July 16 –Stonyridge to Sharbot Lake Provinical Park

Bike log: 131.5km, 581m of vertical, avg. speed 27.5 km/h

Back into the heatwave today – hot as ever! Oops, I mean, humid as ever. Anyway, it got a little uncomfortable out there today!

Today was not the funnest day yet. The first hour or so, along a background from our campsite down to highway 7 (the Trans-Canada) was great – nice little hills, very little traffic, and lots of shade. Then we were onto the highway, and that was pretty much it for anything decent. Bad pavement in many places, too much traffic with terrible drivers, nowhere to swim unless you are a swamp-loving turtle, no scenery to speak of, very few towns, and heat! And of course, a bit of a headwind. Had to do about 110km of that to get to this campground. It was so hot I did not really feel like eating, all I had was 3 muffins (bought at a roadside stand), an ice cream bar, and a Coke.

Hopefully that will be it for the Trans-Canada for quite some time. I am very glad that we took the north route around Lake Simcoe and stayed off the highway for as long as possible. Dealing with any area that even comes close to being within the sphere of influence of Toronto has been really unpleasant as far as biking goes. The term “complete moron” might be a bit strong to apply to some of the drivers, perhaps “imbecile who wants to risk dying in a fiery car crash for the chance to save perhaps 3 minutes of driving time” is more appropriate. 99% of drivers are very considerate, but the imbeciles do kind of set the tone bytailgating and passing recklessly. Getting off the main roads and onto backroads is definitely the way to go, even if it is less direct. No doubt Montreal will be much the same, which is why we are attempting to bypass it to the north as much as possible. Tomorrow, we are off the highway and taking secondary roads down to Brockville – should be much more pleasant than today. And of course, we stop at my parents house, have a swim in the pool, and enjoy a day of rest!

This campground is quite nice – lots of trees and nice size lots, and a sandy beach on a lake to swim in. A very nice little lake, popular with cottagers from Ottawa I suppose. Staying in a private campground, as we did last night, does make you appreciate what the provincial parks have to offer. In general, you get way better scenery and a much nicer, more private site. However, the provincial parks loose a few points for convenience in some ways compared to the private ones. There are not enough “real” bathrooms, and there is no water outlet at your campsite – there are only a few taps scattered through the park. And someone in the ministry of parks decided that they needed to reinvent the water tap. No simple twist valve here. Instead, there are these big torpedo shaped valves that require an enormous upwards thrust to activate. They have 1 speed as well – flood! You will get soaked using them, guaranteed, and there is no way you will get it to open if you are in any way feeble. However, I have to give the Ontario parks points over the ones in BC for realizing that people actually want to use them – and having lots of parks with lots of sites! Today, a Saturday in mid July, we were able to arrive at the park around 5PM and get a spot with no reservation. Don’t try that at home!

Despite the fact that we are in the middle of a heat wave, many of the campers around us have a campfire going, and it is only 8PM. I find that a bit strange, but maybe it’s because I am still rather hot from riding today. I am going to be heading back down to the lake for another dip before bedtime – despite the weeds!

You can tell the heat is getting to me a bit – this is a pretty negative journal entry! I’m looking forward to a change of pace after the rest day.