Today had to be fun to motivate me. The first thing that helped was that my friend Kirsten decided to ride for the day, doing her first >100km ride. Kirsten had been one of the girls who brought me to the airport to fly to Seattle so it is appropriate that 8 weeks later, she was sending me on my way again.
Also Brian was on sweep that day and we decided to play a little cat and mouse game. Cougar and mouse?!?!? Anyhow, he had seen my blog profile picture and said that it didn't look anything like me but that he liked the red gloves-would I wear them on the tour sometime? So this was the deal-I had grabbed the gloves from home. If he could get the sweep team to catch me, I would wear the gloves for the rest of the ride. Rest stops not counting.
Now you will notice that there are a few more accessories on my bike, like a pinwheel on the handle bars and an idiot flag on the back. Margaret had been in charge of taking my bike to the shop and getting it re-conditioned for the road and these were some options that her and the boys decided were necessary for finishing the tour. I think that Josh has been giving her some ideas.
So after much dawdling, Kirsten and I were off. Just as we got out of town the Huygen's were out in their PJ's to wish us safety for the rest of our journey.
Just a few kms later, we met Yvonne and Wilma, who had come in from St. Thomas(about 25kms south of London) to cheer us on. They flagged me down as they are blog fans and listen to BX93.
You have to love their location!
Ingersoll church had a great breakfast spread out early for us and a warm welcome. I also stopped in town to say hi to my tattoo guy, Glenn and to confirm the appointment for my other SeaToSea tattoo- the left ankle with Atlantic.
On the road again, I realised that my bike didn't feel right. Sure enough my back tire was running low..how could that happened? I just had it in the shop 12 hours ago and have new tires. Tony and Cory came along to help. Sure enough there was a leak that looked like a pinch from when the new tires where installed. A patch job was all it took and I was on the road again.
Corrine, one of the cyclist's from Alliston, had family who set up refreshments that included butter cake and cold coke. Thanks!
We headed into Woodstock and just outside of town the local church had set up for lunch. Sandwiches, cookies, drinks and melon were aplenty and they offered to let me take a few for the road. So much for keeping my weight light!
I decided to leave them as a reminder for Brian and Josh that helmets protect your melons!
The weather was warm and humid with a head wind but the route had plenty of shade to keep us cool.
About 2/3 of the way into our ride, Kirsten missed clipping in as we were crossing a highway and fell in the middle of the road. God's blessing that traffic was able to stop but she had a few scrapes and a bumped elbow. We cleaned her up and continued the ride. As we got near to camp, we noticed that the bruising and swelling had increased and we needed to get to camp quickly. Bypassing the route for the highway we got into camp at Redeemer University College and got an ice pack. We think that it might be a hairline fracture and I am waiting to hear what her results are now that she is at home...Kirsten...I know you read this...what's the scoop?
It was late when we got in and for the first time, food ran short for the last riders and the sweep team. There was a quick decision to do a Wendy's run to cover those who didn't get to eat. It was a gentle reminder, once again, about why we are riding. We cycle for those who don't have an option when there is no food for meals.
A wonderful welcome awaited me at Redeemer with several blog followers introducing themselves, Including Marianne Bailey, who offered to take me home and spoil me. Very tempting but I had a lot of organizing and blogging to catch up on so she took some other cyclist. I told her that they deserved some spoiling too!
By the way...the sweep team never caught us, even with the delays of flats and falls so the red gloves are shelved. Brian....so sorry but I win babe. Reuben, you leave your sweep team for a day and it is the first time they don't catch me!
(photos to be added later)
3 comments:
Well you made my day Gayle. I was hoping to meet you and I did. Even though I didn't get to billet you I did have two wonderful ladies (Julie Zwart and Kincso B) here overnight and they got to watch some Olympics with their feet up, do laundry and have a wonderful sleep. Anyway, Godspeed for the rest of the trip and Canada will be awaiting your return.
Don't worry, Gayle. There is no fracture. I went to UH Emerg to check it out when Hannah and I returned to London, just for you ;). I did go home and shower first, though, as Hannah commented that I smelled in the car :). I did remind her that I had just cycled 125 km in the heat!
Hannah was a great support and joined me at the hospital as I was falling asleep on the ride back to London and we were concerned that I would be going to the hospital via ambulance if I tried to drive :). We were at emerg for 1 1/2 hours, which wasn't too bad because the triage nurse estimated 3 hours. At first the resident checked my reflexes and strength and thought it was fine and was ready to send me home, but the doctor decided to send me for an x-ray just in case because of the swelling. They gladly told me there was no fracture, so please don't worry about my arm, as it still works but just looks awful :). So, by the time we got home at 2:30 we were both exhausted!
Thanks so much for showing me the ropes and taking me along on the ride to Hamilton. I had a great day, in spite of the flat tire and injury. It gave me a taste of what you have been going through all summer! I'm sure when I see you next, I will still have the bruises, as the one on my leg continues to grow and look worse as well... Don't worry, I bruise easily and I don't mind the war wounds from my first 125km. God's blessings!
Gayle -- for the record -- Tim-the-bike-shop-guy targeted those gizmos for your bike -- and he didn't need any encouragement! While I admired his taste in shiny and colourful objects, I was, and remain, just the bike chauffeur.
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