Trip 1: Entry 9 - Atikokan afternoon

Howdy,

Ended up biking just shy of 200kms yesterday, spending the night beside a cottage-country church. The mosquitos, and especially now black flies, are savage. I did enter shield country not far out of Fort Frances and the rocks, trees and lakes are a nice change of scenery, though lots of rolling hills are also part of the recipe. I didn't come across any campgrounds, so another salty, crusty night.

This morning I started before 6am into my 5th (riding) day in a row of headwinds. So far I think of around 10 days of riding I've had only two good tailwind days. I'm feeling quite exhausted, still sore (yesterday set my backside back) , the poison ivy has spread a lot, the bugs allow no peace and the road has been rough at times (which exasperates the butt). What I guess I'm saying is I can't claim to be having a lot of fun at the moment.

Today there were no services open along the 110kms it took to get here, so with a muggy day I was very dehydrated on arrival. Getting to a doc and then getting the prescription filled (for the poison ivy) has taken a bit of time and I managed to swing a free campsite with shower for the night, so I'm going to make this a half day.

I'm really torn about how to proceed. I need to use other transport at some point anyways, so I'm thinking I will do the 190kms to Thunder Bay tomorrow and then try to catch an overnight bus either tomorrow night or the next day. If I feel OK, I may go to Sudbury and then finish the last 3 big days from there, with a stop in Bancroft to visit a friend.

With so much against me right now, I feel like I may be grinding myself down more than is necessary. Or maybe I'm being a big wimp; it's so hard to tell, especially on your own. I do think I can regroup in Calgary with different shorts, a completely healed butt and a fresh outlook. Perhaps the winds and bugs will be less of an issue in a month?? I do think more nights at pay camp sites would be helpful, so I will need to research more to know what the options are.

I have new found respect for Erik, the guy who's record it is I want to beat. Also for myself, in terms of the trip in '95. I guess age has crept up on me. My legs generally seem good (just some cramping in the evenings) and I have managed over 1,900kms in 14 days, 5.5 of which were basically spent not riding. Even with headwinds I've managed at least 24kms/hr, which is respectable.

So, I'm not throwing in the towel yet by a stretch, but may need to look at more options for the Vancouver-St. John's trip.