7/9/09: Part of segment 46 and all of segment 47; http://www.4thehealthofit.net/segment_htmls/Segment46.html http://www.4thehealthofit.net/segment_htmls/Segment47.html Marathon, Ontario to Wawa, Ontario; 120 miles.
Summing up last evening, I went to a place called Pebble Beach, thanks to Ryan finding this little piece of heaven, and got in my bath. I at least wanted one dip in Lake Superior this trip, and Pebble Beach was just perfect. The place was desolate, so I stripped down, found the sand bar that Ryan had scoped out, and waded out into thigh deep water and did the pushup, making sure to wash all the salt off of my body during that very short, and brief and chilly dip. It felt absolutely awesome to sit on a big giant piece of drift log and dry off in the warm summer sun. The waves were pretty nice considering that this is a lake and not an ocean. That’s why I consider Lake Superior an inland ocean. It’s just fabulous!
So I just sat there for about a half hour and dried off and listened to the waves lap up onto the billions of cobble sized stones lining the shoreline. This is a special place, and if you’ve never been to Lake Superior, then you’re missing a real treat in nature, as this place is magical. I could have spent the whole night down here listening to the waves and feeling the “pseudo sea breeze”. Unfortunately, I had to leave, and packed it up and went back to Rumour’s for another sub. Go the sub, and a couple of home made muffins……..and it was pure ecstasy. Went back to our church camping area and relaxed on a chair in the sun.
Ryan was listening to CBC radio in his tent, and just chilling. It was so nice to sit in the sun and not be eaten alive by the mosquitoes, gnats, no-see-ums, and deer flies. Then we started talking about being hungry……again! So Ryan did a food mission to A & W. I got a momma and papa burger with a rootbeer float, while Ryan got a papa burger. He came back and we inhaled the food, just chilling in the evening sun. Bedtime came quickly and I was out with the radio playing inside my tent. I must have turned it off around midnight. And I’ll tell you, I started off with no sleeping bag when I entered my tent. But as soon as the sun sets, up here at around 10pm, it gets very cold. So that bag was over me after about an hour of sleep.
Woke up at 6am, and it was so hard to get it together to pack up and be ready to ride at 7:30am, as we wanted to get an early start to what we wanted to be a 110+ mile day today. We were out of the church sideyard at 7am. But we had to ride out of Marathon, up a big climb, and back to Rt 17. That climb took us nearly 20 min to do, right out of the gate, and it was THE hardest climb of the day. We stopped at a gas station for coffee and breakfast. I got a turkey sandwich with my coffee and figured it would carry me 50 miles to our first stop in White River. Ryan, just coffee, as he has a grocery store of bread, peanut butter and jelly, and doughnuts in his back bag for “between destinations” riding.
We made it quick, and then got on the road, only to wait in two construction lines as they were blowing up rock with dynamite just outside of Marathon. One of the waits must have taken 20 minutes. The other took about 10 min. So our getting up early for a long day was just negated with two construction stops. Once we got it going the terrain was quite accommodating for about 1.5 hrs, as we had just 2 mellow climbs out of Marathon, and then some nice flats to really work at getting the mph average up. I figured we needed at least 13 mph today to make it a day at a good time, and possibly 14 mph to make it a very good day with a better time. And as we started, that 14 looked like it was right there for the picking.
The terrain, it was just spectacular, as we passed lake upon lake, with very calm winds, such that you could see some very beautiful reflections in the water. I stopped numerous times to take pictures of the tree reflections in the waters. About 2 hrs in the power climbing started again, and the flats, and long rolling sections became a thing of the past. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about when I say power climbing, it’s this: a power climb is a fairly short climb that takes you out of your rhythm and forces you to either go out of the saddle, or downshift in the saddle to surmount the short climb. They can range from just 30 seconds or so long, or as long as 5 or so min. But…………do 10, 20, 30 of these and they just suck the energy out of your legs like a vacuum pump. Many power climbs can reduce your legs to jelly. I’d rather climb mountains than 50 miles of power climbs!
And from 2 hours in onward, it was all short power climbs. So many in fact that I was dreading the 110+ mile day we had in store for us. So I’d try to keep my mind on the beauty of the terrain by stopping and snapping pics every so often at the top of a power climb. This really helped to break the monotony of climbing, descending, climbing, descending. I finally made the half way point, White River, at 4.5 hours in. An I was very tired, with quads aching and hams screaming. I needed this break in a very big way. So I stopped at the Robin’s doughnuts place as I saw like 3 bikes totally loaded with gear. After pulling in, I noticed that one of the bikes was Rob’s, the Canadian crossing the country to the USA east coast.
I parked my bike and Rob came out and we talked for a bit. Then a couple of Canadian gals came out and got their bikes going again, and headed off to a grocery store. And that sounded like a good idea rather than get a sandwich or doughnut in Robins, so I waited for Ryan. He bypassed Robin’s and went to a gas station. Rob and I rode over to him and told him about the grocery store, and we all headed over there. Hell, I got a hand cart and got plums, pears, candy bars, cokes, and yogurts. I mean I did it up. I was THAT hungry. Plus, I figured that I’d eat a good bit of that between this place and our final destination – Wawa.
So we muched down at the store, and then got ready to do the second half of the day, 54 + miles to Wawa. And once we got going, it was a total bitch. The wind had really picked up, from calm to 15-20 mph headwinds out of the south. And my idea of a 14 mph day was thrown to the dogs. This final chunk of mileage was going to be pure survival. Amazingly my legs were feeling pretty good for the first hour what with the fresh fruits, coke, and the candy bars I had ingested. But another half hour into the second portion, wow, I was really feeling the effort. And it was power climbing central kilometer after kilometer. And at this point I would not look at the signs, so as to not have to play mind games with myself. I just wanted to ride my 4 hours and be done with the ride, as 4 times 13 mph equals 52 miles. Right? Nope!
And the headwind just continued to get worse. It would gust so hard that I’d have to get out of the saddle on the flats just to maintain 13 mph. I was determined NOT to hit the middle ring on the flats as that would be my undoing. Now during a power climb, even a small 2-3 minute jobbie, I would have to shift down to the middle ring to survive. I rolled over a couple in the big ring, but those were few and far between with this headwind. And when I did, it just sucked the life out of my legs. More signs, more of me not looking at them. I just looked at my trip time every so often. Finally, at 7 hours into the ride I took a look at the average speed……..lost a half a mile per hour from the first half what with the headwind. Ouch!
So quick calculations and I was now looking at 8.5 hours to get to Wawa. And it was here, at 7 hours in, that I stopped and got out two plums and a half a Kit Kat candy bar. My blood sugar was waning at this point and I knew that 1.5 hrs more would crush me without the food. I devoured the fruit and bar and continued. And the headwind continued to get tougher. I passed a campground that had American and Canadian flags at the entrance, and they were both standing at full attention and flying right in my face. That’s how hard the wind was blowing. At this point the headwind became my opponent, my foe, my foil, and I was not going to let it force me into the middle cookie on the flat sections, so I’d hunker down on the bars and just TT into the wind. I even talked……….er……yelled at the wind a couple of times. “You will not beat me,” I shouted. Now some of you may think that I’ve lost my marbles, but………..this is just my way of dealing with adversity, and turning the wind into an adversary. We all have to do what we have to do to get psyched up, and this is what I do, sane…….or insane. Who knows?
So nutcase Pete shouts at the wind every so often, and then just crushed the pedals even harder and harder. And 8 hrs into the ride rolls in. And then I started looking at the signs, seeing that I though I only had another half hour to go. And I see these signs that say: blah blah motel is just 8 minutes away, or 10 min away, or 12 min away. And I’m thinking: “Jesus, I’ve got another hour of riding with this bloody headwind.” And the power climbing just keeps coming. I wanted to stop again and eat my pear and last Kit Kat, but another part of me just wanted to get this gig done and in the books. Besides, there was a Subway at the end of the rainbow! So no stop. More headwind, gusting, more power climbing. Again and again. More signs: 4 min, 3 min, 2 min. And then I hit this little cookie climb, up to Wawa. And at this point I’m about hypoglycemic……feeling delirious, and in big need of cold coke and food.
I topped out, and saw another sign: 2K to Wawa. I was getting 2K’d to death, but at this point 1.2 miles was nothing, so I peddled on to the end of the rainbow – Subway. And finally, there it was. I got my usual 2 12 inch subs, and went through 3 20 oz fountain cokes. There was AC in the Subway, so once finished, I refilled on H20 and went outside to sit in the sun and wait for Ryan. He rolled in about an hour after I had. He invited me in to sit with him, but that sun and a full buda belly felt sooooooooooo good, that I just held my ground outside on the sidewalk. Ryan crushed his first 2 12 inch subs at one time during this trip. I high fived him on completing a super challenging ride, I thought equal to the 153 we day a week earlier. It was 7:30pm by the time Ryan rolled out of the Subway. And where to camp?
My words: “I’ll split a hotel with you…………?” And that was all it took. We found a place for 70 bucks and it was heaven. I want for a beer run while Ryan was showering and ran into Rob. Told him that all the beer stores are closed, but I was going to find a little tavern for my “you deserve it” beer. He came back to our motel room, stashed his bike and the three of us walked over to a small pub. And let me tell you, that first beer………GONE in 60 seconds. Second beer………..Gone in 60 seconds. We talked for an hour or so and then back to the motel for me answering my emails and doing this blog. We invited Rod to stay in the room for the night, but he said he’d rather camp. He’s young….27. So more power to him. We all hope to ride tomorrow together……or at least within reach of one another to the town of Montréal River, through Lake Superior Provincial Park. This will be a very hard day of climbing, and the weather forecast is calling for rain the whole day. Just what I need with a tweeked rim.
Oh yea, speaking of the rim. I was telling Rob about the crack, and spun the tire to show him the crack and the spoke that inching it’s way out of the rim, when I found another crack in the rim. Wonderful. This damned thing is ready to explode. Well, just 120 miles to get to the Soo. We’ll see………pete
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