared to yesterday’s lousy effort. We stopped at the information
centre in Wawa at a giant geese statue and took a few pictures. I used the wifi
there to check my messages and facebook. It was still 2.30 pm so we went to
Wawa and stopped at a Tim Hortons and I had a medium iced cappuccino.
We weren’t sure about the ‘rugged’ terrain of the Lake
Superior provincial park and so we moved on from Tim Hortons and were back on
road at 3 pm. After crossing in to the provincial park at 145 km there was a
tough hill which went on for 5 km. After the big climb there was pretty sweet
downhill which brought us to Old Woman’s bay on Lake Superior. This was one of
the best beaches and by far the best sight on the tour after the Rockies. We
all stopped at the beach, took a walk to the water and dipped our toes and just
sat at the beach. After about ½ hour we left for the last 7 km, which happened
to be all uphill, long and gradual.
We got in to camp around 5 pm and I set up tent and got
ready after a shower. Dinner tonight is veggie burgers, sautéed mushrooms,
mashed potatoes and cookies for dessert. Some of the riders just got in to camp
(9 pm) due to multiple flats and are just about to heat up their dinners. The
camp today is very peaceful although it is close to highway and there might be
truck noises. As the days get tough once everyone gets to their tents, except
for the really light sleepers, everyone is collapsed and doesn’t care about the
noises.
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| The crisp morning lake, it was 10C at this time in morning. |
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| Pace lining |
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| Winnie - named after Winnipeg, was a bear Cub taken from White River to England during War. |
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| The Giant geese statue. If only the geese on Waterloo campus were such obedient. |
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| Clicks on the go |
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| Old Woman's bay, ON. Lake Superior waters. |
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| What a view. |
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