Manitoulin Cycling Odyssey – Day 5

It seemed like we had so much time to explore when we arrived on Saturday, but it’s already Day 5 which leaves us with only two more cycling days.

Today, as we were preparing to leave, it started thundering and pouring rain, so we stopped getting ready, and enjoyed the cottage, chat and our devices, while we waited for the weather to clear. We had a quick lunch when the rain stopped and headed out.

We had a headwind for the first few kilometres and I found it tough going. I was happy to stop to have a look at the War Memorial.

As we were leaving Wayne pointed out that I had a flat. It wasn’t completely flat so it must have been slowly losing air and might have been part of the reason the headwind seemed so bothersome. Before I could act Wayne had the wheel off the bike. Before I had my repair kit out David had his out. Off they went to a picnic table and began fixing it. We couldn’t find a hole in the tube, but I had a new one with me. It took three of us to find the two small pieces of glass embedded in the tire. Once that was done we felt confident putting it all back together again and we were off.

Today we rode from the cottage to do a circumnavigation around Lake Mindemoya. I think it was my favourite ride so far. On the way into Mindemoya to go to the hospital on Sunday I spotted a great fence made out of bikes, but we didn’t stop. Today we rode past it.

We passed pastoral scenes, and autumn colours that are improving each day, as well as some lovely lake facing cottages.

The cottages were separated from a small strip of land and the water, by a road that was perfect for cycling.

The roads mostly had good surfaces today, few cars and beautiful autumn scenes.

There were places we were able to ride right by the water, but others where we had to ride away from the water because of First Nation Reserves or private campgrounds. I was constantly amazed at how large Lake Mindemoya is. It was 34.5km to ride around it.

We had to ride on Highway 551 for a while, but it has a nice paved shoulder and the traffic was light.

We had a couple kilometres of rough tar and chip, but after 30km yesterday, it felt like nothing.

There was one road with an ascent that we barely had to pedal because the tailwind was perfect, followed by a gentle, but delightful descent. The routes and the conditions were perfect.

I am a sucker for a farm gate bracketed by trees, especially in the autumn

The light was really lovely today despite the overcast sky and really complimentary to the emerging autumn colours and farm buildings. This one, right across the street from our cottage, hadn’t caught my eye until today.

My wrist continues to improve. I wore the tensor bandage today and was able to put my full weight on the bars and even wrap my thumb underneath rather than holding it close to my fingers. I’m happy with the improvement and am looking forward to two more days of cycling.