Day 33: Solo no more

I had 115km to ride today and the forecast was for a headwinds and rain. I had been hoping to have a day off in Thunder Bay to rest my eternally achy body, but that hope was exchanged for another when I finally got in touch with Simon.

Several warmshowers hosts had told me about Simon, a young Swiss bloke, also riding alone and going the same way as me. Then the guest book at Veloution had an entry from him with a link to his blog, so I sent a message. I left Sault Ste Marie two days behind him, but after my epic 145km day, I was only a day behind. He met with Bettina, another solo rider and they rode together. We decided to all meet in Thunder Bay after they'd had a day off there.

Now that I think about it, my feelings of loneliness and the need to hurry along probably came from knowing that companionship was always just 100km down the road - so close and yet so far!

So the thought of a long day today with no day off was bad, but I was excited about meeting the pair and riding with them.

I set off in the partial sunshine with what appeared to be a tailwind... nice. I bumped into 4 other cyclists coming east over the course of the morning. One of them is cycling around the world and has done 13,000km so far!

It was a nice morning - I'd done 50km by 11.30 and was feeling pretty good about my progress. But I knew I'd get into town tired and too late to do chores I'd been saving for the city stop. I was having a waffle in a side road, contemplating my situation when a guy in a pickup truck stopped for a chat. He was heading for Thunder Bay.

"If I asked you for a ride to Thunder Bay, would you give me one?"
"Yeah sure."
I bit my lip, thinking. I'm enjoying the ride but if I get a lift, I get the afternoon off AND I get to ride with Simon and Bettina tomorrow...
"Can I have a ride to Thunder Bay please?"

Greg is a trucker who likes hunting, fishing and sleeping in the backcountry. We had a nice chat and he dropped me on the outskirts of town after covering 50km in 20 minutes.

I rode into town, got my bike serviced and bought things I'd run out of. Then this afternoon I finally met Simon and Bettina! We rode together to Frank and Marcie's house, our warmshowers hosts for the night. After a delicious dinner and a beer, we're heading out for a night of live music - woop!