Neither Funky Nor Cold

The benefits of pedalling 120 km on a loaded bike is that it tends to lead to a good sleep. Or even a VERY good sleep. I’m sure the beers (yes, plural) also played a role. Either way, I slept VERY well last night and awoke to a beautiful day and ready for a leisurely day of cycling. Sadly, there would be little “leisurely” about today.

As has become the norm on this trip – hmmmm … this is Day Two. Is it too early to have a “norm”? Anyway, my planned departure time of 9:00 didn’t exactly happen. Shocking. I know. That said, I did manage to get on the road before 9:30. Yes, AM.

The delay was due to a combination of factors but essentially I was just enjoying hanging out with my host, Julia, and her other guests. It was just such a fun morning I figured leaving a little bit later wouldn’t kill me (Spoiler Alert: It didn’t).

As previously mentioned, yesterday’s ride of 120 km may have been a bit too much for Day One. As such, a smart person wouldn’t plan a ride of 150 km on Day Two. I mean, that would just be silly (to put it nicely). So, speaking of today’s ride … the goal for today was two-fold. One, successfully cross into the United States. And two, successfully arrive in Medina, NY.

The two goals for the day were actually split pretty evenly. It was about 75 km from Dunnville to the Peace Bridge border crossing. From there it was another 75 km to Medina, NY.

The first half of the ride went very well – no doubt aided by the fantastic breakfast courtesy of Julia. That said, by the time I reached the bridge I was getting a bit tired. Clearly, I had learned nothing from yesterday’s 84 km without stopping for adequate sustenance. Upon arriving at the bridge I was greeted with a sign indicating that bikes had to be walked across the bridge. Did I mention it’s a long bridge? And I REALLY don’t like walking my bike. Not in sand. Not up hills. And not across a bridge – a bridge that is perfectly ridable, I might add. But I digress. Okay, maybe I don’t.

After what seemed like an eternity, I reached the other side of the bridge where the border inspection was pretty uneventful. Probably more questions than when I’ve crossed by car but the biggest “issue” was the duration of my stay. But it wasn’t a big issue. The border guard was very friendly and within a few minutes I was officially welcomed into the United States. Medina, here I come. Oh, speaking of which … apparently Medina is not pronounced “Medeena” … the “i” is a long “i”. I learned this when I was informing the border guard my destination for the day. Sorry Tone-Loc.

After a few minor navigational challenges, I was free of the border and on my way to Medina. This is where I should probably write about where I stopped for lunch but, well … since I didn’t stop for lunch, I can’t really write about it. The good news is that, unlike yesterday, I didn’t wait until 84 km to stop. The bad news is it was closer to 100 km. Yeah, yeah … I know. I’m a slow learner. Or just not very bright. It’s probably too close to call.

When I finally stopped for food much of the damage was already done. I won’t lie, I wasn’t feeling particularly well. Not Halifax-level bad but certainly not good. Actually, it was memories of the Halifax experience that made me stop at Hoover’s Dairy Store – an ice cream diner with a full assortment of “real food”. In this case, the “real food” was a burger and fries with a chocolate shake. As suspected, I kind of struggled with the burger and fries … not so much from the quality of the food but just from my innards being neglected for the previous seven hours. Fortunately, the chocolate shake agreed with me and I eventually managed to eat most of the meal.

So, at this point the upside was I now had some fuel in me to continue my ride. The downside was that it was about 4:30 and I was still about 50 km from Medina. Seriously, who plans a ride of 150 km on Day Two!? At least the winds were … sigh … never mind.

Knowing that pushing on and powering through was essentially my only option – okay, sure … I guess I could’ve stopped somewhere along the way and called it a day but that’s really not my way. I’d say self-inflicted fatigue and dehydration fall into the “First World Problems” category, so pedal on is what I did.

To add to the fun, the batteries for my GPS died with about 40 km to go. This ended up being a pretty good thing. I was tempted to continue on without the assistance of my GPS because the route appeared to be pretty simple. However, I ended up stopping outside of a bottle/can recycling drop-off store. While there I met Scott and the good folks working at said establishment. We chatted for a bit about where I was heading and previous trips. Shortly thereafter, Scott came out with a bottle of cold water. I’m not going to lie. I was more than a little happy. And grateful. Yet another reminder of the generosity of people. I’m guessing some people would say, “It’s just a bottle of water.” To that I would say, “No, it’s not. At all.” Thanks so much to Scott and, sorry … I can’t remember everyone’s name. But thanks just the same.

They even invited me in to rest for a bit but time was not on my side at this point. My energy was low and I needed to keep moving.

It wasn’t long past Lockport that I ended up on the Canal Trail. Not a paved trail, but the crushed gravel wasn’t too bad to traverse. Good thing since I was on the trail for quite a while.

Fast forward a couple of hours and I mercifully arrived at my Warm Showers host in Medina. This would be another example of the generosity of people. My hosts weren’t actually able to meet me but had offered the use of their land for camping as well as the bathhouse – complete with all the amenities I would need. Of course, at this point the only real amenity I was looking for was a place to set up my tent.

I have a pretty natural tendency to stay up into the wee hours of the morning. That said, moments after setting up my tent and crawling inside, my body went into nap-mode. I ended up napping from 8:45 until about 9:30. At which point I unpacked my sleeping bag and went to bed.

Today’s totals:
Distance traveled: 151.51 km
Ride time: 7:18:07
Average speed: 20.75 km/h
Maximum speed: 46.79 km/h