So it's been more than a couple of days since I got back from San Francisco, and I have let you down in making a cyclocross (or more accurately, cyclodown) entry. But here is a photo album of my trip. Further, check out this picture. It was made with Google Earth, and is quite accurate (except for the stars).
Day 13: Wawa
Written by Ian Hincks for May the 19th, 2009
Distance Today:85km Distance Altogether:944km Weather:Cold.

We woke up and it was very cold. The was a bit of snow on the ground. On such days it can take a very long time for the urgent need to pee to surpass the desire not to get out of one's sleeping bag. We stayed in the tent for a while reading, putting off the inevitable. We had trouble taking down the tent and packing up our things because our hands were frozen and numb. I hadn't thought to bring anything other then my cycling gloves, which are fingerless. We had to make one retreat to the bathroom and shower house to warm our hands up. And then we made another trip just on our way out so that we could at least start cycling with warm hands.

Old Woman Bay. Supposedly the face of an old woman looks out from the cliff face
After a few kilometres we came accross an historic plaque which we stopped at. The bathrooms were not heated, but I then discovered a clever trick I like to call "putting socks on your hands". I rode half the day like this, before it warmed up. It was a bit sketchy when I needed to brake because my thumbs weren't operational, but I survived. (And Geoff, four inches in front of Ian, also survived.) The previous day we had been looking forward to seeing Old Woman Bay, but we only took a short peak so that we'd be able to say that we'd seen it. We decided that beauty must be a function of warmth.

The Goose of Wawa! The pedastal was much to big to get a bike on top of.
Perhaps that's enough complaining about the cold. Those few hours will probably be the coldest we'll face all summer, and they're already over.

We reached the town of Wawa after about 35km. We of course stopped to visit their famous Wawa Goose Statue. It was erected to commemerate the completion of the last link of the Trans-Canada Highway. In town we did a few things including going to a local restaurant for some warm food. Geoff will be able to recommend which dish not to get, while I can say that I enjoyed my fish and chips. We also sent home some gear that we wouldn't be using to save weight, including: my tent, a book, a pair of pants, a U-lock (1 U-lock and cable lock between us is plenty), and some dental floss. I was happy to find a nice pair of gloves too.

People who don't ride bicycles have no conception of distance. I don't know how many times that people have told us that such-and-such a place is only half an hour away. That amount of time in a car equates to half a day or more of cycling. One man outside of the grocery store seemed to think we were being a bit lazy because we wouldn't make it to White River that night, which was only "an hour away". I'll forgive him.


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We did however make it to Obanagwa Provincial Park, which was about another 55km. We made good time that afternoon, there being no wind. It had also warmed up substantially. There was a young guy working in the camp head quarters. He was pretty interested in our journey. He said that because it had been so cold that morning, he felt sorry for us, and offered to let us pay the disabled rate, which is about a third of the regular price. This made us very happy. We are still confused as to why disabled persons pay so much less then the regular price. And there is no senior rate, student rate, or rate for people without vehicles. We didn't complain about our arrangement.

It was a fair distance to our site, especially over the gravel. We saw no one else there, except the ranger who drove by several times. Our site was nice, and right next to the lake, with a pretty view. It was already dusk. We made a stew for dinner and promptly went to bed. I was pooped.



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