Day 28 - Thursday September 2, 2010
Kilometres: 584.2
Time: seven and a quarter hours (ride time)
Weather:
Dryden: Rain, 17 C at 9 AM
Upsala: Heavy rain, 12 C at 12:30
Schieber: Rain 16 C at 5 PM
I need only one word to describe today's ride: wet. If I were asked for another adjective, I'd say, "cold."
It rained all day from start to finish. What really bothered me was the temperature fluctuations. East of Upsala, it went down to 10 C and hovered there for too long. I was just frozen by the time I pulled into Thunder Bay around 2 PM.
I have now ridden on the most horrible roads imaginable. From Kekabeka Falls, which is about 15 km west of Thunder Bay, I rode on scraped, grooved pavement, gravel, and then for about half a kilometre I rode on dirt. Well, I'm sure it started out as dirt, but with all the rain it turned to mud. It was about 10 kilometres of hellish riding. To make matter even more interesting, it was one lane only - both east and west bound traffic were using the same lane. Groan. Signal people let traffic through at a snail's pace. Unfortunately, when the signal person says, "Go," the front car takes off and leaves me behind to hold up traffic. I can't drive too slowly or the bike will get caught in the groves and go over. If I drive to quickly, the front end starts to shake uncontrollably. I'm usually pretty good at 60 kph, but the cars behind me think it is way too slow.
The only good thing about all this is that if I do have an unplanned dismount, the construction people will probably pick my bike up for me as I can't lift the thing by myself. They don't want to hold up traffic on the account of an upturned motorcycle.
I went passed the Eastern/Central time zone marker, but I didn't stop. There was just no point in stopping because it was raining so hard. The same was true for the Terry Fox monument. It's also a scenic lookout, but I really couldn't see more than a couple of kilometres ahead on the road, never mind looking at Lake Superior.
I arrived in Scheiber, cold, and hungry. At least I was dry. Most of my stuff is soaked. I've even propped my helmet up on the motel's ice bucket so I can get some warm air under it to dry off the padding. I'm sure it will take a few days to dry out everything in my luggage once I get home.
Speaking of warm, I'm finally at a hotel where I have control of the heat. This is the first time since Edmonton that I've been warm. I hear that Toronto is still having a bit of heat wave. I hope it's there when I return home in a couple of days.
I have one more stop, in Blind River, and then the following night I will be home. I hope the weather improves for tomorrow's ride as I will be riding two of my favourite Ontario highway sections. Currently, Scheiber and the surrounding areas are under a heavy rain fall warning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will finally co-operate for the final two days of the trip.
Finally, today I passed the 10,000 kilometre mark on the trip. I think the bike deserves a good wash, an oil change, and a new air filter after such a long ride in 28 days.
