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Hello!!

Just thought I would give a quick update of what has been going on the last week! I have been in Toronto since Monday, however we haven't had internet in our hotel room so it has been hard to write anything longer than a 140symbol text message. I am REALLY far behind on emails and I apologize if I still owe you one!!

I think the last adventure I wrote about was riding from Sault St. Marie to Blind River. The roads East of Sault St. Marie proved to be terrible once again. I spent that entire day biking 10km, driving 50km, biking 10km, and driving 100km. It is really unfortunate how poorly paved that the roads in Ontario are because the scenery is really beautiful. Instead of Blind River, we ended up in Parry Sound. I tried riding South from Parry Sound the next day and was once again presented with more dangerous shoulders to ride on.

In Parry Sound, I decided we needed to make another plan. It was getting a little frustrating that every day we wouldn't be able to do what our plan was because the cycling conditions turned out being so terrible. So instead of being upset, I decided to sign up for 2 triathlons in the end of August. The first is this Sunday, the Northern "Orillia" Sprint Triathlon (750m swim, 33km bike, 7km run... more of a sprint/olympic hybrid). The second is next Saturday, Aug 29, the Colbourg Olympic Triathlon.

On Monday, I bike/drove into Toronto! Not only were the shoulders terrible, but we drove through a HUGE rain storm. The rain here is crazy! The only way I can describe it is buckets being constantly poured from the sky. It rains so hard that the windshield wipers can't even keep up! Driving into Toronto was REALLY overwhelming!! I have never been on a 14 lane highway before!! I'm hoping that I will be able to avoid it as much as possible..

Now that we have been here a few days, I have checked out my school, my new condo, my roommate, and the area that I will be spending most of my time. I REALLY like everything so far and and starting to realize that I will be just fine :) I also found a wicked gym to train at. It is called Absolute Endurance. It offers treadmills, weight lifting equipment, an endless pool (so cool!!), chiropractors, physios, massage therapists, fitness testing, altitude training, coaching options, and most importantly..indoor spin sessions 4 times a week on Computrainers!!! My goal this winter is to do everything possible to become a stronger cyclist and I'm really hoping this will help.

This weekend's race should be interesting. I haven't ridden my Cervelo, gone on a proper run, or swam in a lap pool since... the Nelson Triathlon 3 weeks ago!!?? haha.. O well. I am just excited to meet some ON triathletes and see where I stand in the competition here.. even though I am not even close to being prepared!

I'll post some pics when I get the chance.. All the best to everyone racing in Kelowna this weekend!!! I am so sad I can't be there :( You have all trained soo soo hard, the Apple course is really simple, and I am sure everyone is going to do fabulous!! I'll be thinking about you all on Sunday!

Thanks for listening

Stage7/8/9 aslkdjfh... ok let's just forget about the Stages

Hello!

Yes I am still alive.. Heather 1 : Semi's 0 :)

Ok First, here are some pictures of the ride from Reynolds to Kenora

It was by FAR the hottest ride of the trip!!

Ontario! Not so terrible afterall!!

*Nerd Alert!!* Here's a fun fact for you: When the body performs exercise, it produces heat. In order for the body to lose heat, the air surrounding it must be cooler than the body. That way, a temperature gradient is formed, the body can lose heat to the air and the sweat will evaporate..cooling you down! Sweat evaporation is ESSENTIAL for thermoregulation!! HOWEVER if it is too humid, the sweat will not evaporate, and your body will not be able to cool off (unless you are going fast enough that the wind blows it off...and most of the time I am not). So unfortunately in Ontario, it is very humid and hot, plus hard to evaporate sweat...and therefore hard to thermoregulate ---> Heather Overheats!!!

Exhausted and HOT.. and let's just pretend you never saw my left leg...

~*~*~*~*~*

Alright so the day after Kenora, I tried biking to Dryden. Unfortunately, there was a torrential downpour. Although it was a relief to be riding in cooler weather.. it was slightly terrifying every time a semi passed and splashed me with a wave of rainwater from the pavement..

So I hopped in the car and drove passed Dryden. Then when the weather picked up, I wanted to try riding again. Unfortunately though, after about 2km the shoulder went VERY narrow and bumpy. I am actually really surprised by how poorly taken care of the shoulders of the roads in Ontario are. I'm especially surprised since it's the TransCanada highway and I assume many bikers, cyclists, eurosnobs, etc. use it!!

This is what it looked like:

Not fun..

So, after a very frustrating day, I racked my bike once again and we drove to Thunder Bay. The next morning we woke up and my Mum drove me out of the city to check out the Terry Fox statue. I really wish I had been older when he was alive so I could have followed his journey. I didn't realize he was so young when he started running across Canada! Phenomenal and a true hero to so many people, including myself!

After the visit with Terry, I started biking towards Nipigon, ON. Surprise surprise, the shoulder of the road decreased to a 6inch width once again. After getting nearly knocked over by a few semi's, I tried biking in the gravel. However, I was completely out of control on the loose rocks and decided it would be safest to rack the bike once again to find a better place to ride.

You would think that on the Courage Highway the shoulders would be perfect!! Maybe for runners...

Although I was initially frustrated that I couldn't ride my bike, it soon wore off when Mum and I realized what beautiful country we were driving through! Check out this Red Rock!! I think it's because it has an overabundance of iron in it. Even the pavement on the road was red!

A gorgeous view of Lake Superior!

Happy Parents... :)

Who knew Winnie the Pooh came from Ontario!!??

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?? I am!! I was definitely relieved to be INSIDE the car when we saw this little guy! He looked skinny, and HUNGRY!

We ended up driving to a place called Wawa... nothing much to say about Wawa... except for 1 of the 3 restaurants downtown makes a FINE taco salad :)

Today, we woke up in Wawa and I rode 113km to Montreal River. FINALLY a solid day of riding!! Most of the ride was through Lake Superior Provincial Park which was absolutely gorgeous!! It was full of lakes, campsites, hikes, hills, hills, HILLS, MOUNTAINS!!! Yes a LOT of climbing today! I read on someone else's blog that the ride from Wawa to Montreal River was their hardest ride since BC and I would definitely agree!! I put my granny gear (the smallest gear) to good use though and felt really good the entire day!

After Montreal River, I had been riding for just over 5 hours and was ready to put my feet up. So I racked the Kona, hopped in the Subaru and we drove down to Sault Ste Marie!

Phew, that was a long one. Congratulations if you made it this far :)

I think tomorrow the plan is to ride to Blind River. However, who knows what the weather or shoulder of the road will be like. I'm really glad I decided to call this bike ride the Tour de Heather instead of the the Tour de Canada. That way, I get to choose to ride wherever and whenever I want!! Safety first :)

OK I hope everyone is doing really great. As positive as I've tried to make this post sound, I must admit that I've been thinking about Victoria A LOT and missing it terribly. I've been thinking about my grandparents, brother, friends, teammates, and schoolmates everyday. The look of your smiles and the sound of your laughter are getting me through all of these mountain passes!! Sending so much love to you all right now!!

Thanks for listening and good night :)

Stage 6: Somewhere near Reynolds, MB to Kenora, ON (Yes, these places actually exist!!)

Yayy!! Back on my bike!!

So I have no regrets about my decision to drive the car from Lethbridge to Winnipeg. The scenery is nice, however very repetitive, straight, "flattish", and little to no lakes. I have no doubts there are many beautiful places go in Eastern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Western Manitoba.. just not along TransCanada Highway 1 :)

The highway East of Winnipeg was pretty sketchy. I drove in the car with my Mum until we got to a place called Reynolds, MB. I don't think I actually saw it, but there was a sign :) From there (after lathering myself in spf70 sunscreen and BUGSPRAY) I hopped on Mr Kona Kona and rode over about 10km of gravel. Yes, gravel... it sucked. I kept skidding all over the place and never let myself go too fast in fright that I may need to brake and fall over.

Finally, after what seemed like AGES, a proper paved, wide shoulder appeared :) I rode on this for about 60km until we came up to some construction... aka back to the gravel.. Except for this gravel was simply unbearable on my skinny tires.. I think it would have been more safe for me to just WALK my bike.. So instead, I just hopped in the car and drove for about 10km until the construction was over and the nice wide shoulder was back in sight!! I then rode the last 30km or so into Kenora!!

Overall, the ride was BEAUTIFUL!!! There were lots of switchbacks, turns, trees, LAKES, rivers... almost as nice as BC :) However, it was EXTREMELY hot!! and HUMID. I went through 4 water bottles and didn't go to the bathroom once because I was sweating soooo much!! There were also a lot of big bugs... luckily they didn't bother me too much thanks to the bug spray. However, when I took off my top, there were about 15 tiny black flies stuck to my chest.... too much information!!?? yuk...sorry haha.. I'll remember to put bug spray UNDER my clothes as well tomorrow.

OK time for bed!! I think we are going to try to make it to Dryden tomorrow!? Hopefully there are more lakes and trees to come :)

Thanks for listening!! Good night!!

Stage 5: Pincher Creek to Lethbridge

Hello!!

Of course the day after I promise my Grandma I will post a report everyday, I skip a day.. Sorry Grandma!

The ride from Pincher Creek to Lethbridge was probably the easiest so far! I think the hardest part was riding north from Pincher Creek, up about 3km to Highway 3 (because at this time the wind was perpendicular to my body). However, once I turned right (East) onto the highway, I had a tail wind most of the way which was a lot of fun! I spent a lot of the ride in the drops, wishing I was on my Cervelo time trial bike!

The ride was straight, hot, a few rolling hills, and once again really pretty. However, after about 2 hours of Prairie riding, I got pretty bored. There were no mountains, switchbacks, turns, lakes, rivers, trees, or other surprises to look forward to...just the same old hay fields.

The most exciting part of the day was when the CPRail decided to dual me to a race. I was about 20km out of Lethbridge, riding along, daydreaming... when out of the corner of my eye I saw a big red train engine chugging along at the exact same speed I was. I decided that for fun I would try to beat it to Lethbridge. Unfortunately I only lasted about 3km until the conductor gave me 3 big toots and left me in the dust.. Dang.

Once we came close to Lethbridge the highway got busier and the shoulder got MUCH more narrow. Slightly terrified for my life, I racked the Kona, hopped in the Subaruu and drove the rest of the way to our hotel!

Although this was my easiest ride of the trip, it was still over 100km, my legs still felt trashed, I still had a really bad cough, and I couldn't fall asleep until about 2:00am this morning. I had trouble falling asleep the night before as well.. I'm usually a really good "sleeper" and couldn't help but wonder if this could indicate "overtraining" (as my Exercise Prescription textbook from school would name it). I decided that it might be smart for me to take a day off from riding. Over 500km in 5 days is quite a bit for me. Especially since before this trip, my long rides weren't much longer than 60km!! I haven't gone a day this trip under 100km I don't think!!

Instead of taking the day to rest in Lethbridge, we decided to drive to Regina. Tomorrow we will drive to Winnipeg and then I will start biking again the day after. I think it will be more exciting and pretty to bike after Winnipeg, through Ontario.

Here are some pics from our drive today:

At first I was confused because I though that white stuff was snow.. turns out it was Salt!!

\

Pretty happy about driving instead of riding through these long straight stretches..

We stopped in Moosejaw to check out the AirForce Base. When my Dad was 20, this is where he was trained to fly F-18's!! Crud is drinking game that my Dad used to play on a Pool Table.. if you ask me, sounds like they did just much drinking as they did flying at this place!! haha

The planes that students learned to fly before they were allowed to fly the big Fighters!

After visiting the base, we went to the Temple Garden Spa in Moosejaw. It's a pool of hot Mineral Water... EXACTLY what my legs needed after 550km of riding!!

We just drove into Regina about an hour ago! Staying in another Ramada.. seems to be the theme of the trip! I'm looking forward to looking around a bit tomorrow before we head off to Winnipeg!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Thanks for listening :)

Stage 4: Fernie to Pincher Creek

OK before I start talking about my trip I have a few other things to say.

First: Hey Grandma!!! I am soo happy you figured out how to find my blog!! I will try my hardest to update it every day :)

Second: Congrats to everyone who was racing in Squamish today!! Myke.. you are amazing. I was complaining about climbing 1000ft on my bike today. Here you are climbing 6000ft on 2 legs.. You are so inspiring!! Also congrats to Fergus, Rob, and everyone else who raced the tt!! Sounds like the Squam was the place to be this weekend!!

Here are some pics from yesterday's ride (Cranbrook to Fernie)

Mum and I outside the Hotel (My new Gerick's Cycle Jersey :)

Checkin' out the beauty

Ha Ha Creek!! I love it!

Me and then Semi.. typical.

Lovin' the bib shorts!!

Big Mountain

Finally riding into Fernie!!

Ice Cap!

Stanley!

He seems to think I am a Blue Salt Block

OK Stanley... don't get so close!!

Stanley and Mum

Fernie Ski Hill sans neige!!

OK onto Stage 4: Fernie, BC to Pincher Creek, AB

Today involved more BEAUTIFUL riding!! The shoulder of the road was MUCH smoother and I didn't see nearly as many big trucks as the last few days! It was also really sunny and warm again and I'm starting to get a "kit tan".. even through the 70spf sunscreen!

Riding up the Crowsnest was absolutely stunning. I road along a river most of the way and saw a lot of lakes today. The ride up the pass was much easier than I thought it would be.. I don't think I even had to go in the granny gear! It was a lot of fun riding down it into Alberta as well. The ride from the pass to Pincher Creek was also gorgeous. It was mostly downhill with a few short steep hills (which I found harder than the pass!!). I also had a tail wind for a lot of the way!! FINALLY!!!

When we arrived at the hotel in PC I showered and went straight to bed. Apparently a huge rainstorm came in while I was sleeping. I couldn't believe it because during my entire ride I didn't even see a cloud in the sky!! I guess that's the way weather rolls in this part of the country :) Tomorrow we will be heading to Lethbridge.. I haven't been there since a basketball tournament in Gr 12. Hoping for more tail winds and sunny weather!!

O, and I almost forgot to say that I rode by some Buffalo today!! So rad! Unfortunately no picss..

Here are some pics of our trip today

Thanks for listening!

Mountain + Hay Field...Gradual BC/AB transition

Fasha

Big Truck!

Snoozin'

Bacon n' Egger!! My guilty pleasure...

View from the top of Crows Nest Pass!

Mum! Please take this photo quick before I fall over!!

Gun Show

A Rocky Mountain

Frank Slide!!

Windmills!!

Stage 3: Cranbrook to Fernie

I was going to go to bed and write an extra long report tomorrow. But then I realized that I would be just exhausted tomorrow as I am today. So here goes a sad attempt of a blog update.

This morning I decided I needed to sleep in. I made it to 7:45am (6:45am pacific) and couldn't fall back asleep. This seemed really strange since yesterday my alarm was set for 6:30am and it was SOO hard for me to get up!

Anywho, the trip to Fernie was another HUGE day for me. I don't think we were any over 100km but it still felt just as tough and long as the first two days. The scenery was absolutely AMAZING today. BC really is beautiful. The sun was out all day and a lot of the ride was along the lovely Elk River.

There weren't as many Semi's out today and I only saw about 2 crickets. The tough part about today's ride was the shoulder that I had to ride on. For a lot of the trip I had 4 choices:

1) Ride in the traffic lane-risk getting hit by a Semi (actually technically I think more of the trucks were "transport trucks" because they only had 1 trailer)

2) Ride in the "rubble strip" (I don't think that's actually what it is called... that's what my Dad just called it.. now my Mum is getting mad at him for making up things.. I'm laughing.. this seems to be a continuous cycle on our trip.. lol)

3) Ride in the paved part next to the "rubble strip." Unfortunately most of the time this part of the shoulder was SUPER bumpy and full of cracks!! It was nearly as uncomfortable to ride on as the "rubble strip"

4) Ride in the gravel

None of the 4 choices were very favorable, and by the end of the day I had a very sore tush! Let's hope the shoulder with be paved more smoothly for tomorrow's ride!!

I'm going to attempt to make it to Pincher Creek... wherever that is?? My Mum informed me that it involves a 1000ft ascent/descent.. should be interesting. I really shouldn't be complaining though since all I have to pull is myself and a road bike!! Most people that set off on a trip like this ride a heavier mountain bike and carry paniers, camping gear, food, water, clothes, etc.. I really don't know how they do it!! Very inspiring!!

Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow!! Myke - I seriously CANNOT believe that you are running 80km ... hopefully the route will be equipped with plenty of donut aid stations :)

Thanks for listening! I'll post more pics tomorrow!

Stage 2: Creston to Cranny!! What goes around comes around :)

First, here are some pics from Stage 1!!

Heading up the driveway.. legs already burning hah

Balfour Ferry!

Birkenstocks!

Beautiful BC :)

Hi!

(The Glass House...only in the Kootenays...)

The Southeast end of Kootenay Lake!

Bambi!

Creston!

Stage 2: Creston to Cranny

Made it to Cranbrook, BC at 2:00pm on the dime today!! Well I guess technically it was 3:oopm because we said Goodbye to the Pacific Time Zone and entered the Western. Only 2 more time zones to go!! Wooot :)

I think today's total distance was 108km.. it took me a long time.. Legs were trashed, strong head wind, and took a few more breaks.

Not too much to report. This ride's scenery didn't even compare to Yesterday's!! Although I did enjoy riding around the Moyie Lake. I have come to the conclusion that I am not happy when I'm not near water...

My motto of the day today was "What goes around comes around." Here is why:

I think I was passed by about 100 Semi Trucks (I wish I was exaggerating!!).. slightly terrifying!!! However, I didn't run into any problems and most of the drivers were pretty good about not coming too close to me. I also passed about 500 crickets on the road. I thought to myself that as long as I tried my hardest to dodge all of the crickets, I would gain good karma and stay safe around the semi's. I think I did a pretty good job and only hit about 3 of them (may you all rest in peace). And in turn, the semi's left me alone!! :)

Tomorrow's ride is up to Fernie. I'm hoping that most of the trucks will be heading to Radium on route to Calgary so I won't have to worry about traffic as much.

Until next time!

Thanks for listening :)

All set for another big day!

Pcccccc

Fake Waterfall in Front of a Campsite! Looks nice though!

My 3 favourite Rides :)

Cranny!

ps. Loading pictures on this blogger thing is soo frustrating!!!!