Denisovich

Day 65. Owen Sound to Orangeville. 72 miles. 3988 miles TTD. 2355 ft elevation. Weather comfortable but a little windy

If you are confused by today’s title, you need to read the book A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. It’s an incredible portrayal of life in the Soviet gulag. In fact, I might put it on my listening list for the trip, but I did read it before. I thought that you might be interested in a very hour-by-hour portrayal of my day. Thankfully, mine is far better than Ivan’s.

First of all, I always have to get a room for two. That’s because my bike sleeps with me. I barely, if ever, let it out of my sight, and when I do, it’s locked up. Overnight, it stays in the room with me. This always creates some shenanigans if it’s a multi-story motel. Typically, I go through the front door and up the elevator with my luggage. Then I find a side door to sneak my bike up the stairway. In the morning, I’ll walk past the front desk with my bike fully loaded, just for fun.

Almost immediately upon waking, I start packing. This is both to get on the trail and to help me avoid forgetting anything like my special pillow. Yes, I carry a pillow, and it helps me sleep better. As for dressing, it’s quite simple: I have one pair of shorts for riding and two shirts to choose from. If I’ve been lucky enough to do laundry, I have clean underwear and socks; otherwise, you wouldn’t want to ride with me, or at least you would want to stay upwind from me.

Eventually, I get my shoes on, which are becoming very tenuous. The one on the right has a shoelace string, since I melted the metal lace while trying to dry the shoe in a microwave. It’s not one of my brighter moments. The one on the left is a bolo, which is a cable with a dial to tighten it. Even if I avoid further stupidity and damage to the shoes, they’re getting very worn and might not survive the trip. If they do survive the trip, they’re definitely going in the trash at the end.

Next is the sunscreen ritual. I apply a bar of sunscreen to my face. Thankfully, my beard covers most of my face. Then, I use a lotion on my arms if I’ve chosen a short-sleeve shirt. Typically, I don’t need much on my legs as they are essentially cow leather at this point, but I will put a little on the tops of my knees, which can get a little too much sun.

It’s probably just superstition, but I try to be out the door by 7:00 or 7:30 in hopes of beating the wind, or thinking the wind won’t be as bad in the morning. However, walking out the motel door and seeing a flag flapping in the wrong direction can ruin my day.

The next priority is food. Occasionally, there’ll be breakfast at the motel, but usually, I have to find it, and most commonly, that’s at a convenience store, which means some real healthy choices like candy bars and soda pops. Basically, it’s back to my days as a contract painter. Fortunately, this morning, I was just a couple of doors away from Tim Hortons. In any town over a thousand people, I think, there’s a Tim Hortons (watch the link about Gaffigan making fun of Tim Hortons). If you’re a true Canadian, you start your day at Tim’s. The lineup of cars stretched through the parking lot and out into the street, but thankfully I walked inside and up to the counter.

Eventually, I’m on the trail, dirt road, or pavement and on my way. I start pedaling and keep going, then pedal for 7 to 10 hours on most days. This morning, I was fortunate enough, once I exited Owen Sound, to be on a rail trail. That rail trail lasted all the way into Orangeville. It was mostly crushed rock, which makes for good riding, and only a few sandy and muddy spots. Of course, being a rail trail means I didn’t even notice the elevation changes, which is wonderful. However, as you might be able to tell from the picture, it makes for a fairly monotonous ride, as the old railroad tracks are quite straight.

Somewhere along the route, I will stop for some more nourishment. In this case, a sticky bun and chocolate milk continue my health-conscious diet. If I’m lucky, I will also find a place to lie down and rest my legs for a bit.

Once I’m at my destination and in the motel, I resume my routine for the evening. All of my devices are immediately plugged into chargers. Most importantly, my flashing rear tail light. I want to make sure that vehicles have a good target when they come up behind me. The water bottles go in the shower, having collected an enormous amount of gunk, including dust, dirt, mud, and cow manure, similar to my body. And then it’s off to find food.

Undoubtedly, a day in my life is not that interesting. There has been amazing scenery, but still, the highlight is meeting and talking with people along the way. And I guess that’s a good life parallel. We have a lot of days that aren’t that interesting except for the people we get to meet and associate with regularly. If nothing else, maybe my long-winded journal entry will at least persuade you to avoid such an undertaking.:-)