Day 43 – 1st August – Rest Day in Niagara
0 miles ridden - 0 feet climbed. Unfortunately even though I could have slept until 7am I was awake and ready to go at around 4am as, it turns out, were most others on the trip but I was able to lay in bed listening to the Archers omnibus so all was not lost. By 7:15...
Day 42 – 31st July – Brantford to Niagara Falls, New York
77 miles ridden - 1276 feet climbed. The sun was peaking through the clouds when we left. Maybe we would escape the forecast rain? Or maybe not because within 5 miles we saw lightning and heard thunder and we were all pulled in to a coffee place to wait out the...
Day 41 – 30th July – London to Brantford
69 miles ridden - 1394 feet climbed. We were all excited about a leisurely 69 mile day taking in the sights and smells of the Ontario countryside until we looked out of the window Yes it really was raining and just for good measure we had a 20mph headwind virtually...
Day 40 – 29th July – Port Huron, Michigan USA to London, Ontario Canada
87 miles ridden - 1240 feet climbed The excitement of cycling over the bridge into Canada was palpable as we sat eating breakfast at 5:15 this morning. It's quite amazing how at that time of the day you don't really recognise what you are eating, just whether it is...
Day 39 – 28th July – Birch Run to Port Huron
90 miles ridden - 958 feet climbed Despite the somewhat gloomy weather forecasts we did not see any rain today. The temperature peaked around 27C/80F which was great for distance cycling. However, we had a headwind for all but about 20 miles and the road surfaces were...
Day 38 – 27th July – Mount Pleasant to Birch Run
74 miles ridden - 430 feet climbed. Another wonderful day. Temperature was great until about noon when it seemed to suddenly shoot up to 32C. We had a gentle tailwind for about 40 miles and the area we were cycling through was absolutely flat - fabulous. After...
Day 37 – 26th July – Ludington to Mount Pleasant
117 miles ridden - 2684 feet climbed. Our last century ride and it was a fabulous day although it was longer for me than it should have been. We have been constantly reminded as we have moved eastward that we have left behind the large empty spaces of Idaho, Wyoming...
Day 36 – 25th July – Rest Day part 2
10 miles ridden. Nice day today with only token cycling. The centrepiece of our day was the crossing from Manitowoc, Wisconsin to Ludington, Michigan on the SS Badger. Built in 1952 this ship is the last coal-fired steam ship built in America and is certainly more...
Day 36 – 25th July – Rest Day part one
As we are on the ferry tomorrow for about 5 hours, lose an hour crossing into the Eastern time zone, and have a 5:20 start on Tuesday for our 112 mile ride from Ludington to Mount Pleasant I'm not sure how much time I will have to update my blog so I am doing a bit...
Day 35 – 24th July – Fond Du Lac to Manitowoc
63 miles ridden - 1450 feet climbed Weather forecasts are absolute pants. Despite the thunderstorms during the night the forecast for today was clouds clearing by around 9am and then a sunny day with westerly (tail) winds. As we left the sky did appear to be...