Riding the North Shore

I'm on the last leg of my ride for this summer heading from Thunder Bay, Ontario to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan along the north shore of Lake Superior.


I've biked across three time zones and am now on Eastern Time.


I'm sorry about the lack of blog posts but my iPhone has had issues and wouldn't even charge for a while.

It's nice being back in Canada again. The road has some really pretty views of the lake from the top of the many hills along the way.


It's actually kinda nice to ride hills again after the long days of flatness that is the great plains. As someone told me, you can watch your dog run away for three days in North Dakota.

Canada is great for odd signs so here are some.
I guess you need a license to sell pizza in Ontario.


Here is a trophy that shows that they tried swimming, biking, and running but maybe couldn't? Or maybe they really can't spell.


please feed the bears at the local wildlife bar.


-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Marathon, Ontario

Technical difficulties

I've been doing great, riding through Northern Michigan. It's cooled off and the bugs aren't too bad. The scenery has switched to rolling hills with trees. It's nice to ride hills again. I stopped by Voyageurs national park.





My gear, on the other hand, is having issues. My iPhone won't charge from the wall anymore. I figured out that it will charge from one of my rechargeable batteries that I can plug into the wall while charging the phone. It's also losing supposedly saved stuff like blog posts, which makes writing my blog really frustrating.

My tire woes have returned. I was in a convenience store chatting with someone when we heard a loud boom. My tube had exploded on a weak seam.


It had even blown part of the tire off the rim. Luckily, the tire (the German wunder tire) was fine but now I am down to riding my one remaining inner tube, which has a slow leak. There should be a bike shop today in Ely so hopefully, I can stock up on spare tubes. Here is the main street in Ely.


I'll reach the shore of Lake Superior tomorrow. I'll turn north towards Thunder Bay, Ontario which I should reach about August 21. I spent some extra time here in the North Woods of Minnesota so I won't have enough time to make Toronto. Instead, I'll fly home from Sault Ste. Marie in the upper penninsula of michigan.

Usually, about this time during a summer tour, I'm feeling about ready to go home but this time, I feel great and wish I could keep going for at least another month. This trip is a lot easier than my Alaska and Yukon rides so that's probably why I feel really great and not tired at all. On the other hand, while pleasant, this trip really doesn't have the jaw dropping scenery of the north.



-- Post From My iPhone

Location:S River St,Cook,United States

Wanna know what riding the plains is like?

Okay, so you might be wondering, "What's it like biking across the Great Plains?" So, here's what you'll need to get to find out: 1. An exercise bike, 2. A big poster of the picture below,


3. A sauna, 4. A good collection of horseflies, mosquitoes, and biting flies, 5. A timer, 6. Lots of water. Got them all? Okay. Now put the exercise bike in the sauna and tape the poster to the wall in front of it. Release the flies. Get on the bike and pedal for 5-7 hours. Make sure you swat your butt and legs on a regular basis so the flies can't take a chunk out of you. Drink lots of the now really warm water. You can stop to rest anytime but that's when the mosquitoes and flies really get ya plus you have to stop the timer every time you do. Repeat daily for about two weeks. For variation, change the sauna temperature every few days.

Is it really this bad? Today it is. Man, the flies are awful and it's hotter than hell. And, there's a headwind. Grrrrrr!

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:S Birch Ave,Hallock,United States

Tour de Flat Revisited

I've been cranking out 60-80 mile days consistently since my last day off in Waterton National Park back in southern Alberta. The riding is pretty easy and I'm feeling good and strong. No, my super duper German tire isn't letting me down, however, Saskatchewan became flat about half way across and Manitoba is looking the same though there are a few very slight rises, I couldn't call them hills, every once in a while. It is pretty with the different colored crops (yellow canola, blue flax, and green wheat) but it does get tedious a bit.


I rode a fantastic tailwind coming off a storm yesterday afternoon. I got to a town with a nice shelter right before it hit so I stayed nice and dry.


The people are amazingly friendly, however, and everyone seems to want to talk to me. I saw the world's biggest Mountie yesterday in Redvers.


There is an oil boom going both in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, from the same oil field that is giving North Dakota it's boom. There are oil workers in the town campsites and lots of oil jacks and drilling rigs in the fields.


I think the locals are a bit overwhelmed that their very quiet, sparsely populated province is all of a sudden growing very quickly.

I crossed into Manitoba today.


Today is my last full day in Canada for a while. Tomorrow, I'll cross back into North Dakota and head east again through Minnesota. If I'm on schedule, I'll cross back into Ontario and ride north of Lake Superior through Thunder Bay and down to Sault St. Marie. From there, I hope to be able to make it to Toronto to catch a flight home. I obviously won't make the east coast but I already have my ride planned for next summer. I'll fly back to Toronto and continue east through Quebec to the Maritime Provinces and then swing down the coast of Maine.
-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Manitoba, Canada

But it's a dry cold!

Henri decided to stick with the Trans Canada highway and I'm cutting down to North Dakota so yesterday we parted company. It was nice to ride with someone for a few days. Keep in touch, Henri!


I've met a lot of neat people here on the prairie in Saskatchewan and have learned quite a bit about life here. First and foremost, things are quiet. Very, very quiet. Even in bigger towns like Swift Current or Moose Jaw, stores don't open until 9 or 10 and many close at 5 or 6. Even the Safeway doesn't open early. I've learned to pick up groceries in the afternoon and not wait until the town I plan on camping in since everything will be closed by the time I pull in and even the main street will be completely abandoned.

I can tell that I'm approaching a town because there is a grain elevator.


When I ask about winters, they tell me that it gets down to -30 in January but it's a dry cold so it's not so bad. Right...

There are lots of strange looking farm machines being transported on the highway. I think machismo around here is measured in the size of one's combine.


When bicycling in a group, people call out, "car back", if a car is approaching. In this case, "house back", would be more appropriate.


They like to hold the title of world's biggest. There is the biggest teepee.


And the biggest moose.


Hockey and curling are huge. Even tiny towns have ice rinks. Here is the hockey stick display in a bike shop in Moose Jaw... in July.


-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Saskatchewan, Canada