Today was a welcome reprieve from what has been terrible bicycling weather. The air was absolutely still. No wind at all! I was thrilled. The sky was cloudy and looked like rain at any second, but the rain stayed away.
The wind generators didn’t budge. I felt like they were giant creatures watching me pass, their small red lights blinking, as if to warily watch me. I kept looking at them, watching for any movement, it never came. What a relief. I vowed to get as far as I could today, given this opportunity to actually cover some ground.
Cover some ground I did, 78 miles, (125 km). Most of the ground was level and good riding. The last mile or so had some real killer hills, but they weren’t too long and I managed them. Thanks to Ray’s cycle shop, the shifting into my lowest gears was working properly. On a few hills I did make it down to the lowest possible gear and climbed at about 3.3 MPH (5 km/h). I can walk that fast. At least with hills there is the payback, the energy of climbing turns into a fast downhill descent. At times I did hit about 30 MPH (50 km/h). What a thrill.
I finally started seeing Lake Eire. As large as it is, it has been hidden behind trees for most of the ride. I stopped for lunch in Port Burwell, ON and was very near the lake, but couldn’t see it. Behind the restaurant there was a full sized submarine on display, the HMCS Ojibwa, a cold war era relic of the Canadian Navy. From what I heard it was quite a project to get it placed there.
In all, it was a good day’s ride and I was very tired when I arrived in Port Dover. I had a quick dinner of fried perch and it was off to bed. Thanks for riding along with me. Only 80 more miles (132 km) to the New York/US border. Once there, I will stop to see my cousin Bill, in East Amherst, NY. Did someone mention tequila?
sounds like a really good day