You'll have to really love bicycle touring for this one because you'll be on a bicycle all weekend. If we get started on time, if we have a tailwind, you'll get some down time at Sauble Beach Friday for a swim and some Frisbee before scouting out a 7' by 4' piece of crown land to rest your weary, sunburnt, head.
This is a 365 km, twenty year tradition. The above bikes all made it in decades past, don't even contemplate compromise.
As much as wilderness is relaxing on a lazy summer weekend, nothing guarantees a body-buzz like a heads down pedal that weight, race the sun going down. The sheer aerobics. At some point muscles meld with machine in a unison of purpose. A flock of yellow finches bobs along in parallel along the evening country road. You are finally one with the universe, body on fire with soul, OMH!
Itinerary:
Friday, May 31: Straight forward, leave Kitchener-Waterloo 6:30 AM. Pedal to Sauble Beach in time to shower in the surf and hit a patio.
Then head up the road. With full bug jacket on, under the cover of twilight, to the accompaniment of mosquitoes, hightail it into the woods. Stumble around the now dark forest, beverage can in hand, head lamp on low, looking for a soft chunk of biomas. Set up tent.
Listen to a Wippoorwill until sliding into slumber.
Wake up to a Woodpecker alarm clock, nock nock, nock nock. If you are smart, you selected surrounding dead wood. If you are lucky, you didn't need your tent cover for the night. A full grown Pileated Woodpecker now circles the trees around you unawares. You try not to breath lest you alarm it. If you are knowledgeable, you appreciate how fortunate life can be.
(Hey, sardine-can provincial parks with their gagging campfires and random rowdies scare away all wildlife but domesticated raccoons, not to mention, provide little rest to those facing headwinds in the morning).
Saturday, hang out at the beach, leisurely cruise the Bruce Peninsula.
Sunday, hit the beach for a wakeup. Wolf down a working man's breakfast at Mom and Pop's diner. Swallow an Ibuprofen with your third coffee. Start pedaling slowly until the kinks work out. Elbows into aero bars, we're on the road again.
Cost:
Zero, Null, Nada
Difficulty:
A 70 lbs bike x 180 km / day = you must enjoy punishment
Fun:
(180 km divided by 21 km per hour) (multiplied by 60 minutes in an hour) (times 80% of max heart as expressed in beats per minute) = 'The Beat Goes On!' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwB8ph7VAXw
Footnote:
You thought pedaling a loaded bike was hard? Try finding lunch as a Pileated Woodpecker http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJEm-UH_QKs&list=PLB3DFA426893CCA38
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