Day Three: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

So, the short version of this post would be:

Made it to Kingston. Weather was beautiful. Roads were generally flat. Scenery was nice.

Of course, I’ve discovered that I’m not particularly partial to the short version of a story (at least, not when I’m telling it). So, allow me to elaborate – or not. If you’re happy with the short version feel free to move on to whatever else you were doing.

So, the long version. Today was actually an unexpectedly flat ride. One might even call it glorious. And at several points along the way I took note to truly appreciate the greatness of the Waterfront Trail. Just to be clear, the Waterfront Trail isn’t a scenic path right along the water – although, it is at some points, but it is a very long stretch of highway that is VERY bicycle friendly. I had the pleasure of hours of cycling on paved shoulders anywhere from 1-2 metres wide. I know that won’t be the case for much of the trip so I fully appreciated it while I was on it.

As mentioned in a previous post, I was moving a little slowly this morning but finally got on the road by about 10:20am. By about 11:45am I was hungry. Again. I was going to press on but decided that probably wasn’t in my best interest so I stopped at “The Mason Jar” diner and had a chicken caesar sandwich and fries – and about 30 glasses of water.

The goal of making it to Kingston today seemed unlikely. I was already tired and low on energy plus I didn’t really feel the NEED to make it to Kingston. But I pedalled on.

As I approached Picton my energy level was starting to drop again so I stopped in at a Mac’s Convenience and went for a short term fix – a wonderful Creamsicle (I’d have gone for a Fudgesicle but they didn’t have any!). Anyway, with only 8 km to go before Picton I figured it would suffice. Of course, when I got into Picton I realized it was another 10km to the ferry. So, I decided to stop in at Tim Horton’s for something a little more filling – but I’ve already mentioned that so I’ll move on (although, thanks again Kenneth!).

The ride to the ferry was very nice and it was even nicer to see the line-up of cars to get onto the ferry as I cycled by them and boarded without waiting. Five minutes later we were on the water. And about 10 minutes after that the crossing was over and I was pedalling again.

While at the previously mentioned Tim Horton’s I did a little research online to see what my camping options were in the area. Kingston was still pretty far off so I decided to cut the day short. I discovered that there’s a campsite about 15km after the ferry crossing and that seemed like a reasonable plan. So, as I’m leaving the ferry I see a sign for Kingston – 51km and then my brain starts to work (rarely a good thing). For the next 20 minutes I ponder – can I do another 51km? Should I do another 51km?? Do I want to do another 51km??? Well, the further I went the more I started to think that making it to Kingston MIGHT actually be an option (briefly forgetting that yesterday the 120km point was somewhat the breaking point). Anyway, I pressed on. My decision to continue to Kingston came when I realized that I missed the turn to the campsite and turning around clearly wasn’t an option.

I have to say it was a beautiful afternoon/evening for riding which made carrying on rather pleasant – despite the fatigue that was setting in. The blazing sun of most of the day had eased up and was now setting behind me. Then, with about 20km to go I passed another cyclist who had stopped for a quick break. Shortly after, he caught up to me as I was taking a much needed water break. We chatted for a while and as he (aka. Dave) was also heading to Kingston we rode the next 15km towards Kingston. It was great. Cycling and talking on a beautiful summer night made the last part of the ride into Kingston a perfect ending to the day. And along the way Dave also mentioned when I get to St. John’s I should go downtown to a cafe called “Fixed” and say hi from Uncle Dave. Now I have added motivation to get there.

(By the way, I warned you this was the long version)

So, the last 15km into Kingston wasn’t REALLY the last 15km. Turns out that after turning off the main road I still had about 12km to go. I’m not going to lie. I wasn’t impressed. And as would be expected the final road to the campsite was filled with the biggest hills to date. I don’t mean biggish hills, I mean, big STEEP hills. Like, REALLY steep. I finally gave in on the final hill when I realized I could walk faster (and use less energy) than pedalling. Sadly, I have a feeling that will be what much of the trip will be like in Quebec.

Anyway, with my goal of arriving at 8:00 and then 8:30 going astray I finally arrived at the KOA Kingston at 8:47pm. I was about as exhausted as I’ve ever been. On a side note, the pricing of campsites in Ontario seems to be more than a little excessive – and KOA takes it to a new level. I won’t use the word gouging, but … ok, maybe I would. And while the KOA Kingston campsite is very nice I have to say I’m not overly impressed. As is often said, it’s the little things that make the difference and I’d say for $62 a night (for a tent site) I don’t think getting a second WiFi code is too much to ask (apparently each code is only good for one device and I’d already logged in with my phone). Are they afraid the internet is going to run out?? As I said, not a big thing, just dumb. Fortunately, I was able to split the cost of the site with the other cyclist I met previously.

Anyway, despite the total exhaustion and restless sleep I had, the day was a success. It was a really nice night actually – didn’t even bother with my sleeping bag. But for tomorrow I really need to eat more during the day – if all goes well, it should only be about a 95km ride.

Totals for the day:

Distance Travelled: 154.79km
Time on the bike (actually moving): 7:30:13
Maximum speed: 43.56 km/h
Average speed: 20.63 km/h