Blood, Sweat and Gears

I met a new rider at breakfast, George, who has joined us this week from Ohio.    There is a core of 40 of us that have been together from the start of the trip and are riding all the way across America.  Then each week folks like George may join us for any of the nine weeks we are riding.    In a way it has been good for us to continue to get some fresh blood into our group each week.   I like George's bicycle jersey which was from a ride he did in North Carolina called "Blood, Sweat and Gears."

Blood.  Thankfully I have been free of accidents.  But they happen most every day with some rider slipping on gravel or hitting an occassional pot hole in the road.  There are lots of close calls though so we are all closely paying attention to what is going on around us.    Many people have asked if I spend a lot of time reflecting along the way.  The truth is that you almost always need to have your "A Game" when riding.  So mostly I'm trying to watch the riders next to me, the road conditions, the cars (and huge semi trucks) and the odd dog here and there.   And, of course, I hate to mention it but in the theme of blood, there are hundreds of road kill including deer, rabbits, skunks, and assorted unknown animals along the roads.  

Sweat. We rode into West Lorne, Canada today from Richmond, Michigan. It was so hot last night in Richmond, Michigan that many of our riders who slept in the High School gym just found themselves so oppressed by the heat that they wandered out into the lawn of the school where the rest of us had set up tents. So, when I woke up I found someone sleeping right next to my bike and tent. Hello!  Things have been heating up a bit and with the flat roads we find ourselves moving quickly but also sweating up a storm.  Today we ended up at a ice cream shop next to the library in West Lorne.   I spent about an hour and a half cooling off at the ice cream shop waiting for the library to open at 2 p.m.

Gears.  Not much to say here except that I had my bike worked on last night.  There are two great bike mechanics that travel with us.  They put on a new back tire which had worn down, cleaned and oiled the chain, and worked on my disk brakes a bit to make sure I'm set to go for the remaining two weeks of our trip.  I think we are all growing attatched to our bikes.  I was riding with Philippe a few days ago and we were heading out of breakfast when he simply shared, "I just love my bike, it is like a horse to me."   This morning he took a picture of his ultimately clean cassette (the circular chain teeth on the back wheel) that the mechanics cleaned.  He said it was so clean you could lick it.  Man and bike becoming one. 

We move on to Port Dover tomorrow -- should be long 95 - 100 mile ride.   It is a fun change to now be in Canada for a few days until we end the week at the Niagara Falls.