Day 19: Rebirth

After leaving Upsala yesterday, I continued to ride into the early evening. It was only once the rain started that I setup my tent. I spent the evening being baptized by thunder showers. The lightening struck so close that I heard the crack before I saw the flash and the rain beat like loud drums against my tent.

I awoke with the sun, feeling reborn. The last trickles of rain patted against my tent and I poked my head out the tent to see the tree tops proudly swaying east. The west wind was back: my wind. This time however, things were different. My legs were stronger. My butt was used to the cracked, unforgiving road. My mind was more focused. Above all, my soul wanted revenge. Revenge for the 4 days which I was robbed of my precious speed. Revenge for the mangled shoulders and closely passing trailers. Revenge for the blistering sun and soaking rain. Revenge for my poor Gladys, who was falling apart, piece by piece. I needed to remind myself, and the road, what I was capable of.

And oh, did I have my revenge.

I spent the majority of the morning doing this:

Or as I like to call it, kicking ass and not wasting time taking names. I pushed until my legs felt like mush and just when I didn't think I could keep up my pace, I forced my legs to push some more. I had been worried that, now missing 2 spokes, my rear wheel was not long for the world, so between yesterday and today, I was determined to make good time and arrive in a bike shop in Thunder Bay before I was forced to give up on her and stick out my thumb.

By the time I reached HWY 102 turnoff, still 35km out of TB, a third spoke snapped and my rear wheel had become so deformed that it was rubbing on my brakes. No amount of tinkering with the other spokes would true the wheel sufficiently and I didn't have the patience to start playing around with the brake cables. So, I forged ahead relatively unphased by the slowing effect of the rubbing brakes. Just like the wind, it was an unseen hinderance which I was completely aware of but could do little about, so I was quite used to the experience.

My speed suffered in this stretch of highway, however the final road into Thunder Bay was a glorious coast downhill. I set out to the closest bike shop I could find and am having them re-thread the entire rear wheel with spokes used in mountain racing. If these don't hold up, nothing will.

My friend Alex, whom I studied engineering with at Mcgill and subsequently bumped into randomly in Oxford, linked me up with her aunt and uncle, Ena and Mark. I'll be staying with them for the next day while my body recovers an prepares for the massive hills around lake superior.

If you though I was determined last night, just look at me on a good day.