Reports from Jamie's latest tour

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day 86

riding in a pack

Actual Date: 2007-07-29
Uploaded: mon, 30 jul 2007 05:44:37 -070
Distance: 121.00 km

South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island, Ontario.

Why do we need so much stuff?

One thing that any semi-nomadic adventure like bicycle touring, canoe tripping and backpacking will do is quickly help you to determine exactly what stuff is worth the energy it takes to lug it around. At this point in my tour my load is just about perfect for me. Practically everything I am carrying has a purpose and very little of it would be left behind if I was doing the tour again.

At home I have two large book shelves full of books covering subjects from business leadership to technical networking to photography to sailing and of course history. Of all those hundreds of books the only one I am missing is a volume on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The reason is that although I found time to read Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire before I left, this new book presents some new arguments that I didn't have time to read before hitting the road.

Other then purely work related stuff most of my other belongings really don't seem to be needed so why do I keep collecting? Ultimately it leads to a need for a bigger house with higher bills. It's always somewhat surprising to see how comfortably the pile of things you really need shrinks on tour!

Today my solo riding was interrupted by an opportunity to ride for a ways with a father and his daughter when our paths coincided. Robyn, the daughter, has been riding different parts of the country, including the Yukon highway since April. She took a bus to Wawa where she met her father for the bicycle ride from there to Little Current.

It sounded like they had a great ride together. Near Birch Island two of their cousins rode out to escort them to Little Current so for awhile there were five bicycles riding together at a very decent rate of speed. It was nice to have some interesting conversations while riding along.

Riding to South Baymouth was interesting. First I had to cross the LaCloche mountains. There were three hills with larger grades but none of the hills involved long climbs. The longest hill of the day was an 80 metre ascent on a 3 - 4 percent maximum grade. The steepest hill at 7 percent was only 30 metres high!

My last time through the area involved a day of riding in the rain. This time I had hot temperatures and sunshine. I drank over 6 litres of liquids and it wasn't enough.

As expected riding on the quieter roads was very nice even in the parts with no paved shoulder. I counted a total of six large trucks passing me all day. Even on the quietest part of the TransCanada that number of trucks passed every 15 minutes. Even nicer was the far reduced number of large RVs.

It's been six riding days since my last rest day in Obatanga. I am debating taking a rolling rest day tomorrow since the ferry ride to Tobermory will eat up a portion of the day anyway. This time I will ride the ferry in daylight and have a chance to see the scenery for which this area is renowned.

Guestbook replies:

Jackie A: Thanks for the thoughts and well wishes. How is your challenge going?

Cindy: Bergstrand seems so long ago! Congratulations on successfully crossing the continent twice. 116 days is a long time. I imagine that you are enjoying being back home after such a long time away. Have you started experiencing a longing for the ride yet?

~Jamie N

Interested in bicycle touring? www.bicycletouring101.com

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Tour Statistics

(Based on riding days only)

Number of Riding Days: 34
Overall total so far: 3840.10 km
Daily Average: 112.94 km
Shortest: 53.00 km
Longest: 163.00 km

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