Final thoughts of my Sea to Sea Adventure

I’ve just finished reading Barb’s final blog and I’m tempted just to say, ‘scroll down and read hers’. She echos my thoughts and sums up the trip very well. Thanks Barb, you did great.

We arrived in Chatham late Monday morning. The border crossing was backed up and by the time we hit Woodstock Sunday evening, Ralph had enough driving so we stayed overnight at my sisters and carried on in the morning.

Now it’s Wednesday. I’ve been fortunate that I don’t need to get back to a job asap. All of that will wait another week while I slowly readjust to life and my role as wife, mother, friend, cook etc.

Like Barb, when I wake up I wonder how many kms (while, she still thinks in miles) do I need to bike today? And then I remember, it’s over. The biking part of the trip is over. No more purrel everytime I make a sandwich or wash my dishes. When a transport truck honks, it doesn’t mean my supper is ready and that I should go and grab my dishes and stand in line. Laundry gets done in the washing machine, not with my clothes on in the shower. I am now responsible for cleaning more than 22 square feet (approx sq footage of my tent). I can actually sit down on a toilet seat…no more squatting. The alarm at 5 a.m. is now a thing of the past. My bike, the mode of my transportation for most of the summer, now sits forlornly in the garage. How does one adjust to all these changes?

My summer usually consists of swimming in the pool, camping, long walks and maybe a few sprint triathlons (just to mix it up). So in some ways, I feel as those I didn’t have a summer. The leaves are changing colours, it’s time to clean out the flower beds, close up the pool. I won’t even think of trying to even out the tan lines created by wearing bike shorts all those days.

I’ll carry with me forever the friendships made on this 9 week tour. It’s amazing how close you can become in such a short time.

I’ll be forever grateful for the prayers and encouraging notes that made my recovery time speed by. The fact that I could finish the tour (and not be ‘sagged’) will always stand out as a testimony that God hears the prayers of his people and that miracles still happen.

To all the people that worked behind the scene for almost 2 years to make this tour a reality….thank you. I won’t even begin to list names, because I’ll surely forget someone. To the cooks, nurses, sag drivers, kitchen & pantry and gear truck drivers….thank you. To Jen who made sure everything was organized in camp, to Billy D (the only biker in leather on the tour) who was there whenever you needed water on climb up a pass and the one who made sure the gear truck stayed tidy, thank you. To Ed who mapped out the route and our accommodations …to his wife, Denise for her willingness to travel along with their two young children and live in a nomad existence for the summer….Thank you. To the churches that fed us, organized our mail, hosted celebration services…thank you. To our billets (hosts) your generosity to us was amazing. To the many people that prayed daily for our safety, thank you. To the many people that donated monies so that we could meet and exceed our financial goals, thank you so much for participating in this very concrete way.

So how do I address the issue of poverty now? I’ve lived out of two laundry baskets for almost 9 weeks (and some of the items I took with me I didn’t even use). My walk in closet haunts me, our fully stocked pantry makes me cringe and the excess rooms, not needed in our home embarrass me. Why am I blessed when others struggle to stay alive? If this tour instills me a heart of gratefulness for what I have and extinguishes the fire in me to want more, than I believe it was worth it.

Not everyone is called or has the gifts to go on a ‘third world’ serve project, but I can attack the issue of poverty in other ways. I can recycle my outer plastic bags of milk or LCBO bags so that they can be cut into strips, looped together and crocheted into mats for mission fields. Children who would otherwise sleep on bare floors sleep on these mats. I can donate unused clothing or items to women shelters or local thrift stores, and the list goes on….the local food bank, etc, etc. Maybe one day when retirement is a reality for Ralph and I, we will be able to volunteer with the CRWRC on a work project. For now, I’ll strive to be more aware, to be grateful and open to change.

This past summer approx 200 people answered the call to cycle across North America to raise awareness and funds to help eliminate global poverty. The motion has started; can we continue to build momentum? I pray that the answer is yes.

Till we meet again, Cynthia

Day 62: Sussex to Jersey City 98.7km Uphill 2972 ft Downhill 3466 ft

One p.m. everyone needs to be at the ‘gathering place’, which is only 80km away. So last evening Barb and I decided that we didn’t need to get into camp till 6:45 a.m. My alarm started to beep at 5:10 a.m. I ignored it, rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. Ten minutes later it beeped again. This time I took care of the problem. Barb was kind enough not to say anything about the beeping till later in the day. Although she did say several times in the ride that she was tired (maybe this was her way of saying she didn’t appreciate her sleep being so rudely interrupted…(I’ve only caught on to that as I’m typing up this blog one day later!)

Our host, Rob Dekker drove us back to the school by 6:45. Not just John, but all the guys are waiting for us, helmets on and everything. A quick photo of the entire pace line and we’re off in two groups. Within 5 minutes we’re stopping at a Dutch bakery for some sweet rolls and coffee. This was a quick stop, no sitting, just drink your coffee standing up and get back on the bike. I left with Andy, Gerry and Jake. The others are just ahead of us.

The route today is pretty rolling with a few steeper climbs. The air is humid and thick. I’m wondering if it is going to rain. Several cyclists cannot bike because of asthma related issues.

During one climb Gerry’s chain broke (again). Jake and Andy stayed behind to fix it and I sprinted ahead to catch Barb, John, Louie and Pete. The repair didn’t take long because they caught up to us around 30 minutes later. Today we are seeing a lot of encouraging signs for Sea to Sea cyclists posted on light poles or people’s front lawns. There are also quite a number of impromptu refreshments stands set up being manned by relatives or friends of the cyclists.

Around 10ish we stopped for our second breakfast (we are just over the 60km marker). Two of us ordered a ‘normal’ breakfast while the others overindulged in nut rolls, apple turnovers etc. We were sitting at the back of the restaurant, I was facing a window and a mirrored wall…now I wish I could blame what I said next on the lack of coffee, but I’d already had two and I might as well share what I said because I know Barb and Pete will probably blog it as well. Much to my dismay I noticed cyclists going the wrong way, so I said, ‘hey look at those guys, they’re going the wrong way!’ I couldn’t believe that on the last day someone would get lost…how awful for them. What I didn’t realize was that I was looking into a mirror. The guys got a good laugh at that one. Hmm, maybe that concussion was a bit more serious then I originally thought. Oh, by the time we left the restaurant the sun was shining; it’s not going to rain. Hooray.

We were at the ‘gathering spot’ by noon. Pete decided to go back up the hill and grab a coffee, we told him to bring one back for each of us. It was just to much of an effort to climb up that hill again. This parking lot is were we should have had a SAG or a Johnny on the spot’. Many cyclists are taking advantage of the grouping of trees in the one corner of the parking lot (if you know what I mean).

By 1:15 we gathered for a group photo and then at 1:30 we lined up to be escorted by a sheriff and his vehicle. I’m up at the front of the pack. Tyler (who broke his collarbone) rode today and he is also at the front. We both don’t want any extra bumps. Jake is beside me and the others are close by trying to make sure that no one crowds me in. We are riding three abreast, and I’m trying to stay close to the centerline (no rough shoulders to bother with). Ahead of me are several of the younger guys and as we cycle along more people squeeze in front. Everyone is hyped and excited. When we turned a corner I could see the long line of cyclists. It was impressive. People in vehicles are honking their horns, strangers are waving at us from the sidewalks, and occasionally we noticed several others taking photos out of their apartment windows. We’ve definitely created awareness.

Just before we headed out Ed mentioned that if anyone got a flat their bikes would be picked up and they would be ‘sagged in’. With 2 kms to go Kyle’s back tire blew. We all heard the hiss over top of Billy D’s bike. To Kyle’s credit he kept on biking….I’m certain his rim is damaged but he made it to the park. I think Marti also had a flat but she rode in on it.

We rode a bike path into the park. Family and friends lined both sides. You could see how happy they were for us. They cheered and clapped as we cycled by.

The beach front in Liberty State Park is rocky and small. Somehow we all managed to get our bikes lined up. We saved some room for our pace line because we wanted to walk in the water together. The only one missing was Louie (we figured he was still handing out cards or talking to someone!). Our head chaplin, Len said a few words then everyone recited the Lord’s prayer and together we dipped our front bike wheels in the Atlantic ocean.

My family that came to see me bike in....Cassy Werkema, Jo, Cynthia, Ralph and my sister; Betty-Anne Werkema

Family came forward to hug and congratulate us. We were kept busy introducing our family members or friends to one another. Many photos later we headed back to our vehicle and made our way to Eastern Christian Middle School in Cedar Hill to empty my two laundry baskets and drop off my ‘borrowed wheels’ that I tried out this summer. Next stop was the motel. Quick shower and presto chango we were heading out for the dinner at Cedar Hill CRC. They’ve sold over 700 tickets for the dinner. Again, a good variety of food and it all tasted great.

The closing celebration service started at 7:30 pm. We’re sitting in the front row of the balcony and have a great view of everything. The worship team did a fantastic job leading us in worship. Both John Vandersteen and Barb Mellema participated in an interview, answering questions about the tour (this was to give some insight to the audience that didn’t cycle as to what the tour experience was all about). Two cyclists, Christeena Nienhuis and Mark (sorry, the last name escapes me) both shared their testimonies. Thank you both for sharing, you did a great job. Rev. Mark Gornik, the Director of City Seminary of New York shared his story of how he and other members of the community helped facilitate a dramatic change for the better in the community of Sandtown (Baltimore). Many key people were thanked and acknowledged for their work with the tour and then we closed the evening in song.

Now the hard part of saying good bye. After a few tears and many hugs we called it a day and headed back to the motel.

I’ll post one more blog later in the week where I’ll attempt to give my take on the tour. For now, it’s time to sign off because my battery is quickly dying. Later, Cynthia
P.S. We broke our record of flats today, totaling more then 35ish in one day….that beats the goat head territory!

Total km biked 103.3km Time on the bike 4:47:57 Max speed 54.3km

Day 61: Dalton to Sussex 132 Km Uphill 6857 ft Downhill 7356 ft

We’ve been told that today’s ride will be difficult. Nine weeks ago we started off with a difficult climb (Day 2 up Steven’s Pass) so it is only fitting that the second last day be somewhat the same. Todays climb of 6857ft is the most we’ve ever climbed in one single day. To say that people are a bit uptight is putting it lightly. We’ve heard talk of rain and that would make the descents tricky.

My alarm went off at 4:50 a.m. (a record for me). Since I’m on sweep today, my goal was to pack up my tent and be ready to set out breakfast by 5:45. Thankfully I was excused from packing up the gear truck and was able to leave with the gang at 6:50.

Whoa, the climbing continued where we left off yesterday. Someone had an elevation button on their watch and most of the climbs where between 10-12% with a few at 14%. The saving grace was that the climbs are short and for a lot of them you can power down and coast quite a ways up before you start to downshift. We had a gap in our pace line but met up with each other at SAG stops or restaurants along the way.

First stop was Julie's. She was handing out pototo chips….mmm salt is always good. Oh I should mention that just before Julie’s SAG we had to make a quick left hand turn. We where going downhill and didn’t see the marker till it was too late. We stopped our bikes and turn them facing the right direction. The only problem was that it was on a rather steep incline so when I went to start my left foot was clipped in but I didn’t get the right foot clipped in on time so down I went. Just a scrape to my right ankle and a possible bruise on my left hip but I could still continue on. My second attempt to get started was much better. The guys held up my bike and gave me push to get me going. Talk about being humbled, thank goodness no one got that on video!

Second breakfast was just past the 60km marker. Waffles with strawberry sauce and icing sugar. Very good. The coffee hit the spot and we were ready to tackle some more hills. Lots of dairy farms today.

Walters SAG was next. He is still trying to unload ‘waltermelon’ but in honor of the second last day he was handing out chocolates. They weren’t dark chocolate but I still enjoyed them. After Walters the route wasn’t as difficult, just one rolling hill after another.

Just before the last major climb of the day we stopped in Portjervis. It was decided that an ice coffee was in order to help power us up. McDonalds to the rescue. When we were ready to leave Jake stepped outside and to his surprise there was his wife and his brother and sister in law. He wasn’t expecting them till tomorrow so now Jake is on a mission….get in as soon as possible.

No sooner on our bikes and there was the Welcome into New Jersey. Photo op.

Climbing High Point wasn’t as hard as I expected. I found that you would do some climbing and then you’d have a bit of break before the climbing started again. At the top of the summit I was greeted by Grandma Rose and her 3 grandchildren that were manning the booth. ‘Would I like lemonade, or water? Chips, cookies, or nuts?' Cory also had a SAG set up, but he wasn’t doing a lot of business. Too much competition.

When we left this stop there was a sign stating…. ‘It’s all downhill from here’. Not quite true but I’ll let it go. One last brutal climb up to Sussex Christian School. The gear truck was unpacked and several volunteers were on hand to shuttle us to the showers, show us where to set up our tents, direct us to the computer lab, etc, etc. Very well organized.

I had just finished setting up my tent to dry when my husband Ralph and our youngest daughter Jo arrived. My sister, Betty-Anne Werkema and her youngest daughter Cassy also came along to share the last days of the tour with me. My plan was to stay in a motel with them but I’ve since learned that the motel is an hour away and with an early start time tomorrow its best if I just stay in camp. Barb to the rescue. She had signed me up for a billet (hosting) but crossed me off when she saw Ralph. Now she has uncrossed me and I’m staying at a lovely home with Barb, being hosted by Rob and Carol Dekker. Thank you soooo much. No wet tent to take down tomorrow morning.

Supper was served by the Sussex and Goshen CRC community. So much food. They’ve even invited our families to join us for supper….that’s a total of over 500 for supper. It was fantastic. Thanks again for all the work these two communities did to make our stay at Sussex as enjoyable as possible.

Peloton tonight was all about saying thank you. The cooks, support staff, Jen, Ed, Cory, and the chaplins were thanked. Ed went over the route. We are actually being escorted by 3 different police vehicles (different jurisdictions) over a 10 mile ride. This will be slow going. Pray for safety as we finish off this journey.

Total km 133.7 for the day. Max speed of 69.8km Time on the bike 6:11:43

Way past my bed time. Till tomorrow, Cynthia
P.S. Not too many photos. I guess like Jake, I just wanted to get in.

Day 60: Binghamton to Dalton 93km Uphill 3245 ft Downhill 3154 ft

Every evening before I zip up my tent and call it a night I ask John what time we’re leaving in the morning. John’s reply is, ‘don’t worry, take your time’. But you’d think I’d know by now that by 6:30 a.m. there is John, helmet on, sitting on his bike just doing circles in the parking lot waiting for me. To be quite frank, this morning I stalled John because Barb wasn’t quite ready. Anything for a friend.

The morning started off cool. Most cyclists had leg and arm warmers on. I haven’t used the leg warmers yet. I’m trying to stay tough.

Pete is on sweep today so I started off with John, Jake, Barb, Gerry, Andy, and Louie. The first 20km were okay but then I had a breathing problem. Just couldn’t catch my breath. I blame it on emotions. I was fifth from the back of the pace line with John and Louie behind me but I couldn’t see what was on the road in front of me and we were clicking along at a good pace. I knew that if the pavement became rough or that if there was a piece of debris on the road that I would have a hard time missing it simply because the further down the line the less reaction time. So I panicked. The solution to the problem was to break up the pace line, which the guys did quite willingly. I finished the reminder of the day biking with Andy, Jake and Gerry. No more panic attack, thank goodness. My cadence is back to normal (around 90 revolutions pr minute) and I can keep up with the guys on the flats. They still beat me up on the hills but I think guys are just naturally stronger and they have more power at their disposal than most women.

Today was a short day. Last evening during peloton Ed told us that the elevation chart was not correct…not as many climbs as were indicated in the Shifting Gears book.

Our first SAG was being manned by Julie. She was at the border sign welcoming us into Pennsylvania. We told her we would stay at her SAG if she wanted to go for a coffee. We even suggested that she just put out the water jugs and chips and hang up a sign…. ‘Be back in 5 minutes’ and join us for a coffee. But Julie is too devoted to her duties that she couldn’t be persuaded. We thanked her to all she does for us and continued along to find a coffee stop.
We had a few rolling hills early this morning but by the time we stopped for a coffee at 8:30ish we were mainly going downhill. Gerry had left Julie’s SAG just before us and in the next town we saw his biked leaned against this sport bar building. We have a rule, never let a cyclists have a coffee alone, so in we went. As always we handed out cards. When we asked if they had any pastries the owner said. ‘no’, but then a little while later he came back with two platters of timbits that he had purchased for us. Cyclists kept coming in and when it came time to pay the owner said it was on the house. Such random acts of kindness are always appreciated.
We stopped at this cement bridge to take photos and to peel down. The temperature outside is heating up so it’s time to lose the arm warmers and jackets. Walters RV was our next SAG stop. I’m not sure when we reached the town of Nicholson, probably around 11ish. At this point we only have around 10km to go. The gear truck won’t be in camp for another hour, so we figured why not stop for another breakfast. The town of Nicholson is pretty desolate. We decided to eat at Nicole’s diner; good food and great coffee. After breakfast we investigated a few of the shops. The one shop still had Easter candy out. Gerry was trying to get Andy to purchase this Halloween witch that laughed whenever you walk by it. He thought Andy’s wife would loooooove it. Andy knew better….no laughing witch for you, Siska. Empty handed we went back on our bikes and continued on our way.

Now heres where the ride became interesting. With only 6km to go we faced some terrific climbs. On the way up the first climb (I’ve heard some talk that it was a 12% grade) Gerry’s chain snapped in two. Jake didn’t noticed what happened and he continued to sail down the hill, leaving Andy and I with Gerry at the top of the hill. Now Gerry has a bit of everything in his bag (just like John) and he had the tools to fix it. I took a few pictures of the guys working away and then decided to remove my helmet and sunglasses to cool off. Jake waited at the bottom of the hill for around 15 minutes and then decided that he should go back and check out what was taking us so long. Up the hill he goes, just as he comes to the top we are getting on our bikes ready to head down the hill. We did say he was a good friend to go to come back for us.


When we sailed to the bottom of the hill I noticed that I didn’t have my sunglasses on (I had left them on the side of the road. You guessed it; they were at the top of the hill. Gerry decided it was his fault because he had the broken chain and went back to the top to find my glasses. Later on I told Gerry that I wish he had been the man in the Garden of Eden because then Eve wouldn’t been blamed for anything! Andy told me never to take those glasses off ever again.

The last couple kms where nasty. I think I know what tomorrow will be like; very difficult but hopefully manageable…one pedal stroke at a time is my motto. I guess we are cycling thru the Pocono’s tomorrow.

Tonight we are staying at Lackawanna State Park. The rain has held off and we are optimistically hoping that our clothes will dry.

This is the last supper that our cooks are preparing for us. Below are a few photos of the cooks in action.

The last few evening Peloton has been devoted to 'life after the tour'. One evening those who where going to school were asked to go to the front and a prayer was said for them. The next evening concentrated on the ones that had jobs to go home to or know what they are doing (retirement). Wednesday evening we prayed for those that either quite there jobs for the tour or do not know what they are going to do. Last evening several people spoke on what the tour has meant to them and how they view life now after the experience of the tour. We also formed a circle and shared communion . Another meaningful worship.

Just as I retired for the evening, the rain started coming down. I'm glad, that means there's less to fall tomorrow during the ride. Good night one and all. Cynthia

Time on the bike 3:41:06 Max speed 62.7km Total km biked 91.4km (first time on record that we are actually under the kms for the day).

Day 59: Romulus to Binghamton 122km Uphill 3676 ft Downhill 3362 ft

Decided to set my alarm for 5:25 a.m. It’s suppose to be foggy out so I figured the guys would leave a bit later. Surprise, no fog so I had to quickly finish getting ready so I wouldn’t keep them waiting to long. Not too much dew on the tent, so packing up was a pleasure.

I believe we set out just before 7. Cory Nyhuis is biking today (no pulling the porta potty, instead he gets to experience the tour from the seat of a bike) so we split up the pace line and set out. Cory is biking with Barb, John, and Louie. I’m biking with Andy, Pete, Jake and Gerry.

Cynthia, John, Barb, Pete, Cory, Gerry, Louie, Jake and Andy all set to go

The ride today was fairly hilly. The only thing good about climbing is that you get to go down again. We started looking for a coffee shop around 8:45. In fact when we came to Walter’s sag we told him we wouldn’t stay long because we were ‘dying’ for a coffee. We didn’t locate one till 9:30ish. At that time we looked at our accumulated kms for the day and realized we were already at 70km so we had finished the ‘big’ climb. It was in three parts, first 600ft then 200ft and it finished off with another 200ft. I managed it quite well. Hooray.

The remainder of the day was still rolling. The Valley CRC had a water spot close to the end of the day. We came upon this sign welcoming us into the community of Chenango Forks. The young people created this sign and hung it on a silo so that we couldn’t miss it. The CRC is close to the Chenango Forks School. They had water, doughnuts, and chips for us. After a refreshing stop (and sufficient time to make sure the gear truck was almost unpacked) we headed over to the school. The guys still helped to unload the gear bags but I’ve decided not to lug any extra weight…biking is enough for now.

My tent is up, I’ve showered and then I went back into the school to plug my computer in and blog; wouldn’t you know it……I got an internet connection!!!!! So happy. The school is under some major construction and the tech guy set up an internet site for the contractors to use. So put a hard hat on me, I’m blogging!

We are being served supper by the Valley Christian Reformed church. They are serving us a locally known dish called spedie. This is a chicken dish that is marinated in garlic and lemon served on a kobab. Can't wait, I’m hungry.

They’re calling for a possibility of rain on Thursday and Friday. No sense worrying about it till it happens.

P.S. If my Mom is reading this, I promised that I would call her on Monday (2 days ago) and let her know if I was going to continue to with the tour. Guess what, Mom….I’m continuing! Pay phones are difficult to find and I still don’t have a calling card. So, sorry about that. I promise to call you when I’m home next Monday.

Time on the bike 5:10:42 Total of 125.3kms

Till tomorrow, Cynthia

Day 58: Bryon to Romulus 122km Uphill 2889 ft Downhill 2991 ft

It’s amazing what one forgets; like what its like to pack up a wet, wet tent….unpleasant sums it up pretty good.

I should back track and add that last evening we were treated to some wonderful music. Some people that were staying in the RV camp belong to a 4 piece band and they just happen to have their instruments with them plus an extra violin for Vonda to use. Since the campground had already donated a bucket full of free firewood they thought why not add a sing-a-long. Small groups were cancelled and instead we enjoyed a variety of gospel (or should I say, gossip) music. They also played some lively tunes that made you want to get up and move around. The kitchen staff had purchased enough supplies for smores for everyone. So it was a true campfire experience. I went to sleep with the sound of music still playing in my mind.

As I stated earlier, it was a wet this morning. I managed to have everything packed up and ready to go on the bike shortly before 7a.m. The guys were already hanging over their handbars asking what took me sooooo long. Not to fear, as it turned out we waited around 4 minutes for Louie ……miscommunication as to where we were too meet. Oh well, better Louie than me!

We split up the pace line for safety reasons, so today I started out with Andy, Jake and Rick D from Hamilton. Barb, John, Gerry and Pete were always in our sight. Lunch is being served along the route by the East Palmyra CRC members, but it doesn’t start till 10 a.m. So we killed some time at a gas station drinking some coffee.

The route for the first part of the day was up and down. Wonderful to ride the hills down and then coast up the majority of the way up. It wasn’t difficult and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. We are seeing a lot of dairy farms on our route today. Someone also mentioned that this area has a lot of high tech industry as well.

We were the first group in for lunch. What a spread! Coffee, cold drinks, sloppy joes on a bun, baked beans (not great when you’re at the back of the line….if you get my drift!). They also had a lettuce salad, pasta salad, fresh fruit and a ton of baked goods. We took a good bite out of the cherry cheese cake pan, everything tasted great. It was also good to visit with the people gathered there to support, cheer and feed us. I should add that some women started to talk to John Vandersteen and pretty soon I think they had come up with a way that they were related. Go figure, dutch bingo at it’s best! When we left the lunch spot it was Andy, Rick and I but we lost Rick when we stopped to talk to Andy’s son Chris and his wife (Amanda) with their two children. They stayed in the RV camp last evening and are traveling to the State park that we are staying at tonight. Julian is excited. He’s three and he has promised to set up Andy’s tent.

We caught up with the gang at a sag stop with under 15km to go. Andy, Pete and I started off before the rest because we said that they would catch up with us. I wish they had….instead we ended up missing the turn onto Lake Rd E and traveled to the town of Seneca Falls. We received several directions as to how to head back onto the right track. One got us onto a side road that started out paved and turned into gravel; very bumpy and slow going. We ended up flagging down a woman in a yellow mustang. Her was name Kathy Felis and she was very familiar with the area. She gave us great directions and told us a bit of history about the park that we are staying at. It used to be a military base and her dad actually bought one of the barracks and dismantled it for wood. Not too worry we only added an additional 30km to todays route. That translates to 153.3km and a total time of 5:47:22 on the bike. We weren't the only ones that did a bit extra mileage. Here the bikers are waiting for the gear truck and kitchen truck that got lost. The kitchen staff is busy peeling eggs for tomorrows egg salad that will available for us to pack in our lunches.

We are staying at Sampson State park. Lots of trees, a grassy site and an enclosed picnic shelter to eat in. It will probably get cool tonight, so great for sleeping. The tour technical support has told us that we will probably not have internet serviced for the remaining of the tour, very sad news for those of us who regularly blog. I’m feeling really good. The biking is not too much of a problem. After 4 hours it does get uncomfortable in the seat so tomorrow I’ll try to look out for those orange arrows that mark the route and maybe I should pull out my map once or twice rather than relying on the guys to get me there. Currently I’m sitting on an ice pack. The kitchen staff is generously allowing me to store it in their freezer so it’s ready to use whenever I need it.

Now it’s time to collect my laundry and make sure everything is set to go in my tent. Last evening when I went into my tent it was very dark so I put on my head lamp only to discover that the batteries had died. I hadn’t used it since my crash. It was very interesting smearing face cream on my face (was it really face cream or some form of butt butter?)

P.S. Marti DP (a cyclists) and her husband (he has been marking the route for the past couple of weeks) became Canadian citizens yesterday. Tonight they served cake to everyone. They also hung up that t-shirt that I quoted from in yesterday’s blog. It’s great to see how happy they are to be Canadians.

Till later, Cynthia

Day 57 St. Catherines to Bryon 124km Uphill 2026 ft Downhill 1692 ft

Breakfast was served at the school from 6 – 7 a.m. Ed W wants us to have everything in the gear truck by 8 a.m. so that the trucks can cross over the border asap. We have been asked to carry our passports and meet by a designated parking lot close to the border by 9:30.

Barb is on sweep so we set out in two groups. First line: John, Pete, Jake and then 50 ft back we formed another line: Andy, Louie, Gerry and myself. We figure this is the safer way to travel. John knows the area (one of the many places he has lived in his life) so he biked us by the Floral clock but unlike Saturday evening no one was around, so we could take some great pictures. (Opps the person taking the photo for me didn't quite take it, so I cannot share this photo with you).

Next stop, the Falls Next stop, Tim Hortons. I don’t have the photo on my camera but Pete has a picture of Gerry K with a Timmies coffee in one hand and a doughnut in the other. He can say that he has experienced what it means to be a ‘true Canadian’.

When we were touring Niagara on the Lake I came upon the following script and I would like to share it with you. If any of you caught Barb Mellema’s blog the day before we crossed into Canada you would have read that she wondered where all the igloos where. So I thought I would enlighten any US citizens that have been reading my blog. Here goes………

I, Cynthia Aukema do not travel by dogsled
A loonie is a dollar not a relative
I live in the second largest country in the world
Winter only lasts one season
I live in a house not an igloo
I do not know your second cousin John in Saskatoon
Our currency was not based on Monopoly money
The Parliament buildings are not made of ice
The maple leaf is our national symbol
We are the BEST hockey players in the world
I AM CANADAIN

Anyways, back to the blog.

All the cyclists were at the designated meeting place by 9:30. We followed Billy Den Harder (the guy on the motorcycle) to the Rainbow Bridge. I have never experienced an easier crossing. They opened 3 lanes up for us and just let us cycle across. We didn’t even have to show our passports. I’m not too sure what Ed did in advance but it sure was sweet.

We had been warned to say in groups of 3 or more because of the rough neigbourhood just as we passed over the bridge. I didn’t really notice that much (I’m used to Detroit).

The remainder of the day was very smooth. Great shoulders to ride on. We had some side wind and Louie generously allowed me to use him as a wind break. For most of the ride it was a tail ride. Barb bumped into us at a snack shack around 30 km from the end. She expressed surprise and then asked where we had turned wrong! We had to admit that we were heading in the right direction but then Billy D came by on his motorcycle and said that we were going the wrong way so to follow him. Which we did……WRONG move. After 7 ½ km we came upon Billy and he said ,’opps, I think this is the wrong route’. We asked some locals how to get back on the route. So instead of a 123.1km day we did 138.9km. The upside is that the route was very flat so the extra km weren’t too hard on my body. Time on the bike 5:36:22

Tonight we are staying at Southwoods RV park. It’s a great place. We have a nice grassy site. We can log on to the parks internet (fantastic), and the camp has also donated free firewood for us to burn tonight. The downside is that our tents are parked downwind from the campfire…oh well, life goes on.

Tomorrow is 123km day with a few shorts climb. It will get very cool tonight so a great evening for sleeping. Till tomorrow, Cynthia