Chocolate Milk Will Suffice

The trend of early mornings continued today as I found myself packing up my gear around 6:00 AM. No, I’m not turning into a morning person but with headwinds in the forecast I really wanted to see if I could get head-start on them (pun intended … sort of).

By 6:40 AM, my bike was loaded, I had written in the current volume of the The Honey Hub’s guestbook, had a few handfuls of Mini-Wheats for breakfast, and said goodbye to my fellow travellers. One of which, Alex, I was likely to see later in the day as we both continued our westbound trek.

About ten minutes into my early start, I had an early stop. On the upside, it wasn’t for a 70 minute train delay. On the downside, there was clearly a rubbing sound emanating from my rear wheel. Sigh. Not a good way to start the day. Upon closer inspection the fender had somehow shifted and the result was the aforementioned rubbing. It didn’t really make sense as to why it would suddenly start rubbing but I made a few adjustments and the wheel spun uninterrupted again. Whew.

The forecasted winds were definitely a factor throughout the day’s ride but not as bad as I was expecting/dreading. That said, it certainly affected my average speed for the day. Then again, so did the hills. All things considered it was a good ride. The wind made things tough at times but not brutal. And the hills provided a good workout. Although, when I think about it, today’s ride actually seemed tougher than my 263 km ride a few days ago … even though that ride took five hours longer.

With my food supply starting to get a bit low and my minimal breakfast of a few Mini-Wheats, by the time I reached the town of Nobleton (about 60 km) I was really starting to get hungry. Unfortunately, all the towns along my recent route were all a mile or seven (or somewhere in between) off the highway – and Nobleton was no exception. Making such a detour didn’t really didn’t seem like something I wanted to do – even though there was unlikely to be any picnic tables anywhere else along my route. In lieu of a picnic table, I opted to stop at a driveway in front of a home with very nice grass. That very nice grass became my lunch spot. Thanks to B and K (I saw their names on the mailbox when I left them a thank you note but will just use their initials) for having such a nice lawn. Hopefully, they won’t mind that I used it. Update: I just noticed that “K” left a comment on my July 13 update … so, thanks to Kristy for both the comment and the use of her lawn.

In addition to encountering wind and hills today, there were more cyclist sightings on this day – although, not until very late in my ride. With about 8 km to go until I reached Hazelton … did I mentioned Hazelton was today’s destination? Well, Hazelton was the day’s destination. A ride of about 100 km. Anyway, with about 8 km to go I met Dave. Unlike recent encounters, we actually stopped for a chat. Dave was (obviously) heading eastbound and very much enjoying the tailwind he was experiencing. We chatted for a bit and he mentioned that I’d soon be crossing paths with Joe and Bonny from Michigan. In return, I informed him that he’d be crossing paths with Alex from Boston. We chatted for a bit more and even thought to take a photo before we each continued in our respective directions.

True to Dave’s word, a few kilometres later I met Joe and Bonny from Michigan. We also stopped to have a bit of chat and they offered up some potentially useful advice for accommodation a couple of days down the road. We’ll see how that plays out when the time comes. Joe and Bonny also gave me a heads-up that there were a couple other cycling duos that I would likely cross paths with in the coming days. Again, we’ll see if that comes to fruition.

I arrived at the Hazelton City Park around 1:30 PM. It’s a VERY nice park with room for camping and a plethora of pavilions and picnic tables. Plus washrooms, showers, water, and electricity. And just $12.

However, before I would deal with the camping aspect of the day, I headed over to the local grocery store to stock up a bit. As mentioned, I was running a bit low on, well … pretty much everything and I wasn’t looking to have reduced rations tonight – after all, it was highly unlikely there would be surprise stew again tonight. Spoiler Alert: There wasn’t. Anyway, the grocery store had all that I wanted except for an ideal ice cream selection. However, they did have chocolate milk which I deemed to be a more than adequate substitute.

Upon returning to the park and unloading my bags from my bike, I noticed something was amiss with the rear rack – it was loose. VERY loose. As was the fender – you know, the fender that was rubbing earlier in the day. Upon further inspection the bolt that WAS holding said rack and fender to the frame of the bike had fallen off and was long gone. Clearly this explained the fender issues that started my day. In hindsight, I’m more than a little surprised (and very relieved) it didn’t cause more issues during the day. Fortunately, I had a spare bolt that I could use to put it back together. It’s not really the RIGHT bolt but it should suffice until I can find another bike shop – likely tomorrow. The annoying thing is that I have a bag of various bolts and such which I really thought I had packed but apparently I did not. Sigh.

With my bike, rack, and fender seemingly stable once again, I switched focus to drying out my dew drenched tent. Given the heat and increased winds of the afternoon, the drying process went pretty quickly. And I only had to chase down my tent a couple of times. Yes, I could’ve staked it down but where’s the challenge in that?

As I sorted through my new stash of groceries, I met a gentleman who was wandering through the park and lives somewhere in the neighbourhood. We chatted for a bit about all sort of things before he headed off for some fresh juneberry pie that his wife had made – apparently they had picked the berries this morning. Now that’s fresh. Side note: I’m not exactly sure what a juneberry is but according to Google they’re also called Saskatoon berries (as well as a few other names). From what I can gather they are sort wannabe blueberries. I’ll likely never know.

What I DO know is that not long after the gentleman headed off, Alex (the cyclist from Boston) arrived at the park. His arrival didn’t come as a surprise since the camping options in this part of the state are pretty limited and we had both planned on stopping in Hazelton. Much like myself, he too headed off for groceries before settling down for the remainder of the afternoon/evening.

Oh, and he also deemed chocolate milk to be an adequate substitute for ice cream.

Today’s totals:
Distance: 103.53 km
Ride time: 5:26:23
Average speed: 19.03 km/h
Maximum speed: 37.75 km/h