Day 64

Thursday, August 26th
Campbellton to Petit Rocher
98km

Short day today with a big hill in the middle.

We stopped at a Tim Hortons less then a km from camp.  They sure got a lot of business from us on this trip.  I should write to them to see if we could be in a commercial.  That would probably be go for a free timbit or two.

Dalhousie was 30km from camp, and featured a 450m climb with a 13% grade.  That is definitely enough to get your heart going...but it wasn't too bad in the end.

After the climb, our route followed the coast of Chaleur Bay, which was very scenic.  The symmetric ripples stretched all the way to the horizon.

There was some comic relief when we stopped at a small engine repair shop to eat some sandwiches.  Rosalyn almost “used” one of the port-a-potties at the side of the building...which the store kept there to be rented out.  Alas, she figured it out before any real damage was done.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 63

Wednesday, August 25th
Amqui (PQ) to Campbellton (NB)
105km

Short ride today, but very scenic.  We followed the Matapedia River, which is (apparently) a world class fly fishing destination.  The river was shallow and clear, so we could see the rocks at the bottom.  It cut through a valley along with route 132 and a set of train tracks.  There were rolling, evergreen-packed hills on either side of the road.

It was 3 degrees celcius when we woke up this morning.  We were all chilled to the bone, and rushing around to put on our cold weather clothing.  About 8km into the ride, we stopped for a hot chocolate and to warm up inside.

Throughout the day, it gradually got hotter and hotter.  This became a problem when I ran out of space to carry my unwanter clothing items.  By 50km, I was down to my warm weather apparel with extra stuff shoved in every pocket and my trunk bag full.

Just passed Matapedia, we crossed into New Brunswick and the Atlantic time zone.

The towns of Atholville and Campbellton were very close to the camp site, so we stopped into a library to use the internet and a Walmart to pick up a few things.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 62

Tuesday, August 24th
Trois Pistoles to Amqui
158km

It was freezing cold when I woke up this morning.  So cold that I had visions of me cycling today in every piece of warm clothing I could muster.  But common sence prevailed, and I wore only a few warm things which could fold up small and fit in my bike bag once the temperature rose.

It was an easy route today...route 132 all the way.  It was not an easy day though...we are passing through the Appalachian mountains and there were several tough climbs.

Aside from the temperature, the weather was very cooperative again today.  The wind was not too strong, and was mostly at our backs.  The sun was out and shining brightly.  The brilliant sun and crisp air were sure signs that fall was approaching.  What happened to hot August weather this year???

I don't think I've spoken at all about the churches of Quebec.  Every tiny little, middle-of-nowhere, one stopsign and no gas station town in Quebec has a massive church.  In Saskatchewan, the tall grain silos denoted a town.  In Quebec, it is the churches.

Today's ride was, yet again, fantastically scenic.  As per usual, scenic coincided with hilly, but it was worth it.  The tree-covered hills, wandering roads and bright blue cloud filled skies combined for many a panorama.  I really think that the sky must be bigger in Quebec.  I've taken a dozen or so (digital) photos of the clouds in the bright blue sky, but none of them come close to capturing it.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 61

Monday, August 23rd
Riviere Ouelle to Trois Pistoles
118km

It was the worst of times, it was the worster of times, it was the best of times.

I woke up at 5:15am, because I set my alarm wrong.  I realized quickly and went back to bed for half an hour.

Cooking breakfast seemed to take forever this morning.  We had fried eggs and bacon, oatmeal and fruit salad.  I didn't do much, other than wash up the pans and load up the truck at the end.  It was only 8:30am when Peter (from my cook crew) and I headed out.

It was a cool and overcast morning, but there was a pretty good tail wind and no other traffic on the road.  Peter and I made great time as we chatted about his life back in England, his various investments over the years, and our future plans.  The time, and beautiful countryside, flew by.

Just outside of Riviere du Loup it got very cold and started to rain.  We stopped at an information booth and got directions to the local library...which we found...although it didn't open for four hours...thanks tourist booth lady!?!

Next we stopped at a Dejardins credit union so that Peter could take out some cash.  I am cash rich now that Paul has repaid me the $770 that he'd borrowed over the summer, after losing his wallet in BC.  His replacement cards just showed up last week.  I can't find a CIBC anywhere to deposit all my cash...just National Banks and Dejardins in every little town we go through.

On a somewhat related note, last night I found the wallet that I lost on my way into Alliston.  Although my debit and credit cards have already been replaced, it was good to get my driver's liscence and $20 back.  The wallet was on Bob's shelf...which is 2 below mine.  It must have fallen and gotten mixed in with his stuff.

But I digress...

After the bank, Peter and I stopped for lunch at a mom and pop hamburger joint.

On our way out, we met up with Ryan, and cycled the rest of the day with him.  It didn't take long for the rain to stop and the air to warm up.  Then the wind REALLY picked up...in our direction.  We were cruising at 35-45km/h without any effort at all.  It was amazing.  On a couple of curving downhills (with suggested speeds of 25km/h) we were over 50km/h!!!  So much fun!!!

Our campsite was right on the river again tonight, and we enjoyed a fantastic sunset as the tide came in.  Lots of photos.

Really cold night tonight so I've covered myself in fleece to sleep.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 60

Sunday, August 22nd
Quebec City to Riviere Ouelle
141km

Another WONDERFUL day of cycling. 

My friend Jeremy (who rode across the country last year...alone!) told me that Quebec was a great place to cycle...and I certainly agree.  The sun was out, but the day was nice and cool.  There was a good tail wind, mostly good roads, and lots of great scenery and cute little towns to ride through.  The day flew by.

From the university, there was a long, steep downhill (with a few ignored stopsigns) down to the river.  We took a short ferry trip across the river, which gave us one last look at the Chateau Frontinac, before riding on route 132 for the rest of the day.

(As a side note, our tour guide yesterday said that the Chateau Frontinac was “the most photographed building in the world.”. Can this possible be true?  I suppose that there's no way to measure it, but surely there are more likely candidates.)

Tonight, our cooking crew reprived our chicken thai curry dish.  It took a really long time to make because the gas elements kept burning out in the wind, but tasted good.  In the end, we cooked and cleaned from 4pm to 8pm...which felt like an eternity.  The mosquitos came back in full force this evening too...which made dish time that much more enjoyable.

Finally, I  neglected to mention the (false) fire alarm that happened in Point-du-Lac...at the nunery place.  Everyone was sound asleep when the ringing bells had us up and out of bed.  After 4 years in residence, I have seen my fair share of fire alarms...but this one was a bit different. 

As soon as we established that nothing was actually burning, people became very grumpy.  I actually thought to myself, “It was probably punk kids.  Why would anyone be so cruel as to wake us all up at...10:30pm.”  The loud bells had been ringing for about 4 minutes before Lorne got a little wrench from his bike and removed all of the metal bells from the walls.  In the end, the bells were shut off (by the proper authorities) and the abundant flies near the detectors were blamed for the whole ordeal.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 59

Saturday, August 21st
Rest day in Quebec City
0km

Breakfast at Laval University was not quite the same as the all-you-can eat experience of Carlton.  They counted, portioned, and measured out every little thing here.  The food was ok, but a big group of us still headed down to the old part of the city, in search of second breakfast.

There was a lot of walking through the old streets.  The colourful stone buildings at the side of the road were only slightly less charming when we realized that they housed Subway, Radioshack, and...yes...even a CIBC Wood Gundy office.

We had an icecream at the Chateau Fromtinac while watching a busker perform on a ten foot uni-cycle.  Next, it was 310 steps up to the old fort (the citidell ?sp?) And a great view of the city.  We ate lunch (a chicken burger with poutine) and took the bus back to the university.

I, bravely, got a haircut at the university...from someone who didn't speak english.  Luckily, since its almost time to return to the “real world” where people have “real haircuts”, the lady cutting my hair did a good job.

We had a quick dinner at the on campus pub and then headed to bed around 8:30pm.  Over dinner, the discussion focused on Laval University's apparent strategy of building residences with very tiny rooms across the street from nice, big bars with cheap beer.  This is one way to fit a lot of students in a small space without hearing too many complaints.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 58

Saturday, August 21st
Pointe du Lac to Quebec
148km

Another fantastic day for cycling.  Perhaps I'm just starting to savor each day of cycling as we come to the end of our trip.

The sun was out, but the air was cool as we rode into Trois Rivieres early in the day.  We took a very good route throught this picturesque city - alowing us to see the three rivers, as well as a few old churches.  The Sanctuaire Notre Dame du Cap was the most famous of these religious buildings.  (I thought it was a bit cheesy to have an “official” resteraunt on the site.)

After that was a long stretch of riding along route 138.  This was very picturesque countryside, right along the Fleuve Saint Laurent.  There were plenty of rolling hills and little towns to keep the ride interesting.

Coming into Quebec city there were a few really steep hills to climb.  I thought we'd finished the tough climbs in Northern Ontario!

After a brief misadventure looking for “Rue Charles Huot”, we did make it to Laval University.  The residences rooms are a lot smaller here than they were in Ottawa.  They have turned single rooms into doubles.

We had a pizza supper, did laundry, and went to bed early tonight.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 57

Thursday, August 19th
Mont St. Hilaire to Pointe-du-Lac
125km

We got wet today.  Oh man did we ever get wet.

Today was supposed to be “a spectacular day for scenery.”  However, most of my ride was spent staring at the potholed road in front of me, and wiping the rain off of my face.

I woke up several times during the night to the sounds of wind howling and tent flaps flapping.  The sky was dark and the gusty winds were a sure sign that a storm was in the cards.

We made it to the Sorel-St. Ignace ferry without a drop.  There were, however, some confusing road signs, construction, and cue sheet errors for us to contend with.

As soon as we stepped off the ferry it started to rain.  It poured with rain for almost 2 hours.  Luckily, it stayed quite warm, so I was very wet but not cold.  I didn't even bother putting on my plastic rain jacket, because I thought it would make me too warm.

We took a break in a little resteraunt to get some food and try to wait out the rain.  Our plan worked, and we spent the last 40km of the ride drying out.

We are “camping” tonight in what I've been told is a former convent. The good news is that we get to sleep in beds indoors, and don't have to put up our tents.  The bad news is that we are 4-6 in each tiny little room...and some of these old guys are snorers.

After dinner, the cooking crew brought out a birthday cake for me.  They were late by a day...but its the thought that counts.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 56

Wednesday, August 18th
Hudson to Mont St. Hilaire
117km

Happy Birthday to me.

Todays cue sheet had the most instructions per km of cycling of any day on the trip.  There were 49 instructions for only 115km of cycling, which made for a slow day with lots of stopsigns.

It was another wonderful day of cycling.  Slight tailwind, good temperature, lots of great things to see.

The highlight of the day was a trip through old Montreal.  It was great.  The bike trails that we took were fantistic!  Beautiful trails along the river and great views of old Montreal and the downtown skyscrappers in the distance.

Even the Montreal suburbs were nice.  There was a beautiful bike path leading into the city, right on the water.  The streets had row after row of 3 story houses with metal stairs/fire escapes on each of them.

After Montreal, the roads into Mont St. Hilaire weren't so great.  Lots of potholes to avoid.  A very bumpy ride.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 55

Tuesday, August 17th
Ottawa, ON to Hudson, PQ
172km

Today was a wonderful day for cycling.  The sun was out, the wind was tail and the roads were gently rolling though some lovely countryside and quaint little villages.

We left Carlton and headed along the canal, passing all of the important goverment and national buildings along the way.  The view of the parlament buildings from along the canal is fantastic.  I will definitely be returning here this winter to skate the canal.  In fact, we took almost the same route as yesterday's bus tour - without the $30 fee. 

There were lots of very cute little towns along the route today, but none of them had any proper resteraunts.  We kept stopping and getting chips or chocolate bars to hold us over.  Eventually we found a pub that served greasy sandwiches...which I didn't even enjoy.  (Maybe I'm actually starting to like all the healthy camp food I've been eating.)

Our crossing into Quebec was very quick and uneventful.  There wasn't even a cheesy “Welcome to Quebec - Home of Poutine” sign for us to take a photo of.

There was a ferry ride today, but it only lasted a few minutws as we crossed the Ottawa river from Carillon to Pointe Fortune.

This was the last of the 100 mile plus days.  In some ways, its a relief to know that “the worst is over”, but it also is starting to feel like the trip is almost over...which is very sad.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 54

Monday, August 16th
Rest day in Ottawa
0km

Pretty busy rest day.  I havn't been to Ottawa in years, so I went around doing tourist things for most of the day.

I did laundry first thing in the morning.  It was great to have ample laundry facilies in the resdence.  Next stop was an all-we-could-eat breakfast at the residence caffeteria.  This was GREAT.  There were so many different foods available, and the cost was included in our stay here.

After breakfast, we took a taxi over to the bike shop that Roger recommended.  I got a new right hand shifter, to replace the one that I had damaged back at the beginning of the trip.  It has worked very well since the accident, but it is badly warped and wasn't shifting very smoothly lately.

After dropping off the bike, Paul, Rick and I hopped onto a Greyhound sight-seeing bus, and had a 2 hour tour of the city.  This probably wasn't worth the $30 price tag, but we did get to see most of the city's landmarks without walking around very much.  Annoyingly, the bus had a habit of speeding past scenic spots, and stopping with nothing interesting around - which made picture taking much more challenging.

After that, we stopped at a mall to pick up a few odds and ends, picked up my bike, and headed back to the residence.

I'm about to go and eat now, and will probably hit the sack early tonight to catch up on some sleep.  (We've learned the importance of rest days.)
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 53

Sunday, August 15th
Canoe Lake to Ottawa
124km

Another great riding day.  Today's memorable feature was fog.  Thick, wet, low lying fog for most of the morning.  It made for some great photos.

Canoe lake looked wonderfully surreal as the sun rose and brightened the fog while we were riding out of the camp.  There was a lone canoist in the middle of the lake, who became the unknowing subject of many TDC photographs.  Several cemataries along the route also made for fantastic photo opportunities.

The fog was so wet that my glasses had beads of water on them, and I had to ride without them.  My arms and eyelashes collected dropletts of water as well.  In fact, most of the time we couldn't see the end of the rolling hill that we were climbing up or coasting down.

There was one hill just after Westport that was a real shocker.  Everyone agrees that it was the steepest climb of the trip so far...even though it only lasted a few hundred meters.

The route map for today had us riding on a lot of bicycle paths as we arrived in Ottawa.  A few of the Ottawa natives recommended an alternate route into the city, to avoid the Sunday afternoon crowds.  This is the route that Rosalyn and I took.

We stayed in Dundas residence at Carlton University today.  Always nice to have a night indoors.  I don't actually have any trouble sleeping in my tent, but somehow it is easier to get organised indoors.

Ryan's parents hosted a BBQ for all of us tonight.  He probably had about 30 friends and family over to his house, as well as most of the riders.  There was plenty of food for everyone, which was very much appreciated.

My sister, Alison, and her boyfriend, Rob, stopped by the party to visit with me for a few hours.  Alison is going into her final year at Sheridan College, and spending her summer as a medical resource for Olympia sports camp near Orillia.  Rob lives in Prescot, which is about an hour from Ottawa, and Alison was visiting him for the weekend.  It was nice to see both of them, and catch up on summer stories, Alison has limited internet time this summer, and limited interest in reading all of my blogs, so she was hearing most of my stories for the first time.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 52

Saturday, August 14th
Campbellford to Canoe Lake
144km

Again, I appologize for not writing this log in a more timely manner, and I further appologise for forgetting most of the details of this ride.

The weather was much improved today, and riders were in better spirits.

Rosalyn and I rode in a big paceline today with Roger, Murry, Tito, Trudy and Jose.  I hadn't ridden in a big group in a while, and it was nice to have more people in front of me blocking wind.

The campsite tonight was at Canoe Lake.  The lake was very pretty, but the campsite left much to be desired...mostly in the washroom department.  There was only one grubby little shower.  Ewwww...
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 51

Friday, August 13th
Darlington to Campbellford
132km

Today was a lousy day for cycling.  There was rain, headwind, gravel roads, and lots and lots of short, steep climbs.  All of these things also combined to put Rosalyn in a less-than-cheery mood for much of the afternoon, which didn't help my day any.  For example, at one point she refused to ride above 10km/h...for one whole hour!!!  Friday the 13th really IS an unlucky day.

The day started well enough.  I had to make breakfast (toasted bagels and oatmeal) and pack up the truck, so we didn't get on the road until 8:30am or so.  We stopped at the first Tim Horton's, which was about 10km into the ride, and stayed for about 2 hours.  In retrospect, this was a very stupid idea.  However, at the time, the weather was fine and we didn't think that the terrain would be too bad.

By the end of the day, we were sure that we'd be ages behind everyone getting into camp, and we'd probably miss supper.  However, we caught up with Steve (the slowest rider in the group) about 20km from camp, and then ran into several other cyclists outside a small cofee shop.  They had made a wrong turn somewhere, and added 20km to their ride.

Less worried now about being late into camp, we dried off a bit in the cofee shop and had some sandwiches.

In the end, we were among the last ones into camp, but we were just in time to eat after showering and setting up tents.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 50

Thursday, August 12th
Alliston to Darlington
130km

I have a confession to make.  I havn't written this log for the last 3 days, and I can't really remember many details about the days.  For this, I appologise.  What I can remember is...

After a “rest” day in Niagara, my legs were pretty stiff getting back on thw bike.

Being so close to home, I started to recognise a lot of the streets that we rode on.  Today's cue sheet included: Bathurst, Yonge, Leslie, and Bloor...although we were never very close to downtown Toronto.

We were, luckily, very close to Rosalyn's house, and at about the 50km mark, Rosalyn's sister and her sister's fiance set up a little refreshment stand.  They had cold lemonaid and warm Chelsea buns, which Rosalyn's mom had baked from scratch that morning.  Mmmmm...

We had a pretty lazy ride all in all.  The first 75km or so were with Paul, so were kept a brisk paceline.  But eventually Rick (who had been cooking breakfast) caught up with the group, and Paul sped off with him.  After that, we took our time and stopped at several coffee shops along the way.

We stayed in Darlington provincial park, which is on Lake Ontario, just east of the GM head office in Oshawa.

Because of our slow riding and frequent stops, Rosalyn and I didn't get into camp until almost 4pm.  This was bad, because my team was cooking that night, and we usually start cooking around that time.  Luckily, the truck had been slowed by the Toronto traffic, and arrived only slightly before we did.  Thus, I had plenty of time to set up my tent and shower before the cooking began.

We made hamburgers tonight, and had cut up veggies and tortilla chips with dip on the side.  The food seemed to go over well, although the avacados weren't ripe enough to use in the dip, and there was only enough ground beef for two tiny burgers each.  (We figured that two small burgers were more filling that one large one.)
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 49

Wednesday, August 11th
Rest day in Alliston (spent in Niagara)
0km

Another busy rest day with lots of walking.  With only a few more rest days left in the summer, and lots of interesting plances left to see, I think it might be a while before we get any real “rest”.

I played tour guide again, taking Paul, Rick and Jonny around the falls area.

We took in the tackiness of clifton hill, walked out on the rainbow bridge (Paul is prefectly comfortable decending a hill at 80km/h on his bike, but he does seem to get a bit flustered when you trick him onto a bridge, and have him to explain that he is an Australian citizen without a passport when he tries to come back into Canada.  The best part was that we said that we had not actually entered the US, while he had an “I love NY” shirt onm.)

After that, we rode the maid of the mist, which I hadn't done in years.  It was raining pretty hard, which fot us even wetter than the mist usually would have.

We walked to the brink of the falls for a few photos before heading up the incline railway to lunch at TGI Fridays.  After that was the IMAX movie niagara, which I belive was filmed around 1987...honestly!

We stopped off at the local CIBC and got me a new debit and credit card.  Yay CIBC!!!

Dinner at home was great.  I'm not sure how I'm going to retun to camp food after both nana and mom put out huge spreads of delicious food.

Dad is driving us back to camp as I type.  As we drive north, we head towards dark clouds and its just started to rain.  Isn't camping great?!?

Mom and grandma contributed some great food for the past 2 days, and dad took 2 days off to chaufer us around.  Thanks everyone, it was great!
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 48

Tuesday, August 10th
Owen Sound to Alliston
127km

What a busy day!

Woke up at 5:30am to get a jump on the day.  We rode into Alliston today, where dad was meeting me...so I wanted to arrive in good time.

I was really well organised, so everything got packed away quickly.  I was ready to go when I noticed that I was missing my wallet.  Unpack everything, search around the truck, rifle through Roger's stuff on the shelf beside me...nothing.  Stupid wallet.

At that point, we'd wasted 45 minutes searching around with nothing to show for it, so we rode off anyways.

Enter massive headwind.  Stupid headwind.  What a great way to start a ride that is supposed to last 167km!!!  I was definitely not in the best of spirits.  Plus, it was threating to rain.  Big black clouds, gusty, swirly winds and the distant grumble of thunder.

In the face of all this adversity, we coped the only way we knew how...found a shorter route.  Instead of meandering all around the safe, scenic local roads, we opted to take highway 10 all the way down to highway 89, and then 89 all the way to camp.  On a map, 10 and 89 looked like two pool cues in the middle of the spaghetti route that bud had given us.  It was a brilliant move, which ended up saving about 45km.

Just about everyone in the group took this route, but I was riding with Rosalyn, Jonny, Paul and Rick...so we got into camp first.

I unpacked EVERYTHING at the campsite, and still couldn't find my wallet.  I called a Tim Hortons and a bike shop where we had stopped yesterday, but no luck.  I gave up and called CIBC to report my cards stolen.

As a CIBC employee, I realize that I am somewhat biased, however, CIBC did an amazing job of helping me out.  I explained the situation, and the fact that I would be travelling from city to city for the next 3 weeks...in desperate need of money.  (Can you imagine cycling without secound breakfast?)  They put a rush on my request, and said that I could pick up a new credit and debit card at the branch by my parent's house tomorrow.  I was completely impressed.

With my finances in order, I packed up all my stuff to take back to Niagara with me.  This was my big chance to get rid of all the useless crap I had brought with me.  (The worse offender was the pair of XXXL overalls that I bought as apres bike apparel, eveb though I don't need apres bike apparel and I could potentially fit an entire paceline into the pants with me.)

Colin's family also made an appearence at the camp today.  His parents and some other relatives were there, as well as a close friend of his.  They brought some snacks for people, and traded somw Colin stories with us.  I passed on the condolences and kind words that everyone had sent to me after the accident.

Dad arrived shortly after that, and took Paul, Rick and Jonny into Toronto for supper and then onto Niagara.  The original plan was to go out for dinner with my grandmother, but she had prepared a typical gramdmother feast for us, so we ate at her place.  The food was wonderful, and more then sufficient to feed 4 hungry cyclists.
The dining room table, comlete with mini chandelier, was a far cry from sitting on the ground, resting our plates on our laps.  Such a treat.

After dinner, I took the guys downtown Toronto.  In only 2 hours we saw:
-the TTC
-the ROM (from the outside)
-the view from the Hyatt bar (happily, we were asked to leave because Jonny was only 16, as opposed to being asked to leave because we looked like smelly camping cyclists.)
-Yorkville
-Queens's park
-University Ave
-Dundas square
-the Eaton's centre
-old city hall
-new city hall
-Muchmusic
-the Skydome
-the CN tower
-Union Station
-BCE plance
-Commerce Count North
-my apartment

It was a very busy 2 hours.  Luckily, we are all used to taking photos from moving bikes, so it was not much of an adjustment to take photos without breaking stride while walking.

After our trip around TO, dad picked us up and drove us back to Niagara Falls.  We arrived at 10:30pm, which is about two hours later than a standard bedtime.  We were all zonked, and went straight to bed.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 47

Monday, August 9th
Tobermory to Owen Sound
113km

Leisury ride (with lots of breakfasts) today before a long, tough ride tomorrow.  Three pieces of french toast in camp, and I hit the road.

We stopped at the 41km mark for a second breakfast at a small resteraunt by the side of the road.  What started out as a pee break turned into an hour long meal.  I had eggs, homefries, sausage, toast, etc.  Yummy.

After that, it was another 30km to Wiarton...home of Wiarton Willie.  We went to see the city's most famous rodent, but he wasn't really in the mood for socializing.  He stayed inside his little hut, but we saw him scurry around every now and then.  Paul said that he got photos of each of Willie's parts so that he can paste them together later.  Happily, the statue of Willie was out and available for photos.

After our photo opp with big limestone Willie, we went for a third breakfast at a little resteraunt in town.  I had a toasted western sandwich and, as is the third breakfast tradition, we finished off the meal with some icecream cones.

The map sheet into Owen Sound left much to be desired.  Everyone in the group got lost...all in slightly different ways.  At one point, we stopped in a Timmies and watched as TDC cyclist after Tdc cyclist rode by...each heading in a completely opposite direction.

The first sign of trouble was a bunch of signs saying things like “Route 1 is now route 17.”  On its own, this would not be so bad, except for the fact that there was already a route 17, with was perpendicular to the old route 1.  I took a photo of their intersection.

The other sign of trouble was the “Dead End” sign, which appeared just as I thought that I had gotten us back on track.  As the navigator, I was dreading Rosalyn's reaction to the dead end street when we spotted Leslie across the street...just as lost as us.  There were some friendly Union gas guys there, who drew us an excellent map to the campsite.

When we stopped to ask for directions, Rosalyn noticed that she had lost a screw from one of her bike shoes, and announced to the group “I need a screw.”  This is probably not the best thing to yell at a group of union gas employees, and we got a variety of clever (and not to be repeated here) responces.  We had such a laugh, that we took a photo of the union gas guys.  As soon as the camera came out, they all rushed around looking fir their helmuts...”Just in case the wrong people see the photo.”
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 46

Sunday, August 8th
Manitowaning to Tobermory
42km

For some, today was half empty.  For others...half full.  It was either the worst rest day of the trip, or the easiest riding day.

We started out with no breakfast.  The kitchen half of the truck was packed away yesterday, and we all woke up a little early to get out tents packed away onto the truck quickly.

All of this was in preparation for the ferry crossing into Tobermory.  In order to make the 9:30am ferry, the truck had to arrive at the docks around 7:30am. 

For the riders, it was an easy 36km to the dock, a 1 hour and 45 mintue ferry ride, and a 6km ride to our campsite in Tobermory.

After getting our tents set up, we cycled the 6km back into the city to do some laundry.  Luckily for us, there is a laundry mat smack in the middle of the touristy dock area of Tobermory.  Thus, we were able to eat and window shop while we waited for our clothes.

On the bad news front, Roger's bike was stolen.  He rode his bike to visit his son yesterday, and it was gone this morning.  As a result, he ended up riding in the truck today.  So dissapointing for him.  Luckily, for Roger, he will be able to ride Dave's bike for the next couple of days until his other bike arrives in Alliston.  (Roger is from Ottawa and I think that his wife is going to bring him his other bike.)

On an even worse news, it looks like Dave might not be able to cycle at all for the rest of the trip.  Nothing is confirmed, and he wants to come back, but his doctor won't let him right now.  What terrible luck for him.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831

Day 44

Friday, August 6th
Thessalon to Massey
130km

Another very cold morning.  I wore all of my “warmers”.  Its tough to dress properly because the days start off so cold and get so warm in the afternoon.

We stopped at the Tim Horton's in Blind River.  (There's a name that inspires confidence in the drinking water, eh?).  I fear that we may end up stopping at every Timmy's we encounter for the rest of the trip.  As soon as we rode up, we saw Paul and Rick's bikes.  By the time we left, Jonny, Jose, Pierre, and Leslie had all shown up.

About 89km into the route we had a rest stop compliments of Bill, a TDC rider from 2000.  He is 71 now, and gave out bottles od cold water and cut up oranges at the side of the road.  Very kind of him.  Bill had a thick Scottish accent, and Alan (the Scot on our trip this year) said “He's the first Canadian I've met where I understood 100% of the things he said.”

When Jonny and Jose got to the rest stop, they said that they had been pulled over by a cop...lights and sirens and everything.  The cop told them that they were supposed to be riding at least 30 feet apart.  This is crazy.  Most people ride less that 3 feet apart.  In a quick paceline, Paul and Rick ride about 30 inches apart.  Jonny, to his credit, just kept saying, “OK...OK...OK”.  I thinkb that Jose pretended not to speak english...which is not really much of a stretch.

We stayed at Chutes Provincial Park, just outside of Massey.  Provincial parks are usually nice because of the ample, clean washrooms...and this was no exception.  Its called Chutes because there are a few waterfalls on the park.  I didn't find these very impressive as far as waterfalls go, but the river was nice.

We all got a laugh over dinner when we heard someone in a neighbouring campsite say in a firm voice, “NO...NO...what part of no don't you understand.”  This was only funny after we realized that the person was talking to a small dog.
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Daniel Longo
CIBC Corporate Development
(416) 956-3831