Day #277 Memories

Thinking back yesterday, I realized that I have had this dream of cycling across Canada since I was 32.
At 32 years of age, my husband and I separated when our daughters were 11, 12, and 13. That was when I first got the idea to cycle across Canada on the TransCanada Highway with the three girls cycling with me. I had thought we would try it within 5 years.
Well, that didn't happen as other things in our lives became more important.
Soon, I will have the freedom to do so, albeit alone, and on a wonderful trail called the TransCanadaTrail.
I have become very comfortable with doing things alone, and am sure to enjoy the trip.
I am so fortunate and so thankful to at least have the chance.

Day #278 I Think I Can!

"You're not still planning to cycle across Canada on your own, are you?"
I have heard that over and over for the last two years.
Let me say this about that!!!
Nights are the worst - for thinking: 'I can't do this.'
'I don't want to do this.' 'I could do such-n-such instead.' 'This is crazy.' 'There are too many dangers.' 'What if ...?'
By morning, however, I am once again planning for the various challenges.
People who face extreme ventures use the word 'challenges' instead of dangers or risk of life and limb - the same way doctors use the word 'discomfort' instead of pain.
Well, last night is gone, and now it's morning -
and once again I'm feeling optomistic about the challenges.
Yes! I think I can! I think I will!

Day #279 On Being Looked After

I have so much to be grateful for, and more, and, indeed, I am.
Today marks only 279 more days until I'm 65.
My daughter, Josie, set up this blog for me, for which I am so grateful. I love writing about something that interests me each and every day.
My daughter, Mary Esta, set up small home-made magnetic numbers to keep on the refrigerator to count down with, along with a magnetic banner that reads: COUNTDOWN TO KIS-TIME. Numbers on blue, pink, orange and green paper glued onto pieces of soft magnet and painfully cut into tiny squares.
Twice a week I get to share the day with my 3 year-old grandson, Trent.
My roommate, Lucas, makes me wonderful meals almost every day, and buys me small chocolate milks to take to work.
Yesterday, in the mail, I received the forms from CPP and OAS pensions to fill in, so I can do the TransCanTrail while receiving monthly cheques.
I feel so well looked after, and loved.
Many heartfelt thanks to all, including to my spirit guides and my maker.

Day #280 Wheels of Another Sort

Photo of Trent and Lion taken by his mother.
Whatever method you decide to use to get to the beach, traveling under direct woman-power is definitely the best.
Taking a friend along, too, makes the day even better and more fun.
I just hope that when I do cycle the TransCanadaTrail, that this kind of lion is the only kind of lion, mountain or otherwise, that I meet.

Day #281 Fire

One of the dangers that I dread the most, I think, is coming upon a wildfire on the trail.
Whether it's a grass fire on the prairies, or a forest fire in the mountains, both would be very hard to escape from, especially if it's windy, too, as I'm a slow peddler. In the mountains, one might get pretty close before the signs are noticed.
This fire is a marsh fire in early spring at Demorestville, ON.
Tonight we are having thunder and lightning, and that is what has made me think of it happening while doing the trail.
We'll hope it doesn't happen. Usually the things you worry most about don't.

Day #282 Music

Spring Peepers are about as big as an adult's thumb nail.
On Sunday night at the cabin, I could hear at least 3 different calls from mating frogs and/or toads. I could hear The Spring Peepers' Chorus, all together but not in sych, as well as green frogs, and tree frogs.
However, not one amphibian did I actually see - yet.
A reptile, yes. A little garter snake was warming itself in the sunshine next day beside the woodpile.
My little nesting rodent in the Bluebird box had better watch out.
Went cycling yesterday, but nothing of interest did I see then except two nice dogs walking their owners near the golf course.

Day #283 Rodents

Sunday, when I was down at my cabin, I took a walk to look for signs of spring.
In a harsh environment like the limestone and cedars that this 9 x 12 cabin is in, not much change from a month ago.
The cedars are still in their russet khaki greens and not much new plant growth, yet.
However, when I stopped at the bluebird house I had nailed onto the trunk of a dead medium-sized cedar, and noticed that it was packed solid with straw - to above the hole entry, I pulled out the nail that holds the bottom up and pulled it open.
The straw was packed right to the bottom of the birdhouse so I started to pull the straw and stuff out.
As I was doing so, a pretty little rodent-faced critter peeked its head out of the hole in front and paused for a few seconds to stare at me as though to say 'What the heck do you think you're doing?' It was tawny-coloured with some white and grey, presumably a mouse albeit a big one.
Then, in a flick, it turned and disappeared back into the Bluebird house, down a tunnel in the thick straw.
Since the birdhouse is close to the cabin, I thought better to have it live here than under my cabin, so I closed up the bottom again and left.
Perhaps in 3 weeks I will attempt to clean it out again, and maybe even move it to the fence line, or up higher into a different tree.
I didn't realize that mice would occupy birdhouses - even that they climb trees.

Day #284 Pumped

The bike manager, Mike, at Belleville's Cdn. Tire, handed me a Raleigh mini pump with gauge when I asked him what would be the best pump and the lightest to take with me on a long cycling adventure.
It has 120 PSI capacity,
a reversible Presta & Schrader adaptor,
precise in-line gauge,
t-handle for inflating,
and a thumb-lock lever.
It's very light, too.
Next step is to learn to take a bicycle tire apart, and/or change it.
Slowly on, I'm getting more cycle savvy.
Only 284 more days to day zero. Time flies like flies. Zoom Zoom How to slow it down? Guess that's not possible when you're in your 60's.

Day #285 Flats

Here I am planning at cycling trip from Victoria to St. John's, Nfld., and I am stopped today by a flat tire.
I am going to CTC to check out the best, the lightest, etc.
A neighbour moved out and left an old child's bike. I am going to take it apart and put it back together, off and on, until I know how to do minor bicycle repairs.
Karen

Day #286 Multi-bikes

Milford, Ontario
early 1990's
Who says cycling can't be fun!
These attached bikes ride as one.
Wouldn't it be fun to do the TransCanadaTrail with 5 other people on a bike like this one!
Karen

Day #287 Blood Root

Photo by Lucas Velthuis,
April 2006
One of the first spring flowers you might see in Ontario is the Blood Root.
When you're cycling past a forest of hardwoods, or sometimes in the ditches under the outstretched leafless branches of hardwoods, you might spot the yellow-centered white flowers of this early harbinger of spring.
It's easily recognizable by the way the leaves wrap around the stems, closing the flower up in their wrap-around way at night, and/or on cloudy days, protecting the fragile petals from the cold.
They are short-lived, maybe a week or two. The leaves and stems disappear shortly after the flowers, leaving the summer ground cover as though they had never been.
We'll go looking for them tomorrow, to take this year's shots.
They grow in many of the conservation areas, and provincial parks.
May you have a very enjoyable outing, where-ever you go.
Karen

Day #288 Sunny

Good for cycling, at last.
Hope you enjoy it, too.
Karen

Day #289 Trip to Boulder, Colorado

Boulder, CO

Eldorado from above

Mining Road above Boulder and Eldorado

Trails above Eldorado

For those of you who may wish to go south next winter, may I suggest you make a point of stopping off in Boulder, Colorado. There are miles and miles of wonderful trails there for both walking and/or cycling.
You can hike/cycle along the base for miles, or disappear up and into the mountains, for miles.
As you drive west from Kansas across the rolling plains, you cross the border into Colorado and see, at least 30 miles away, a massive intimidating wall of rock in front of you which is the Rockies. So abrupt! So high! This goes south and north as far as the eye can see. It's like a great barrier and you wonder how on earth the pioneers could have crossed it.
Right at the base of this wall without being in it is the city of Denver, or 30 miles north, Boulder. Boulder is a university town with an aboriginal 'curse' that says whoever sees Boulder will forever have the desire to return there. True!
I stayed in the community of Eldorado, a state park, just inside the mountains next door to Boulder, and accessed the trails from there.
As you can see, up on the eastern edge of the mountains you can look out and see Boulder, CO, and the plains of Kansas beyond.
Turn around, and you see an old mining road that is up there, and hear a train that passes occasionally an even 500 ft. higher up the mtn. and then disappears into a mtn. tunnel.
Luckily, I had two mid-sized dogs with me, because a long way in I came upon a warning sign for what to do if you met a cougar - stretch your arms out to make yourself as big and wide as possible, yell, stand your ground. What they didn't mention is that cougars have a 90% kill rate, and usually get you silently from behind...one of my great worries for doing the TransCanadaTrail alone next year.
The last picture is higher up where there are still lots of trails rolling along. This area is of more gentle mountains, but still, most of the people are hiking here; not cycling, although not unusual to see some running, not crawling, up and down the steep inclines.
Gentle is the PEI Confederation Trail; Boulder trails are not gentle except down on the plain. Still, you'll love the wild flowers high up, and the cactii further down - just do not dig them up or you could be in trouble.
It's certainly worth the memorable experience and I count myself among the lucky to have done it, albeit slower than most.
Karen

Day #290 Early Start

Looking back upon this picture, it's hard to believe that I dressed my girls in dresses, 1968, to go out to play and/or to ride their bike.
Even harder to believe that this beautifully feminine child would grow up to be a bicycle courier in Vancouver for a few years, a participant in the BLT races down mountainsides, and would ride distances of 100 MILES or more per DAY when she wanted to go from Colorado to San Franscico, or San Franscico back to Vancouver, across desserts and through canyons, up and down mountain roads, and over many a highway.
My muscles ache just thinking of it, and what's ahead for me.
Even though my muscles get lazy/weaker every winter, I find that they get stronger daily with cycling in the spring.
Never very strong, though. In the race of the turtle and the hare, I was the turtle, but that should mean I will make it just the same.
So don't be afraid to get on a bike even if you're an older person like me.
Like wine and cheese, you get better with each passing day. And it's a ton of fun.
Karen

Day #291 Mother and Daughter

Fox Farm
Prince Edward Cty

As you cycle by any picturesque area, stop and smell the flowers - well, in this case, it isn't flowers, but donkeys, in early spring 1993.
Donkeys are my favourite farm animal.
Again, too miserable outside to cycle, (strong winds and driving sleet) so will work on my books instead, or read them.
If it's miserable outside, it can still be pleasant inside.
Karen

Day #292 Temperatures Rising

(It's April 15th by my watch)

Temps are finally moderating, and when winds do, too, it makes a truly wonderful day.
Still looks dreary out there, though, doesn't it.
Time to get down to serious cycling again, and visiting bike shops.
Still the grey skies, although many early mornings are sunny.
On the shores of Lake Ontario where I live, we get the 'lake effect', and that means that, when night comes, the water is warmer than the air and evaporates so that, by late morning, clouds have developed and it may be days/weeks/ before we get a full sunny day.
I work evenings, and am fortunate enough to see many moons because the skies so often clear up in late evening, but I don't see enough sun, I'm afraid.
However, perhaps I'm fortunate that skies are so often cloudy during the daytime because it lessens the risk of skin cancer.
All in all, I am so fortunate in so many ways that when I die it will take me many eons to finish expressing my gratitude.
Wishing you eons of good fortune, too.
Karen

Day #293 Friendship

Mr. T and Lion
(actually, it's April 14th now)
Yesterday, I just wanted to do a day of 'relaxin', and how glad I am that I did.
I was sitting at my computer with my 3 year old grandson, and in walked a very dear friend, Val, that I hadn't seen in years, together with her son, Trevor, now so tall and handsome that I thought when I first saw him standing behind her that she may have taken a young lover.
Neither distance nor time can change the love in the heart. An old friendship starts again from where it last left off.
The heart is like a magical balloon: no matter how full it is with love of family and friends there is always room for expansion and more.
One of the grandest things about traveling is the old and new friends you inevitably meet.
While travel may often be very tiring, especially hiking and cycling, you are rejuvenated by knowing that around the next bend in the trail may be waiting another special friend, old or new, to enhance your life yet again.
I can hardly wait to start cycling the TransCanadaTrail next year.
Karen

Day #294 Relaxin'

Sunrise
on Smith Bay, ON
Friday the 13th - oh dear!
A day off to just take it easy.
Too cold and rainy to enjoy a bike ride, anyway.
Karen

Day #295 Music n Bears

Lions n Tigers n Bears, oh my!
(not my photo)
Sure do look cute, don't they.
Bear attacks are a rarity but, still, be on the look-out, especially if you're cycling or hiking across-Canada.
The North American average for bear attacks is only 2 per year - Canada and the USA combined.
One couple was attacked walking past a bear that was feeding on a carcass, and protective of it, as well. The bear was in deep undergrowth so they didn't see it before the rush of attack.
Another young man was attacked last year while cycling in the rockies with earphones on. It's best to leave your music at home when in the wilderness. You'll experience so much more when you do.
Even here in Prince Edward County, I found bear tracks last spring in 2 different places on the Millenium Trail where its heavy body had sunk deep into the damp loamy area of a swamp. Days later, miles away, someone got a picture of it. It was huge.
Don't let the fear of the wild deter you, though. Animals generally respect humans, even if humans don't always respect their own species.
My daughter, Veronica, says attacks happen most often in national and provincial parks where people have fed them or left out food by accident.
Bear bangers, and bear spray (mace) can be purchased.
Tassles on your handle bars and a flag on a flexible pole on the back of your bike will help. They confuse bears/cougars.
Also, let there be NO smell of food coming from you or your backpack. You can buy dried veggie and fruit mixes, and small burners to boil your water to make a soup.
Cycle safely and enjoy the ride.
Karen

Day #296 FixIt

Having a few bicycle tools in your backpack could very well save you a lot of grief.
If you plan to do long distance, it might even be worth your while to first go to a cycling shop and ask them to show you how to change a tire, or fix the chain, and a few other elementary fixit jobs.
Purchase a small kit to carry with you on all long trips.
May all your trips be without breakdowns and/or brakedowns.
Karen

Day #297 Addictive

PEI
Trail
2003
275 km

This is the Confederation Trail, PEI.
You can see why cycling is addictive.
The wind in your hair, on your face and in the treetops is addictive.
Pushing yourself and the pedals until you feel you can go no further, and then the feeling of pain lessening as your second wind hits is addictive.
The rushing colours, and the rushing trail beneath your wheels is addictive.
The aloneness with nature, your bike and your self.
The feel of spandex, handle bar grips, and even the dirt and stones you bump over.
Muscles pushing, pulling, tightening, aching!
Lunches in the long grasses at the side of a trail.
Birdsong, bushes, browns, greens, wind, water, wildflowers, wildlife, warmth from the sun, trees high above you, your beating heart, hope, peace, love - it's all there for you to experience and enjoy as you cycle, alone or with a friend.
Happiest Trails to You!
Karen

Day #298 After the Storm

Smith Bay
near Milford, ON
after a powerful electrical storm.

Always carry a rain jacket in your backpack, preferably with a hood.

If it's an electrical storm, look for shelter in some building.
If there isn't one, you can always crouch in the long grasses alongside the trail, and pray.
I've found that the more intense the storm, the shorter the duration, if that's any consulation. Many intense summer storms last about 20 minutes.
Things look so dark and bleak when the rain is pouring down.
However, as you see, after a storm the world looks bright and wonderful again.
May your world always be bright and wonderful.
Karen

Day #299 Wind Song

Did you ever sit on the edge of a mountain with a friend, or two of your children?
Did you ever sit or walk or ride your bicycle in a forest?
If you have ever stopped to watch a waterfall - listened to the roar and felt the power - then you know why I want to be on the trails, and, in particular, to cycle the TransCanadaTrail in 2008.
When you're alone in a natural setting, your thoughts drift as to the whys and the wherefors and the whatifs, and the meanings thereof.
As you embrace a boulder, wrap your arms around a tree you have stopped to rest beside/under, you feel close to God.
As you hear the wind's song in the treetops, you feel in love with life.
I rarely cycle over a bridge without stopping to watch the flow, no matter how small the stream/river.
As the water flows, so do my thoughts, and so does my life. Sometimes gently, sometimes wildly. Deep or shallow. Fast or slow.
Whether you cycle short distances or long, you feel rejuventated at the end of the ride, both physically and spiritually.
NatureIs4Us. Try it. You'll want more.
Karen

Day #300 Reflecting!

Imagine! 65 Days Counted Down Already!!!
1988 Vancouver, BC after a late movie.
The cycling reflector that Veronica is wearing here lights up brilliantly in the flash of the camera, like her smile, and is extremely effective for cycling late at night on city streets.
I haven't seen ones like these for sale around here, so purchased a very light-weight white vest from the cycle shop that reflects.
Since there may come a time, unexpectedly, when I'm still out cycling after dark, I had better try it out at night very soon.
I don't generally cycle when its dark.
This photo is a good reminder to do that asap.
May good luck reflect all your rides.
Karen

Day #301 Specialty Bikes

1985
Vancouver Island
crossing from Bamfield
by Veronica and friend.

This bicycle was build in San Francisco especially to fit Veronica's physique and cycling needs at a price that was then about half the cost of a new car and at a time when long distance cycling was a rarity.
Not only did she do long distance cycling, but she also entered the BLT races in Vanc. - the 'over boulders, logs, and trees' race down mountains (on trails or not on trails). Both men and women raced in the same race and one year, although she finished 7th overall, she was the first woman to finish the race.
Today you can spend $16,000 on a bicycle that you can lift with just a finger or two. These touring bicycles are built as strong as they are built light.
The big problem with investing a lot of money, for me, particularly, is the worry of theft, and attack on the trail. I have already had one Raleigh bike stolen from my house, albeit an old one, but with lots up up-grades on it.
I prefer to take my chances with an old bike, but am also drawn to the lightness of the new and expensive touring bicycles because there are places where you have to lift your bicycle over obstacles.
Another quandry re: cycling the TransCanadaTrail. High-end bike, or cheap.
If you can't lift your bike, at least lift your dreams - high.
Karen

Day #302 Spring Run-off

Salmon River,
Lonsdale, ON,
Springtime.

Why cyling is The Best!!!
Your bicycle, your camera, a granola bar, a drink, and you.
And me.
Karen

Day #303 Gators

This from Mary Esta Marcille who is a long-distance runner:
"Glad to hear Gatorade is okay as I drink it a bit - not a fan of the taste but the doctor said it was good for babies/toddlers, too, when they are sick and need extra fluids so figured it's good for exercisers."
I prefer water, but there are times when water is just not enough. I will sometimes opt for a near-beer on a hot day, but gatorade is made especially for athletes, like Mary Esta, who may have exhausted themselves physically.
Doesn't hurt to put one of these in your backpack before you set out for a long cycling adventure.
Long or short, I hope you have a good ride.
Karen

Day #304 The Watcher

Farmer Miller's
Cat in Loft
watching cyclists as they ride down the rock cut and stop to snap pictures of his horse, his geese, his sheep, and antique farm machinery.
Serendipity and cycling.
Karen

Day #305 E-Bikes, All in Good Time

Today I dropped into Belleville's CdnTire to check out the Schwinn electric bikes that had just gone on sale. Mike helped me out and gave me wonderful advice regarding cycling the TransCanadaTrail.
I see the Schwinn I-Zip Comfort E-bike as being a major help in CO2 reductions once they catch on with the public. Check them out for yourself.
You can pedal or let them do all the work. The battery pack is good for 30 km, and you can recharge at home, the office, or in your vehicle (with a converter) if you take them camping. They go up to 28 km/hr, the legal limit for E-bikes being 32. And they are affordable; much more economical than a car; for use in moderate to warm weather. Could save you a lot of money over time, and help the environment immensely at the same time.
Perhaps the government will finally wake up and give incentives.
However, E-bikes do not fill my needs. They are heavy, cumbersome and require more energy input from me that they would give me back, for long distance. At least, these ones are.
I'm in the market for a good touring bicycle still.
If I were working in the same town that I lived in, I would definitely get an E-bike.
These E-bikes will comfortably take you all about town, and cheaply.
They seem to be a wonderful idea/item for townies, and even seniors. Although, so is having a golf cart, which also should be widely available and affordable, but aren't.
All in good time!
Karen

Day #306 Rarest Sighting

Rare indeed:
Great Horned Owl
on the ground
in the daytime.

When one is cycling on the trails, especially with a quiet bike, you get to see many of mother nature's critters; birds, animals, reptiles and flowering plants. A fox chasing mice in a field, a toad chasing down bugs, rabbits, deer, mink, red-wings, golden-winged flickers and ever so much more.
The windier is it, the more unlikely it is that they'll hear you coming.
However, whether you're hiking, cyling, driving or flying, the rarest thing you'll see nowadays is children outside playing. You can drive or cycle for miles and miles on the nicest summer days and perhaps never see even one, unless you are at beach where cycling isn't an option. Not even over a backyard fence. At least, not without an adult present. Fear of predators, esp. human, and fear of the rays of the sun. 'When we were children' we were told to 'go out and play and be sure to be back at suppertime'. Children were in every yard, not necessarily their own, and trikin'/bikin' down every sidewalk and sideroad.
To me, this is the saddest thing that has happened in modern times.
Once in a while, if you live in tourist country as I do, you'll see cyclists pulling children behind them in little covered trailers, or someone cycling with a 'child tandem' on the back and the child pedaling, too.
I want that to be me, on my babysitting days. My grandson is only three so I will wait until he has gained expertise on the trike first.
Then we'll be off and cycling, together.
Hope you are, too.
Karen.

Day #307 Review

Although I started the countdown on February 2/07, I actually began this blog a few days earlier, in January. The first ones were about cycling inexpensively and simply, although my favourite bike part is the odometer. The 2nd, high handle bars.
Many topics have been discussed, and many pictures have been included, especially of Prince Edward County, Ontario, and the Confederation Trail in PEI which I cycled in 2003, both ways. Many of those articles are also at the beginning.
Throughout the blog, I also mention several of the varied dangers of long distance cycling trips.
There are comments from readers, too, and yours are as welcome.
Day #364, the 2nd day, has an article following it on toads. Lots of toad info', esp. of the American Toad, as the common toad in Canada is named.
Day #363 - Ice Caves of Lake Ontario.
Day #362 - hog-nosed snake on trail.
Day #355 - book TransCanadaTrail The 18,000 km Dream.
Days #351/2 and #344 - Kinsol Trail, and Haslan Creek Bridge, Vanc. Is., BC.
Days #350/349 - comment from Ken Trenholm, Atlantic Peddlar magazine, PEI, and his offer of support as well as photos of the red roads of PEI.
Day #348 - poetic comment from reader about naming my bicycle.
Day #345/339 - Cabin Fever and 'on being sick while cycling'.
Days #331/2,5,6 - Cycling White Rim Trim Trail, Utah.
Days #332,3,4,5,6 - committing our governments to promoting cycling over driving cars...or committing our governments - heehee
Days 318,9 - motorized cycles. Let the electric reign.
Whatever your mode of transport, enjoy.
Karen