Sharing the Experience

Before starting the trip, one thing I was hoping to get the chance to do, was being able to ride along with someone else for at least a little while. While I left with the intention to ride alone and spend time with myself, that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to be able to have the chance to try riding with someone else and be able to share some experiences with instead of it all just being myself. As I rode through Quebec, my desire to want to find someone to ride with for at least a little while grew to where I was really hoping to be able to find someone going the same way as me. Even though I hadn’t been able to find anyone yet, I have known that for at least a couple days, I’d be able to experience that. This is because Amour decided he would join along for a bit when I offered him before I started the trip. We figured out that he would join me from Toronto where he lived to Waterloo where we both went to university. The plan was to make it to Waterloo in 2 days, that way Amour would get the whole experience of camping as well and we wouldn’t cover too much distance in a day that it should be too hard on him.

With Amour’s bike in riding shape now thanks to Harlan, we were off pretty early in the morning. We weren’t alone though as Yoni met us at Amour’s to join in as well, the only thing though was Yoni didn’t have a bike. Instead Yoni would run with us to start the day before turning back. We rode at Yoni’s pace along the lake front, talking all the way for about an hour before saying goodbye to Yoni as he turned back. We picked up the pace a bit after but not too much as my stomach wasn’t feeling the best. As I usually ride all day, I’m constantly burning calories which leads to me being able to eat a lot of food in a day. However I hadn’t ridden in about a week now with me stopping to see friends in Toronto and I was still eating quite a bit most days. Well the time off had finally caught up with me as now I had managed to eat too much and my stomach wasn’t happy about it. It didn’t cause me any real problems, but I didn’t feel great until later in the day.

Me and Amour slowly continued along a path along Lake Ontario that was quite nice. Along the way I hit a big pothole and something felt off. A few days before we left, I noticed that the bottom legs of my back rack were starting to bend but I didn’t think too much of it at the time. Well now from the weight of everything on the rack thudding down onto it from the impact of the pothole, it got bent even worse to the point that whenever I passed over any sort of bump, the weight would cause the rack to hit my back tire. Obviously this was no good, so we stopped and tried to come up with a solution to fix it. I tried straightening the legs a little and then taped a wrench to each leg in hopes that maybe they would help support the leg so not to bend anymore. During all this it had started to rain. I think because of wanting to avoid the rain, Amour feeling bad about my rack and maybe also because he knew I hadn’t eaten much as I wasn’t trying to upset stomach more, Amour suggested we go to a restaurant nearby and he offered to pay as well. The meal was good and my stomach wasn’t causing a fuss about it either, which was nice. Also the rain stopped too during this and I was able to refocus and not worry about the rack.

Bent back rack

Wrench fix to back rack

Well, after a little while when we were soon about to cut north and leave the GTA, my wrench job proved not to be the solution as the rack was even worse. With the rack loaded, the rack sat purely on the tire now, but with no weight on it, it sat above the tire. I had to get a new rack now. Luckily we were still in the GTA, so there were plenty of bike shops around. I unloaded the bike and Amour stayed behind and watched my stuff as I went to a nearby bike shop. I got a new rack, however when the mechanics there were trying to install it, they found that the spot where you would screw it to the frame was completely stripped (this was another problem I’ve been aware of for quite a while but I had been able to get around it anyways. One mechanic didn’t come up with an idea though to be able to get the rack screwed on though as he added attachments along the axles with eyeholes to screw the rack to. This worked for now and I would try to continue on without getting the old eyehole rethreaded.

I met back up with Amour and we headed off again with no problems. Due to all the time I wasted in the day with the slower pace and my back rack, I picked up the pace to try to make the 2 days roughly equal distances. In doing this I think I really tired Amour out though as he gave his best to keep pace with me the whole time. We would make it Milton and found a park with a little wooded area that we would camp in for the night. As parks seem to be my main go to at this point, he was really getting the average experience that I would have in a day. For my first day getting to travel with someone, it really was enjoyable. It was nice being able to chat with someone all day but also having someone else being able to experience both what it’s like and share with some of the eventfulness of the day. I did find though at the end of the day that my Achilles was creeping again and still a little swole but it was no longer hurting. Having a full week off was just what it needed as it was purely just an overuse problem.

In the morning we readjusted my back rack a little bit as it causing my rear brake issues with how it was aligned from the mechanic. The morning was mostly uphill and we took a couple breaks along the way. Amour told me he understood now why I liked to take breaks semi frequently. Along the way we saw a turkey vulture which was a first for me. I wasn’t even aware that vultures existed in Canada until then. We made it to Cambridge early in the afternoon, marking the end stretch of the ride for Amour. We found King street and rode it through all of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo until we made it to my friend Basel’s place. This was the end of our ride together, but I enjoyed the time I got to spend with a friend and having been able to have someone travel with me. For Amour too, he enjoyed getting the experience of travelling by bike and who knows, may someday join again if I end up doing the whole world.

Me and Amour in Waterloo

Basel was a roommate of mine for a couple years before I went back home to start saving money for the trip, so I was quite happy to see him when he came to let us in his apartment. Both me and Amour got to shower when we got there and I also got to catch up with Basel too. In the evening my other friends who were still in Waterloo came over to Basel’s as well as Basel planned a get together for when I made it to Waterloo. Evergreen, Simran, Shaiir and later Callum all showed up. Basel’s mom had just been in Waterloo with Basel right before I showed up and left him with a bunch of Arabic food that we all got to eat at the gathering. Later in the evening Amour left and grabbed a train back to Toronto, putting an end to his mini trip. The rest of us spent the night chatting and even planned a baking night before I took off again. It was a nice surprise getting to see a bunch of friends again when I hadn’t known that Basel had planned that.

I spent the next few days with Basel. I did quite a bit of resting and just chilling with Basel but did some other stuff too. We walked thru campus and uptown Waterloo, places I’ve seen many times before but they felt quite underwhelming and are places I think I can say I’d be happy not to see again. I also did some responsible stuff like laundry, swapping my chain for a new one, cleaning my bags and sending some stuff back home to lighten the load on my bike a little bit. A couple nights after I got there, Evergreen came back over and we had a baking night. We made a couple of my favourites in banana cream pie and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. That is one thing I miss getting to do while on the road, that being baking. Also during the extra time off, my Achilles went back to normal and fully recovered.

After a few days at Basel’s and getting to eat a bunch of Arabic food, it was time to head off again, but this time, I was quite looking forward to heading off alone. After getting to spend so much time with people I knew lately and regularly thinking about how I had a goal of reaching places to be able to see friends, I now found myself looking forward to being on my own again and having no goal to reach. When I left Basel’s, I knew I was going to head north and Sudbury would kind’ve be the next check point, but had no plan on the route I’d take to get there and instead was going to decide as I went along. I said goodbye to Basel in the morning who I was very thankful to for letting me stay at his place and getting to see him again, and then took off. I didn’t get very far right away though. I had swapped my chain but hadn’t tested the bike at all afterwards. Well turns out my cassette was worn out and now my chain was constantly skipping. I found a bike shop in the city and luckily they were able to replace the cassette right away.

With my new cassette and bike back to functioning properly again, I made it to St. Jacobs where I stopped to soak in the moment. St. Jacobs is the furthest I’ve ever been before. While I haven’t seen everything I’ve gone by so far in the trip, I’ve technically been through or somewhat near those areas before in some capacity. Now everything I was about to see and encounter would be entirely new and unfamiliar to me. After taking in the moment, I continued north and also went somewhat eastern for the rest of the day going back and forth between the road and trails I’d see and want to take. A little before I made it to Elora I got a flat tire. I stopped to fix it off the side of the road on someone’s front lawn. The owner of the place I stopped at (Chester) came over and offered to help but it as an easy fix just being a punctured tube. So Chester instead offered to refill my water bottles with cold water and he also brought me out a couple of cookies with my cold refilled bottles too which was very kind of him. I thanked Chester and continued to Lake Belwood where I stopped for the night. I wanted to camp along the lake but it was full of cottages along the whole thing so I settled for a spot a little ways off the lake.

I started the next morning on a very nice trail with trees overhanging the path. I rode along the road the rest of the day passing through Orangeville, Alliston and a military base in Borden. I made it to Angus to end the day where I briefly checked out a nature reserve before finding a place to setup for the night. I tried sleeping without the outer layer of my tent for the first time and while it was nice seeing out, everything in the tent got soaked from the dew that came overnight. I learned my lesson from that just to keep putting on the outer layer unless I’m fairly certain everything will stay dry.

Very nice trail

The next day continued on the same as the past couple. Deciding where I wanted to go as I went, feeling free and enjoying the ride as I went. I passed through Barrie early in the day where I had a couple of longer conversations, one with a guy named Jason in a library and another with Dennis outside the library (Dennis was quite the character as he travelled around quite a bit in the past as gold mining and related stuff was something he chased after in the past). From there I rode a rail trail up Lake Simcoe where I had a very interesting encounter. 

Nature reserve in Angus

When I stopped to look at a sign on the trail, a baby chickadee hope onto the trail from the side bush. To my surprise, it wasn’t the least bit scared of me and continued to hop towards me. It ended up hopping onto my chain. While I thought this was cute, it couldn’t stay there as if the chain started to move it would’ve got crushed in my gears. I had to get it off while holding my bike up to make sure the chain didn’t start moving. The problem with this was that the chickadee didn’t want to get off with me trying to brush it off. I ended up having to pull it off and it tried its hardest to stay on my chain, not letting go easily. I put it back on the side of the trail thinking its nest must be close as it seemed very young and maybe had just left the nest for the first time.

My chickadee friend

Later on I passed through Rama where I saw Casino Rama. I never actually realized that Casino Rama was a singular place. I thought instead it was either a chain or even just a phrase. I kept going north to Washago with the goal to make it to Gravenhurst. The few days of going about where I felt like were nice but unfortunately they now met there end in this moment. I would have a little leeway in my path a little bit from here but now I had made it far enough north in Ontario where I would mostly have to take highways. The first of which (and the first time on this trip I’ve had to ride a proper highway) was going from Washago to Gravenhurst. While I found myself being able to fly at pretty fast speeds on the highway, it wasn’t an overly fun experience. The shoulder went back and forth between being wide enough for me to feel mostly safe and forcing me to essentially be on the edge of the outer lane. Meanwhile everyone speeds by about as fast as they can, some making enough room to let me feel comfortable while others can’t be bothered to move at all.

As I neared Gravenhurst, I saw cyclist ahead of me, but I couldn’t figure out what to make of them. I saw them pulling a trailer behind them and looked like they had a fishing rod or something attached. My thought was either that this person was a terribly reckless parent with a child in the trailer, putting their child in danger on the highway or that it was someone who went fishing somewhere today and was returning home. I knew there was chance that they may be travelling like me, but I just didn’t get that feeling from what I could see. As we were getting close to the exit for Gravenhurst, I decided to speed up as I wanted to know what the situation was with this mysterious biker. When I caught up, I saw that luckily there wasn’t a child in the trailer. I tried yelling with the other biker to figure out what he was doing (it’s very loud on a highway and quite difficult to here what someone else is saying in case you’ve never tried talking with another biker on the highway). While it was hard to hear much, I was able to establish that he was indeed travelling by bike, was going to stop in Gravenhurst for the night and his name was Abraham. We agreed we’d try to find somewhere together in Gravenhurst and ride into town together.

Me and Abraham (like my tan line?)

Now actually able to hear each other we exchanged stories at the dollar store in town. It really is funny how things work out. I had just rid with Amour and was open to going on my own again and now for the first time, I found someone travelling the same way as me. Our end goals are different as Abraham is heading to Whitehorse but we’re both going west and going to be taking the same route. We decided we’d try travelling together and see how that goes but first had to find somewhere to camp. I found an area on the map that looked promising on Lake Muskoka that we headed to. Not only did it turn out to be promising, it was amazing. It was a drop off of the road to a rocky area above the lake and also continued to a little beach. I immediately hopped in the water for the first time this year and Abraham went to check out some cliffs nearby. There were plenty of people when we got there, so Abraham was able to find out that people used the cliffs there for cliff jumping. Turns out this is one of the things that Abraham loves. I really don’t like heights much but after heading to the cliffs with him and a little convincing on his part, I decided I’d join him. I’m trying to get better at saying yes to things and also trying new things on the trip and I think cliff jumping counts for that. He went before me but I jumped in after he swam out of the way. It felt terrifying and I really had to psych myself up to do it but I managed to do it and was happy I did it after I was in the water. There were 3 levels of cliffs we could jump from and for whatever reason we started with the highest. I jumped a couple more times but from the other levels instead. Later Abraham wanted to go to the pub but I was quite content on the lake so he went on without me and that was the last I’d see of him until the morning. Meanwhile I setup my tent above the lake with a truly amazing view and later talked with a local man named Ken before going to sleep.

My tent over Lake Muskoka

Sunset over Lake Muskoka

Abraham was back in the morning as he was up before me. We agreed on making it to Parry Sound and took off after I got some groceries. This would be the last stretch for both of us where we wouldn’t be primarily travelling along the highway as you can get from Gravenhurst to Parry Sound on quieter roads. The road was good but hilly. Me and Abraham travelled at roughly the same pace on the flats and downs, but uphills I was clearly the faster. This lead to me getting quite a bit ahead of him at times, which I took advantage of and would stop and take a mini break to let him catch up. When we were together and I wasn’t ahead though, it was nice having someone to chat with during the day again. Plus I don’t listen to music as I ride as I don’t have any music to listen to offline (I’m too cheap but also don’t wanna be too distracted so I can just spend time with myself), but Abraham had a speaker so I was able to listen to the mostly French music he played (he’s from Quebec).

We stopped in Bala at a nice spot along a lake. I went to find a spot to fill up my water (it’s easier to use taps and less time consuming then my water filter if I have the option) while Abraham stopped at a farm market stand. Once I got my water filled up I went back to find Abraham was still at the farm market stand to my surprise (I wasn’t fast). He was still there because he got talking to the man running the stand (Ray). Ray was an incredibly nice and kind man and he had given Abraham free corn when I got there. Well after meeting me as well and feeling quite touched by meeting us, he gave us even more. He ended up giving us the corn, blueberries, apples and pepperettes, even though we kept telling him he didn’t have to and he was being too generous. After talking for a while, Ray said a prayer for us before we set off again.

We would make it to Parry Sound later in the day and weren’t sure what we were gonna do for camping. Abraham sleeps in a hammock instead of a tent, so what I need out of a camp spot is different than what he needs. I took off ahead of him and found a place that wasn’t bad and would’ve worked, however I was getting swarmed by mosquitoes so badly (it wasn’t even close to being dark yet) I gave up on it. I decided to checkout the beach after considering how well that turned out the night before and was not let done. I went for a swim and started making my supper when Abraham came and went for a swim too. While I found a decent spot to setup, Abraham found an even better spot up on a rocky section between the beach and a trail that you couldn’t see unless you climbed up where we were. What made this even better was this was a spot for us to leave our tent and hammock up, which mattered as we both planned to take a break and stop. We both wanted the next day off and the day after was supposed to rain so we planned on a two day break.

Abraham’s setup

The next couple days we remained undisturbed other than the chipmunk that was there and by some wild cockroaches. I spent parts of both days in the library working on the blog. Abraham mostly stayed around camp and got caught up on sleep. The second day there we had got a bunch of heavy rain overnight and in the morning but it slacked off by noon allowing us to go about. Another one of the things that Abraham really likes doing is fishing (I was right when I first saw him and thought I saw a fishing rod on his bike). On the second day in the evening I joined him in fishing. He ended up catching a pike that we kept. While he was gutting it, I caught one as well, but it wasn’t quite as big, so we put it back. While there are better tasting fish than pike and we didn’t have much for seasoning, still getting to eat fresh fish was very nice.

Abraham and his pike

After a couple of rest days, it was time to head off again, or at least I thought so. When I got up, I went about my morning like I normally would when I’m gonna ride, but partway through the morning Abraham told me he was gonna stay a bit longer. His hammock had a hole in it and mosquitoes had been getting in at night. He had a friend who would be driving through the area later that day (or the next day, I can’t fully remember) and he would be bringing him a new hammock. I was fully committed to going though and ready to leave Parry Sound. I decided I’d keep going without Abraham and that if our paths crossed again we’d try travelling together again. We said our goodbyes in the morning and I took off without him. Part of me felt quite guilty and bad leaving him behind so soon after we met and planned travelling together. Those feelings would linger throughout the day and a little bit in the days after. At the same time though, I’m on my own trip, want to do things at my own pace and my own way for myself, plus had just reached a point where I was looking forward to being on my own right before meeting him. I’m very happy I met and got to travel with Abraham though. It was a blast getting to travel with him. While it was nice getting to go with Amour too, Abraham is living and travelling the same as me and there’s just something different about doing it with someone in the same situation as you. One other thing was that in planning to go around the world, I knew I would meet people going the same way as me and travel together for parts but I would almost surely always leave them at some point, it just so happened that our splitting up was sooner than I expected.

Leaving Abraham behind, I was now on the stretch to Sudbury. With thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon the next day, I wanted to get most of the way to Sudbury so I could get there and setup my tent before the thunderstorms rolled in. With Sudbury being over 160km away though, I wouldn’t be making it today as the furthest I’ve ever done before in a day was a little over 110km. The first 30km was on side roads before I had to get in the highway. A little before I made it to the highway though, a truck was going past me the same as all other vehicles do. Right after passing me, a deer shot out of the woods as fast as it could and got cleaned by the truck, skidding across to the other side where it quickly died. Considering I was about to be almost permanently on highways with speeding vehicles constantly going by me, this really didn’t give me the best feeling about what I was about to start partaking in.

Once I reached the highway, I flew. With the highway being relatively flat and the pavement very fast to ride on, plus the wind didn’t fight me today, it was perfect for me to just glide on. My goal for the day was to do about 110km so I could get the final 50km done the next day t morning before the thunderstorms. I quickly figured out before noontime that not only would I definitely be able to hit my goal, but also likely do more than that and set a new personal best in distance travelled. It also helped that there wasn’t much for me to stop and see along the highway here as it was mostly just trees the whole way. By the time I stopped and wanted to setup camp, I had done around 140km and was only just starting to tire. I was unable to find anywhere to get water though where I stopped when I originally thought I’d be able to, so I continued another 10km to where I found flowing water. Once I reached here though I said screw it and decided with Sudbury being only another 20km, I’d push on and make it to the city all in one go. While the first 140km was good, I really started to tire in the next 10km as my mind had mentally checked out since I had originally planned to stop. Well the final 20km were an absolute slog as my body didn’t have much to give anymore and my body grew exponentially sluggish the closer I got. In the end I did end up making it to Sudbury and ended up riding just over 170km in the day, absolutely obliterating my previous best in a day. My body felt a type of exhaustion I’ve hardly ever felt before, but man was I ever proud of it managing to accomplish what it had today. Plus I’d be giving it a full days break the next day, both to recover and to avoid the thunderstorms. I ended up finding out that Abraham changed his mind later in the day and started heading towards Sudbury himself.

I moved around Sudbury a little in the morning and my body was still thoroughly wiped out from the previous day. The thunderstorms did end up coming though and they came with some absolute downpours that I was able to avoid. Abraham wasn’t so lucky though as he got drenched on his way to Sudbury. I took cover in Laurentien University for quite a bit of the day and just relaxed while preparing for the next stage of the journey: Northern Ontario.

Distance Biked: 712.5km

Total Distance Biked: 3285.2km