Cross Country Bike Blog

The Waterfront Trail provides a perfect route for bicyclists along the north shore of Lake Ontario.  It minimizes traffic and is generally flat.  We followed it most of the day seeing marinas, gorgeous lake homes, orchards, vineyards, sailboats on the lake and kids fishing with their dads.  Thank goodness we were along the lake because it was hot!

Picton is a small harbor city in Prince Edward County.  Looking at the map, the city is in a labyrinth of islands and peninsulas on the northeast shore of Ontario.  The view of the harbor from our hotel room was exquisite.

Weather wise , we have been lucky in that we have not had rain while we were riding since Wisconsin.   In Picton, we had a hue downpour late in the afternoon.  No one got wet.

Lake Ontario - harbor at Cobourg

Small river feeding into ONtario

View of Picton Harbor from our hotel room

July 20- New Market to Cobourg – (98 miles) Day 46

The flat gently rolling hills of the Midwest are gone!  We are getting into the significant rolling hills of the northeast.  Today we rode 98 miles of undulating hills. Since June 6th we have climbed 85,250 ft. Keep in in mind that no fossil fuels were used in this magnificent feat; most energy came from oatmeal, eggs, potatoes, granola and ice cream!

Cobourg is a town of ~11,000 on the shore of Ontario.  It is almost due north of Rochester, NY.  We are about 60 miles from Roger’s family in NY.   We rode in from the north.  The downhill was magnificent!  Making the turn at the bend, feeling the cool lake breeze and finally seeing Ontario was exhilarating!

Tire swing -" roll out those lazy, hazy crazy days of summer".

A man painting a barn; he is half done!

Roger serenades Beata from a distance

First glimpse of Lake Ontario - Port Hope,ON

Sometimes as we measure our days by pedal strokes we lose sight of the big picture.  Ontario is so vast that we couldn’t quite determine where we were vis-à-vis the U.S.  So we bought a big map of Ontario for “5 Loonies”.

New Market is just north of Toronto. In fact, it could be considered a part of Toronto’s urban sprawl.  It is northwest of Buffalo, NY separated by Lake Ontario.  We were routed into town from the northwest on backroads.  Riding over Hwy 400 (6 lanes of traffic at rush hour), we had a short glimpse of a world we haven’t seen for 7 weeks.   We quickly moved on.

The route today was mostly farmland with the addition of rolling hills.  Not many new pictures.  There are only so many pictures one can take of corn and wheat.

St. James Catholic Church in Penville

Country road lined with pine trees

Roger shows off his new cyclist's sweat cap. He is posing like our former governor!

Picture perfect day!  We did most of the trip in the morning.  There was threat of afternoon storms but they never materialized.  The route was through Ontario countryside with with the addition of some rolling hills.   We are strong enough now that the rolling hills are not a problem.

Came across our first covered bridge.  The Montrose bridge is the only covered bridge in Ontario.  It was tucked away from the main road about on half mile.  If you missed seeing the tiny sign indicating the turn you would have missed it.  Hoping to see more covered bridges as we get closer to  New England!

Elora is a delightful city with an artsy flair.  The Elora Gorge runs through the center of town and is clearly the showpiece.  The gorge is a playground for swimmers, kayakers, and hikers.  As we pedaled through town we spotted signs for the curling club.  Mary couldn’t resist taking a side trip to check it out.  Had it been January we probably would have stopped in for an end or two.

Montrose Covered Bridge - crosses the Grand River

Elora Gorge that runs through town

Overlooking the Elora Gorge

Good Curling in Elora

July 17 – Rest day in Stratford – No miles except on foot. Day 43

A perfect day to explore the city on foot.  The city is designed to see by foot or bicycle.  We went to tea stores, bicycle shops, laundromats, pubs, botanical gardens and the local kilt store.

Perth County Court House - Stratford

Center of town offers formal gardens along the River Avon

Can you find the American gardener?

For the well-dressed man about town

(43 miles) Day 42

Forty-three miles?  Seems hardly worth breaking a sweat.  Once we saw Stratford however, we understood why we were spending a day and a half in this lovely city.  It is the biggest city we’ve encountered on the trip.

Before getting to Stratford we bid farewell to Lake Huron.  After five days of riding its shores today it was in the rear view mirror.

On route we passed a farm that is owned by Ken’s (a member of our group) wife’s family.  They graciously extended us “Canadian welcome” with signs, home made muffins, and a tour of the grounds and history of their family’s six generations on the land.

When we got to Stratford we thought we were back in England (except of course it was sunny, 29 degrees centigrade, and muggy). Each summer the city hosts a Shakespearean festival and we arrived smack dab in the middle of it.  English style gardens are everywhere and beautiful.  Several members of the group attended the “Tempest” starring Christopher Plummer, and other performances.  The rest of us enjoyed a leisurely evening in the city.

We stayed at an old restored hotel in the city centre.  It had a wonderful outdoor patio where we enjoyed dinner.

Adieu Lake Huron. Thanks for today's tailwind!

Our welcome at a Canadian homestead

Roger rides to the hotel - for once, I arrived before he did.

Enjoying a glass of wine on the patio

Happy Boy with his sweetbreads appetizer!

Beata and Roger at the Blue Water Bridge into Ontario

July 15 Lexington, MI to Great Bend Ontario (66 miles) Day #41

Today’s border crossing took us not to a new state, but to a new country.  After descending 22 miles along the Michigan shore, we crossed the imposing Blue Water Bridge from Port Huron, MI to Sarnia, ON.  This was no easy task!  Coordinating 24 people with bicycles and two vans of luggage plus clearing customs might have been a daunting exercise, but we did it without a glitch.  One group of our riders even convinced the bridge staff to stop traffic briefly and lead cyclists across in a pickup truck.The bridge is an international commercial artery, and the crossing brought us close to heavy industrial traffic. But soon after crossing the bridge we found ourselves back along the quiet shoreline of Lake Huron, now heading north.

The day was humid right from the start. Temps climbed into the high eighties as we rode into the afternoon, and Ontario skies darkened.  As Midwesterners we know this weather brings thunderstorms. Sure enough, during dinner in Great Bend the skies became very dark, the thunder clapped and the skies opened.  It just poured rain.

Loading Up Bikes for the Border Crossing

Canadian sunflowers

Too many miles for these gloves

July 14 Bay City to Lexington (95 miles) Day #40

Six weeks ago we would have thought this kind of mileage seemed impossible but today it was just another day.  We traveled across the “thumb” of Michigan.   Traveling due east, we went from Saginaw Bay to the western shore of Lake Huron.  Terrain was flat as a pancake with beautiful crops.  When we were about 10 miles from the Lake the temp dropped, the wind picked up and the humidity became bearable.

Sylvie, one of our fellow bikers is from France.  Since it was Bastille Day we had to sing a chorus or two of La Marseillaise at dinner.  This was unusually entertaining since most of us did not know the words.

Roger in a corn field

Singing La Marseillaise

Metro Deaf School-Minnesota North Star Academy launched their new website last month:  www.mds-mnsa.org

Be sure to check out the various tabs located on the website as they contain much information regarding what is going on at the school.  The school is beginning to prepare for the 2010-2011 opening with staff returning Aug. 24^th.  Current enrollment for fall, PK-12+, is 110 students –from 38 school districts and western Wisconsin.

We have been enjoying a surge in enrollment this spring, especially in our preschool!

July 13, Oscoda to Bay City,MI (88 miles or 100+ if you dropped your sleeve)

Early in the ride, in East Tawas, we were greeted with a roadside sign dedicated to us and our fellow riders.  Roger’s cousin Joe and his wife Julie were along the road to greet us.  That was a treat.

Today’ terrain was flat and was a blend of lake views with travels through beautiful fields of crops.  We know we’ve been at this a long time.  When we started in Washington in early June the corn was just coming up. Two weeks ago we noticed it was taller than “knee high” for the 4th of July.  Today in eastern Michigan the corn had tassels!  Looking forward to fresh sweet corn soon.

Tomorrow we head across the “thumb” of Michigan.

Cornfields of eastern Michigan (by Dirck)

Road sign in East Tawas