Day 17 - 1000km!

While putting $140 in diesel in the truck this morning I told the woman at the gas station what I was doing.  When I was done, I paid her $140 and got $20 back.  Thank you very much for listening and hopefully you r photo will be up on the blog soon.

 

While in Sturgeon Falls, we met a man who knew all about ticks, all about what to do, all about the lack of knowledge by the public and the lack of knowledge of the healthcare system......he then explained that his wife was from southern Illinois, where everyone is educated about ticks and the realities about Lyme.................Hmmmmm, where have I heard that before.  Canada simply has to pull its collective head out of the sand (or anywhere else it is stuck) and get the information out to the public and get its doctors and healthcare workers up to speed.  Waiting any longer, as far as I am concerned, is nothing short of blatant negligence.  

 

There is now a brand new tourist attraction that will be bringing people into the Markstay, Ontario, area by the bus load.  If you follow highway 17 about 70 meters west of Pioneer Street and highway 17, in flourescent pink paint you will see the words "Cycle For Lyme 1000 km JGC Magic" sprayed onto the edge of the asphalt.  And in the event you are a police officer and are reading this - I have no idea how it got there..............

 

As I left Queens Park on May 21st, I had many things on my mind.  One of those things was if I could at least do 1,000 km of my 2,000 km route, then as far as I was concerned, Cycle For Lyme would be a success.  Well, to support the success theory, I cycled 116.9 kilometers today, making today the best cycle day yet.

 

We had a good laugh at the Lake Nipissing look out point on Hwy 17 between Sturgeon Falls and North Bay.  I rolled in about a minute in front of Maciek and immediately proceeded to hop up on the nice big flat fence top and take of my shoes so I looked like I had been there for an hour.  Two minutes later, Maciek is out of the truck, camera ready.  30 seconds later I was attacked by at least a hundred black flies.  As I scrambled to put on my shoes, Maciek was immediately attacked as well.  I spent maybe 12 seconds looking at Lake Nipissing, Maciek less than 2 seconds.  I know I got one bite on my leg and one on my left arm. Maciek figures at least two as well, but intends to provide me with an update in the morning.

 

The bike took a beating on a short section of road construction.  The vibration shook my stem loose as well as put my rear tire out of alignment.  Then, the dust from the recent asphalt grindings got into both the gear changing and brake components, causing everything to seize up.  It was close to 2 hours worth of repairs to get my Specialized ready for morning.  We are staying less than 200 feet from where an all night road repair crew is repairing a broken water main.  They can make as much noise as they like - I don't think I will have any trouble sleeping through.