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Biking to Lake Erie
A few weekends ago I woke up at 5:00 AM on Saturday morning and headed out on my bike while it was still dark. My plan was to bike to Turkey Point on Lake Erie in five hours. The distance was 110 km, so that would require an average of about 22 km/h. Here was the route:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=359+Havendale+Crescent,+Waterloo,+ON,+Canada&daddr=ERB's+Rd+%4043.435110,+-80.627410+to:Blenheim+Rd+%4043.311980,+-80.535450+to:Blenheim+Rd+%4043.214950,+-80.498040+to:Blenheim+Rd+%4043.192150,+-80.488280+to:Maple+Ave+N+%4043.157180,+-80.450690+to:Maple+Ave+N+%4043.103410,+-80.429190+to:Maple+Ave+S+%4043.067920,+-80.414070+to:Windham+East+Quarter+Line+Rd+%4042.996820,+-80.410730+to:Windham+East+Quarter+Line+Rd+%4042.971840,+-80.400660+to:42.950832,-80.392628+to:9+Ordnance+Ave,+Turkey+Point,+ON&mrcr=9,10&mrsp=10&sz=14&mra=dpe&sll=42.966535,-80.402756&sspn=0.046226,0.079823&ie=UTF8&ll=43.068888,-80.263367&spn=1.476756,2.554321&z=9&om=1
It turned out to be a beautiful ride... I loved the energy of being out on the road before sunrise, making ground fast. By 7:00 AM I was 35 km into my trek, over a third of the way there. What a feeling! I ended up making it there in about 4:45. Actual start and end times were 5:35 AM and 10:20 AM. Some memorable things:
 | Riding the whole way without stopping (well ok, once for a stop light and once to circle around to get the apple I dropped) |
| Eating about 1000 calories of food while on the bike. I've discovered that I absolutely love eating while running or biking. |
| Having rode over 100k before 10:30 AM! |
| Sending an email using a Blackberry while riding my bike (that's a first!) |
| Padded bike shorts are another brilliant invention |
| Seeing the sun come up |
| The realization that as a cyclist out on country roads, you can be as much of a danger to cars as they are to you. If they have to pass you at the crest of a hill, they have little to no time to react to oncoming traffic. I decided I'd keep an eye out for this and move onto the shoulder in these cases. |
| Lots and lots of green |
| Morning doves looking down curiously from the telephone poles |
| Comes moo'ing at me |
| A grass farm... acres upon acres of perfectly cut, emerald green grass |
| Dirt roads |
| People out in the country out for their morning walk |
| Seeing a freakshow of a person standing in a barn and then realizing it was an old beaten up manakin |
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