Blogging at 95 mph...

With less than an hour before we get off the train, we both thought it would be cool to just list some of the memorable people, places, and quotes from our little adventure.


Belinda: Amazing love of live and a dedicated adventurer. GOOD LUCK ON YOUR CONTINUED TRAVELS!

Helmut: Enigmatic master distance rider and time trialist. Gotta love a man who says "Yeah, I ran a dive operation in Saudia Arabia" as if he was telling you he had a coffee after breakfast.

Hector: Viva Bam-Bam! Former pro boxer, personal trainer, electrician, and afficionado of downhill slopes and peloton riding.

Cathy & Nick: Captain & stoker of a custom-built tandem, heart & soul of the peloton riding crew.

Jim: He'd be cool enough just by virtue of having roomed with Helmut, but he also did a 109km race with 35,000 participants in South Africa and has ridden a bike to 80 kph in San Fran - past a school bus no less!

The Dolphin Ladies (Kelly & Sheila): Two amazing Ironman finishers who are to bicycles what dolphins are to water. Inspiring every time they smoked past us at twice our speed - and with a great joie de vivre.

Meryl: Ageless retiree who's cycling 700k adventures in Ontario, trekking the mountains in Peru, AND finally got braces.

Michelle & Courtney: Young and motivated riders who were good sports about spending a week surrounded by old farts.

The Flautist: Australian provider of short and sweet lullabies.

Goh: Talented photographer, monster cyclist, and bon-vivant.

Supercycle man: Still riding a 12-year old bike he bought from Canadian Tire for $100!

Leslie: Qualified for the Boston Marathon at 40, 50, and 60.

Dave: Pissed off Leslie and lived to tell about it.


The cold lake in Cobourg, and the therapeutic value of soaking the heat and ache out of us.

Dinners at Pepperwood & Woodlawn Inn.

The Long Sault chain of islands.

The Port of Prescott & the grain elevator.

Brockville.

Beautiful meandering trails in unlikely places: Pickering, Ajax, and Whitby.

The Port Hope rest stop at the church.

The buttercup field in Hamilton.

The overlook at the Scarborough Bluffs.

The 70k (you read that right) of dedicated bike path from Upper Canada Village to Cornwall.

Slumber party in the Cornwall Armoury (more slumber than party).


"I think my caesar is getting low."

"Maybe you'll come back and invent pizza in a can and be rich... Wait a minute, I think I just had a million-dollar idea!"

"I feel like a mayor!"

"Phil's having fun, get off his back."

"If you can't wear it with pride, wear it with courage."

"Half of you won't make it!"

"You obviously have a lot of great ideas about how this family should spend its money."

"It's nice and cool back in the office, but somehow I don't wish I was there."

"Lousy rotten family!"

"You call that an 'incline'!?!"

"HEY! Stop patting his bum already!"

"You see every foot."

Thoughts from a lazy blogger...

It's hard to believe that we're already 5 days into our 8 day adventure. All of the 100+km days are behind us, and I have kind of mixed feelings. We're both suffering a little bit of wear and tear (his & hers matching knee problems), so it'll be nice to back off and have some easier days, but I'm also a bit wistful because there's not feeling quite like really cranking on it and putting a bunch of miles behind you.

There's nothing insightful to share about what's been great about this trip so far and why I'm glad we've done it - we are meeting amazing people, we are seeing beautiful scenery, and we're spending a bunch of time riding our bikes, which we love to do. We're also on our first-ever camping trip together and finding that we enjoy that, too, and will probably do more of it. And of course, this is our first longer vacation away together since our honeymoon, and it's been wonderful having so much time together with so few distractions. It's a ton of fun to just transplant yourself into a different and more adventurous life for a week - I recommend it.

Here are a few thoughts from the "small world" file - I met the nephew of James Read, who was the principal of my first school and someone for whom I have always retained a great deal of respect and affection. And tonight at dinner I was seated immediately across from the son of the man who sold me my second bicycle. In Elmira, the only bike shop for 40 years was Central Cycle & Sports, and it was run by Lorne Martin. Tonight I had the pleasure of dining and reminiscing with Randy Martin, Lorne's son. He still has a tandem bike from the 60's that his parents used to ride in the Fall Fair parade - including with him on the back in a child seat.

To meet two people with these connections to my hometown, separated by so much time and space from events that have had such a lasting impact on me has been a really special and unexpected part of this whole experience.

And on the technical side... My cheapie no-name mail-order road bike is working just dandy. I'm really happy with it, despite the fact that it would have benefited from a bit more of a tune up before the trip. It needs the wheels trued up a bit better, and the brakes & derailleurs tuned, but that's not the bike's fault. It's handled everything I've thrown at it and I'm pleased at how it's holding up so far. With a bit of care invested in that bike it should offer many more miles of fun.


We've done what we can to keep in touch and update family and friends on our progress, but it's mostly been limited to a sentence and/or a photo here and there. We hope that you know that you're in our hearts and that we'll have plenty of stories and more photos to share once we're back. For now, we're kind of taking it all in and making the most of this week of adventure.

So it begins...

Today is day one of the third annual Great Waterfront Trail Adventure. The firing of a canon at the historic Fort George in Niagara on the Lake signaled the start of our trip.

It was a pretty easy day of riding. The weather was great, the wind was at our backs for a good part of the trip. We followed the trail north, past by Lasalle, Lincoln and Grimsby. This is the fruit basket of Ontario. We rode by neatly kept peach orchards, fruit stands emanating sweet scent of ripen berries, and of course, rows and rows of grape vines. For most of the trail we rode today, the lake is close, but not visible. The occasional turtle crossing the road reminds us that the Lake close by.

A few sunburns and 80k later, we arrived at Confederation Park in Hamilton - our camp ground for the night. Hamilton Beach mixed use trail pass by the entrance of this park, which is now decorated with patches of colorful tents. This is a beautiful part of town, and a great place to end day 1.

Okay, now... enough with the scenery talk... let's turn to the human aspects of the trip. Approximately 90% of the demographics of this event is constituted by Caucasians, and majority of them are middle aged. I felt very "ethnic" being one of three Asians among the crowd of middle aged white Caucasians. I think this is the most consciously "different" I felt since I came to Canada 9 years ago. Indeed, I have been transplanted to a new environment with arguably a very different culture. But a bigger reason behind this cultural shock is perhaps because due to my perception of my growing "Canadianess". I have learnt a lot from everyone I've met so far in this country. Let's see how long it will take for me to break the ice with some of these people.

We did get acquainted with one of the riders, Belinda, who came to the ride on her own. She just finished school and is cycling around Canada before starting her job in the fall. After this trip, she will embark on a trip to PEI on her own! I am thoroughly impressed. Setting aside the practical challenges with riding long distances solo, the most challenging part for me is perhaps the mental challenge of not being able to share the experience with someone close. Doing this trip with Phil is my favourite part of the trip.

Photo Extravaganza Part 10

We had a bit of time in Digby between dinner and catching the ferry. These are some of my favorite photos from the trip, because I think you can see what a great day we had.

More of a motorcyclist day by day.

Still a little buzzed from a delicious dinner. I don't know if it's appropriate for me to say this, but there's something about the composition of this photo that I really like.

A nice relaxed and natural shot of my favorite moto-adventurer!

Photo Extravaganza Part 9

Here we have some obligatory landscape shots of the Fundy Bay area from the Nova Scotia side.

This is actually part of the water that goes through the Annapolis power generating station.

Some boats moored at low tide. We took this from our table at the restaurant where we ate dinner. That tide rose probably 2 feet in the little over an hour we were there eating. It's one thing to know in your head how fast that water comes in, but it's something else to see it in person, to see the landscape changing around you.

Another shot of the docks not long after, you can see how much the water has risen.

This was taken from the ferry not long after we took off. We actually saw some baby dolphins porpoising out of the water, but there was no way to pick that up on camera, so instead you get this. Here's hoping that you enjoy it.

Photo Extravaganza Part 8

Canada Day was our single best day of riding, I would say. We went from Truro to Digby and caught the night ferry from there to St. John, NB. The weather was perfect (the best we had seen since our very first day on the road, I think), and we went on scenic trails almost the whole way. One of the nice things about the scenic trails is that you can stop anytime you like to snap some photos. The difficult thing is having the judgement about when to stop and when to keep going a bit longer to find something even more spectacular...

Anyone who knows me knows that I like this mailbox. It was just serendipity that it happened to be near where we stopped for a view of the coast.

What a cutie!

Me with my trusty mount.

I'm not sure, but I think that this picture was taken near the Annapolis generating station - the only tidal generating station in North America. We shot some pics of the station itself, but they just aren't that great. They look a lot like some boring little power generating station.

Photo Extravaganza Part 7

Safe and sound on a more pleasant and relaxing day in Truro, we marked the passage of time (10th day on the road) with these biological clock photos:


Over a weeks' growth of beard. And it wouldn't hurt to trim those nosehairs too!

 

And those poor knees continue to heal up.

Photo Extravaganza Part 6

At the north end of the Cabot Trail, we stopped at a place called Green Cove. It was raining pretty good by the time these were taken, but since the wind was coming from the northeast (does that make it a nor'easter? Maybe that should have been a clue!) and we were heading west then south with mountains and trees between us and the wind, and since the skies were clear in the direction the wind blew from, I thought we were through the worst. Hence the light mood in these photos.

We call this one the "Toad" picture, because with the big helmet it's so much like one of Toad's celebratory poses in a Wii videogame. I don't recall Toad celebrating with a snotrag in hand, though!

Talk about austere beauty. I like the raindrop on the lens - photo buffs may agree or disagree, but I just like having some evidence that we were out in rain and wind. We both also like the waves breaking on the rocks.

Another coastal shot from Green Cove.

Photo Extravaganza Part 5

Here are some pictures from the early part of our ride around the Cabot Trail. The day started out cold, foggy, and a bit wet, but not brutal.

After coming down Cape Smokey, we had to get a picture. I love this one, for me it brings back so many memories of this sense of being lost in the fog, the woods, and the road twisting through the mountains. About 100m higher up than where this pic was taken, the fog was basically whiteout with almost no visibility. Where you'd crest a hill, it looked like you were just driving into a white wall.

Outside the Seagull restaurant. We actually wrote some blog posts from inside there. Funny to have WiFi access in an area where you can't get a cell signal, and where they still have a Chargex sign on the door instead of Visa.

The nature there on the coast of the ocean makes you feel so small.

Damn, if the facial expression doesn't give you a sense of how wet and cold and draining this day was turning out to be, then the clenched fists and retreating thumbs sure should!

Photo Extravaganza Part 4

This is from our first day on Nova Scotia, and they were all taken on Cape Breton while riding scenic trails before we arrived in Baddeck.

The school itself is kind of unremarkable, except for the setting (we posted some other pics we took from the playground of this school in an earlier posting)...

...and this Gaelic sign. I saw a lot of signs in Gaelic and wanted to get more photos of them, but this is the only one we snapped.

Where's that ferry?

Here it comes! This was a small ferry at Little Narrows, cost $5 to cross, took about 2 minutes to go maybe 200 metres.