A few minutes before we left.

My day began at 6:30. I had a wonderful breakfast of eggs hash-browns prepared for me. It took a short while for the butterflies in my stomach to find room for the food, but I forced it all down. With the help of Miriam, I had packed last night, but this morning we took it all out again to waterproof everything in plastic bags. I managed to fit everything into my two rear panniers, which each hold 28L. I also used the space in between the panniers to store a tent, my sleeping bag, and a tarp. My bike's pretty back heavy, I hope it doesn't give me any problems on steep hills.

Everything was ready by about 8:40. Justus and Ben, my house-mates, cycled with me to Martin's house, our decided place of departure. It was my first time riding with full weight on the back. There were a few false starts before I figured out how to start up without falling over. We spent a bit of time at Martin's, installing his fenders. He had had some trouble with wrong sized bolts and not enough washers, but all was fixed in time. I managed to pack the lightest. Both Martin and Geoff have both front and rear panniers, albeit, my rear panniers are a bit fuller then theirs. Martin wins the self titled prize "biggest pack-rat", but his argument that the extra weight he's carrying will make him stronger then us does have some merit.

We hit the road about eleven. Justus and Ben (and Tim in spirit) were still with us for the first few kilometres to see us off. Justus just got a new helmet-cam last week, so he was excited at the chance to use it.

By this time my nervousness had turned into excitement. The weather was gorgeous in the morning, and no winds to speak of. We paced ourselves, knowing that half the way in distance is much less then half the way in energy. There were a few flat stretches we did above 30km/h, but we mostly stuck to around te 20km/h mark. I was using gears that I usually don't use; the added weight on the back of the bike makes a big difference. Almost all of the roads we took were pretty quiet in terms of traffic. Often, we could ride side by side and talk, having to change formation once and a while for a car coming from behind.

We did about 50km, half the distance, before stopping for lunch in Arthur. We ate some delicious pasta salads, leaning up against the fence of a nice old lady we met. I unfortunatly dropped mine on the grass and had to eat most of it from there, while Martin laughed and took pictures.

The second half of the ride took a while longer. There was a bit more wind, but not enough for it to be a good excuse. The weather had been very nice, although the clouds were gathering and darkening. Rain struck about half-an-hour after lunch. We quickly put on all of our rain gear. Personally, I found the rain to be pretty fun, especially when an oncoming truck gave us a shockwave of water, several feet high. Being completely waterproof, from head to toe, we weren't hurt at all. Rain coat, rain pants, and rain shoe covers. We were all glad that Martin's fenders made it on his bike this morning. It didn't take long for the rain to clear up.

Geoff set up a place for us to sleep this first night through his friend Tim. Tim is a timber framing apprentice, along with three other guys, right here in Flesherton. I'll probably find out more about what timber framing entails tomorrow. It's on a big property, so when we found it, we didn't really know where to go, and there was no one around to ask. We were all famished, so we opted to head into town and celebrate our first day with a meal out at the local Bistro. I got lamb chops, Martin got Duck Poutine, and Geoff got penne.

By the time we were finished it was dark out, so finding where we were supposed to go on the property was even more intimidating. Tim's phone has been out of batteries for a while, so Geoff didn't have any details yet about what kind of accomadations to expect. Eventually we found a person in the dark on the other side of a fence, and after a few nervous mumblings about being friends of Tim we received a warm welcome. The layout of this place will make more sense in the light, but from what I can tell, everyone here, perhaps six or seven of them, are in scattered tents, so we fit right in. We are told it used to be an apple orchard, but has grown in overtime, and has been taken over by hawthorn. We set up our tents, and then joined their campfire. They had a some guitars, a banjo, and a djembe! It was a nice end to the day. We made our way back to the tents, where I am now. I happily won the random draw for the solo tent. We will rotate this priviledge every night.

Thanks for reading, and I hope I get to post this online sometime soon. Perhaps my next entry won't be so long.