Around lake Erie - summary and Day-1

On Wednesday, August 27, 4:33 PM, I arrived back home from my solo, unsupported, bicycle tour around lake Erie. Safe and sound. Thanks to many who had supported me with their prayers.

Started the tour 11 days ago, on Sunday, August 11, 8:00 AM from my house in Brampton. Going clockwise around lake Erie. Did not went through Detroit, I was reluctant to cycle through Detroit and bicycle and foot traffic were not allowed to cross the bridge to Windsor; that meant I must make other arrangement to cross that bridge with my loaded bicycle e.g. hire a taxi. This would be very expensive.

Re-entered Canada by ferry from Sandusky, Ohio to Pelee island, Ontario; cost $17 for one senior and one bicycle. The ferry fare from Pelee island to Kingsville, Ontario, was $10; that was $6.25 for one senior and $3.25 for one bicycle, no PST nor GST.

The total distance of this tour was about 1100 km, cycled on average 100 km each day. Stayed in inexpensive hotels and motels along the way. This tour was a fund raising tour for CNIB; all hotels and motels that I stayed gave me a discount because of it's fund raising purpose. Managed to stay in budget of under $100 per day.

Fund raising for CNIB: Goal of $5000.00 was reached and surpased. As of to-day, August 30, $5,700.00 was collected.

My cycling path around lake Erie, clockwise direction from home.

Did not experience any equipment failure. No flat tires. No mechanical issues. Shadow, a 2010 MEC Shadowlands light touring bicycle had performed flawlessly. It did need a 'shower' and it's chain oiled. Spare parts and tools that I carried along were not used, except for chain oil and rag.

Did not experience muscle aches like I had on my first tour around lake Ontario last year. Every morning I woke up without any muscle ache and ready to cycle another day. Training and experience played an important role.
Lost 5 lbs,- before the tour 131 lbs, after 126 lbs. Did not think that there was anything more to loose. Less weight is always good for cycling -:).

Day-1, Sunday, August 17 2014.

Start in Brampton at 8:00 AM and finished the day in Oshweken, Ontario at 4:00 PM - 105.7 km.
The weather that morning was cool (15 C), windy, sun with some clouds. Put my jacket on. Slow paced cycling against the wind.

Ready to go..............saying good byes.

Cycling out of Brampton on a Sunday morning was easy, hardly any traffic on Williams Parkway. Somewhere near Milton on Rte. 5 the road was closed due to construction. Not easy to find an alternate route when you were cycling through unfamiliar cities. I ignored the sign and kept going; walked carefully through barriers. It was Sunday, no workers in sight.

Oh, no!

Yes, it is Really Closed!!

As I reached Campbellville, the temperature was warm enough to take my jacket off.

Impressive, huge hanging flowering plants on fence.

Had to asked and cycled around a little bit to look for a place to eat lunch, in Freelton. Found a Thai Coffee House by an Antique market.

My first lunch on this tour - Fried rice, Thai style.

Most of the time, I took a washroom break every 2 hours if there was an opportunity to do so.

Washroom break. Rarely available facility.

Close to the 80 km mark, the road that I was supposed to go through was closed and no longer in service. It had overgrown bushes on it. A local young lady showed me an alternate route on her I-phone.

Day -1 Brampton to Oshweken 105.7 km

As I arrived at the Bear's Inn in Oshweken, I heard Edward's voice calling me from behind; was I dreaming? Josh drove up the driveway with Connie, Theresia and Edward. It was a surprised visit. We had an excellent dinner at Argyle St. Grill restaurant.

We enjoyed the food here.

At the Bear's Inn with Josh, Edward, Connie and Theresia.

Had a good first day tour. Prepared myself for tomorrow's ride and slept early. End.

Fund raising ride - final update

Side note:
To read my first blog on my fund raising bicycle tour around lake Erie, click here.
To read my second update of the tour, click here; my third update, click here.
To sponsor me, click here.

Just 10 days to D day. This will be my last update before the big ride.

Fund raising:
Amount raised as of today, August 7 2014, $4,455.00. Thank you all for your generosity. We are not far from the goal of $5000.00, please encourage your family and friends to sponsor me, thanks.

If any of you, my sponsors, have not received a receipt from CNIB please let me or Theresia know about it. We will contact CNIB and make sure that you will received it in the mail within 2 weeks.

New sponsors are: Andy Sucipto, Stephen Lee, Thomas Tobin, Anthony Scanga, Patricia Goff, Martha Lee, Clayton Reynolds, Cindy Jue, Gudelia Sato, Mia Samadi, Trevor Martins, Pamela Munjal, Philomena McGuiness, Albert & Terry Shea, Irene Carr, Adrianto Suhendra, Camilla McDonald, Bernard Souche, Richard and Maria Danyo, Charles Thomas.


Preparation for the big ride:

Training:
Had done a reasonable amount of cycling, I feel that I am physically good to go on this tour.
For the next 10 days, I will take it easy, cycling short distances - 25 to 30 km - every other day. My muscles need to rest and be fresh on D day. I will do the short distance rides with some load on the bike.

Shadow, with about 80% of total load.

Navigation:
The route around lake Erie was divided into 11 days, cue sheets were printed for each day. The whole route was created using 'ridewithgps' software.

Here is the itinerary for my cycling tour around lake Erie. Clicking on 'Day x' will show you the route map for that day.
Day 1.
Sunday morning from home in Brampton to Oshweken - 102 km.
The Bear's Inn, 1979 4th Line, Oshweken, Ontario N0A-1M0 (519-445-4133)

Day 2.
Oshweken to Port Colborne - 87.5 km.
Best Value Inn, 10134 Hwy 3, Port Colborne, Ontario L3K-5V4 (905-835-5202)

Day 3.
Port Colborne to Irving, New York - 87 km.
Light House Inn, 965 Main Rd., Irving, NY (716-934-3877)

Day 4.
Irving, NY to Erie, PA - 102 km.
Clarion Hotel Lake Erie, 2800 W 8th St., Erie, PA 16505 (814-833-1116)

Day 5.
Erie, PA to Painsville, OH -  km
Villa Rosa Motel, 2140 North Ridge Road, Painesville, OH 44077 (440-357-7502)

Day 6.
Painsville, OH to Lakewood, OH - 107.2 km.
Days Inn, 12019 Lake Avenue., Lakewood, OH 44107 (216-226-4800)

Day 7.
Lakewood, OH to Sandusky, OH - 88 km. and on to Pelee Island by ferry - M.V. Pelee islander 3:30 PM
Pelee Island ferry terminal to Vu Shorgo, 957 East-West Rd., Pelee island, ON - 5.6 km + 88 km.
(519-990-6961)

Day 8.
Pelee island ferry - M.V. Pelee islander to Kingsville 9:00 AM, to Blenheim - 82 km
Kingsville ferry terminal to Blenheim, Silver Motel 398 Chatham St. S, Blenheim, ON N0P-1A0
(519-676-5156)

Day 9.
Blenheim to St. Thomas, ON - 88.5 km
Cardinal Court motel, 10401 Sunset Rd. RR#7, St. Thomas, ON N5P-3T2
(1-877-774-8380)

Day 10.
St. Thomas to Brantford, ON - 110 km
Days Inn, 460 Fairview Dr. Brantford, ON
(519-759-2700)

Day 11.
Brantford to Home, - 97.5 km.

Note: The stated distances would be the minimum distance for each day. From my last tour experience, most of the time I cycled further than what was stated by the planned route. This is expected from an unsupported bicycle tour. More often than not, I got lost and cycled 'off course' each day. Sometime I had to go 'off course' for meals, water and other necessities.

Logistic:

Start collecting stuff that I need for the trip. Clothing, toiletries, medications, tools and spare parts, first aid kit, communication and navigation tools, and emergency food.

My set of clothing, they go in the dry sack, then into the left pannier.

We activated our InReach account and started testing and re-learning the tracking feature. There is a new Mapshare feature that will allow you to follow me as I cycled around the lake. I am still learning and testing this feature. Everyone on the CNIB donor list will received an e-mail about the link and password for this Mapshare.
You can also follow me on my face-book; whenever possible I will post my progress each day.

Thank you for your support. End.