Biking with Bill

i tunes to BRANTFORD


Our short, sweet, enjoyable Saturday morning ride to Brantford, Ontario was filled with the sound of music! I was surprised to hear some “good ol’ rock and roll music” as we were leaving London this morning at 7:30 am. It was a beautiful, yet hazy, day for the 64 mile stretch to Brantford, home town of hockey great Wayne Gretsky. The music was coming from Dan’s bike. He had rigged up his i pod to a small speaker set he had borrowed from Annie, which was strapped to the cross bar. I could hear his good selection of tunes most of the way today.

Early on in the route, I rode with Chuck (OH/FL), a Cincinnati/Sarasota resident whom I knew was a retired Air Force Colonel–and a strong cyclist.(see photo of Chuck in the morning haze). He flew A-4 fighter jets out of Da Nang while Kent (VA) was piloting a modified A-4 off aircraft carriers at the same time during the Vietnam War. During my conversation with Chuck, the “Navy boys”, Dave and Jim, classmates at Annapolis, came roaring by in a 2 man pace line. They have improved their speed and riding skills tremendously since Astoria, Oregon. It is great to see them riding so well.

In the town of Springford at a town park and ball field we had our mandatory SAG stop. A softball tournament was about to start, and our pavilion was being readied for it’s conversion to the “beer tent”. A sign said; “7 beers for $20". It was tempting to several of us, but it was only 9:30 am–and the concession stand didn’t open until 11:00. So we rode on.

We biked through the small Ontario towns of Otterville, and Wilsonville to Mt Pleasant and finally to Brantford (pop 90,000–and apparently declining). It was a rather unimpressive part of town that was our entry through the streets of Brantford. Scoopy’s Ice Cream was our first stop. A good one.

The rural areas on our route today were “lovely”, as one of the UK riders said. Big, prosperous, and tidy farms on great roads (particularly when compared to Michigan). We saw tobacco fields, and strawberry fields enclosed in screening, along with the corn, soybeans, and cows. The small towns were neat and clean and had the look of prosperous middle class communities.. All were quiet on this Saturday morning.
We again put our heads down and rode the last 33 miles “with purpose”. The average speed for the day was 17.3 mph. We were in town before noon—waiting for our rooms to be ready.

We passed the 3000 mile mark of our journey on today’s ride. Tomorrow we ride to Niagara Falls, NY for a rest day on Monday. And then it’s only 7 days to Portsmouth...and our celebration of a great adventure. WOW!

Bill
ps Did you know that Canada is so much associated with the game of ice hockey —that on the new $5 bill a picture appears of youths playing hockey?