Thunder
Bay times
Hello
once again:
We're in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The half-way point on the Trans-Canada Highway.
Phew!
And the joke has become real. Confirmed in the shower this morning. I do, in fact, have callouses on my butt.
We got into town a day earlier than planned because I've been having some pretty bad trouble from my right knee. It had gotten to the point that I couldn't sit down and pedal anymore so for the last day and a half I was standing on the pedals all day. At Upsala we took the decision to grab a bus. The alternatives being either take a break and stay in Upsala for a couple of days to see what happened or cycle for another day and a half to Thunder Bay and see a doctor then.
Upsala consists of 2 gas stations and a general store. There's no accommodation or camp sites in the area. Definitely not the place to spend a couple of days. In order to take the bikes on the bus we were told that they had to be boxed up. We visited all 3 businesses in town and collected all of their spare cardboard, bought all the packing tape at the general store and started trying to make things fit. Quite amazingly there was just enough cardboard in town (after scrounging through some burning-barrels) to cover the 2 bikes. We missed the second of 3 scheduled busses through town. We weren't ready because we hadn't realized that we had crossed into another time zone somewhere in North Ontario wilderness. I didn't feel too bad about that because I knew that another one was coming and the one I had seen had been quite crowded - with bus people. The ticket agent said that the last bus might be full and he couldn't guarantee that we would get on. That news brought my mood down a bit but then...magic. When the bus pulled in there was a second bus with it, deadheading to Thunder Bay. We got on and were the only passengers. Our own private bus! And it turned out that with no other cargo on board we hadn't needed to pack our bikes up anyway.
Next day in Thunder Bay I got to see a doctor. I was really concerned that this might be the end of my trip. He pushed, pulled and twisted on my knee and said that there was some looseness (an old skiing injury) and we talked quite a bit about my mini-disc player. He gave me some advice on pedalling positions and loading and also a huge prescription for anti-inflammatories and said, "Have a good trip." I take it from this that I'm good to go.
We've scheduled a couple of days rest in town and after just one day and a couple of pills I'm feeling much better, though a long way from cured. The test will be when I get back on the bike. Two days off might not turn out to be enough and I may just hop back on the bus to Sioux Ste. Marie and wait a week for Doug to catch up to me.
If it wasn't for the knee the last few days would have been the best of the trip so far. The wilderness of Northern Ontario is huge and lonely. The shoulders on the TCH aren't very wide but the traffic is surprisingly light. Sometimes you go ten or fifteen minutes without seeing a car and you might pass through a single settlement in a day of cycling. Some of those settlements are smaller than Upsala. But the riding is easy with lots of ups and downs twisting through the broken rocks and deep lakes that make up this part of the country. Doug and I are both feeling good and strong and, despite the knee problem, we're maintaining our highest average speeds of the trip so far. When we stop to camp each night I know that I feel a bit tired but after supper and the resting that comes with it I always feel that I could go on for another couple of hours.
I'm looking forward to the ride to Sault Ste. Marie. The locals warn about the hills that we'll encounter on the way but we've already done the Rockies and I don't think that the ups and downs along Lake Superior will be too bad. There may be a few steep ones but they'll be short. I'll keep you up to date as I can but the next section of the TCH will be about as sparsely populated as the last. It may be - if all goes well - that I'll be out of touch for another 6 or 7 days.
No news is good news.
Love to all, Brent
We're in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The half-way point on the Trans-Canada Highway.
Phew!
And the joke has become real. Confirmed in the shower this morning. I do, in fact, have callouses on my butt.
We got into town a day earlier than planned because I've been having some pretty bad trouble from my right knee. It had gotten to the point that I couldn't sit down and pedal anymore so for the last day and a half I was standing on the pedals all day. At Upsala we took the decision to grab a bus. The alternatives being either take a break and stay in Upsala for a couple of days to see what happened or cycle for another day and a half to Thunder Bay and see a doctor then.
Upsala consists of 2 gas stations and a general store. There's no accommodation or camp sites in the area. Definitely not the place to spend a couple of days. In order to take the bikes on the bus we were told that they had to be boxed up. We visited all 3 businesses in town and collected all of their spare cardboard, bought all the packing tape at the general store and started trying to make things fit. Quite amazingly there was just enough cardboard in town (after scrounging through some burning-barrels) to cover the 2 bikes. We missed the second of 3 scheduled busses through town. We weren't ready because we hadn't realized that we had crossed into another time zone somewhere in North Ontario wilderness. I didn't feel too bad about that because I knew that another one was coming and the one I had seen had been quite crowded - with bus people. The ticket agent said that the last bus might be full and he couldn't guarantee that we would get on. That news brought my mood down a bit but then...magic. When the bus pulled in there was a second bus with it, deadheading to Thunder Bay. We got on and were the only passengers. Our own private bus! And it turned out that with no other cargo on board we hadn't needed to pack our bikes up anyway.
Next day in Thunder Bay I got to see a doctor. I was really concerned that this might be the end of my trip. He pushed, pulled and twisted on my knee and said that there was some looseness (an old skiing injury) and we talked quite a bit about my mini-disc player. He gave me some advice on pedalling positions and loading and also a huge prescription for anti-inflammatories and said, "Have a good trip." I take it from this that I'm good to go.
We've scheduled a couple of days rest in town and after just one day and a couple of pills I'm feeling much better, though a long way from cured. The test will be when I get back on the bike. Two days off might not turn out to be enough and I may just hop back on the bus to Sioux Ste. Marie and wait a week for Doug to catch up to me.
If it wasn't for the knee the last few days would have been the best of the trip so far. The wilderness of Northern Ontario is huge and lonely. The shoulders on the TCH aren't very wide but the traffic is surprisingly light. Sometimes you go ten or fifteen minutes without seeing a car and you might pass through a single settlement in a day of cycling. Some of those settlements are smaller than Upsala. But the riding is easy with lots of ups and downs twisting through the broken rocks and deep lakes that make up this part of the country. Doug and I are both feeling good and strong and, despite the knee problem, we're maintaining our highest average speeds of the trip so far. When we stop to camp each night I know that I feel a bit tired but after supper and the resting that comes with it I always feel that I could go on for another couple of hours.
I'm looking forward to the ride to Sault Ste. Marie. The locals warn about the hills that we'll encounter on the way but we've already done the Rockies and I don't think that the ups and downs along Lake Superior will be too bad. There may be a few steep ones but they'll be short. I'll keep you up to date as I can but the next section of the TCH will be about as sparsely populated as the last. It may be - if all goes well - that I'll be out of touch for another 6 or 7 days.
No news is good news.
Love to all, Brent
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