Day 41--London ON to Brantford ON--July 31st
Miles Ridden 69.5
Avg. Speed 16.5 MPH
Climbing 1250 Ft.
Total Miles Ridden 2993
Miles To Go 636
On paper today was one of the easiest riding days of the trip.....short distance, no hills and good roads. We left London late so we wouldn't get to the hotel too early. We rode quickly to beat impending rain and were ahead of the other riders just on the outskirts of Brantford, crossing a bridge on a busy road. The roadway was narrow and the cars were close so I decided to use the shoulder which looked at first like it was covered with old tree blossoms or some kind of leaves for the length of the bridge. As soon as my wheels hit it, I knew I had made a mistake. All this happened in a couple of seconds but in slow motion in my mind. The bike started swerving like I was on slushy ice. I tried to stay upright but skidded towards the guardrail which was only about two feet high over a dark looking creek. I skidded once more toward the road traffic and then back to the guardrail before I decided to lean over and just fall before something worse happened.
I landed on my knee, hip and elbow and then skidded to a stop in a wet, stinking muck that covered me from head to foot. I could look back in the stuff and see the tracks where my bike had been. It didn't take long to realize that a load of grain (oats I think) had been dumped off a farm truck and ended up on the shoulder. Rain for the last couple of days had turned it into a fermenting mess that was so slippery it was almost impossible to walk on.
Mark from Toronto was just behind me and stayed off the stuff and stopped and helped me up. Shortly after that one of the trip vehicles came by and stopped. They checked me and the bike out and sent a warning back to the other riders. I finished the ride, got to the hotel and got cleaned and patched up.
Neither the bike or me has any serious damage but I'm more aware than ever that it's dangerous out here no matter how careful you think you are.
Back to the first part of the ride. We started in more of the usual farmland but then got into the remnants of Canada's tobacco region southwest of Brantford. Most of the farms no longer grow tobacco but you can still see the drying sheds painted in the colors of the cigarette companies that bought their product. Where tobacco used to be grown, many farmers have converted to growing commercial ginseng. I saw acres of rows of a strange plant which was covered by dark plastic netting about eight feet high.
I stopped and talked to a farmer about it and he said the government encouraged tobacco farmers to grow ginseng. It has a few problems though. It takes four years for the valuable root to mature. The plant produces a poison that prevents ginseng from ever being grown on that land again. The farmers in Ontario now grow so much of the stuff that the market price has gone way down.
Tomorrow we cross the border again at Niagara Falls where we will have our last rest day. It's supposed to be cold and rainy which I'm not looking forward to as I'm already feeling stiff and sore. We cross at the Rainbow Bridge where we have to ride and wait for customs in the same line as the cars because the pedestrian crossing has a turnstile that can't handle bikes. It won't be the same as crossing into Canada.
Avg. Speed 16.5 MPH
Climbing 1250 Ft.
Total Miles Ridden 2993
Miles To Go 636
On paper today was one of the easiest riding days of the trip.....short distance, no hills and good roads. We left London late so we wouldn't get to the hotel too early. We rode quickly to beat impending rain and were ahead of the other riders just on the outskirts of Brantford, crossing a bridge on a busy road. The roadway was narrow and the cars were close so I decided to use the shoulder which looked at first like it was covered with old tree blossoms or some kind of leaves for the length of the bridge. As soon as my wheels hit it, I knew I had made a mistake. All this happened in a couple of seconds but in slow motion in my mind. The bike started swerving like I was on slushy ice. I tried to stay upright but skidded towards the guardrail which was only about two feet high over a dark looking creek. I skidded once more toward the road traffic and then back to the guardrail before I decided to lean over and just fall before something worse happened.
I landed on my knee, hip and elbow and then skidded to a stop in a wet, stinking muck that covered me from head to foot. I could look back in the stuff and see the tracks where my bike had been. It didn't take long to realize that a load of grain (oats I think) had been dumped off a farm truck and ended up on the shoulder. Rain for the last couple of days had turned it into a fermenting mess that was so slippery it was almost impossible to walk on.
Mark from Toronto was just behind me and stayed off the stuff and stopped and helped me up. Shortly after that one of the trip vehicles came by and stopped. They checked me and the bike out and sent a warning back to the other riders. I finished the ride, got to the hotel and got cleaned and patched up.
Neither the bike or me has any serious damage but I'm more aware than ever that it's dangerous out here no matter how careful you think you are.
Back to the first part of the ride. We started in more of the usual farmland but then got into the remnants of Canada's tobacco region southwest of Brantford. Most of the farms no longer grow tobacco but you can still see the drying sheds painted in the colors of the cigarette companies that bought their product. Where tobacco used to be grown, many farmers have converted to growing commercial ginseng. I saw acres of rows of a strange plant which was covered by dark plastic netting about eight feet high.
I stopped and talked to a farmer about it and he said the government encouraged tobacco farmers to grow ginseng. It has a few problems though. It takes four years for the valuable root to mature. The plant produces a poison that prevents ginseng from ever being grown on that land again. The farmers in Ontario now grow so much of the stuff that the market price has gone way down.
Tomorrow we cross the border again at Niagara Falls where we will have our last rest day. It's supposed to be cold and rainy which I'm not looking forward to as I'm already feeling stiff and sore. We cross at the Rainbow Bridge where we have to ride and wait for customs in the same line as the cars because the pedestrian crossing has a turnstile that can't handle bikes. It won't be the same as crossing into Canada.
 | |||||
I'm not up enough on cycle fashion to know whether Carol of California wins the award for best-dressed or worst-dressed cyclist Tobacco field near Otterville with a stray sunflower   Me in tobacco country before the fall |
Comments
Post a Comment