The Last Word

If I don't write this now, I probably won't.  It seems a bit premature to be reflecting, because my head is still spinning.  Allow me some final thoughts and ramblings, and then this blog will officially close until the next great adventure.

Remember back when I wrote that this was crazy?  How about the post where I thought 87km was a really, really long distance, and I was exhausted?  I've re-read those posts, and they make me smile.  I shared them with the cycling guru last week, and he thought they were pretty funny too.

I took a risk this summer, devoting 9 weeks (and a million training/prep hours) to a task I wasn't sure I liked.  I like it, I still like it!  I love risk taking, and I'm glad I did it.  

I suppose one of the worst lessons I learned this summer is that you can do anything you put your mind to.  That's a dangerous lesson, and I should probably rephrase it.  I feel incredibly blessed/fortunate/protected/lucky that I was able to ride every day with very little incident (okay, those flats...).  I started a list of the things that could have gone wrong, ranging from personal injury, complete exhaustion, accidents, and bike malfunction.  None of it happened to me, and I was able to complete the task I set out to.  Every Fun Inch.  Praise be!

People ask if the experience turned out to be what I expected.  Of course the answer is both yes and no.  Yes, it was incredible, and I had high expectations.  It was a physical challenge, and an opportunity to see great things along the way.  Seeing creation at 27km/hr was amazing, and even more amazing when zooming past it at 75.3km/hr.  Still so proud of that! Obviously there were challenging days, and I hope that I conveyed those accurately on these pages.  

I thought I'd have more time and space for reflection and quiet time, both on and off the bike.  On the bike I feel as though my mind simply emptied, rather than thought, and I liked it.  I don't often clear my mind. 

I didn't expect to be so challenged by the presence of other people.  I struggled often with the presence of the crowd, much to the amusement of the friends who drew close.  I keep blaming "that awful spring" but also admitted toward the end of the summer that maybe I'm just a selfish hermit when it comes to space and time. 

With regards to the friends who drew close, I didn't expect them either.  Amazing people, and I miss them terribly this week.  Sometimes when I approach an adventure of this kind, I know that I will have to say farewell, and I don't necessarily want to let people in.  And then they just sort of force their way in and you are a better person because of it.  (ahemChristyahem).  

What is the legacy of this journey?  I can think of three very tangible things.  The first is that the generosity of so many ($15 917.83) has convicted me.  I have been challenged to give more generously to a wider range of organizations and to my church.  

The second is a gentle, persistent reminder that the poor are always with us.  It is easy to get caught up in my own kingdom work at a Christian school and forget to be present in my community.  I am still sorting this out, and deciding what that challenge looks like for the coming year.  

The last legacy, or lesson, is that I have an incredibly supportive, and loving church family.  I surprised everyone (including myself) by showing up on Sunday morning after driving through the night.  There were hugs and tears, and so much love.  When we cycled in to town on August 9 I felt like a rock star.  God has given me an incredible church family. 

And so as the t-shirt pictured above reminded me all summer, I did something beautiful.  And now I box it all up, go back to work and dream about my next adventure.  Thanks, all.  

Day 62: I did this

Sweet last day of riding.  Words are almost impossible for this day.  I think the pictures do it justice.

Day 61: the penultimate day of cycling

Friday, also known as Day 61 was our second last day of the tour, but really our very last day.

Soak it in.  We started the day crossing the Hudson on a cool bridge.

After crossing the bridge, we had one last big hike up a mountain.  In the words of cousin Bill the motor bike rider, the hill went "up a long ways, down a bit and then up a lot more."  That was accurate.  Of course, when you climb that high, you get to descend, and descend and descend.

I managed to push 68km/hr on the downhill.  That's a good day of cycling.

My favourite part of our last independent day of cycling happened next.  We'd been playing tag with Marc, Mike, Rachel and Adam, our buddies, all day.  We had agreed that we would stop some time after km 70 for lunch or something, but these things are hard to predict.

Around km 75 Julia and I happened upon Rachel standing at the edge of a parking lot.  She had taken the time to purchase ice cream, cones and a scoop, and found this beautiful spot for enjoying.

This seems as good a time as any to comment on the beautiful people in this picture.  These are my people, the ones who put up with all my moody crap all summer long, and still love me enough to enjoy ice cream in a gazebo on our second to last day of riding.  Of course there are others who have made this adventure special, but there's something about these five.  Adam (blondie, the kid, everyone loves Adam) has an incredible sense of humour but uses it with integrity and kindness.  Julia (my other half) loves people and wants everyone to be included and feel welcome.  Mike is quiet but when he speaks it's worth listening to.  Marc is incredibly loyal and gives great advice about all things Sea to Sea.  Rachel is intensely passionate about so many things, and loves to share stories with others.

We toasted our ice cream cones and then headed in to camp for our last tenting adventure.  

Days 59 and 60

Wednesday and Thursday passed in a bit of a haze, looking back.  More of the same beautiful, rolling scenery as we continued along Lake Champlain and the Hudson river.

Julia and I continued our slow-ish riding, wanting to take it all in...and not kill ourselves on the hills.

This was the view as we climbed into Albany, NY.

Day 58

We have been spoiled by the flat terrain basically from Illinois to Montreal.  That all changed today. 

As you can see from the elevation picture, we climbed a lot, and descended just as much. That means our elevation stayed basically the same, but we rode hard.  

I wish I could say that it felt easier than 7 weeks ago in Colorado, but I'm not sure it did.  I must be stronger though, right? I do think my climbing strategy has changed, and we focused on riding steady, not on heroics, all day. 

We averaged 20.3km/hr, and my maximum speed for the day was 65km/hr.  there was some debate at supper about whether this was the hardest day of the tour.  I'm personally not convinced, I think day  16 or day 37 would be top contenders for that prize.

Fortunately we had beautiful scenery all day long, which definitely made the day go quickly.

Day 57: back in the good ol' US of A

On Monday, after a not-really-relaxing day off in Montreal, we headed back to the US.  We rode south fm Montreal and crossed basically in the middle of no where.  It's odd to cross the border on a bike. 

Welcome to New York!

Upstate New York is incredibly beautiful, and our ride took us along Lake Champlain. We stayed at Au Sable Chasm park, which was just magnificent.

Along the way we rode past this funky park.  Check out the last supper.

Jour 56: the real reason I biked from LA to Montreal

It's very possible I've been talking about this sandwich since I made friends on this trip.

As we approached la Belle Province I talked a lot about my favourite little restaurant in Montreal.

Today we were bused in to the city for church.   Ryan randomly met up with a college friend at church, and as we were discussing lunch, I asked him if he had heard of café Santropol. And because he's a good 30 something Montrealer, it was his recommendation for lunch as well.  

14 of us ended up together ordering funky sandwiches and milkshakes.  Santropol, I'm sorry I haven't been by in 4 years. I'll try to do better in the future.

That pretty much sums up our day of rest - wandering Montreal, and eating good food.

Oh, and this happened to Billy D's tent too.  

6 days left.  Crazy of a different kind. 

Jour 55: bienvenue à Québec!

Today we rode from Cornwall to Montreal-ish.

It was another day for meandering, though not quite as bad as the day before.  That would have been hard to top, in all honesty!

Julia, in case I haven't mentioned it before, is also a French teacher.  We had fun making little comments to other cyclists en français along the road.

Not being on a major highway, this is the best we could do for a Provincial sign.

We caught up with the three boys here because they of course had to walk across a muddy field, with their bikes, to get to the big sign on the 401. Julia and I didn't feel so inclined. With their permission, we hopped on to the draft for a while.  

After SAG 1, we got mixed up in a huge pack, and when it was all settled just Ryan, Steve, Julia and I remained.  So we meandered some more, and took this great series of pictures:

 That's better!!

Ryan, the resident American, needed to try poutine.  Don't worry, he shared this plate. 

We made it in to camp mid-afternoon.  

Day 54: a meandering day

Today we rode from Brockville to Cornwall.  Some days on the Sea to Sea are all about efficiency, or arriving at the destination in a good time. 

Some days are not. Day 54 was all about meandering. Big time. 

We stopped shortly outside of Brockville to witness some historical re-enactments.

Then at SAG 1 my cousin Chandra and her family (and in-laws!) showed up with cookies for our troops.  

Not 10 minutes later we rode past some of Julia's family and had to stop again.  Shortly after that some people from Williamsburg CRC were out with treats. Of course we stopped.

A large group of cyclists had turned the distance between rest stops into a time-trial race.  We stopped at SAG 2 to meet up with them and picked up Ryan and Adam, who were officially exhausted after racing.  

We hit the road and then stopped for this gem of a photo.

I think after this we actually rode our bikes for quite a while... Except when we didn't.

Upon arriving in Cornwall we enjoyed a coffee and helped Ryan calculate the times for the race.

And then when we were literally turning into the driveway of camp, Adam twisted our rubber arms and made us go swimming in the St. Lawrence Sea Way.

Our time between camps was almost 7.5 hours.  Our saddle time was 3.5.  The sun was shining, the company was fantastic.  What more could you want?

Some new quotables from the ride.

My new bike name (can't believe it took 8 weeks to get it down): 

the Shannondale

(This evolved from Shannon the Cannon...)

Slogans for team Shulia:

Team Shulia - recover with us

Team Shulia - a touch slower

Oh dear. 

Day 53

Today was probably the first day I woke up feeling done with the Sea to Sea adventure.  Not the biking, but the waking up early (really, people, we are riding 84km), packing my tent, having spiders all over it, chugging my tea and being rushed to eat breakfast and pack a lunch.  It's summer holidays and I'm not loafing!

Fortunately, once we hit the road for Brockville, the feeling went away.  The biking is fun, and the scenery is new every day.  And in my defence, who wouldn't be tired of packing up their bed and "home" every day going on 8 weeks?

Most of the group was stopping in Gananoque for the 1000 islands boat cruise, but Julia and I didn't want to, because we both had people waiting in Brockville.

We kept a fairly decent time and arrived at noon.  

I finally got to see Bestie!!

And for those of you who didn't see it on FB or in person, my dear Nique is the creator of the official "Sea to Sea apron" which she sent to me for my 30th birthday.  So blessed to have such a talented and generous friend.  

How to not wake up hungry at 4:30am.

There is a long list of reasons a Sea to Sea-er might wake up at 4:30am: the desert required it, trains, someone else's tent or sleeping bag zipper, snoring, farting, or chugging a water bottle just before bed time.  But one of the worst ways to wake up at 4:30 is because you are very, very, hungry.

The cooks in our mobile kitchen are accounting for at least 5000 calories of food per cyclist per day.  Not to mention that our metabolism is kicked into high gear right now.  That's a lot of food!

I never thought I'd say it, but I might be getting sick of eating.   Maybe I should qualify: I'm getting sick of eating high calorie food that fills you up quickly like granola bars, cheese strings, bananas and pasta.

So how exactly do we replace the calories we burn, and ensure that we have the energy to ride day after day?

Here's a breakdown.

Breakfast: bowl of cottage cheese, half bagel and orange juice.  

SAG 1: banana, granola bar, cheese string

SAG 2, 3, 4: apple pieces, orange slices and watermelon galore.

Lunch, usually starting at 10am and spread throughout the next few hours: 2 cheese strings, granola bar or two, sandwich with some form of protein, and grapes.

Now you've all seen the many other pictures of donuts, ice cream and more.  

Upon arrival in camp: chug lemonade and eat fritos to replace the salt. There is usually yogurt and granola out for consumption as well.

Of course through this all we are drinking bottle after bottle of water and sometimes electrolytes, especially when it's really hot. 

And supper.  Supper is glorious.  

Why yes, that's two desserts AND chocolate milk you see on my plate.  

After this is gone we have to start the seconds debate.  "I'm full now, but is this enough food to sustain me ALL the way to breakfast, which is 12 hours from now???". Marc, our cycling guru, points out that if you're not sure, you should probably be eating another plate.  

Cycling guru has also warned that it will be Very difficult to stop eating like this upon quitting the Sea to Sea.  I'm probably going to have to learn how to embrace the hungry feeling again in September. And I'll probably have to give up ice cream and donuts again too :(. Gosh, September is going to suck. 

Day 52:

We started the day saying "by for now" to Dad, whom the boys have nic named "the boss."

Today was another day where I really appreciated being on a bike instead of in a car.  I've driven through Prince Edward County countless times, but had never seen it at 27 km an hour.  I was surprised at how spread out the little towns were.  The night before we were encouraged to take a very brief detour to Lake on the Mountain.  I think most of us were a bit disappointed when it wasn't more of a ... Mountain. Either way, we had a fun little run up the hill and enjoyed the incredible beauty of this mysterious lake.

After Lake on the Mountain we rode the Glenora Ferry to cross the Bay of Quinte, a first for me.

We rode the rest of the day without any major happenings into Kingston.  Upon arrival I finally had time before dinner to take my first nap in Canada.  Seeing everyone has been a ton of fun, but this girl was tired right out!!

Day 51: Trenton bound

I was excited to cycle in to Trenton, my other home town.  It was a longer day, but because of the stops, it didn't feel too long. 

We continued our ride along the lakeshore, and loved the scenery all day.  We stopped at Hope Fellowship CRC in Courtice and caught up with some Durham region friends.

Then, these two lovely ladies flagged us down in Bowmanville. And now all my Sea to Sea friends know yet another nic name for me...

Julia and I were unlucky enough to get caught in torrential downpour in Colbourne, just outside of Brighton.  The CRC there had olibolen and ice cream.

I enjoyed a surprise visit from my aunt and uncle upon arriving in Trenton.  

We spent the evening at a BBQ on the bay of Quinte, introducing my out of town friends to Trenton hospitality.  (Thanks Mare :))