Manitoulin Island

We have left the rolling hills and rugged coastline of Lake Superior.  We are now rolling along the flatter more open scenery of Lake Huron.  Both lakes are making a good imitation of the ocean and whenever I see them it gives me a little twinge of homesickness. 

As we drove from Sault Ste. Marie to Blind River I thought the roads were looking pretty good.  There was lots of visibility and some shoulders.  The truck drivers have always been very courteous and given me lots of room. The RV drivers have all been really ancient and don’t even see over the steering wheels. They work on the principle that you cannot hit what you cannot see.  I had not seen too many RV’s for the last few days so I was getting confident.  The next leg of the journey was from Blind River to Espanola.  It is about 100 k and the roads were looking good.

Bring it on!

Yesterday the weather was cool with a light breeze – perfect for riding.   Telen said she would drive on ahead and meet me someplace along the way for lunch.  What a perfect ride!  Everyone should have such a great support team.

I got a call after about an hour and a half from Telen saying that she was stopped at a town called Massey that was about halfway and would wait for me there.   She said it was about 15 k from where I was.   Perfect.  I was getting a bit hungry.   I rode for about 20 minutes or so and came to a sign that said, “Massey – 20 k”.  Telen does not have a great sense of distance.   When I arrived in Massey I realized that we were in fact 80% of the way to Espanola.  I had ridden 80 k without a break, so the lunch was wonderful and I realized I only had 20 more kilometers to go. 

The shoulders on the road were not as wide as I had anticipated and in fact in some cases they were only about 10 cm wide.  More like ankles than shoulders.  Remember I said that the truck drivers were courteous?  Well, the logging truck drivers are the exception that proves the rule. 

Just as I was leaving Massey a truck came so close to me that I dodged onto the unpaved shoulder.  I hit the gravel going about 35 kph.  In a car, that is parking speed.  On a bike that is highway speed.  My tires are about 23 cm wide with no tread and the gravel is loose gravel.  Toastmasters would not have been proud of me at that point.  My speech was rather forceful but the vocabulary was limited to one word spoken very loudly and repetitively.  It is not a word that I use a lot, but I think I may have used up my quota for my lifetime.

How I kept my balance I do not know.  Probably fear had something to do with it.  All I could see was sharp-edged gravel and all I could feel was how thin and fragile cycling clothes are.  My heart rate spiked at that point. 

I spent a fair amount of time trying to get my courage back.  Even while I was standing on the shoulder and a truck would go by I would flinch.  For the next 10 k or so every time I heard a truck approaching I would stop and get off the bike. 

After a while, though, I got back in the groove but my shoulders would end up around my ears at the sound of an approaching truck.  What a wuss!  Shortly after that I saw Telen in the distance on the side of the road.   It had started to rain and she thought I probably could use a ride and a drink.  What she did not realize was that the drink I needed was not water…  I don’t know how many times she has saved me on this trip but I think she may have secured her place in heaven.  Even God needs someone to pick up the garbage.

As a result of all this we decided to change our route.   Instead of following route 17 (in Ontario, they call route 1 seventeen –in keeping with not knowing which way is North) we decided to head south to Manitoulin Island – which is the largest freshwater island in the world.  What a pleasant surprise awaited us. Wide roads, wide shoulders and few, if any, trucks.   The landscape is totally different as well – flatter, softer and mellower.  It has a Salt-Spring Island kind of feel to it.  After we leave here we have a ferry-ride to the Bruce Peninsula. 

I am liking it!

 On the shores of Gichi-Gumi by the shining Big Sea Water