Day 40 of the EPIC Ride - Ottawa, ON - St. Canut, QC

Day 40 of the EPIC Ride
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Ottawa, ON - St. Canut, QC
Distance: 155 km
Sunny


We left Ottawa, Dave and Luke riding, Evan in the van (he was sick in the morning, so took the day resting in the van), and crossed into our 6th province!

We now have about 2 weeks until we reach St. John's, and then a few days later, we'll be home again in Cambridge, ON!

There was a noticeable difference in the roads as soon as we crossed into Quebec. For pretty much all of Ontario, the shoulder was about 30 cm beside the white line. In Quebec, the shoulder is wider in most parts; about 1 meter or more. In the villages and cities there hasn't been a shoulder, but more than a few have had bike lanes, and clearly marked signs indicating them.

For the most part it has also been flat coming through Quebec.

Dave and Luke made the 155 km trip in 8.5 hours, including breaks; starting at 9 and arriving by 5:30.

When we were in Brandon, MB, we stayed with Camille and Audrey Brodeur. Camille's brother, Yollard, lives in St. Canut, QC and offered his home to us. We had a great evening with a delicious dinner made by Yollard's wife Guylene, hanging out with their kids, and watching a movie. Altogether a relaxing time and a very friendly and hospitable family!


-Ben

Days 36, 37, 38, & 39 of the EPIC Ride - North Bay - Pembroke; Pembroke - Ottawa, ON; rest days in Ottawa!

Day 36
Friday, August 2, 2013

North Bay - Pembroke, ON

Distance: 227 km
Average speed: 30 km/h

Grey and rainy

Day 37

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Pembroke - Ottawa, ON

Distance: 160 km

Sunny

Days 38 & 39
Sunday, August 4 & Monday, August 5, 2013
Rest days in Ottawa, ON
Sunny & warm

The ride from North Bay to Pembroke was long, cool and wet. Not much else to say except that it was long.
Dave and Luke made pretty good time; riding 227 km in 7 hours and 45 minutes. Evan rode the first part of the day.

Thanks to Pembroke Pentecostal Church, we were able to make a connection with Paul Henry, who hosted and cooked for us that night and the next morning. We all actually stayed at a house that is owned by a couple from Pembroke Pentecostal; they rent out the house to students during the school year, but let us stay there for the night.

On Saturday morning, Evan pulled something in his back when rolling over in bed, so needed to take a break from riding that day. We drove about 75 km and met Dave and Luke for a break. About 70 km later, we took another break, and my family joined us near Dunrobin, outside of the Ottawa area.

While in Ottawa, we stayed with Dave's friends, Dan & Mel Reid. We spent Saturday-Monday night there, and enjoyed two awesome days in the Ottawa area.

We did a variety of things, including spending time with my family (Loobys) and the Lewis' family.
Dave, Luke & Evan went to Calvary Baptist (Dave attended here when he lived in Ottawa) and shared about the EPIC Ride and Ratanak. In the evening, Luke went with Dan and Mel to their church and shared there as well.

Throughout the weekend, we all did our own things, and did stuff together, and had a fun & relaxing time with everyone!
Thanks to our families for taking us out for food, and Dan and Mel for the great home cooking!


-Ben

The adventure continues! We're in Quebec now, and plan to be in St. John's in about 2 weeks!

p.s. We're at $16,000 in donations for Ratanak, so we still need $9,000 to meet our $25,000 goal!
One of our friends from Forward, Haley Walker, will shave her head when we get back, if she can get $1,000 in donations for our fundraising goal (which will go to Ratanak). Check it out HERE, and help support Ratanak!

Days 34 & 35 of the EPIC Ride - Sudbury - North Bay, ON; Rest day in North Bay

Day 34

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Sudbury - North Bay, ON

Distance: 118 km

Day 35

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Rest day in North Bay, ON

On Thursday, Evan, Luke and I went to the local Christian radio station in Sudbury, KFM 95.5 to talk with Bryan Cooper for a couple minutes about our ride and about Ratanak. Evan did most of the talking and did a really good job.

After that, we went back to the Flietstra's and had breakfast, then Dave and Luke started riding to North Bay.

After a mid-ride break, about 60 km in, Evan got started riding, with the goal of riding the last 50 km or so. About 7 km in, as he was going through an intersection, the clips on his cycling shoes had worn down and suddenly unclipped from the pedal clips. I picked him up and he rode in the van the rest of the way to North Bay.

We got to North Bay by about 1:30, loaded up the bikes, and went to McDonalds for dinner. Then we went to the Nipissing Universtiy Residence, where we stayed in two dorm apartments with Evan's parents.

We were in North Bay for the evening and next day. We went to Canadian Tire before dinner to get a new tent for us to replace the really leaky one that Dave and Evan got soaked in, while camping at Pancake Bay. The Redkas treated us to dinner at Swiss Chalet, then we went back to the Residence and chilled and slept.

On Thursday, we got up before 8 and went to KFM Radio 103.5 - the North Bay station (sister station to the one in Sudbury) - and were interviewed there for a couple minutes, by Dean Belanger.

We spent the rest of the day eating lots, just lounging around, and Evan went to check out Canadore College (where he's planning to go for school in 2014). After eating Chinese takeout for dinner, we drove down the to Lake Nipissing waterfront and enjoyed the view...

Thanks to the Redkas for feeding us lots, giving us snacks and other food to take along in the van, and for arranging the rooms at Nipissing Residence. Thanks also for taking a bunch of stuff home for us-we got rid of a few bags and bin of stuff.

-Ben

p.s. We're in Ottawa now; new blog post coming tomorrow or Monday!

Day 33 of the EPIC Ride - Thessalon - Sudbury, ON

Day 33
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Thessalon - Sudbury, ON
Distance: 220 km
Average speed: 31 km/h
Sunny & little to no breeze


The ride from Thessalon to Sudbury was one of our best riding days so far. Evan rode the first 65 km, but took the rest of the day off, to prevent his knees from hurting again. He'll be doing that for a little while; getting back into riding gradually.

The weather was great all day-sunny, warm, but not too hot; and not a lot of wind. There also weren't a lot of hills, compared to what we've had in other parts of Northern Ontario.

So the Riders left at 9:30 am, from the cottage, and got to our billets' house in Sudbury around 6:30 pm. Dave and Luke covered 220 km in only 7 hours of riding, with an average of 31 km/h. For parts of the day, they kept up speeds around 35 km/h.

For the night, we stayed with Jack & Dedee Flietstra, who live on the east side of Sudbury. Jack's brother, John, goes to our church in Cambridge.

They were also hosting four students (Steven, Johnny, Angela & Alison) from Athletes In Action (AIA), a group that "is committed to using the language of sport to communicate the most powerful message of all: God’s passionate love for his children as communicated through his Son, Jesus Christ." We had a great evening of dinner at the Flietstra's, and then went with the AIA crew to a nearby beach for a quick dip, and some friendly conversation.
It was really fun hanging out with other people our age, and Dave and Luke found out that Steven knew people from Cambridge that they knew, so that was cool too!

All in all, a pretty EPIC day! ;)


-Ben

(p.s. no blog post until Friday. I'm writing this in North Bay right now, and we're taking a rest day tomorrow, so I'll update after that.)

Days 31 & 32 of the EPIC Ride - Pancake Bay Provincial Park - Thessalon, ON; Thessalon rest day

Day 31

Sunday, July 27, 2013

Pancake Bay Provincial Park - Thessalon, ON

Distance: 186 km

Grey in the morning, sunny and warm in the afternoon

Day 32

Monday, July 28, 2013

Rest day in Thessalon, ON

Before going to bed on Saturday night, Evan checked the forecast, and found out that there was supposed to be a little bit of rain that night. 

Evan and Dave slept in one tent and Luke and I slept in the other one. At 3:30, Evan woke up Dave, telling him that the whole tent was soaked. After trying to cover up the tent with a tarp and realizing everything on the floor was soaked, they just packed up all their stuff, and went and sat in the van for a bit. After not being able to fall asleep, Dave got his stuff together, and started riding at 5:50 am. Luke got ready and started riding at about 7. After packing up the second tent, Evan and I drove off to meet the guys in Sault Ste Marie, 70 km away.

The whole morning of riding was cool and grey, but after taking a rest and breakfast at a Tim Horton's in Sault, it cleared up and the sun came out for the day.

Being that this was the 11th straight day of riding for the guys, it was a hard day, especially since they did 186 km. But they made it to Thessalon by the evening. Thanks to Tim & Sue Hutton, friends from our church, we were able to stay at their cottage near Thessalon.

This was our view from their place...

We spent the evening and the next day enjoying movies, barbecued dinners, swimming, canoeing, and we got a bunch of laundry washed and stuff repacked! All in all, it was a really relaxing time, amazing scenery and weather, and lots of food!

Thanks also to Sue's cousin, Jim, and his wife Dorothy, who were at the cottage the same time we were-they made us breakfasts and showed us where everything was at the cottage.

Day 30 of the EPIC Ride - Wawa - Pancake Bay Provincial Park, ON

Day 30
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Wawa - Pancake Bay Provincial Park, ON
Distance: 158 km
Grey and rainy

Saturday...
With grey skies above them yet again, and on their 10th straight day of riding, Dave and Luke headed out from the church we stayed at in Wawa and made for Pancake Bay.

Thanks again to Pastor Brian from Calvary Pentecostal Church for letting us use their building!

Evan and I got all the stuff loaded up and got going to meet up with Dave and Luke for their first rest break.

While it was a cold, sometimes wet and always grey day, we rode/drove through some amazing scenery and had great views of Lake Superior...

We got to Pancake Bay Provincial Park in the early evening.
Dinner was sloppy joes and we had a fire with marshmallows later at night.
Then we went to bed hoping it wouldn't rain too much. More on that in the next post...

Days 28 & 29 of the EPIC Ride – Marathon – White River; White River – Wawa, ON

Day 28

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Marathon – White River, ON

Distance: 100 km

Grey, rainy, and cold

Day 29

Friday, July 26, 2013

White River – Wawa, ON

Distance: 97 km

Grey and rainy

Today we headed out from Marathon to go 190 km to Wawa, ON. Thanks again to our billets in Marathon; Lakeview Manor Bed & Breakfast, and George & Joy Bot. Thanks as well to Sarah & Chris Whaley for feeding us dinner and arranging our billets.

Evan and I left Marathon after doing a few errands and caught up with Dave and Luke. They were pretty cold and wet. After a rest break we went on ahead to White River. After a couple hours, Evan got a message from Dave that they had stopped at a restaurant to warm up, because they were so cold and wet. We met them about 20 km back from where we were for another break, and then about an hour or so later, they made it to White River. Since it was cold and rainy, and Dave and Luke were tired and sore from the previous day’s difficult 209 km, we decided to stay in the town at a motel for the night. We got A & W for dinner and shared a good-sized motel room at the Continental Motel, with plans to make it the other 90 km to Wawa the next day.

In the morning, we slept in a bit and avoided having to ride in the rain at the beginning of the morning.

After breakfast and packing up, we left town around 11 and Dave and Luke headed out. Since we’d cut yesterday short, and made today short as well, we encountered the Tour Du Canada cyclists a couple of times. They actually started about 30 km west of us and were going a ways east of Wawa.

We ended up getting to Wawa before 4 pm. When Evan and I got there at about 2, we stopped to see the Wawa Goose, and then visited Wilderness Helicopters to see their helicopters.

For the night, we stayed at Calvary Pentecostal Church in Wawa thanks to the pastor, Brian, who let us use their facilities. We had spaghetti and meat sauce, watched a movie, and slept in the sanctuary while it poured outside.