Coasting Through Ontario - Kenora to Thunder Bay

Another rest day, and I'm pretty blown away by how quickly the time is going by this summer. We're now in Thunder Bay, which is very nearly our halfway point both for time and distance.  I'm also now realizing the sheer size of Ontario in comparison to the other provinces.  We crossed Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba in 4-5 days each.  We'll be spending 19 days riding in Ontario!  Granted we are taking a less-than-direct route...

The last chunk of four days from Kenora to Thunder Bay was fairly easy, cycling-wise.  Distances of 130 km and more are no longer as daunting and are even starting to feel pretty normal - hard to believe, especially when my longest training ride was 120 km just 1.5 months ago!  We've had much more pleasant weather than the last, sauna-esque chunk through the Prairies and the winds have - for the most part - been helpful or at least not a hindrance (one day excepted.)  Scenery was much of the same as the first day in Ontario - trees, lakes, rocks and rolling hills.  Although it has been fairly repetitive, it is very pleasant and I'm not tiring of it as I did with the Prairie scenery.

Lakes!!

Rocks!!

Trees!!

Our first day back on the bike took us from Kenora to Caliper Lake, a measly 130 km.  Skies were blue, temperature was very pleasant, and we only had the tiniest bit of headwinds for most of the day, although we did have some mighty gusts as we rode by lakes.  Stopped at Sioux Narrows for lunch and ice cream where the sign at the ice cream shop showed an ice cream called "Triple Tornado", which looked remarkably like my childhood favourite, Superkid.  Turns out the sign was very misleading, though still delicious.  Took it nice and easy in the afternoon, even stopping for a quick lie-down and nap with about 10 km to go.  The wind was a blessing at camp as it kept the mosquitoes down in the evening (though the annoying things were out in force in the a.m.).  We once again had a lake to swim in, and in the evening I once again showed just how inept I am at the game of chess.

Bridge leading into Sioux Narrows

Body of water over which the bridge into Sioux Narrows passed

Sunset at the campground

The next day we rode to Taylor's Cove, again with wonderful weather conditions and this time with a bit of a tailwind.  The ride was flat-ish, some gradually rolling hills, and more of the usual Ontario scenery.  Stopped for a quick photo at the town of Emo, then a wholesome lunch of McDonald's in Fort Frances.  Had an interesting run-in with the border patrol in Fort Frances. 

Our directions said that the Ontario-Minnesota border was just 4 blocks south of our route in Fort Frances, and some of our group really wanted to check out the border crossing.  So we went South and some of us, unknowingly, crossed into or close to the United States.  Unaware of this, we turned around and left to get back to the main route when a couple of border guards ran out of their building, yelling for us to come back.  Fortunately, after 10 minutes of waiting while they confirmed on video exactly what we told them - that we just rode to the bridge and turned around.  Interesting experience and at least the guards were fairly friendly.  The afternoon of riding was at a quick pace, the campsite was awesome and had a wonderful lake for swimming - it looked like something out of a beer commercial.  Expertly cooked some rice for my galley team in the evening, and for once actually won some games of chess!!

Glum in Emo

Chess!!

Woke up early to cook breakfast and was pleasantly surprised to see that, by our meeting time, one of our team members - Ron - had already prepared much of the meal!  Many people were worried about the weather for the day -- it was a 150ish km day, but we had a strong headwind, threat of rain, and cold temperature (high not even 60 F).  Muscles felt a bit sluggish for the ride and, even though the hills were rolling, it felt like we were doing far more uphill than downhill.  This was also a fairly remote area, with only one town between our starting point and destination, so we barely had a chance to escape the cold and warm up.  We did stop at the White Otter restaurant with about 50 km to go, and the last bit of the ride was, for me, the best part - thank you coffee and food!  Great night in camp, with lots of simple brainteaser-esque games around the fire and an early retirement to bed.  The only bad news of the evening was that we're losing another rider from the tour, as he will be returning to France for family reasons...

Some shots along the way...

Well-deserved rest break in Atikokan... and something slightly to the left

Easy night at camp

Our ride into Thunder Bay was another century ride, but overall it was a pretty easy one.  Day started on a somewhat sour note with seasonal allergies kicking in, but still rode at a comfortably quick pace over more rolling hills.  Part of the ride was on a portion of the TransCanada Highway with no paved shoulders, only one lane each way, and heavy, heavy traffic.  Adrenaline was high for this portion and I think our average speed reflected this!  Took a brief sightseeing stop at Kakabeka Falls, which were quite impressive, and then decided to take a pizza stop in the town of the same name.  Cruised along to Lakehead University along less-busy roads, and found the residence building where we would be staying the night.  As much as I've loved this month of camping, a night indoors sounded just fantastic.

Town of Sunshine, to contrast with the town of Emo

Kakabeka Falls

With each rest day, we have planned to go out to the bars the first night we get into the town; however, except for the first rest day, we've given up on these plans due to exhaustion.  Last night, though, we actually made it downtown!  It was a Sunday night, which meant options for bars were limited, but we found a place called the Black Pirate that would be open late, all thanks to the diligent phone-calling and searching by Katie from our group.  I almost bailed out beforehand, but we had a fairly strong contingent going and I was very glad I went along!  Won't go into any details about the evening, but these pictures give you an idea...

Today did the usual rest day thing.  Despite being up past 3 a.m., I couldn't sleep in as I'm just too used to waking up at 7ish.  Ate a ton of junk food, got some minor fixes on my bike, laundry, and another game of Risk.  Also caught up with some of the realities of home - bills, school stuff, and tuition payment (ouch!).  These days always go by incredibly quickly, but looking forward to more good riding days!

Next up: another six day riding stretch to Sault Ste. Marie.

Cheers!
Dale

Kenora to Thunder Bay, ON Riding Stats
4 Riding Days
596 km

Overall Riding Stats
28 Riding Days
3584 km

Peanut Butter Sandwiches consumed, to date: 60