Day 21: Biker gangs and a free lunch

Last night after the thunderstorm, a mist crept in over the river and hung in the valley. This morning the world was grey, the mist flowing across the road and blotting out the sun and mountains. It was cool and still when I set off in the mist but by 9.30 the sun has burned through and it was hot and humid as ever and the breeze was picking up.

Previous weekends have been enjoyable because there are more people out and about. On the highway, more people just meant more traffic and I wound my way up and down the hills to my lunch stop in North Bay, obsessively checking my rear view mirror and occasionally skidding into the gravel verge for safety.

Just outside North Bay, a massive gang of bikers came past. There are a lot of bikers in Canada, but this lot went on for miles! People stood by the roadside waving at them and they tooted their horns and made peace signs. I started to cheer up about the weekend.

In North Bay, the main street was closed to traffic and filled with classic cars on show and bikers and pedestrians wandering among them in the sunshine whilst music played on street corners. What a lovely weekend sight! 

I went into a busy cafe and chatted with the couple behind me in the queue, Debbie and Heath, who bought me my lunch! Such kindness towards a total stranger! On my way out of town, a biker called Paul who'd passed me earlier in the day stopped for a chat too, and lots of people gave me waves and smiles. I passed a jogger with a full white beard and sunglasses and we exchanged pleasantries. 

It's not cycling all day that gets me out of bed in the morning. It's the amazing views, the wildlife and the wonderful people. The moose, the bears, the blue jays, skunks and hawks. The Debbies and Heaths, the Jessicas, the Marie-Lynes and Louis's, the Andres, the Jocelynes, the Annas and Kyles, the Adams, and all the other wonderful people who have shared their homes, food and beers with me, chatted to me in cafes or on the road. There are people who have talked to me or cheered me on whose names I don't even know. The lady driving with her kids, who called out the car window "where are you coming from?" and I shouted "I'm riding coast to coast", and the whole family cheered and pumped their fists out the windows as she drove off tooting the horn. I felt a huge smile spread across my face as I waved at them, and Jo Lester's words rang in my ears, 'just remember, the whole of Canada is one big friend!'. Haha, yes it is.

Tonight, I am in Sturgeon Falls on Lake Nipissing. Maybe I will go into town for a beer :)