Small Victories (August 21, 2013)

The last two days of riding in Ontario have been long and tiring, but the rides have been more interesting than the trudge across some of Michigan.

Yesterday we came across the Blue Water Bridge from Port Huron.  Having read several forum entries, we fully expected the process of getting across to be a time consuming exercise.  Pedestrians and bicyclist (with the exception of groups of 50 riders, ala "Ride Across America" guided tours) are prohibited.  Michigan DOT, however, offers to carry cyclist, and their bikes, across the bridge.  Then there is the possible wait at Canadian Customs.  As I say, we anticipated a two to two-and-a-half hour delay.  As it turned out, the whole process took less than half an hour ... small victory #1.

We rode to London, Ontario yesterday ... a ride of approximately 70 miles.  Good roads and a nice tail wind.  Today we rode on to Cambridge, a ride of  75 miles or so ... quite a haul and quite tiring.

Maybe a quarter of the ride today was on dirt roads.  While the dirt roads are mostly traffic free, the tire-to-road surface friction results in a little more strenuous effort.  Small victory #2 occurred on one of these dirt roads.

When we were in Port Huron, we saw one of the Google cars with a 360 degree camera attached to the roof of the car ... we waved and smiled.  Today, while out on one of the dirt roads, I heard a car approaching from the rear.  Typically out on these roads, the vehicle will slow and swing wide ... in this case, a Google camera-car sped past me at about 45 to 50 mph, and it felt as though he was only about 2 to 3 feet away from me.  I do not know the designation of the road, so I suspect that you will never be able to get a street view of this occurrence ... but if you do, I am the bike rider in a white shirt flipping off Google.

Tomorrow we head to Lake Ontario in the Hamilton area, and hope to then be able to follow the 740 Km Waterfront Trail ... possibly all the way to Quebec.  Probably reach Toronto in a couple of days and take a rest day to take a look at the city.

Easier mileage tomorrow ... easier mileage is good.