Early To Bed, Early To Rise (Sort Of)

Last night’s wild camping experience was rather successful. As were our efforts to avoid the mosquitos. The downside, of course, is that I was in my tent at 7:30. That’s the wrong time to realize that packing a book might have been a good idea. So there I was. In my tent. Alone with my thoughts. And it turns out, I don’t have that many thoughts. At least not last night. And so, with my thought-quota used up for the day, I went to sleep. Actually, that wasn’t really the plan … it just sort of happened. I guess I was more tired than I thought.

Given my early bedtime, I woke up relatively early – around 7:00. That left plenty of time to pack up and get back on the road at a decent hour. Even with all that sleep, I still don’t move very quickly in the morning. Mosquitos don’t seem to have that problem so there was some extra motivation to get rolling again.

By 8:30 I was on the road and day two of the trek from Sault Ste. Marie to Wawa went about as well as one could hope – considering all the hills that stood between the day’s starting point and Wawa. Truth be told, it was actually pretty enjoyable. I mean, don’t get me wrong, hills are a lot of work – and there were a couple today that were a LOT of work – but long flat stretches can get pretty boring after a while. If nothing else, hills get your heart pumping – with the goal of course being not to have said heart explode. Fortunately, I’ve avoided that thus far.

Much like the very large hill that finished the day yesterday, there was another one waiting for me as I started today’s ride. If I wasn’t fully awake when I started, I certainly was after about ten minutes on the road. Welcome to northern-ish Ontario.

Other than the anticipated up and downs of the road, today’s ride was pretty uneventful. That said, I’m sure it will take me many more paragraphs to describe its uneventfulness (yes, that’s actually a word) in great detail.

I encountered five other cyclists coming in the opposite direction today. For all the talk of how most people cycle west to east, these were the first cyclists I’d seen on the road that were actually doing that route. The first was a group of four. When our paths crossed they were plodding their way up a decent sized hill. As such, I was coasting down a decent sized hill. Conclusion, we waved as we passed each other. Likely never to be seen again.

The other cyclist I encountered was at the midway point of the ride. It was a flat stretch so, with the road clear of traffic, I crossed over to have a chat. It was Randi. “Who is Randi?”, you may ask. Well, he’s a a Warm Showers host that I contacted a few days earlier (around Blind River) – as he mentioned, he was unable to host because he was pedalling back from Vancouver. We chatted for a bit about our respective cycling experiences. Side note: he was travelling MUCH lighter than me. He didn’t have any front panniers at all. I really have to learn to pack light like that! After a few minutes of chatting, the mosquitos had zeroed in on our location and were beginning their assault. And you just know back up was coming. So, we wished each other well and headed off in our respective directions.

The most memorable part of the ride though came about 20 km later. I was pedalling along, minding my own business (as is my way) when I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. I glanced over to see a moose running alongside the trees. And he was big. I’m guessing his antlers weighed as much as me – okay, these days that might not be saying much, but you get the idea. He was probably only about 25 metres away from me as he ran along. Or maybe he was galloping? Jogging? Trotting? Well, whatever he was doing he did so at about the speed I was pedalling (25 km/h) for about 40 or 50 metres before turning into the woods and disappearing. I tried to get my camera out but it all happened so fast that I ended up just watching the moose run (or jog … or trot). It was a pretty incredible sight. With the exception of my coyote encounter in Newfoundland last year, this was my best wildlife encounter while on my bike – and something I doubt I’d ever see if I was doing this trip by car. Bike 1, Car 0.

The remaining kilometres into Wawa passed without any further excitement. The weather continued to be chilly – I’m still waiting for the days where I can bike without a jacket. Yes, I realize that comes with its own share of challenges, but I’m just really tired of being cold.

As I pedalled into Wawa, I stopped for the obligatory photo with the giant goose. No, that’s not code for anything. It’s just a big goose. A really big goose. From there the next destination was pretty obvious. Tim Hortons. There might not be much in Wawa but there’s a Tim Hortons and, as you might expect, it’s a pretty busy place.

I was probably there for a couple of hours as I had some work to do on the computer. Plus Moritz arrived during that time so we of course recapped our day over a donut. Not a bad way to end the day. Okay, well … the day didn’t officially end there. It ended when I arrived at the home of a Warm Showers host in Wawa which, as usual, worked out really well.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 110.32 km
Ride time: 5:46:58
Average speed: 19.07 kn/h
Maximum speed: 54.06 km/h