Day 22: Dundalk to home. Final trip total: 2653km

 

Perfect day for my final ride.  Sunny, with no humidity or wind,  and pretty much downhill the whole day.

After more than 2500km, I finally got my first flat tire

With today's 121km ride,  I've covered 2653km in the past 25 days (22 riding days). While riding,  I averaged 120.6km/ day,  which is a little above my touring average.

At the top of the Niagara Escarpment,  about to hit 75.6km/hr on this descent 

Arriving home

It's too soon to fully digest the trip, but here are some initial thoughts.

1. It was hot.  I rode through the horrendous heat wave that we've all been dealing with, and I pushed a little too hard at times.  I definitely suffered heat exhaustion on a few days,  but had little choice but to keep going because I was usually in the middle of nowhere when I started noticing the symptoms. I'll chalk it up to bad luck weather wise,  but I could've taken more days off and avoided the riskier days.

2. It was flat. Until I hit Manitoulin Island,  I didn't have much elevation to deal with, just annoying little hills that slowed me down enough for the flies to catch up with me.  By the time I hit Espanola, I might as well have been on a track, with the only real challenges being distance,  road conditions, and weather. The two days from Espanola to Dundalk included over 1000metres of cumulative elevation to climb,  which seemed like the Rockies after such a level ride up to that point.

3. I'm not sure why I went around Georgian Bay. It's not technically part of the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail,  and it certainly isn't bike friendly. I'm glad I took the long route around, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it over going straight through Bruce and Manitoulin. It's hard to keep your bearings on the backroads because they wind in every direction and you're not close enough to the Bay to follow the coastline. It was a challenging few days.

4. Painting was good idea.  I'd brought my watercolours on previous tours but never actually used them.  This time I forced myself to pull them out from time to time and it really helped connect me with places that might have just drifted by otherwise. There was a lot of monotony on this trip and painting really helped me pull out little moments with more vibrancy and clarity.

Thanks for following along,  and feel free to shoot me any questions if there's something I didn't cover or fully address.

Until the next tour, 

Mark.