Week 6

Sept 26
Dist: 80  Avg: 19.1  Time: 4:10
SSM to Sawpit Bay Motel (5km past Pancake Bay Prov. Park)

The temperature this morning was much warmer than it has been in the last few days at 9 degrees. We had breakfast at Presto's Restaurant on Great Northern Rd. then headed north into a beautifully coloured highway. We're probably about a week early for the really good colour that paints the hillsides. Some of the maples are already in their reds, oranges and yellows, but there's a lot more to come.

We stopped into the new Walmart to pick up some grub for the next day or two, because we aren't sure what we have after Montreal River tomorrow. While packing the food on our bikes, Jim was asked by this grubby looking fellow where we were going. We found out after a minute or so that this individual lived at the dump. Hmmmmmm??? He donned a huge packsack then rode off on an old mountain bike.

At the 36 km mark we pulled into a restaurant at bottem end of Batchewana Bay. Jimmy decided it was time to check the wheel bearings on the BOB again as he felt they were dragging at times. We pulled off the bearing dust covers and found the inside full of old dirty, rusty looking grease. Using a bit of gas we got from the store proprietor, we cleaned out the bearings as good as we could then repacked the bearing with Penatin cream, the closest thing we had to grease. We'll see how long this lasts until we can get some proper grease. Putting the wheel back together we headed off to have lunch.

After an hour or so we were back on the road. As we were leaving an old couple started talking to us, asking us the usual questions we get asked. saying our goodbyes the woman said, "Now take care kids!" I guess we were quite a bit younger than they were, so to them we were still 60 year old kids.

Some of the shoulders were really good, other very marginal. We actually had the wind behind us at times as we made our way towards Batchewana Bay. We stopped for a quick drink and an ice cream at the general store there. We asked the young fellow if there wwere any more motels farther down the road. He mentioned there was the Provincial Park at Pancake Bay and the Sawpit Motel a few k's past the park. That was all we needed to know. That was going to be our destination for the night.

We pulled into the motel parking lot and were greeted by a fellow who looked very close to Larry Ezack. (photo) We booked our room and the owner decided to pull up a chair and chat with us while we were having happy hour.

**

Sept 27
Dist: 114  Avg: 19.2  Time: 5:49
Sawpit Motel to Rabbit Blanket Prov. Park

Woke up at 7:30 to the music of my cell phone alarm. It wasn't quite light out yet, the days have been getting shorter. Breakfast in the room consisted of mini bagels with PB and jam. We had starting to purchase these as they were thinner and easier to carry. We were on thee road by 8:30 and the sun had only risen a few minutes before. We had a wind today already but fortunately it was from the southwest which would help us. The owner of the Sawpit Motel had told us there was a restaurant at Montreal river so that would be our first stop. The morning was beautiful, the rising sun was shining on the colourful maple trees. In some spots the trees had not started to change yet in others they were in full brilliant colour. As we got closer to Montreal river we started to encounter hills. We knew they were coming as the route from Montreal River to Wawa is well known for its hills. We stopped at the agreed spot only to find that the restaurant had closed six years before. We couldn't even fill our water bottles as the water there was contaminated. A few kilometers down the road at the base of the climb there was a nice campsite and cabins out on a point. The owner had a little hamburger and chip stand so in we went. The burgers were delicious and he filled our water bottles. He knew the area well and gave us information on the highway to Wawa. The next climb was the one we had been waiting for, the dreaded Montreal River Hill, four kilometers in length.

The excess clothing was discarded and off we went. I stopped part way up and took some pictures, you could see for miles out into the big lake and away up  the shore. I could see the distant highway and wondered how long it would be till I got there.

The other two Amigos were waiting at the top and we discussed the climb, nothing compared to BC but still a good climb, the hill had been conquered and the pressure was off so on we went. After about 20k we came to Agawa Bay and a big steel bridge.

Northgate

Along the lake

The top of Montreal River hill

Jim reaching the top too

One of the many lookouts along the highway

Another climb started here and soon I could see all the way back to the Montreal River Harbour. We hadn't planned a destination for today but we knew there were no motels. At one point we thought we might make Wawa but that idea went by the wayside  as the hills started to take it's toll on our bodies. The other two Amigos thought they still had enough jam to make Wawa, but I was finished. While on the side of the road discussing our options a little car stopped to inquire. "Need any help boys".

To our surprise it was Francine and her friend form Thunder Bay, they were on a little excursion around the lake. They thought we might still be on the road so they kept a lookout for us. We chatted for a while and then parted company. We knew Rabbit Blanket lake park was close and before Old Woman Bay, so we would make that our destination for today. Eight more kilometers further and we were there. The park was still open and the showers were nice and hot. After a nice supper of wraps and cold cuts and snacks it was off to bed we were all very tired Amigos.
 Another day in the books.

Cheers Jim

**

Sept 28
Dist: 129  Avg: 21.8  Time: 5:55
Rabbit Blanket Prov. Park to White River

The Amigos awoke from a great night sleep, gobbled down a fine breakfast of PB and J bagels, packed up the tents and hit the road - all before 8:45.  It was a great feeling to start our cycling day in bright, sunny and warm conditions - and with a fine tailwind to boot.  We were in cycling heaven after that fairly tough day yesterday so we put the hammer down and hauled ass down the highway to take maximum advantage of the perfect conditions.  It was sweeter than a long kiss goodnight.  We soon found ourselves at Old Woman Bay which features a long climb which would have been a good leg-burner under normal conditions, but with the assistance of our new friend Mr. Tailwind we breezed over it.  Life was good.

Continuing on at a good pace, we covered the 32 km. to Wawa and settled into the Family Restaurant for brunch then into the actual town site to check out the visitors' centre and reprovision our supplies for supper and breakfast should we not reach our overnight destination of White River still over 90 km away. Afterwards, loaded to the max with extra water, beverages and canned goods we blew town with the wind still at our backs.  We encountered road construction in several spots, but none held us up too much.  As we rolled along, we couldn't help but notice that the scenery had changed considerably since yesterday.  No more blazes of fantastic autumn crimsons, gold and orange, but more muted shades of green, yellow and brown. It was still pretty but clearly we had left the maple stands behind.

Just past the road into Dubreuilville, we stopped at a convenient guardrail for a rest and nosh when lo and behold, a car stopped and out came our friends Mary Ellen Ripley and Al Comeau.  We couldn't believe our eyes but there they were all smiles, handshakes, hugs and nice words of encouragement.  Plus, they gave us a bag of Clif bars and a banana/pineapple loaf.  Life on the road doesn't get any better than this.  Thank you friends!  Have a great holiday in Nova Scotia.
We all-too-soon parted company and agreed to shoot for White River, still over 50 kilometers away as we still felt pretty good.  Even with the tailwind, it was still a long way, but we put our heads down and thrashed it out arriving at about 6:15.  We generally don't like to be on the road that late, but what can you do?  It would be counter-intuitive to stop 10 or 15 km short of town and camp in the bush when you're close enough to smell the burgers cooking.  Anyway, we checked into a great place, the Continental Inn ($87/night all in) and had a nice happy hour with Moosehead lagers thanks to Mr. Vandal.  We polished off most of our new supply of vittles purchased in Wawa and passed a pleasant evening watching TV, phoning home and updating our blogs.  A good forecast for the next 5 or 6 days further brightened our spirits and we are eager to continue our journey homeward.

This blog posted by Fabio

**

Sept 29
Dist: 91  Avg: 17.1  Time: 5:19
White River to Marathon

Awakening this morning found a typical cool fall morning outside the door. We also found the wind had changed from the south to the west-northwest, which wouldn't be in our favour heading to Marathon. After a typical breakfast of eggs and sausage, french toast and oatmeal, we climbed aboard our steads and pointed them in the direction of home. Surprisingly enough, the wind wasn't too much of a detriment to us and we found we could push a fairly good pace. We had some mediocre climbs right off the bat after we hit the 2 km mark. This was to be the norm until we got closer to Marathon, where the road leveled out for quite a few klicks until we got to the Pic River, then we had a 3 kms climb to get over the top which got us about 3kms from the turn off to Marathon.

Nice colours and reflections

We found a great place to eat lunch at Gloria's Restaurant, 38 kms from White River. We had a very delicious bowl of beef noodle soup with grilled cheese sandwiches and a chicken burger. We relaxed a bit before heading out as we knew the next 50 or so k's wouldn't take too long.... we had the whole afternoon to cover this distance, as it was only around 1 pm.

The wind rustled through these tall grasses as we passed.

Even after lunch we still all wore cool weather gear.... I still had my long gloves and ear band on as the wind still nipped at you regardless of the heat our bodies were creating. It was still a gorgeous day of sun and autumn weather type clouds rushing across the sky creating shadow areas on the highway, taking us in and out of shadows.

Autumn weather type clouds, with Fab & Jim in distance.

We stopped once more after the gold mines outside Marathon at a usual guardrail (bike stand) to polish off some Gatorade and a Joe Louis, a favourite snack of ours at this time of the day. At this time we were contemplating the distance we had left to reach home base. After being on the road for 5+ weeks, it's starting to hit home that we're going to be finished our journey in another 3 or 4 days.

Huge mine tailings piles

As the wind is going to be from the south (maybe) from the Nipigon to TBay leg, we might have to stay at Jim's camp at Mirror Lake to divide up the last 120kms. If the wind is in our favour we may push all the home, it'll just be a bit late by the time we hit home base. More on this from Nipigon, if we can access the internet.

A lovely little brook along the roadside

Gene

**

Sept 30
Dist: 78 Avg: 17.9  Time: 4:22
Marathon to Terrace Bay

We made it to Terrace Bay... the last 10 km or so with the wind smacking us right in our faces. It was a short day, but we had plenty of climbing all the way to Terrace Bay. One climb at the 45 km mark from Marathon had to have been the steepest and most difficult climb we've encountered since the Sault. On the downside of that climb at kilometer 49 we had a roaring run downhill at 72 kph.

When we arrived in TB we had a great time at Sonja and Dick's and also a magnificent supper.

Tomorrow we have more climbing as soon as we leave TB then two big mothers, one at Rossport the other after Pays Plat... Cavers Hill and smaller ones near Kama.

We are going to stop Wed night at Mirror Lake, then make it to TBay Thursday afternoon.

**

Oct 1
Dist: 109  Avg: 17.7  Time: 6:12
Terrace Bay to Nipigon


We blew out of Terrace Bay at 9:07 after another wonderful breakfast courtesy of Dick and Sonja, photos and best wishes for a safe journey homeward.  Barely a few kilometers out, Hydro Hill greeted us and this was a good leg warmer but just a prelude of what we knew lay ahead - the big boys of Rossport, Schreiber, Cavers and Kama.  These are the hills that generally make cyclists cringe at the mere mention of their names.  We were so looking forward to not doing them, but being on the only route home, we had no choice.
The first town we passed through was Schreiber where we had planned to by sub sandwiches to take with us, as restaurants ahead were next to non-existent.  No dice - the sub shop was shut down.  We managed to pick up some grub at a convenience store and away we went.  The very picturesque hamlet of Rossport served as our first roadside rest stop some 16 kms further ahead, but only after climbing one of the major hills we had heard so much about.  Our trepidation's had been unfounded - we actually summited that beast quite handily.  Once we finished our break, away we went happy to be back on a fine road with good shoulders under nice blue skies and a light zephyr caressing our backs.  These idyllic conditions didn't last however, as the sky clouded over and the drizzle started.  On came the rain gear.  This messed up a really good cycling day.  By the time we reached Gravel River however, the rain had stopped, the raingear came off and we found a nice little restaurant for lunch.

After a quick bite, we set off again under perfect conditions.  We hummed along merrily as the beauty of NW Ontario's rugged landscape slowly revealed itself.  One by one the much-feared hills we had heard so much about melted away behind us until we realized we had reached Kama Bay - one of the most scenic spots anywhere on L. Superior.

Nose to the grindstone heading into the headwind

That was it - we had conquered the last of the big climbs - and still had juice to spare.  It was a happy moment which we marked with a nice group photo.

All the climbs are now behind us :)

Riding away a bit later, we rode out a screaming downhill, then guess what?  Our old nemesis The West Wind came up and really started to clobber us.  It had come out of nowhere but now was right in our mush at about 25 kph with wild gusts up to 40 kpm.  What a way to end a near-perfect day!  We fought that wind tooth and nail until we finally pulled into Nipigon 21 kilometers away.  We were a fairly tired group by then, but still found the energy to visit the local beer store for our happy hour supplies.  We checked into the Grey Rock Hotel - lucky to find a room due to hunters and construction workers, had our not-so-happy happy hour, a crappy supper at the Husky House then off to bed.  It had been a fine, full day but we were all plenty tired and  very eager to get home.

The blog posted by Fabio.

**

Oct 2
Dist: 62  Avg: 18  Time: 3:27
Nipigon to Mirror Lake

As the restaurant wasn't open at Grey Rock Motel, we headed back over to the Husky Restaurant across the hwy. With another good breakfast of bacon and eggs in us, we headed towards Thunder Bay. As we were leaving the parking lot, we heard a hello from a passenger in a white truck pulling in off the hwy. As we looked in, Darrell Hay was the person saying hi again.

Nipigon main street 1

Nipigon main street 2

Moving on down the highway I was surprised to find so many changes to the Suicide Hill section as Ontario Hydro was erecting new transmission towers. The rock cuts that I used to sit on above the highway were totally gone to make room for the new towers. Farther down the road, even the weigh scales have been shut down and all of the buildings that were at the turn off to Red Rock were completely gone.

On the section of highway that the couple from the Ottawa area were killed, we all felt a bit nervous going through. I thought something was happening when a black car pulled off on the opposite side of the road and started to roll down the drivers window. Moments later Peter Young stuck his head out and yelled, "Welcome home guys," then sped off for his early morning appointments at his office in Nipigon.

We kept on riding all the way past the old Dorion highway, where all the building there were gone. Stopping at the far end of the Dorion straight stretch, we finally pulled over for a drink and bite to eat. From that point onward to Mirror Lake we had quite a nice tailwind and a nice wide shoulder.

Pulling into Mirror Lake, we had a short but very steep little climb up to where Jim's campsite was. Jim soon found a couple of Guiness beers for us to split as we relaxed on his trailer's deck. Shortly thereafter we grabbed our civi's and toiletries and headed for a hot shower. As we were checking out there son's campsite, Pat Jokela and Jim Sidler drove by heading for Jim and Doreen's camp. Wandering back over, we were greeted with welcome back's, handshakes and hugs. Jim told them to make themselves at home and we'd be back shortly after our showers.

To our surprise, after putting money in the shower control boxes, we found no hot water. Jim suffered through a cold wash, while Fabio chose to have a wipe down with the hot water that was still available from the sinks in the washrooms.

Mirror Lake camp

Making our way back to the campsite we found Doreen and Donna had arrived. Jim S. provided us with some nice cold beers, while the girls started preparing the meal they had made at home and brought with them for us for supper. Jim S. also had a nice cozy fire going in the fireplace. After many questions and explanations, supper was ready to eat, which consisted of pasta, sauce with large tasty meatballs, salad and toasted garlic bread. Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!

We chatted for a few more hours after supper, then Jim and Pat left to attend to Pat's dog and the girls packed up the car and headed out about an hour after that. The rest of the evening the 3 amigos reflected on the trip they had just about completed and what they were going to do when they got home. Once the fire died down, we decided to hit the sack. Even though we didn't ride that far today, the whole trip was finally catching up with us.

**