After a rain-free evening, Brian and Sharilyn made me a wonderful, full breakfast and some pretty high octane coffee. It looked to be a nice, sunny day so I packed and sunscreened up and then hit the road. I was bound for Exeter, 120 km away, with a planned detour to Blythe to check out the brewery.
After pedalling along the remarkably smooth and lightly trafficked country roads for a while, gingerly trying to take it easy on my poor rear wheel, I started to come into a bit of headwind and hills.
After what must be 45 to 50 days of headwind so far, I am immunized to it. Errant thought of the day: I wonder what tailwind even feels like.
As I contemplate the headwind, the rolling fields of corn, and the oncoming approach of autumn, I lose track of ny bearings and miss my turn off. Once I realize my mistake I simply jog west onto another of the many paved country roads in Southern Ontario.
My super breakfast keeps me going without a snack break (but with almost a dozen pee breaks, what did you put in that coffee Brian?) for over two hours until I start to get a bit hangry. Luckily, a Tim Hortons looms on the horizon and I execute a sharp turn into the parking lot for some oatmeal.
Heading down the road south, I eventually make it to Blythe, where the monstrous facade of Cowbell Brewing is visible from a mile off. The brewery is essentially a brewpub on steroids, huge, with fresh wood and stone details, a gift shop, and room to seat over a hundred. I prefer my breweries small and intimate, with a long beer list. The brewpub is alright and since I am saving money on accomodations lately, I spring for lunch and three pints.
The beer isn't half bad but lacks a strong impact in my opinion.
The last 45 km to Exeter are a bit of a grind into a strengthening wind, with increasing traffic as I near London. Getting into town, I decide I need a pick me up, and grab a coffee at my second Tims stop of the day. A nearby Independent Grocer leads me in and I grab some cheap crackers and hummus for dinner, satisfying a craving and saving on stove fuel.
I head down to the small park where camping is allowed on a 5$ honour system with no utilities aside from a picnic table, a portapotty and a loud set of neighbours. Anything to save a buck.
The next morning I finally cracked the camp stove and made some oatmeal before getting an early start to London. The main road into the city got a bit sketchy with the shoulder and traffic situation so I dodged onto a side road. Decent surface and low loe traffic but I soon felt my speed dropping dramatically. Sure enough, I found the one road with a headwind and hill.
Dodging along a series of sideroads until London, I was greeted by my first seperated bike lane in ages. Until it ended 700 m later...
Upon inspecting my rear wheel, I noticed that the issue was far worse than a broken spoke. Two sections of my rim were deeply cracked. I guess it makes sense. The wheels came stock on my bike and have been through 15 000 km of Yukon highways, gravel, Winnipeg potholes, Sault Ste Marie singletrack, and most of Canada.
Still, the 150$ + tax for a new wheel hurt.
Oh well, shit happens. Things pass but at least I found the cracks before my wheel failed at 30 km/hr on a busy highway.
I was put up in London by my friend Steve (aka Rithim) but since he had to work, I spent most of my stay in London eating an incredible amount of food. Since I was spending money anyways, I decided to head down to the MEC and spring for a new set of tires, as I had worn through the tread on one of the old set. Luckily the MEC was well stocked, and I was able to get two tires in my preferred width of 32mm (faster). Later, I realized that these tires will likely last me all the way to Halifax. Scary.
Anyways, London is an interesting city. There are lots of parks and historic buildings, and a large market scene. However, there is also a large amount of urban decay, along with a large and widespread population of transients and addicts. I wasn't really affected negatively by any of the bad elements of the city, but it definitely shaded my opinion.
After two days in the city and lots spent on bike parts and tiramisu, I got up early to begin my escape from Southern Ontario.
I had a warmshowers stay in Kitchener-Waterloo, about a 100 km ride.
Leaving London on highway 2, I was soon rubbiny elbows with the transport trucks again, and as my shoulder began disappearing, I bailed to a side road. Smooth, safe pavement prevailed for all of 2 kilometers until I was betrayed by a stretch of gravel.
I stopped off in Thamesford for breakfast at Tims and swung north, trying to distance myself from the London-Toronto corridor.
As I left Tims, Rithim called me and informed me that I had left my battery backup and wall charger at his house. It wasn't worth doing the two hour round trip to retrieve it so I just sacrificed it and headed north to Stratford to replace it.
Stratford ended up being a very scenic town. The downtown was like a piece of rural Britain transplanted to Ontario, complete with open town square, pubs and pigeons. Amazing!
As I went east, I left behind the rural Britain vibe and entered typical Canadian outskirts that would fit in anywhere in the last 6000 km. Luckily these outskirts included a Staples, so I was able to spend even more money on a replacement battery backup yay! While contacting my host for the night, I was approached by a dude very enthusiastic about my tour. He seemed pretty cool so I chatted for a bit. Then he opened his wallet and I hastened to tell him to put it away, as I was not riding for charity. He replied by telling me he was giving me lunch/beer money, and handed me 20$. Hey, can't turn down free beer!
Then it was a beeline up to Kitchener-Waterloo to meet with the first of two Warmshowers hosts I had lined up.
No photos because the blogging app is not working when I try to post with them attached.
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