Winnie The Who?

According to Google Maps, the road from Wawa to White River is 92 km with most of it being uphill. The 92 km part isn’t so bad. The “most of it being uphill” part can frequently be cause for concern. Fortunately, today it wasn’t. In fact, sometimes I think the scale that Google uses to show the topography of a route is deliberately chosen to make a route look worse (or better) than it really is. Today, it worked in my favour.

The winds on this day also worked in my favour. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the winds were not strong enough to affect my progress favourably nor negatively. At least not initially.

The ride today turned out to be my most enjoyable so far. The sun was shining, the hills were very manageable, and did I mention it was warm? Yes, warm. I can honestly say that for the first time since this journey west began I was actually warm today. Not warm because of physical exertion to reach the top of a hill. But warm from the sun. Warm. Not hot. Not crazy hot. Certainly not “sweat dripping from every pore” hot. But I’ll gladly take warm over the chill that has been lingering around for the past few days. And in the grand scheme of things, crazy degrees of hot probably wouldn’t be entirely pleasant on a long bike ride.

On an unrelated, but somewhat significant, topic … at the halfway point of today’s ride there’s an aptly named motel called the Halfway Lodge. The ride was going very well to that point so I thought I’d stop and reward myself with a popsicle. Yes, I know. I have simple needs. Anyway, at about the same time I was sitting in a Muskoka chair at the Halfway Lodge, relaxing with a cherry popsicle, I realized that I had crossed the first 1,000 km threshold for my journey so far. Sure, there’s still a long way to go. Sure, it’s a long way from the total of last year’s ride. But there’s definitely a sense of accomplishment when you reach milestones like that (as arbitrary as they may be). Plus, with last year’s trip being over 9,000 km, I’ve now pedalled over 10,000 km over the past 12 months. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that’s pretty exciting. And certainly worthy of a popsicle.

Things were pretty uneventful after that. The wind started to pick up a bit over the final 10 km of the ride but not significantly – although, it became more significant later in the afternoon and I was happy to be off the road by then.

I guess the only remaining significant aspect of today’s ride is the destination itself. White River. It turns out that this is where Winnie The Pooh got his start. Personally, I’ve never really understood the fascination with Winnie The Pooh but I’m well aware that the fan base is more than a little large. As such, I had the obligatory photo taken with the Winnie The Pooh statue that is proudly on display alongside the highway.

Perhaps the best part of the Winnie The Pooh park is that it’s the perfect spot to set up a tent for the night – which is exactly what I’ve done. Actually, there are now five cycle tourists camped here at Winnie The Pooh’s park. Four heading west. One heading east. And at the moment, all of five of us are now hiding in our respective tents as the bugs have claimed another victory. Side note: Now that I’m in my tent, I have to say that the bugs do seem to be on some sort of schedule. I mean, the little annoying pests that were in our faces (but generally not feasting) earlier in the evening have disappeared and been replaced with mosquitos. Call me crazy, but I think the insects may be organized. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

I don’t know how many bugs will be waiting for me when I emerge from my tent tomorrow morning, but for now I’m once again sheltered from the tiny beasts of the north.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 95.93 km
Ride time: 4:39:05
Average speed: 20.62 km/h
Maximum speed: 50.87 km/h