Sault St Marie outskirts to Bruce Mines
96.6 km td 4,714.4 km
Quite the day. The sky is dark and ominous when we awake, we just manage to pack our tent up before the skies open up. Our bike ride into the Soo is wet and windy, we are soaked when arriving at the only bike store in town. To my dismay, the store does not have a replacement rim for my bike, and we are forced to continue with the risk. Not good news. We spend a few hours in the Soo, and briefly meet with Mark Heller and family, who have a cottage at Bruce Mines, 60 km away. Finally we are back on the road, and of course the rains come down again with a vengeance, and a headwind. About 40 km out, my rear tire makes a snapping noise, and we grind to a halt. My luck has run out, another spoke is snapped, and I do not have the tools to replace it. With some help from a local tractor shop, and some sketchy spoke tuning on my part, the rear tire is barely able to turn. I have broken two spokes on one side and have had to loosen three on the opposite side; 20% of my rim is unsupported! Not so good. We shift our bags around, and start limping along tentatively, I an waiting for the rear tire to "taco" at any moment. No sudden movements, no turns, no off the saddle riding. My back end bumps endlessly and turns into prostate torture. After 15 km of fun, our knights in shining chevy minivan armour arrive as Mark Heller and family take our gear and direct us to their cottage in Bruce Mines. We arrive as a thunderstorm rolls in, and enjoy the comforts of indoors with showers and food from our woderful hosts. Our plans have changed, we will leave our bikes and gear here, and bus to Ottawa tomorrow, returning in a week with repaired wheel and refreshed bodies. We are looking forward to a few well deserved days off !!
Finally back on the saddle after a week in Ottawa for Heather and Charlie Ashe's wedding, followed by a 3 day detour to Montreal. We are eager to be back riding after a week of good food and good drink. I weighed in at Montreal and was shocked to see I had gained a pound a day since we stopped!
I feel like a drunken sailor for the first half hour, with this heavy foreign metal object between my legs, on a narrow shoulder, with big trucks blowing by. Where did that expression 'its like riding a bike' come from?
Eventually we settle down and realise their is a gorgeous tailwind pushing us along. The km's fly by all day, as does one town followed by the next, we are elated with our progress. We blow past our planned campspot and set our sights on the infamous 200 km mark. Three records broken today;
1) most km by noon- 101 2)most km- 216 3) fastest avg speed- 26.3
We are excited this morning to be on the roads of our nation's capital. A bike lane along the Rideau canal brings us into the downtown core.
We arrive at the Parliament buildings to huge crowds and a band playing, the red guards with tall fuzzy black hats are marching on the grounds. All for us? we wonder, half-expecting the crowd to part and let us through.
After the ceremonial lap of the parliament, we head down Sussex drive, give a quick wave to Paul Martin at #24, and head out of town.
The day is spent meandering down country roads, waving to cows and farmers along the Ottawa river valley. We spend the night in a beautifully restored farmhouse built in 1832, and are treated to a delicious roast beef dinner by hosts Jo and Bob Barclay.
