Day 33, 34-Thunder Bay
Quetico to Thunder Bay, Ontario
Distance: 174 km
Hot then rainy
Well, wouldn’t you know it, the Button Pusher (BP) and I got into a huge row in the parking low at Kakabaka Falls; without going into too much detail, all there is to tell is that I am all that is logical and reasonable and he has the logical reasoning of a teenaged stubborn donkey.
I tried to begin the conversation like an adult, inviting him to discuss a matter that needed attention.
He refused any such engagement and immediately went into the equivalent of sticking his fingers in his ears and saying, “lu lu luluuuu, I can’t hear you,”.
I attempted to engage him again in adult dialogue which he again met with the same type response.
At this point I lost any cool I had left and regrettably made it personal by asking him if it was any wonder that no one liked him on the tour.
It got ugly from then on in, and I am embarrassed to say we caused quite the scene.
Since we were engaged in battle at a popular tourist spot, particularly on the path to the falls, people had to slink by to get around us.
Perhaps the location was not ideal but then again, one does not exactly plan for such things, or do they?
I couldn’t believe his seismic capacity for being unreasonable-it was something to behold, and even worse, involve oneself with.
Eventually Lewis could see that the argument was futile and tried to distract and disengage me from battle, but at this point I had could taste blood, so to speak and was not about to let go, foolishly of course, as how does one possibly reason with such a person who clearly lacks the capacity to do so?
I apologized afterwards to our very quiet and reserved co-riders who looked like they were witnessing the brutal slaying of furry kittens; I think confrontation is avoided at all costs for these folks, but not for BP and I!
Had we owned swords or guns they would have been drawn at that point.
Later that evening I did apologize to him for making it personal, as I felt that was a below the belt move, but I still stand by my overall stance on the matter and him in general, but since we’re on the same galley crew peace had to be made.
Anyhow, that was certainly worth a good few hours of distraction and entertainment, even if it was at the cost of my own mental sanity.
Besides that, the ride yesterday was long, at 174 km, but good nonetheless.
We climbed 890 meters over the course of the day, yet only gained 50 meters overall in altitude, illustrating the rolley-polley type of terrain we are dealing with.
We’re staying in residence at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay; it’s a nice campus with many trees and a strange looking half drained lake/pool outside the cafeteria.
The campus is connected by a series of tunnels and it apparently gets very cold here; hard to believe as it’s stinky hot right now.
Once again, there is so much to do on a rest day; we have laundry to do, internet, phone calls, eating, and of course, bike repair.
Rumor had it that there is a bike mechanic here in Thunder Bay at a place called Petrie’s who is supposed to be one the best mechanics in Ontario-so we had to check him out.
After getting lost and riding around for longer that I was hoping to, we found the store, and, he did not disappoint.
It is rare that I come across someone who is a true ‘master’ or guru in their field, but this guy truly lived up to his reputation.
We stood around for a few hours watching him work (on our bikes) and with others who came into the store in search of some bicycle wisdom from him; he has a true fan club.
He explained things to me about the bike that I could never dream about understanding, his fingers whirred about the bike, reading it like it were a story, inferring each click and tick from the This and That of the bike, making minor adjustments as he went along.
It was like watching surgery with a master surgeon.
Lewis has seen four other mechanics who have all told him that there was nothing wrong with his headset; Lewis insisted there was.
I thought he was just being a bike hypochondriac, but as soon as this guy felt the bike he picked up on a very subtle defect and figured out the problem-a true genius.
Tomorrow’s ride is 109km, but is apparently pretty much a straight climb. I hope legs will be in a cooperative mood tomorrow, and will take into account the rest day they just had-I better get them off to bed.
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Thursday, July 27, 2006
Day 32-Quetico Provincial Park
Taylor’s Cove, to Quetico, Ontario
Distance: 154 km
40 degrees measured on the road
We have all, since starting this tour, become quite adept at ‘cyclist tracking’; how far ahead the others are, how long ago they passed a certain point, and the like.
Naturally one needs clues in order to be able to ascertain this information, and in this case the telltale signs are fruit skins, specifically spent bananas.
Often riders will eat the fruit while still on the bike, and throw the peels onto the road; judging by the shade of the brown on the skin, and the general hydration of the skin, we can judge their position, and adjust our speed accordingly-I am starting to feel like a Great Cyclist Hunter.
I am not sure where these skills will take me once the tour is over, but for now, it has been of some use.
The ride today was a toughie, as the terrain was very hilly; as soon as we climbed one hill, there lay another one in wait, taunting us.
According to someone’s altimeter we climbed 850 meters today, and apparently this is just the warm up, as everyone we meet along the way keeps telling us with a gleeful glint in their eye that these hills are nothing compared to what we are about to come across near Wawa in a few days.
I can hardly wait.
The heat as well today was intense, and we only had two water/rest stops along the way, the first one at 28km, so that when we reached the tiny information stop at 110km, the poor woman running the place didn’t know what hit her, as all of us clambered into her store at some point during the ride, emptying her of all of her water stock (the tap water being undrinkable.)
She also had a map of Canada mounted on the wall, and we figured that we are now approximately half way!
Hard to believe that we have rode half way across the country, and that we still have half way to go.
In other drama news, Megan was lamenting last night about having to deal with adults who are behaving like children; she has been swathed in the naïve cocoon of her recent adolescence thinking that adults simply do not act this way; that once adulthood has been reached, pettiness, childish outbursts, name calling, insolence, petulance, and general silliness ceases to be a part of one’s personality.
How misled and wrong she is, as we are all, all of these things on the trip, and she is having to deal with 27 overgrown whiny, moaning children who all want their mommies, and unfortunately go looking for her in a 22 year old university student.
I don’t think this was in the job description, and had it been she would have run the other way screaming.
I am not sure what this trip is doing to all of us to reduce us to this immature state of emotional being, but we all feel like we are at summer camp to some degree.
It’s not bad though, as I mentioned before, as some of the drama breaks up the monotony of camp routine, and adds some excitement to the evenings.
I quite enjoy it as I have obviously had the television IV removed from my arm and don’t have my regular dose of late night drama to keep me going.
Who needs Survivor when we have the TDC group to watch and interact with?
We are back on galley duty tomorrow night; tomorrow’s ride is 174 km, plus we lose another hour once we reach Thunder Bay.
Since the galley crew is staying in the townhouse which has an oven, we have asked Meagan to buy pre-made lasagnas.
I can’t wait to hear the moaning from the group that we will not actually be cooking, and that we will be serving pasta once again-more drama!
Taylor’s Cove, to Quetico, Ontario
Distance: 154 km
40 degrees measured on the road
We have all, since starting this tour, become quite adept at ‘cyclist tracking’; how far ahead the others are, how long ago they passed a certain point, and the like.
Naturally one needs clues in order to be able to ascertain this information, and in this case the telltale signs are fruit skins, specifically spent bananas.
Often riders will eat the fruit while still on the bike, and throw the peels onto the road; judging by the shade of the brown on the skin, and the general hydration of the skin, we can judge their position, and adjust our speed accordingly-I am starting to feel like a Great Cyclist Hunter.
I am not sure where these skills will take me once the tour is over, but for now, it has been of some use.
The ride today was a toughie, as the terrain was very hilly; as soon as we climbed one hill, there lay another one in wait, taunting us.
According to someone’s altimeter we climbed 850 meters today, and apparently this is just the warm up, as everyone we meet along the way keeps telling us with a gleeful glint in their eye that these hills are nothing compared to what we are about to come across near Wawa in a few days.
I can hardly wait.
The heat as well today was intense, and we only had two water/rest stops along the way, the first one at 28km, so that when we reached the tiny information stop at 110km, the poor woman running the place didn’t know what hit her, as all of us clambered into her store at some point during the ride, emptying her of all of her water stock (the tap water being undrinkable.)
She also had a map of Canada mounted on the wall, and we figured that we are now approximately half way!
Hard to believe that we have rode half way across the country, and that we still have half way to go.
In other drama news, Megan was lamenting last night about having to deal with adults who are behaving like children; she has been swathed in the naïve cocoon of her recent adolescence thinking that adults simply do not act this way; that once adulthood has been reached, pettiness, childish outbursts, name calling, insolence, petulance, and general silliness ceases to be a part of one’s personality.
How misled and wrong she is, as we are all, all of these things on the trip, and she is having to deal with 27 overgrown whiny, moaning children who all want their mommies, and unfortunately go looking for her in a 22 year old university student.
I don’t think this was in the job description, and had it been she would have run the other way screaming.
I am not sure what this trip is doing to all of us to reduce us to this immature state of emotional being, but we all feel like we are at summer camp to some degree.
It’s not bad though, as I mentioned before, as some of the drama breaks up the monotony of camp routine, and adds some excitement to the evenings.
I quite enjoy it as I have obviously had the television IV removed from my arm and don’t have my regular dose of late night drama to keep me going.
Who needs Survivor when we have the TDC group to watch and interact with?
We are back on galley duty tomorrow night; tomorrow’s ride is 174 km, plus we lose another hour once we reach Thunder Bay.
Since the galley crew is staying in the townhouse which has an oven, we have asked Meagan to buy pre-made lasagnas.
I can’t wait to hear the moaning from the group that we will not actually be cooking, and that we will be serving pasta once again-more drama!
Day 31-Taylor’s Cove
Caliper Lake to Taylor’s Cove, Ontario
Distance: 128 km
28 degrees
We’re staying on a private campground tonight which has definite advantages, and some disadvantages; on the plus side we do not have to contend with the masses who have packed all their earthly belongings including the dog and cat (yes, cat) into their roving home, and then disgorged its contents for all to see, cat included.
There are very few others around; giving the place the kind of solitude that one often wants when in the Great Outdoors.
We’re camping beside a lake, which except for the odd motor boat, is quite quiet.
I got to chattin’ with a ruddy, red swollen faced guy at the camp store who is here from the States for a three day fishing competition; turns out he is a professional fisherman and travels all over Canada, US, and Mexico from competition to competition.
He says he hunts in the winter.
I didn’t know that people like him still exist.
He was complaining about having been on the water fishing for the past 30 days.
I told him he should try spending 30 days on the bike and then see how he felt.
On the negative side is the lack of facilities; there are two toilets and two showers for 28 people, who all seem to want to use both at the same time.
Also, the shower was cold, which actually suited me just fine as I was sweltering and needed to cool down after the ride, and wimped out of jumping into the lake (I don’t trust the murky water and the reeds give me the creeps-a true wimp I am.)
The ride today started out being quite hilly (we climbed approximately 450 meters today) but eventually turned into rolling terrain.
The heat was beating us over the head with the heat stick, and man, did I feel whacked.
Lewis is not as affected by the heat as I am, and doesn’t seem to be as sapped.
For dinner the galley duty made pasta salad, cabbage salad and a rice salad with the leftover rice from last night; it wasn’t as good as last night’s meal, but for us hungry lot as long as it’s chewable and digestible, it’ll do.
(Lewis actually discovered some left over curry and surreptitiously handed it out as he did not want to offend the galley crew on duty.)
Tomorrow’s ride is going to be approximately 160 km, and then 174 km the day the day after that, so we’re all feeling rather sorry for ourselves.
9:20pm, off to bed.
Caliper Lake to Taylor’s Cove, Ontario
Distance: 128 km
28 degrees
We’re staying on a private campground tonight which has definite advantages, and some disadvantages; on the plus side we do not have to contend with the masses who have packed all their earthly belongings including the dog and cat (yes, cat) into their roving home, and then disgorged its contents for all to see, cat included.
There are very few others around; giving the place the kind of solitude that one often wants when in the Great Outdoors.
We’re camping beside a lake, which except for the odd motor boat, is quite quiet.
I got to chattin’ with a ruddy, red swollen faced guy at the camp store who is here from the States for a three day fishing competition; turns out he is a professional fisherman and travels all over Canada, US, and Mexico from competition to competition.
He says he hunts in the winter.
I didn’t know that people like him still exist.
He was complaining about having been on the water fishing for the past 30 days.
I told him he should try spending 30 days on the bike and then see how he felt.
On the negative side is the lack of facilities; there are two toilets and two showers for 28 people, who all seem to want to use both at the same time.
Also, the shower was cold, which actually suited me just fine as I was sweltering and needed to cool down after the ride, and wimped out of jumping into the lake (I don’t trust the murky water and the reeds give me the creeps-a true wimp I am.)
The ride today started out being quite hilly (we climbed approximately 450 meters today) but eventually turned into rolling terrain.
The heat was beating us over the head with the heat stick, and man, did I feel whacked.
Lewis is not as affected by the heat as I am, and doesn’t seem to be as sapped.
For dinner the galley duty made pasta salad, cabbage salad and a rice salad with the leftover rice from last night; it wasn’t as good as last night’s meal, but for us hungry lot as long as it’s chewable and digestible, it’ll do.
(Lewis actually discovered some left over curry and surreptitiously handed it out as he did not want to offend the galley crew on duty.)
Tomorrow’s ride is going to be approximately 160 km, and then 174 km the day the day after that, so we’re all feeling rather sorry for ourselves.
9:20pm, off to bed.
Day 30-Caliper Lake
Kenora, to Caliper Lake
Distance: 127 km
Hot
It rained on and off throughout the night last night; there is something comforting about sleeping in a dry (hopefully) tent while it’s wet outside.
Lewis and I did a cycling trip in Newfoundland a couple of years back and experienced torrential downpours; unfortunately our tent then wasn’t up to the challenge, and I ended up spending the night akin to what I imagined Chinese water torture to be like; with a constant drip on my forehead.
Luckily the rain let up by the time we set out in the morning, and we cycled for most of the day under cloud cover, but by the end of the ride the temperature was measured at 36 degrees, making it an intense ride.
It’s also strange to be in Ontario now, with its very typical Canadian Shield terrain-even though I have never been here; it seems all very familiar with the rocky, sandy, treed terrain with many lakes - it’s very much like the Muskokas north of Toronto.
Also immediately noticeable to all of us is the hilly terrain after the flat lands of the prairies.
I am not a fan of the hills usually, but I surprised myself by being appreciative of the challenge that the undulating terrain offered today-even though the legs did start to protest once again the strain placed upon them.
We were very proud of ourselves this morning for leaving just before the galley crew; and managed to be the first ones into camp-but very little good it did us since Megan had missed the turn and got into camp hours after us, which is too bad as I was looking forward to having some extra chill time.
We’re staying at Calliper Lake Provincial Park, which, as its name suggests, is on a lake-very scenic and pretty.
Galley crew did a good job with dinner (the Aussie crew) and made a curried beef and veggie stew served with rice and cabbage salad.
So far all their meals have been a big hit; unfortunately ours haven’t been.
One can always gauge the success of the meal by how much leftovers there are; so far ours have had copious leftovers and these guys have people lining up to lick the pots.
The pressure is on us next time however, as we’re staying in residence at Thunder Bay and will have access to an indoor stove, as well as will be allowed to stay in a townhouse while all the others will be staying in the dorms.
Suggestive jokes have been lightly dropped about the expectation of the meal; I have taken them as threats since we have underperformed for the last few.
(But in our defense we’re following Bud’s suggested cooking menu, so we’ve blamed it on that each time.)
I’m getting bitten to pieces so must jump into the tent.
Kenora, to Caliper Lake
Distance: 127 km
Hot
It rained on and off throughout the night last night; there is something comforting about sleeping in a dry (hopefully) tent while it’s wet outside.
Lewis and I did a cycling trip in Newfoundland a couple of years back and experienced torrential downpours; unfortunately our tent then wasn’t up to the challenge, and I ended up spending the night akin to what I imagined Chinese water torture to be like; with a constant drip on my forehead.
Luckily the rain let up by the time we set out in the morning, and we cycled for most of the day under cloud cover, but by the end of the ride the temperature was measured at 36 degrees, making it an intense ride.
It’s also strange to be in Ontario now, with its very typical Canadian Shield terrain-even though I have never been here; it seems all very familiar with the rocky, sandy, treed terrain with many lakes - it’s very much like the Muskokas north of Toronto.
Also immediately noticeable to all of us is the hilly terrain after the flat lands of the prairies.
I am not a fan of the hills usually, but I surprised myself by being appreciative of the challenge that the undulating terrain offered today-even though the legs did start to protest once again the strain placed upon them.
We were very proud of ourselves this morning for leaving just before the galley crew; and managed to be the first ones into camp-but very little good it did us since Megan had missed the turn and got into camp hours after us, which is too bad as I was looking forward to having some extra chill time.
We’re staying at Calliper Lake Provincial Park, which, as its name suggests, is on a lake-very scenic and pretty.
Galley crew did a good job with dinner (the Aussie crew) and made a curried beef and veggie stew served with rice and cabbage salad.
So far all their meals have been a big hit; unfortunately ours haven’t been.
One can always gauge the success of the meal by how much leftovers there are; so far ours have had copious leftovers and these guys have people lining up to lick the pots.
The pressure is on us next time however, as we’re staying in residence at Thunder Bay and will have access to an indoor stove, as well as will be allowed to stay in a townhouse while all the others will be staying in the dorms.
Suggestive jokes have been lightly dropped about the expectation of the meal; I have taken them as threats since we have underperformed for the last few.
(But in our defense we’re following Bud’s suggested cooking menu, so we’ve blamed it on that each time.)
I’m getting bitten to pieces so must jump into the tent.
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