Day 47: Bum sores and leg rest in the SOO

Zero kilometers except Alisha who biked about 5km to get her bike to and from the bike store!



A special thank you to Jeannie and Bob Fremlin who have opened their house to us for two nights, offering all that we need! Their sons even gave up their room and slept in a tent for us!


Movie Matinee : Click with Adam Sandler. Dylan and Wyatt, the kids of Jeannie and Bob joined us for a relaxing afternoon - worked out well as it was a rainy afternoon!



Laundry of course, emails and blogs, maybe a few postcards and phone calls?

Day 46: Awesome Beach to Sault-Ste-Marie

Tuesday, July 26th

Total Kms: 98km

This morning it was so hard to get up and leave our beautiful new campsite. It was definitely one of our prettiest campsites!

Back on the road, we headed toward Sault Ste. Marie. We took a quick snack break at Pancake Bay and at Agawa Indian Center then we kept going!

We passed the half-way point of the Trans-Canada Highway!

Coming into Sault Ste Marie, we ate dinner at the Lonestar Cafe and met the owner of the WaterTower Inn, a fellow touring cyclist!! The owner had done the Tour d'Afrique and had toured around New Zealand. We also met two other cyclists who are cycling the country, trying to raise money for skin cancer!

After dinner, we headed to Bob and Jeannie Fremlin's house, where we have been invited to spend a couple of nights! It was great to meet new people, including their two boys Dylan and Wyatt, as well as sleep without fear of rain or thunder showers!!! Ahhhhh......so nice.

Day 45: Rabbit Blanket to a beach on Lake Superior, 20km past Montreal River

July 25th

Total kms: 99km

This morning was a wet morning. There had been a wind and rain storm last night while sleeping and lots of stuff was wet. As well, it started to rain as we left camp, and we had to pull out our rain gear for the 1st time in weeks! It reminded us why we were carrying all the rain gear!

As the rain started to stop, we pulled into Katharine Cove, a beautiful sandy beach in Lake Superior Provincial Park. After a quick snack, Jennica, Cam and Christine went for a swim in Lake Superior while Alisha and Klara, still cold, looked on.

As we continued to ride, the rain stopped and it warmed up. Learning there wasn't much "official" camping between Montreal River and Pancake Bay, we decided to look for our own campsite. We found a gorgeous bay with access from the Highway on Lake Superior.

After a quick swim in the Lake, an awesome dinner and some fog rolling in, we headed to bed, definitely ready to sleep!

Day 44: White River to Rabbit Blanket Provincial Park

July 23, 2006

Total kms: 127km

This park is the first of two campsites in Lake Superior Provincial Park, starting just after Wawa, ON and ending 83km later on HWY 17. Today was an interesting ride, after Alisha called her parents to wish her dad a happy birthday.

After a long ride, we rode into Wawa with a full view of a giant Canadian Goose statue. During a gorgeous ride through Lake Superior Provincial Park, we passed several bays including a beautiful bay called "Old Woman Bay", so named because the cliff behind the bay looks like the portrait of an old woman.

Day 43: Marathon to White River

July 22, 2005

Total Kms: 92km

Leaving camp, we decided Christine's bulging tire would not make it...did a literal tour of Marathon's hardware stores which turned into calls to local cyclists to find a 700 x 35 size tire. We met a number of interesting people including Joe "Ironman", we call him (because he met us to see if he could give us a hand, but ended up talking about all the races he had done...) This made for a late start...

On the way out, Jennica stopped to meet the touring longboarders, who she had heard about from her friend Blake. They are longboarding from Halifax to Vancouver for breast cancer - awesome to hear others' stories and adventures (check out pushingforthecure.ca)

The hills continue!

We rolled into White River for free camping at the visitor's info center. Awesome Winnie-the-Pooh tribute! Did you know that Winnie was an actual black bear cub who was bought by a Winnipeg soldier, Harry Colebourn? He named the cub after his hometown (Winnie) and took him to the London zoo for safe keeping while he was at war. This is where he inspired A.A Milne to write his stories (with his son Christopher). Pretty neat!

Bike Blunders and Bike Mishaps

Klara

- broken spoke (Rossport, ON)
- bent cog, needed to replace second ring (temporarily fixed with a hammer for two days!) (Ignace, ON)
- broken presta valve, not flat, but couldn't inflate (Calgary, AB)

Cam

- lost trailer hook, fixed with a washer and screw that actually work better! (Creston, BC)

Christine

- rear flat (Rock Creek, BC)
- tire bulge, probably as a result of uneven wear, pannier weight and braking - put on a temporary racing slick in Marathon, ON, but got two new tires today in the Sault

Alisha

- tire slice, resulting in a flat x2 (went through 5 tubes!) : one temporarily fixed with the slick, the other with a five dollar bill! (Replaced tire in Winnipeg, MB, and then Kenora, ON)
-derailer not working (probably as a result of the Manning Park crash), having a lot of difficulty shifting down - "fixed" multiple times: Grand Fork, Osoyoos, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay
- finally decided to get a new front derailer today in the Sault

Jennica

- squeaky bike: turns out that I rubbed off all the grease from inside the idler pulley (part of the rear gear system) or that it washed off in all the BC rain - "re-lubed" in Banff, AB
- broken or worn-out clips on my bike shoes....plus the sole of my shoe had half removed itself: new shoes (maybe my bd present?) in Thunder Bay, ON

Day 42: Terrace Bay to Marathon

Friday, July 21st
Total kilometers: 84km

We decided to take the afternoon off, as realistically it will take another 4 days to get to Sault-Ste-Marie. It will be nice to make dinner and get to bed early.

The day again was beautiful but some good hills to get over, and I have only heard that it gets worse. I am thoroughly enjoying it though I must say.

Last night it was really cold for some reason, and getting up was really hard this morning. The trees and rock faces are definately helping to keep us cooler during the day than the prairies, which we are so grateful for.

Looking forward to checking out White River tomorrow (home of Winnie the Pooh!)

Day 41: Nipigon to Terrace Bay

July 20th

Total Kilometers: 106km

Breakfast at a restuarant! We sure enjoy eggs and toast after many mornings of oatmeal for the past month!

Lots of long climbs - that is relative of course....long as in 3km not 30km like BC. It is up and down and around rock faces, and dense forest, often looking out over the lake. I just can't wait to find a nice swimming hole, although I imagine it is really cold...

We did have some bike repairs to do today. Something flew from a truck (perhaps a rock from under the tire?) today and wiped out one of Klara's spokes completely! We also had a fellow cyclist along for the help, Graham who has been riding with us for a couple of days. Alisha has enjoyed going fast with him ahead of the group for a bit!

Day 40: Thunder Bay to Nipigon

Wednesday, July 19th

Total kilometers: 117km

Our campground? Still Water Campground - they wanted to first charge us 50 dollars but with a little B4B charm, we managed 29 (thats 10 dollars a tent, plus 3 extra adults for one site)

We had a great tailwind today which really helped move us along. I think this is because we are headed North around Lake Superior and there is a northernly wind off the lake. Wow! I have never seen a great lake before and it is UNREAL! It really does remind us of the ocean; Lake Superior is beautiful and clear, and often green coloured (stay posted for photos).

Alisha Mills is famous! She was interviewed by the TV station and we all met up at the Terry Fox Memorial (oh- us SFUites are so proud) for a photo.

We are definately getting into a hilly section of Ontario....

JR

Day 39: Kakabeka Falls to Thunderbay Ont.

Distance: 35 km


Today was my kind of riding day!

Got up, had a quick breaky, packed up camp, took another quick look around the Falls and then hit the road.



Before my saddle sores had time to start hurting again, we were already in Thunder Bay!
We had a great day in Thunder Bay doing laundry, getting bikes serviced and we even went to see a movie.... at the Theatre!

It's such a welcomed break when we can put on 'normal' clothes and blend in to society even for a few hours.

Special thanks to Satusirkku Minor for being such an excellent host (ie. feeding us and putting up with our stuff spread all over her house, ohh and she drove us around!).

Satu is the mother of a friend of Jennica's from school, and she teaches belly dancing here in TB!

We (or at least I) tried to sneak a free lesson - but our day was so busy. Maybe next time...

www.satusbellydancing.com

CC

Day 38: Upsala to Kakabeka Falls

July 16, 2006

Kms Today: 115 ish

Highlights:
When you are out in the wilderness your timelines are subject to Mother Nature. Today mother nature was on our side with a Great Tail Wind.

Big highlight - NEW TIME ZONE!! Yah Eastern Time! Problem is we keep losing time, which usually translates into losing more sleep. boo!

If you are ever cycling this route there is a small gift shop about 20 km outside of Upsala where they sell gourmet coffee. Of course, when they say 'gourmet' this means high quality drip coffee... Not quite the lattè Alisha was dreaming of!



Terrain: the hills start to get more frequent and steeper as you get closer to Kakabeka.


Interesting occurances on the road.
A bee flew into Klara's helmet and stung her while she was decending one of the hills.

Jen and Klara saw a black bear! Jen was really excited until Klara pointed out the mother could be close by....

This was followed by 6 rounds of singing the happy song, in hopes the sound of singing voices would scare away an angry mother bear.

The time to be happy is now
The place to be happy is here .
The way to be happy is to make others happy and have a little heaven down here.


Swimming at Kakabeca falls:
What happens when you take 5 triathletes on a cycling trip across canada?
They exercise even when they are washing up before they go to bed. Our evening swim consisted of an obstacle course, handstands, summersaults and a piggyback racing. Never ending excitement till we hit the pillow.

Day 37: Raleigh Lake to Upsala

July 17th
Distance: 123km

This morning we rode into Ignace for grocery shopping and a snack at the "Chip Truck", a wonder f Ontario. We are going through prime moose territory so we are keeping our eyes peeled for moose but so far have yet to see one. Cam and Alisha have even tried calling the moose but to no good.

This evening, we camped just outside Upsala at a campsite of our own creation. No, we didn't cut down trees or anything, there were flat areas just off a service road and a large lake that served as both a drinking water source and a bath tub. Got to love the great outdoors (except the mosquitos that drove us into our tents relatively early).

Day 36: Vermillion Bay to Raleigh Lake

July 15, 2006

Kms Today: 120

Highlights:
Today was a good ride out of Vermillion Bay. A very beautiful ride but a hot ride none the less. After a quick break in Dryden for lunch (yes Tim Horten's!) and grocery shopping, we were out on the road again.

We took a nice relaxing break including a swim in the afternoon at Jackfish Lake! It allowed us to cool off and feel really refreshed.

By late evening, we had found our way to the Cobblestone Lodge on Raleigh Lake. A big thank you to the owners of the Cobblestone Lodge for their donation of a campsite and showers. They were tremendously enjoyed including a night swim from Alisha and Cam!

Klara, Alisha and Jennica even found a little company tonight as a frog decided to make the fly of their tent home! They didn't even have to catch him and the camera definitely didn't scare him away.

Day 35: Clearwater Bay (West of Kanora) to Crystal Lake (Vermilion Bay)

July 14, 2006

Kms Today: 118km

Highlights:
After another amazing breakfast from David and Darlene, we said our goodbyes and started on our way. After a day with them, they almost felt like family! After a ride to Kenora, we did our errands such as grocery shopping at a Safeway that you can boat up to!

This afternoon's ride was gorgeous! There are so many little lakes and we have gone back to rolling hills instead of flats! It is a welcome change from the flat prairies that we have had for the past few weeks.

Klara, Jennica and Alisha took a quick dip in Bee Lake to cool off and hopped back on their bikes to the Crystal Lake Campground just outside Vermilion Bay.

Day 34: Lake of the Woods Ontario

July13, 2006

Km Today: 0 Km
Day off to tour one of the amazing lakes of Ontario.

Highlights:
Today we were the guests of David and Darlene Baldner. After a lovely sleep, and waking up without alarm clocks, we got up to an amazing breakfast! Thank you Darlene! A few loads of laundry later, we went out on the boat with David to explore Lake of the Woods. This lake has TONS of islands in it and is one of the unsung wonders of Canada!

A picnic lunch on Coney Island and a nice swim in the Lake, we continued our tour with a boat ride to Kenora and a little ice cream!

As we were riding back to Clearwater Bay, we saw a storm on the horizon and tried to get back before it hit. We were packing the boat away as the majority of the rain hit but thank goodness we weren't in the boat! It was such a treat to watch a storm from a safe distance and from inside a house where we weren't gettin wet!!!

A million thanks to Dave and Darlene for their amazing hospitality!!

Day 33: Whitemouth Campgr to Clearwater Bay

July 12, 2006

Km Today: 95km

Highlights:

This morning was so hot! Even before we left, we were already hot! A ride into Falcon Bay, we stopped at the bakery for a snack! Everyone knows we love baked goods!

Today, we also crossed from Manitoba to Ontario! It is amazing that we are in our 5th province! This will also be a really LONG province.

David and Darlene Baldner, the people we are staying with in Clearwater Bay met us on the road! It was so nice to meet them! They were so nice and took our bags so we could ride unhindered to Clearwater Bay.

There was a real dinner party tonight and we met two other amazing couples: Garry and Gwen, and Tim and Deanna, both really interesting couples from Clearwater Bay. It was so neat to meet both couples and hear amazing stories, as well as learn a little about Lake of the Woods. After a great dinner, we were more than ready for a good sleep.

Day 32: Winnipeg to...Whitemouth Campground

July 11, 2006

Km's Today: 95km

Highlights:
Wow was it ever windy today! We met up with representatives from the Manitoba Lung association just before we headed out of town and arranged to meet them at the longitudinal halfway point of Canada approximately 20km east of the city. We estimated that it would take us about an hour to get there and boy were we wrong. The winds were heading north west but they were so strong it felt like they were heading straight west. The winds were so strong that Jennica lost her brand new 2 L collapsable waterbottle and no one on the team heard it hit the ground (or saw it as we passed behind her). Thankfully it was found by the members of the Manitoba Lung Association! Klara also unfortunately tipped over at a light and managed to get some claw marks on her legs (from her cog, not from a bear although looks can be deceiving).

After the quick photo opportunity at the Longitudinal Center of Canada, we were back on our bikes with a goal to cycle to Falcon Lake where the Lung Association had reserved us a site. Determined to get there despite the winds we pressed on only to arrive at Lilac RV Park at 4 pm. We had been working so hard all morning yet did not feel we had gone far enough to stop for lunch. Well by 40 km we deffinately need a break to refuel, rehydrate and get out of the sun for a little bit.

Then we pressed on, still determined to get to Falcon Lake. With quotes of Its crazy we have never attempted to do 90km so late in the afternoon, but we have a campground so we have just got to try. So try we did. Finally, at 9pm as the sun started to set and a thunderstom quickly approaching we decided it was time to find a place to shelter for the night at Whitemouth Campground just past the turnoff for Hadashville.

KS