At 33km, today was probably the shortest distance I cycled in the whole trip. It was just a hard situation... My bike wasn't running true, and rather than free rolling, it was like riding an exercise bike. I could feel the bike being held back by something, although I'm not sure exactly what it was. The train was also quite hilly in a way that I hadn't seen for a long time. On the other hand, the shoulder on the side of the road wasn't as bad as I had expected beforehand. There was a decent amount of shoulder on the side to maneuver and the trucks were generally giving me enough space, so that it wasn't too much of a problem.
I ended up stopping after only 33 km for two reasons: The first reason was because I didn't get started until around 2 p.m.. I spent my entire morning fiddling with my bike trying to get the wheel to work and I was able to fix the spoke without too much trouble, but it was wobbling a little bit and I couldn't get my wheel true. As a result, it was taking more energy to cycle. The second reason why I stopped where I did was because I found the perfect spot to camp! It was in a cars only side rest stop, and there was a bluff looking over the bay and I set up my tent right at the edge of the cliff with my cover off. The bugs were crazy and they were attacking me in droves and even when I entered the tent I had to kill about 50 black flies before I could even take off my mosquito net and bug wear, but it was a really beautiful spot and I thought I would stay there for the night.
After taking a nap I woke up and a family was above where I was looking down on me. We started a conversation and they told me about the legend of the canoe man who I had heard of three times on this trip so far, so let me tell you the legend of the canoe man...
The canoe man used to own a house but he sold everything and rigged some kind of trailer that he built himself onto the back of his bicycle to hold a canoe. If there's too much of a hill either going uphill or downhill he actually has to get out of his canoe and walk his bike. But the canoe is really useful for him! He has a pet dog and can not only travel by bicycle, but whenever he sees a body of water, he can also get in his canoe and paddle. At the time when I was sitting in Nipigon Bay, the canoe man was paddling through the Lake of the Woods with his dog and his bike in tow. It's crazy to think that compared to many other people, my journey is nothing special.I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have to carry a canoe on the back of my bicycle and to have to walk up a hill anytime it got past a certain steepness--that would be insane.
Anyway, so I was talking to this family and they told me that I should be careful because it was about to rain a lot. I thanked them for the advice because I had no idea about the weather, and then I started to set up my tarp and other gear for the rainy weather. It did rain a lot, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. I was expecting thunderstorms.
I went to sleep not too late and woke up early enough, and to my surprise...
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