Day 37

Friday, July 31st
Thunder Bay to Gravel River
165km

Back on the road with a long day of cycling. From the road out of Thunder Bay, we got a great view of the “Sleeping Giant” island at sunrise.

Our next stop was the Terry Fox memorial, which is located in a very nice park at the top of a hill. Very nice spot with another great view of the sleeping giant.

Route 17/11 was pretty bad today. There is only a tiny little shoulder, and even it is frequently deteriorated. There is only one lane in each direction, and there was a lot of traffic. However, we didn't have any problems.

There was really only one significant climb today, near the end of the route. Rosalyn and I took it in our granny gears, and it wasn't too bad at all.

Our cue sheet wasn't very accurate with milage today. First we were 10km short, then 10km long, and we finished 10km shorter than our sheet said. The first group to camp actually went 20km past the camp before realizing their error and coming back. (Those were 20 VERY hilly km too, which made it all the more entertaining for the rest of us.)

In their defence, the camp was really hard to spot. It was actually a crappy little run down motel. The kind of motel where people get murdered in horror movies. The kind of motel that probably rents by the hour. We pitched tents out back.

The mosquitos were everywhere! No word of a lie, I had 7 bites before I had pitched my tent.
-----------------------------------------------
Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831