I Want to go on a Bike Tour

I think I'm crazy, but ever since I first bought my bike, and saw that couple at the bike shop with their tandem bike piled high with panniers and towing a trailer full of gear, I've been enthralled by the idea of one day going on a bike tour.

The woman, I don't know her name, told me that they were cycling around Lake Michigan, and I thought that was absolutely amazing.  At the time, I hadn't gone on a bike ride for more than 3 blocks in years, and hadn't yet tried my new Townie by Electra.

I brought my bike home and surprised myself by riding just over 6 km (3 miles) on my very first ride, on July 13, 2016.  I took tons of photos and fell in love with my new bike, and riding. You can read about my first ride here, Bike Ride 1.  
Below is my favorite picture from my first ride. I'm using it as a screen saver.

My Townie Electra on our first ride, July 13th, 2016.

I loved it so much that I rode in 95 F heat with humidity, and it didn't affect my asthma!  Usually even walking a few steps in that heat triggers my asthma but for some reason, riding this new bike is fine.  My old bike triggered my asthma, and so did the one my uncle gave to my Mom and I.  This one fits me better; it's just the right bike for me. 

The next morning I went out again in extreme heat, but it was too soon as I hurt my nether regions badly and it took a week for the tender parts to heal.  I ordered special bike capris with a built in chamois and waited impatiently for them to arrive.  I hated them when they did, lol. To be fair, I only tried them once, on another super hot and humid day, and they were awful for that weather. I'll try them again on a cool fall day to see if it makes a difference. When they didn't work, I ordered a gel bike seat cover via my bike ship, which made all of the difference when it (finally) came in.  Now I can ride 13 km in 90 F heat without problems.  I've learned I cannot ride on days when it's hotter than 90 F with humidity, and this has been a record breaking summer for heat, so I haven't been able to ride every day, as I'd hoped.  

I went for as many rides as I could, taking copious photos (like I always do whenever I go anywhere at all, lol), and then blogged about them.  Then I wondered if anyone else was blogging their bike rides. Then I wondered if anyone blogged about bike touring, so I googled Bike Touring and found an amazing blog called Going Slowly by a lovely young couple, Tara and Tyler, who had gone on a bike tour around the world.  They kept a daily journal of their travels, filled with incredible photos.  I read their entire journal, which spanned years, and although we've never met, I now  feel like I know them, like they're my adorable young distant cousins.  I also ordered the PDF version of Tara's cookbook, but it hasn't been sent to me yet.  Perhaps they are on another of their adventures and can't get to it.  If so, I'm looking forward to reading about it :-). 

Then I discovered the website Crazy Guy on a Bike
and read some cool bike touring journals. 

Even though most of these people travel vast miles (kilometers, here in Canada) every day,  and they consider 50 km a SLOW day, lol, I started to think I'd like to go on a bike tour myself.  I was a bit bummed when I realized that they all have special, super expensive touring bikes, but lets get real; I LOVE my bike and don't want another (unless it's a recumbent; I'd love one of those, lol). As of this point, there's no way I could ever do 50 km in a day; it took me 4 hours to ride 13 km.  I think I could do 20 km a day though, if I didn't stop as often to take photos or rest. The other day, when I was riding on Topsail Island after dark, I was thinking, "Wouldn't it be so cool to be able to stop and camp here?"

Darkness falls on Topsail Island

Riding at night

Of course, it wouldn't be smart to try to stealth camp on Topsail Island, our very busy, unofficial leash free dog park, lol, but it would be cool to try on, say, St. Joseph's Island, which, I've just learned, is the second largest Freshwater Island in the world.  It even has it's own Cycling Guide.

Most people I've read about would cycle around the Island in one day, as it's only about 70 km to cycle around the outer highway.  It's a lot more if you add the inner roads through the Island.  I'm nowhere near being able to bike 70 km in one day, or ever 2 days, lol.  So it would be a great place for my first "tour", taking 3 or 4 days to do what others can do in 1 day, lol.  It would also be fun!
Here's a map of the area: Map of St. Joseph's Island

I have a sleeping bag, and I used to have a tent but God knows where it is now.  It may have disappeared in one of my many moves.  I found a cheap one on Walmart.com though,  so I could always get that one without too much trouble.  I'd need, or rather, want, a simple cookstove...or I could make one out of cans, I guess, and a pot for cooking something simple like ramen noodles or oatmeal, and for boiling water for coffee or tea or hot chocolate or soup.  I'd need panniers.  Gosh, I'd need so much stuff, lol.   I don't know if I'd have the guts to try to stealth camp alone though.  St. Joseph's Island has one camping site that I know of, plus a motel or two.  I could always stay there.
It's fun to dream about, anyway. 

Bike Ride 11, Pretty Flowers

Yesterday I went for my 11th bike ride.  It was a dark, overcast, dreary day, but it was cool, finally.  For the first time I wasn't dripping sweat within seconds of riding, and it was such a lovely change.

I started out with my normal route, along all of the quiet side streets, cutting through paths and fields to get from one neighborhood to the next.  I also discovered that I could use a sattelite map of my route so you can see all of the lovely green areas I got to ride through.  Where the blue line is really thick is where I used the same route there and back (Connaught, Third Ave., Devon, and Fifth Ave.).

My route

The green path that I cut through on my first ride is now a riot of flowers!  When I first started riding, I had to walk this path because I was afraid to ride on dirt/sand, but now I ride through in seconds like it's nothing. It seemed like such a long path before, lol.

 Pretty yellow flowers and wheat-like grass.

 I wasn't sure if I should turn around at this point or not because the grey clouds were really coming in fast, low and heavy, dark and ominous.  The breeze that blew them in was so cool and refreshing I decided to keep going.  It felt so nice to FINALLY not be roasting while on my bike.

 There were flowers everywhere I looked.  I got off my bike and ran through them, breathing them in, secure in the knowledge that my twice daily allergy pills were working.  Thank God, too, as I'm allergic to every tree, flower, and grass known to man, lol.

 I love Queen Anne's Lace. I'm so happy it was the small stuff, and not the big, fake, wicked Queen Anne's Lace double that causes horrible disfigurement if you touch it, lol.

 I don't know what these blue flowers are, but I love them too.  I should google it. Hang on. OK, I'm back (did you miss me, lol?).  It's CHICORY.  As in, the coffee substitute.  Now I need to learn how to harvest it.  I'd love to try some chicory.  I should google it.  Hang on again.

OK, so I found a cool website where a lady harvested, roasted, and tried Chicory coffee.  Here it is if you want to check it out.

 Next time I go, I think I'll take a baggie and pull a a root or two; just enough to try one cup of coffee.

It's so beautiful and feathery, and the prettiest blue ever.  My kitchen cupboards at my old house were  blue.  I miss them.

 I wish I could have grabbed my camera a bit faster than I did, because I really wanted to get a good photo of the guy in the pic above.  He was riding no hands, down the middle of the lane, looking at his smartphone!  Too funny!

 This is the other end of the creek that I took so many pictures of in past bike rides.  This No Fishing sign cracked me up; it says this creek is a fish sanctuary, but I can't see how; the water is so shallow and icky.  Maybe it's just low this year?

 When I was a little girl, and then a teenager, I used to walk or ride this route often, on my way to visit my cousins Michelle, Tony, and Michael, and my aunt Theresa and uncle Tony, and their ENORMOUS dog, Blackie.  He was a Great Dane; a big one.

 When I got to this point the sun started to set. As usual, my flash made everything seem much brighter than it actually was.  That bit of blue sky in the distance, in the photo above, was the first bit of blue I'd seen all day long.

 This tree has vines growing all the way up the trunk.  Cool!

 The house with the red cars in the driveway is the house that used to belong to my cousins, when they were little.

 This creek was down the street from their house, in a very pretty park. We used to go fishing here, and play in the park.

 These old gates are all that is left of the park. There used to be a road leading in, now there is just a little foot path.  It was getting dark so I didn't go in.  From the road, it looked completely overgrown.

 When I got to the intersection  of Allen Side Road and Second Line West, I decided to use the bike path and then loop down on my usual route, next to the other end of the creek (below).

This end of the creek (above), is usually as far as I go, so I'm glad i was able to some length to my route.

So far, this end of town is my favorite for riding. It's so quiet, and so pretty.  I am so happy that I bought my bike. I like walking, but I LOVE my bike.