Montreal to Ausable Chasm, NY

August 18, Sunday
Montreal

Sleep in until 6 – mid 50’s.  Clear and calm all day with a high around 80.  Go with Peter for coffee and roll and a brief skype with Cathy before I have to head back for breakfast set up at 7:30.  Pancakes and bacon at 8.  After clean up I give my bike a good cleaning and lube, and shine.  At 10 three buses leave for downtown for the 11 am service at St Andrew and St Paul  Presbyterian Church.

Black Watch flag on the sides, a stained glass for St Columba / Iona and a very good service in a great sanctuary. 

Leave the church a bit after 12:30 for a short ride (1.5 miles) to the old town.  In an attempt to generate  community favor there is gay pride parade but very unfortunately they bring the city to a standstill with gridlock and what would have been a walk of as long as 20-30 minutes turns into a pathetically long bus ride that doesn’t get us there until 2 pm.   Going with Peter and Elly we go to the Basilica of Notre Dame

We walk around town and get croissants at Bar de Beurre

,and wander around the very busy shops, restaurants, and artisan booths in the old town.  

Back to meet the bus at the waterfront at 5, back to camp at 6 for supper:  chicken stir fry and rice, ice cream.    Peloton, meeting those joining the tour and small groups – meet Taylor, the pastor of the RCA in Hopewell Jct.   Bed at 9, lights out at 9:15.

August 19, Monday

78.4 miles Montreal to Ausable Chasm       

Leave camp at 6:45 with Dave and Russ again and we head through some very confusing roads through the reservation, including a mile of gravel road.  A flat rail trail heads due south with steady west winds until we stop at the last Tim Hortons for coffee (mile 12).  Some very rough roads afterwards including a very rough 2 mile section of unpaved road through some farm fields which was very slow going for a long time.   Finally we got on another 11 mile section of very nice rail trail.   After another sag at 30 miles we made it to the border (around mile 40) at Champlain a nice rural and low volume entry point that doesn't take long at all.

Back in the States where English is the first language and my cell phone works again.

The day gets pretty warm and my bike computer is fading.  I stop in Plattsburg and find the train station,

I eat lunch as I wait for the southbound Adirondack to come south across the Saranac River bridge.

Get a battery at the bike shop and a cold sports drink at a bakery and then head south meeting up with Peter and Elly at the last sag stop about 12 miles from camp.  South of Plattsburgh, we come upon a field with metal art in it (Stoneledge Sculpture Garden), including a creative version of The Lord's Supper:

We ride up two long steep hills before we arrive at the Ausable Chasm camp.  Set up camp, shower, and internet, phone calls with Cathy and Mom.  Chili for supper, peloton, and small groups.    Tomorrow’s ride should be in the mid to upper 80’s and have the single greatest rise (6700 feet) of any day on the entire 9 week tour!   

Brockville to Montreal

August 16, Friday

67.3 miles Brockville to Cornwall        

Awake at 5 and up at 5:20 with the intent to see the morning Via train at the station.  Pack up and ready to leave camp at 6:40 with Jeff and we get to the station just as the train pulls in (6:50), dwells, and leaves. 

  We finish breakfast at the depot (muffins) and are glad to use the station rest rooms (the park where we were camping had only one rest room open – one urinal, one bowl, and one long line).

We leave the station at 7:15 and head east on highway 2.  Brockville is a beautiful old town

with remarkable homes and old estates along the river.   Shortly we stop at Jake and Jane Van de hoef’s who have a place right on the St Lawrence River east of town.  They have fresh cinnamon rolls, hard boiled eggs and coffee.  Beautiful place. 

  Jeff and I ride together for the day at a pretty fast but not pressed pace – the roads are flat, good surface, and a nice tail wind.  We take a short extension from Iroquois to Morrisburg along highway 4 which goes right along the St. Lawrence River – lovely.  It means we miss a sag stop but we stop at the waterfront park in town (mile 40) to eat part of our lunch before pressing on to the camp at the NAV Center on the East side of Cornwall.  It is on the grounds of a large sports facility and convention center which is very nice:  Good public wifi, large showers, sauna, laundry, restaurant and tavern.  this is a great place to camp! While others head to the showers I discover the laundry facility and get all my laundry done.   This is good because I think our weekend outside of Montreal is going to be at a school which I’d guess will not have a laundromat on site.   I go for a beer with Peter at the pub on site here and then enjoy a range of leftovers for dinner.    Peloton meeting at 7:30 and farewells from those leaving the tour.  In bed at 9 with lights out at 9:15 as I can’t stay awake to read. 

August 17, Saturday

72 miles Cornwall to Montreal                          445.9 miles for the week

Up at 5:30.  It is 50 degrees on my bike thermometer this morning, clear and lots of dew and spider webs everywhere.  This far north and east the sun is rising at 6 am.    Leave at 7 with Jeff, led by Peter Wiersma and Daniel Kiel.   The ride begins right on the banks of the St. Lawrence River – it is rather cool, but bright and beautiful. 

  We stop at a Tim Horton’s at 8 and the first sag is just a mile later.  Here seven of us leave with David Geerlings on the point.  I’ve ridden with him before – particularly last week one day when we had strong head winds and he set a 16 mph pace.  He is an experienced endurance rider (does 24 hour marathons).  Today he sets a perfectly steady 18 mph pace on level roads and we ride on his train for the rest of the day.  We do stop again at another Timmy’s and 2 more sag stops, and at the marker indicating we were entering Quebec.  No more English. 

  Approaching Montreal we have to go on a highway through a tunnel – this was pretty cool and gave me a chance to practice ringing the little bell on my handlebars. About 10 miles out we are stumped as the pavement is not marked for directions and we opt to stay on the road even though it turned.  In retrospect this was a mistake.  We rode for several miles eventually the road restricted bicycles and pedestrians confirming our sense that we had gotten off route.  Considering only our direction sheet and no map we asked a couple of motorists for help but they told us they deferred saying they only spoke French.  Really?   We asked at a gas station and the best we could get from them is that we had to backtrack to where we went wrong, which we did, adding half a dozen miles or so.  Later in looking at a map we could easily have saved our backtracking, but alas…  Eventually we arrived at the school in Kahnawake and even with all the stops, traffic lights, stop signs, sections of very rough road, and detour we still averaged 15.7 mph for the day.  The school is 17 miles from downtown Montreal and a 35 mile round trip ride seems too far to me after a 70 mile day and a 446 mile week.  The school does not have wifi or laundry facilities.  I am so glad I got all my laundry done yesterday!  They run shuttles in the afternoon and evening to a laundromat somewhere, others do it in buckets by hand.  After I set up camp and sit and eat my lunch I shower and ride to a Tim Hortons for wifi which works well but they do not have any electrical outlets:  they want you to come, but not to stay!  With no outlets my battery only has an hour of life.   I am on sweep team for supper tonight and for breakfast tomorrow (basically that means we help set up, serve and clean up).   Plenty of food.  Lovely cool, calm, dry evening.  

I can hardly believe I have ridden my bike from Grand Rapids all the way to Montreal.   One of my greatest supports has been that my church Elder Chair, Tammy Baker, had each of the council members write me a card or note for a specific day of the tour.  They all did it!  I have been very disciplined in restraining myself from prematurely indulging in this daily delight and only reading one card a day.  Each day is something to look forward to and to be blessed by.  I have found this to be a great treat each day.  I also find that each morning it is such a delight to be riding in the early cool of the day that two songs ring in my head every day as I pedal: the first stanza of “Ten Thousand Reasons”;

The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes
Bless the Lord, O my soul,O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

and the Sea to Sea theme song, "Christ Be Our Light"  

Christ, be our light!  Shine in our hearts.
Shine through the darkness.
Christ, be our light!  Shine in your church gathered today.

Longing for food, many are hungry.
Longing for water, many still thirst.
Make us your bread, broken for others, shared until all are fed.  

Longing for shelter, many are homeless.
Longing for warmth, many are cold.
Make us your building, sheltering others, walls made of living stone. 

  In fact I can ride and sing out loud at the same time! 

Tomorrow morning we will get bused to a church in Montreal and get a chance to walk around a bit before being bused back in the afternoon.  

Kingston to Brockville, ON

August 15, Thursday

53 miles Kingston to Brockville   

Awake at 5:20 with 8 hours of very good sleep.  Up at 6:45, but no rush as we have only 30 miles and three hours to ride to a boat tour of the 1000 Islands.  

In case you are curious our gear trailer is our collective walk-in closet where all 125 of us have our personal clothing, etc.  It gets stored in 2 laundry baskets each: 

 It is rather cool as we leave (58 degrees) so I ride wearing my thermal jersey.  I ride with a guy named Jeff from Ontario and we have a nice easy pace until the first sag stop at 15 miles and then join Peter and Elly.  In the nice village of Gananoque Jeff and I stop at the Panache Bakery for a very good almond / raspberry tart and coffee:  www.panachebakery.ca 

 .  In talking with the proprietor she made a $25 donation to our cause. :-)  

   We made it to boat at 9:45 for a 10:30 sailing. 

  A lovely, albeit, very windy day for a one hour tour of the 1000 Islands from Ivy Lea including riding under the 1000 Island Bridge (USA - Canada) 

 and views of the Boldt Castle.  

 Back on the road at noon with only 20 miles to ride.  There is a wonderful stiff (15mph) wind at our back the entire way.  It is a very easy and flat ride all along the St. Lawrence River.  Arrive at the St. Lawrence Park in Brockville at 1:45 and am greeted by friends Jane and Jack Van de Hoef.

Set up the tent and bathe in the St. Lawrence River...

... before heading to town for internet at the Library.  

  Dinner tonight is being provided by the Brockville CRC – “stompot” – which they tell me is a Dutch specialty of potatoes and kale smashed up and sausage added.  We’ll see how that goes.  With everything here being British and “Loyalist” and lots of fish and chip shops around I was thinking some F&C would be good local fare!  But so far, the food has been generous and wonderful and I feel like we are eating our way across Canada.  

Today marks halfway for me and I've ridden 726 miles so far.  Only one fall and no flat tires.  

Beginning Week 2: Sunday: Ancaster to Wednesday: Kingston

August 11, Sunday

Ancaster / Redeemer University                              

Awake at 5:20 but go back to sleep until 5:50.  The morning is quiet. The worship service is at 3 at Redeemer – good service and a full auditorium.

 Tomorrow’s ride will be about 80 miles to and through Toronto.  Unlike all of our days so far which have all had many rural miles tomorrow's ride will be entirely through densely populated areas so I expect the ride will be much slower and complicated, but surely interesting.  

August 12, Monday

83.6 miles Ancaster / Redeemer University to Ajax, ON                

Awake at 5:30, up at 5:45. Leave at 6:55 with a t-shirt under my jersey and arm warmers – felt good.    Head down the escarpment and through a range of local neighborhood streets, across the bay, and towards Toronto – or, as the locals pronounce it, dropping a few of the consonants:  “Tra-no”    I ride with a group of three new local weekly rider, which is really handy because all of the street signs are in Canadian, but around mile 25 I stop off for coffee and an Canadian maple doughnut at Tim Hortons.

  Inexplicably when I leave, about a quarter of a mile down the street I am asked “Where is your helmet?”  I had left it at Tim Horton’s!  I rode back and put it on.  I also had my first fall while on the the bike.  While on the lakefront trail into Toronto I stopped to look at a trail map and I clicked out of my right shoe as I always do, but somehow I leaned left and went down on the pavement as I stopped – the only result was a bloodied left knee. Between the helmet and the fall I’m not feeling very sharp, but the weekend rest has well restored my legs and the 80+ miles today come quite easily – that, and the ride is fairly level.   Downtown Toronto had a lot of road, path and surface construction.  A lot of stopping and even needing to walk our bikes.

   Several times during the day churches had supplemental sag stops: one place had a couple of homes open for bathrooms, and another church group had really good ice cream bars/cones for us along the beach trail.  I talk to several people about S2S today including a couple of Ghanaian men in front of a bar, a guy at Tim Hortons, and an off-duty Toronto policeman along the road, and a guy at the camp in Ajax.   Finish the ride at 3:20 at the Ajax Community Center.   Still no phone service, and no internet here at the community center.

But wonderfully enough the train track were less than a mile away -- only a couple of minutes by bike:

   A couple of final notes:  This site has us all tenting on a barely but sufficiently large field and we are close to both the gear and food trucks, but the bathrooms and showers in the community center are a 5 minute walk.  But we are also right next to a skate park and several soccer fields which are open with full lighting and have league games (including refs with whistles) with until 11 pm.   Also along our ride today a young Swedish couple who are riding their bikes around the world (2 years so far) chatted with several of our riders who invited them to camp and eat with us – they did.  I chatted with them a bit before supper – very interesting couple.  They hope to be home for Christmas.   Read in the tent and go to sleep art 10:15

August 13, Tuesday

85 miles  Ajax, ON to Trenton.      

Awake at 5:20 and go back to sleep until 5:45.  At mile 14 we get to Hope Fellowship Church on the east side of Oshawa. Lots of folks there to meet us and serve us all sorts of goodies.  Enjoy meeting Len and Yvonne Reimersma there.

  This is a rather long stop of at least 30 minutes.  We ride on Lakeshore Drive a good ways which is rather hilly but rural.  There is a detour at one point which adds a couple of miles to our day.  In Coburg (mile 50, 11:20) the CRC there has wonderful sloppy joes for lunch and lots of baked goods for us.   This too is a long stop.  I leave around noon and some spotty rain cells have popped up and sprinkles develop and then wet roads and we can see a heavy shower ahead that we seem to be catching up to.  I stop for 15 minutes to give it a chance to clear off and it does.  I press on but another pop up shower begins to get us wet, and it continues to intensify and stays with us as we ride in a pretty heavy rain for half an hour until we finally get to the CRC in Brighton in a downpour.  We are cold and drenched and the good folks from the church are all packed in a crowd under the front overhang to keep dry such that there is no place for the bikers to go but they are all waving for us to come in out of the rain before we get wet.   Well, that issue was settled half an hour ago.  You gotta love the heart of hospitality even if the execution is dim.  We eventually get in and within 15 minutes the rain stops and the sun comes back out.

  After some ice cream and "olle bollen"  (for some of you this is a Dutch "treat" translated "oil balls" -- that is -- dough balls cooked in oil)  – both of which were pretty good – the skies are clearing and riding is the best way to dry out.  I ask how far to Trenton and a dear elderly woman tells me it is only 15 minutes never realizing that I will not be driving.   The final 12 miles do dry out the jersey and shorts (not the shoes).  Get to the school at 3:20 and a very stiff NW wind as risen and setting up the tents is fun.  Bed at 10 and it is down to 59 degrees.

August 14, Wednesday

72.7 miles  Trenton to Kingston                

Light rain showers between 3 and 5 AM, but when I got up at 5:45 the skies were clearing; however it was 55 degrees inside the tent.  On the road at 6:55. It is 56 degrees and mostly sunny but I wear my thermal jersey all morning until the lunch stop at noon (mile 55).  There is a steady N-NW wind which at times today is very helpful but not always and the wind is tiring at times.  Stop at a CRC in Bloomfield for coffee and treats for our first sag.  This is a lovely rural and scenic ride along the Loyalist Parkway all day today to Kingston.  Just before the Picton ferry crossing we take the half mile steep climb up to Lake on the Mountain overlook for some nice views of the mountain lake and down to the ferry crossing.

The ferry here is just a continuation of the road so it is free (and cheaper than building a bridge)

.  We ride all along the water on good road and little traffic all the way to Kingston (73 miles) arriving at 1:25.  It was a good riding day, with several scenic stops and a good pace.although my right calf tightened up again late in the ride (I was 15^th into camp). We are camping in a park near the lake a few miles from the city.  Notice the "No Camping" sign.

Set up the tent and bike 3 miles into downtown Kingston to look around the town and take some photos.  Sort of like being in Britain, eh?

  Find a pub for a Steam Whistle Ale and Poutine.

 With the ride into Kingston I reach 80 miles for the day which is the third consecutive 80 mile day.  The 2 CRCs in Kingston  bring an array of salads and desserts to supplement the spaghetti and meatballs the tour provides for supper.  All very good.  
 Peloton  at 7:30 and find out that tomorrow’s ride is 20 miles shorter than the devotional listed it: only about 50.  With this news I am falling asleep during the meeting.   The meeting, local CRC singers (the Kingston Trio?), and tour reports are over at 8:40, and I go right to bed, read for 20 minutes and at 9:20 right to sleep.

Days Five and Six: London to Breslau to Ancaster

August 9, Friday

73.3 miles London to Breslau   

Awake and up at 5:45.  With set up, clean up, and truck loading duties I finally get on the road at 7:50.  Most everyone has left camp.  I ride to the first sag stop with a group of five twenty somethings in a good pace line into a mild head wind.  We stop to watch a helicopter crop-dusting.  Even though we are breathing hard we try to not breath deeply!  

 Then the skies are clearing and we will be riding in country and farmland all day and in a pace line you don’t see much so I leave the sag stop with Peter and Elly and ride with them the rest of the day which is a much slower  and scenic pace. 

  It is a beautiful day, sunny, cool and the fields are all green.  Rather hilly in spots and we have 2700 feet of rise.  After seeing the freigher the Norman McLeod in Sarnia on day 3, today I stop for a photo by a very nice looking farm owned by some well named folks.  These sightings remind me I have left the West Michigan bubble for the greater world!  

 The last 12 miles are mostly busy city streets and we are nearly the last ones into camp at 2:50.  I am soon welcomed by John Medendorp serving the church in Listowell for the summer.  He stays to enjoy our taco and burrito supper.  Tonight's peloton meeting features farewells by those who will be leaving the tour this weekend and some very fine and funny skits!  I laughed so hard I was crying.  I go to bed intently at 9:40. A pretty cool evening, clear.

August 10, Saturday

44.5 miles Breslau to Ancaster / Redeemer University  

Some gusty winds overnight but clear, and the morning dawns clear, calm, and mid-50’s with a very heavy dew.   The rain fly is wetter this morning than the morning after it rained in the evening in Imlay City.  Awake at 5:30 and up at 5:40.  My routine is pretty well established now.  I know what I need, what needs to be done, etc. 

  This morning is pretty relaxed because we all know we have a short ride but everybody is up anyway and many area Canadians are eager to ride because they have friends and family waiting for them, and for others it is their last day.  I leave my tent up during breakfast hoping that maybe the fly will dry a bit before packing, but no such luck.  I am one of the first to breakfast which today includes fried potatoes and scrambled eggs.  I’ve had porridge every day, which is quite good, but today I go for the potatoes and eggs.   I take down and pack up a soaking wet tent fly, load the truck and eventually get on the road at 7:15  The Christian high school was a good place to stop but obviously out of the way as our first 9 miles are backtracking the last 9 miles of yesterday afternoon!   It is 59 degrees on my bike computer as I leave with a group of 10 local day-riders who have very fresh legs and set a brief pace.  Early on Saturday morning there is very little traffic and we buzz through Preston, along the river to Cambridge and to the CRC in town (15 miles). They have lots of home baked goods and fruit and water for us, but surprisingly no coffee!?  What?  8:15 on a cold morning and no coffee?   This grievous omission has seriously compromised the Dutch Canadian hospitality approval rating – especially since our hosts were themselves all holding cups of coffee from Tim Hortons!  With no coffee and no familiar faces I leave with Daniel Kiel and Peter Wiersma.  It is a beautiful, cool, sunny, and fresh day riding through rural farmland to Ancaster.  We have a little tail wind (the first in three days!) which is such a relief, and with the prospect of a short ride we ride easily but at a good pace, getting to Redeemer having averaged 16.7 mph.    We are some of the first to arrive at Redeemer (10:35), in fact the Sea to Sea semi trucks pass us in the last mile before the school.  I check into the dorm and wait for the gear truck to back into position and then help unload.   Everything will come out of the gear truck over the weekend for its weekly cleaning.   I unpack my wet tenting and spread it out to dry in the sun and breeze, eat my lunch, and then repack the gear and take everything up to my room.  Shower and ride a mile or so to find a Starbucks and get some iced coffee and write this blog.   There is a picnic supper – hamburgers -- at the nearby CRC at 5.  

Summary for the week:

425 miles – smiling most of the time, happy I am actually doing this and feeling so good in doing it! 

A bit over 10,000 feet of rise.

No flat tires.

No saddle sores or inflamed tendons. 

No sun burn (but lots of sunscreen).

Several unidentified bugs ingested – fresh protein is good for cell repair!

Eating like I was 18, and sleeping like I was 1.

Lots of new friends.  

Days 3 and 4

August 7, Wednesday

83.4 miles Imlay City to Sarnia via ferry at Marine City, MI      

The day begins with a severe thunderstorm and once the stormiest part is past we leave at 7:50, 62 degrees, in the rain.  We ride in the rain for the next half hour, then gets lighter and within an hour has completely stopped.   I ride with Peter Kempe and Elly Torsius all the way to Marine City at mile 54.  The ride south was hard into a head wind, sunny, and getting hot.  We make it to the ferry at 12:15 and are on board by 12:30.

We receive a very warm welcome on the Canadian side with lots of folks.

They had  lots of Tim Horton coffee, fresh cookies, and cold water.  Many of us just dropped our bikes in our delight for the prospect of free coffee.

Heading north along the St Claire River for the last 30 miles was lovely and fast as we now have a strong tail wind into Sarnia.  I spot the "Norman McLeod" docked just south of Sarnia.  Perhaps this ship is named after my great uncle.  

While most head right to the school, I take the scenic route to Point Edward under the Blue Water Bridge. 

All in all it comes to 84.3 miles.  At the school I set up camp out in the field and spend some time cleaning the grit off my bike from having ridden in the rain.

The folks in Sarnia have decorated the gym like it's a wedding reception.  They have prepared a grand meal for us:  a huge salad, main course (bbq pork chops, sweet corn, baked beans, and potatoes), and dessert buffet.   I eat a lot.  

We had 9 falls today -- a couple of them were rather bad with one rider breaking a femur and requiring surgery.  Not a good day in that regard.  In the evening we had another severe thunderstorm warning for the area and many campers moved indoors.  I decide to ride it out in my tent.  The storm hit just before 10 with lightning and rain but no high winds or hail. I stay dry.  Quiet the rest of the night and a nice cool wind rises during the night to dry the tent. 

August 8, Thursday

67.1 miles Sarnia to London        

Up at 5:50 again.  We all stored our bikes in the school hallways because of last night's storms. 

This morning it is rather breezy with NE winds and in the mid 60’s.    I am on the road at 7 am.    The first 8 miles I rode by myself and was only making 12 mph due to the steady NE wind.  Then a couple of guys caught up with me and I slid in behind them as they were pacing at 16 – a pretty good pace into the wind and we passed a lot of others.  We rode to a Tim Hortons for coffee and a doughnut (15) and then we rode together afterwards until we caught up with a group of 8 who we rode with at a much more relaxed 14.5 mph until mile 45.  With a steady headwind a pace line is very helpful.  

The terrain is very flat and we ride due east.  Reminds me of the saying that it’s so flat that if your dog ran away in a straight line you could still see him tomorrow.   

The last 10 miles or so through London were on a trail which was very nice in spots but a much slower ride; instead of seeing the city we meander under bridges and along a river. 

Arriving into camp (at the London Christian school)  at 1 pm we are pretty early into camp.  For some reason a lot of folks will spread out in the school, but I will sleep much better outside as it will be cool (upper 50's and dry tonight).  Maybe they are just tired of setting up their tents but for me outside is much nicer, softer, private, and I can decide when to turn out the lights.