Sault Ste. Marie to Ottawa

Distance travelled over last 7 days: 846 km
Total distance: 5392 km

Since Sault Ste. Marie, the topography has changed noticeably. To this point, the rolling hills of Ontario made for a dependable pattern: as I scaled each small hill, I knew I would be going down it in two or three hundred meters. But now, the land is flatter, and farming is more prevalent.

I traveresed Sault Ste. Marie to Blind River with relative ease. With the shores of Lake Superior behind me, I was now travelling along Lake Huron. Locals tell you to expect a change in the weather, but for me, it continued to be hot and humid. This made for some fascinating morning fog on the morning I left Blind River.


Morning fog in Blind River

From Blind River, I put in a long day of cycling to cover nearly 170 km into Sudbury. Peter, who I contacted over couchsurfing, was kind enough to host me for the night and give me a walking tour around the city, which included Science North - a kind of Telus World of Science located in Sudbury. Sudbury also has Canada's second tallest free-standing structure: the 380 m tall stacks from the nickel smelting facilities. The immense height of the stacks is intended to disperse the pollutants into the atmosphere as much as possible.

Science North is shaped like a snowflake from above

The next morning, I finally got my bicycle chain and cassette replaced before I left Sudbury. It was paricularly hot, so I drenched my towel in water and draped it over my head. It wasn't long before I had people approaching me speaking Spanish!

Senor Michael

On a day where the weather was so extreme, I found a lot of people were compassionate to me, the lowly cyclist. At a rest stop en route to North Bay, some RVers connected with me, and stocked me up with ice and chilled water. I stopped in at a number of gas stations just to wet my towel and quench my desire for a cold drink. Beating the heat also meant taking a fully-clothed dip in a lake along the way. According to the forecast, it reached 36 C / 97 F, but according to the waitress at Tek's seafood restaurant in North Bay, it hit 45 C. The restaurant was great: I had all-you-can-eat fish and chips, and placed a few phone calls back home to connect with family and friends. I really enjoyed my stay in North Bay, and found the downtown area to be much like Gastown in its architecture and brickwork.

Monument at North Bay

From North Bay, it was three days of cycling to get to Ottawa. The first day was flat until I left Mattawa at lunch time. After Mattawa, it was a struggle to get to camp. The terrain turned hilly all of a sudden, and everything seemed uphill. Each hillcrest revealed another hill behind it, and the pattern continued for more than 4 hours. I got to camp exhausted; unfortunately it was a provincial park, and like all provincial parks, it was notoriously expensive. It was also full of noisy neighbours and children on bicycles. Until the parks have walk-in or cyclist rates, that will be the last provincial park I stay at if I have any say in the matter!

First look at Ottawa River from the Provincial Park

The second day to Ottawa took me past Deep River (a Manhattan Project community), Petawawa (a Canadian Forces Base) and Pembroke. I had a late lunch and several calorie-rich drinks at Pembroke before heading to Cobden for the night. I was on pace to have some relaxation time at camp, but I caught a flat just 3 km from the first campground. I didn't know precisely how close I was at the time, so I fixed the flat on the spot. It turns out a staple pierced the side-wall of my rear tire. I reached Bona Vista campground at about 8 pm - enough time to tent out and freshen up before sundown. I found it to be a well-serviced campground and a pleasure to stay at.

Finally, I was within a day to Ottawa. It was Sunday morning, and for some reason the Trans-Canada was packed with traffic in both directions. At times along my trip, the noise of the traffic has been overwhelming, and I desire for it to go away so that I could cycle in silence. I think it's busy here for good reason, however. The highway turns into the 417 near Ottawa - a big 6-lane (or more?) highway that cyclists cannot ride on. Instead, I detoured into the city of Arnprior, where I grabbed lunch and zig-zagged my way down quieter secondary roads and cyclepaths into Ottawa, where I met with several brothers and sisters for dinner.

A view of Arnprior, where I got some lunch before reaching Ottawa

Today, I spent a rest day under the kind hospitality of Brother Yinsuo. It was overcast, and cooler than days prior, but made for an enjoyable tour of Parliament Hill (free!), Byward Market, and after crossing the interprovincial bridge into Quebec, the Civilization Museum.

The Parliament Building and Peace Tower, with 53 bells

Arches in the Parliament building

The Rideau Canal

Tomorrow I am taking one more rest day in Ottawa to run errands before I head off towards Montreal.

Griswold to Winnipeg

Distance travelled over last 3 days: 250 km
Total distance: 2986 km

Hick-town Griswold gave me ticks! After setting up tent, and before going to bed, I did a thorough check, and found one latched onto my hamstring. I really detest the little biters! With the landowners' help, I was able to get it pulled out, and I healed up just fine. No lyme disease, yay!

I didn't get far that morning. Less than a kilometer in, my ride started to feel bumpy; I had a rear flat tire. I'm running on Schwalbe Marathon Plus puncture-resist tires, so to get a flat was a bit of a surprise. When I got my hands on the tube, however, I could see it had been punctured. But exactly what had caused the puncture was not evident. No glass, no thorns, no staples - a mystery flat!

Because of their heavy-duty construction, the Marathon Plus tires take a fair amount of effort to get on and off, and as I finished up my repair, I decided to use a tire lever to help me get the tire back on the rim. Well, the plastic tire lever broke. I was able to finish the job, but I was down to one tire lever - not enough to a flat if I got another.

So I got on my way and just hoped for the repair to hold.

And, of course, it didn't. (see Murphy's Law)

Ten kilometers in, I was flat out of options. I knew that I wouldn't be able to fix this flat without a second tire lever. As I munched on a pepperoni stick by the side of the road, I contemplated getting a lift into Brandon, where I could get resupplied at the local bike shop. That turned out to be unnecessary.

A moment later, I'm halfway through my pepperoni stick, and I am surprised by a fellow cycle-tourist who pulls up from behind. The rare encounter was exactly what I needed. Armed with his own tire levers, I used his extra tools to get my tire off, and this time I located some rough spots in the tire bead which I covered up with duct tape.

Just like that, I was on the road again, and I made it to Brandon where I got my bike cleaned up, and purchased a backup tire - I was beginning to get suspicious about the rear Schwalbe.

By evening, I arrived in Bagot, just west of Portage la Prairie. I met Ellis and Deb, who gave me a piece of their land to camp on for the night. We had a little fun that evening talking about my travels and their experiences. They own some beautiful horses, which they keep on their property, too.

The horse strikes a pose!

When I got into my tent, it was dark outside. Armed with my flashlight, I spent twenty or so paranoid minutes searching every square inch of my body, clothing, tent and sleeping bag for ticks. As I lay in the darkness, every little tickle jolted me to action. After eliminating a couple of the brutish beasts, I was satisfied enough to go to sleep.

Day number 31 of my trip took me from Bagot to Winnipeg. I should be counting myself lucky. Between Bagot and Portage la Prairie, there is no shoulder to cycle on; Instead, I was taking up part of the slow lane. Usually I have no problems with this - I've commuted for many months on shoulderless roads, but on this particular day, I got clipped.

The offending car's bumper hit my left pannier. How it managed to avoid my leg and handlebar, I don't know. How I managed to maintain my balance and steering, instead of falling over into traffic is another mystery. I can only claim it as another one of many miracles along my trip. As a testament to the close encounter, my pannier still bears the scuff marks from the collision, but yet it works as good as new. Although I had been delaying on getting a rear view mirror for my bicycle, I put it at the top of my list for things to get from the bicycle boutique in Winnipeg.

After my close call, I lunched at the town of Elie, which happened to be good timing: a rainstorm passed through as I chowed through two plates of bacon and cheese omeletes complete with hash browns.

Late in the afternoon, I got a third flat tire just a few kilometers from my destination. This time, brother Randy drove by to pick me up in the interest of time. It was the rear tire that had flated out again, so I knew the Schwalbe tire had to be tossed.

I spent the night and a rest day at Isaak's place in Winnipeg. Brother Frank gave me a tour of the city, and helped me do my errands, which included getting a replacement tire for the rear Schwalbe, and a rear view mirror for my helmet. The Forks is a great tourist spot, very much like Granville Island in Vancouver. It's full of culture, boutique shopping and produce, and scenic walking. Unfortunately, the swollen Assiniboine river had flooded the adjacent pathway.

The MTS Centre - Home of the new Winnipeg Jets NHL team

VIA Rail Station in Winnipeg city center

Tomorrow morning I leave Winnipeg and set myself up for another border crossing. Once I'm in Ontario, cellular service will be spotty at best, and rest stops will be few and far between.