Nipigon
The last few days have been great riding. Nice cool temperatures, mostly tailwinds, and decent roads got us to Thunder Bay yesterday with enough time to check out the late showing of the new Harry Potter movie (verdict: awesome). We're now camping just outside of Nipigon, on the north side of Lake Superior.
Over the past few days, we've made some fairly major transitions. First off, for the last week or two, all the water we've seen has been headed to the Arctic Ocean, one way or another, but as of yesterday afternoon, we've crossed into the massive Atlantic Watershed, meaning all the streams/rivers/lakes we see now are headed to the Atlantic sooner or later. Not a terribly significant difference from a day-to-day biking perspective, but it feels like we're a little closer to home. Secondly, we're back in Eastern Standard Time! At last, the clock on my bike computer (which I never figured out how to change) is accurate again! Speaking of bike computers, we crossed the 3500km threshold today! Within a week, we'll have biked 1/10th of the way around the planet. I think that is a pretty cool stat.
A few things have been going steadily downhill for the past 2 days. First off, the roads on Highway 17 have been getting progressively worse. As of now, it is just slightly smoother than if we were biking down the centre of the railroad tracks that follow the highway. Also, the bugs. Oh man, the bugs. I figured they'd be worst up north around Kenora/Dryden, and then would sort of taper off towards southern Ontario, but we have hit some kind of black fly Mecca in the last 48 hours. They are crazy. My legs are looking pretty ravaged right now, and I've even sustained a few deer fly bites, which leave a big bloody mess behind that makes me long for the small, well-behaved mosquitoes of southeastern Ontario. Ah well, more motivation to bike faster.
As far as the bikes themselves go, they've been pretty well behaved. No major malfunctions to speak of, and our Home Depot hose clamp/electrical tape repair on Andrew's pannier rack is holding up beautifully.
We've got 600km to go until we hit Sault St. Marie, which is essentially our last major stretch of remoteness. After that, we begin the final, southern Ontario leg of the trip. Yep, I just referred to Sault St. Marie as southern Ontario. It's all a matter of perspective.
Time to go brave the blackflies and put up the tent!
Over the past few days, we've made some fairly major transitions. First off, for the last week or two, all the water we've seen has been headed to the Arctic Ocean, one way or another, but as of yesterday afternoon, we've crossed into the massive Atlantic Watershed, meaning all the streams/rivers/lakes we see now are headed to the Atlantic sooner or later. Not a terribly significant difference from a day-to-day biking perspective, but it feels like we're a little closer to home. Secondly, we're back in Eastern Standard Time! At last, the clock on my bike computer (which I never figured out how to change) is accurate again! Speaking of bike computers, we crossed the 3500km threshold today! Within a week, we'll have biked 1/10th of the way around the planet. I think that is a pretty cool stat.
A few things have been going steadily downhill for the past 2 days. First off, the roads on Highway 17 have been getting progressively worse. As of now, it is just slightly smoother than if we were biking down the centre of the railroad tracks that follow the highway. Also, the bugs. Oh man, the bugs. I figured they'd be worst up north around Kenora/Dryden, and then would sort of taper off towards southern Ontario, but we have hit some kind of black fly Mecca in the last 48 hours. They are crazy. My legs are looking pretty ravaged right now, and I've even sustained a few deer fly bites, which leave a big bloody mess behind that makes me long for the small, well-behaved mosquitoes of southeastern Ontario. Ah well, more motivation to bike faster.
As far as the bikes themselves go, they've been pretty well behaved. No major malfunctions to speak of, and our Home Depot hose clamp/electrical tape repair on Andrew's pannier rack is holding up beautifully.
We've got 600km to go until we hit Sault St. Marie, which is essentially our last major stretch of remoteness. After that, we begin the final, southern Ontario leg of the trip. Yep, I just referred to Sault St. Marie as southern Ontario. It's all a matter of perspective.
Time to go brave the blackflies and put up the tent!
posted by Bryce at
4:37 PM
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