Day 54: London to Hamilton 121 km (actually 126.5km...but who's counting).

Uphill 2592 ft Downhill 2626 ft

Two words sum up the day….rollers and food.

Our day started a bit later than usual. . I think we were off by 7 a.m. We said goodbye to familiar faces but we know that we will see them again on Sunday or in my case, tonight. No need for arm warmers, I just wore a sleeveless jersey and shorts. It was a great day for biking, only getting warm (90F) by the end of the day.

The pace line...Pete, Cynthia, Gerry, John, Jake, Louie, Andy, Mike and Barb

John led us out of London and before long we were cycling along country roads. For those not familiar with the area, Southern Ontario is home to a lot of agriculture. Dairy farms, chicken and hog operations, vegetables and we even went past a few tobacco farms (the tobacco industry has taken a huge hit in the last number of years and you see less and less of these farms). Large trees lined both sides of the road and provided us with a great cover throughout most of the day.

When we weren’t cycling we were eating. I think we had 5 planned stops and this isn’t counting the people and children standing at the end of their drivesways offering cold water, etc. It was almost overwhelming. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating…. Canadians rock in the hospitality category. The support you’ve shown us is phenomenal. I won’t list all the churches and communities for fear that I’ll forget one. An interesting bike stand

I need to mention that I was impressed by the Porta Johns in Woodstock. I’ve never been in one that you can actually flush and then press down on a foot pump for fresh water to wash your hands in a sink. Awesome! Now thats what Cory should have been pulling along behind him for the entire tour.

I’ve also seen a lot of familiar faces but again I’ll refrain from listing them because if I forget to mention someone they may feel slighted which is not my intent at all. To the many people that came up to me and offered me encouragement, thank you, I appreciate your words and well wishes.

As I mentioned early in this blog, we’d no sooner go up one hill and then the next one would be before us. We did have a relatively flat area after Woodstock but that was only for a few kms and then we were back at it again. Our pace line was 10 people long so after Ingersol we split up for the safety factor. I biked the remainder of the day with John, Barb, Mike and Louie (he was busy talking in Woodstock so we left without him, but he did his own 40km time trail bike race and met up with us in Brantford…the sweat was just pouring down his face. You’re welcome Louie for leaving you behind, now you know how fast you can bike.)

Tonight we are staying at Redeemer College. Again people greeted us as we came in. Volunteers were quick to sign us up for billets, or pedicures. If we were still in need of food we could go down the bike path where another church had refreshments set out. Since we had stopped at all the other places we felt compiled to go. Supper could prove to be a challenge tonight.

Before we headed into the shower, they had someone behind a desk handing out fresh towels for us to use (no need to get ours wet). They’ve opened their library up and we have access to computer and wireless internet. I see a lot of happy cyclists busy blogging away and checking their emails. Oh happy day. The kitchen staff is off tonight, Redeemer cooks are preparing our meal.

Tomorrow evening I need to make the decision if I’m going to stay for the last week. I don’t want to hold up the pace line, but I may have to change my strategy and bow out of the pace line. When I’m at the back of the pace line going downhill, the first person is usually pedaling away but because I have less resistance I tend to go faster and in order not to pass the person in front of me I have to slow down and apply the brakes. So that’s mean when I’m at the bottom of a hill I have no speed left to go up. If I’m not in a paceline I can pick up speed going down and use that to propel me up. The guys usually still pass me because they are stronger but this second scenario is easier on my body.

The ride today went fairly well. I was glad to get in and again am sitting on a ice pack. Better get this posted because it’s almost supper time. Till tomorrow, Cynthia

P.S. Pete went down today. He brushed tires with Gerry. His favorite shorts are ripped and he has some skin off on his elbow and knee, but he still biked in.

Time on the bike 5:06:43 Average speed of 24.7 Top speed 57km