A Mother's Day Head Wind

To London, Ontario -- 65.1 miles, 10.5 mph, 1650 ft

Arrgh. Today was a beautiful day, at least it would have been had I been looking around instead of trying to keep moving forward and in a straight line against the headwind. It was a pain in the butt, and I mean that literally. The card we gave Meg this morning for Mother’s Day wished her a “happy and restful day.” Not much chance of that.

On the plus side, the day was dry and there was a good amount of sunshine. Michael, encouraged by the sunny weather, decided to ride along with us the first 20k or so to Brantford. Good thing he was a patient man as we needed to pick up some supplies at a grocery store before heading out. As much as we prefer to stop at a diner for lunch, we never know how far or fast we’ll go. One thing’s for sure, though, if we get too hungry, we don't get very far at all. It was great to have Michael along, and Dex and Kylie regaled him with stories of our adventures in Africa along the way.

Despite the sunny skies, the headwind continued through the morning. Because we knew it would be a longer day, we settled on Woodstock for lunch as there were plenty of choices there, plus it was about two thirds of the total 66 miles to London, so we’d at least have the lion’s share done by that point. That's not to say we didn't eat along the way. Cookies, pop tarts, cheese and hard candies sustained us. Google showed our arrival time at 1:15, when we first mapped our lunch stop. It was a little disheartening, however, that the longer we rode, the later our arrival time became! The headwind and rolling terrain werr taking their toll. Our route would alternate west for a while, then north, then west some more. No matter the direction, the wind was against us forcing our speed below ten.

Cable repair

At 2:30 we arrived at McDonald’s. There were other choices, but they were farther into town, and we wanted nothing more than to get inside and sit. So, we happily parked the bikes, ordered, and collapsed into a booth.

The rest of the day was an arrow straight line due west along highway 2 to London. Three hours of slow relentless pedaling along the narrow shoulder of the highway. I'm sure there were more scenic routes, but nothing was more direct to the London Best Western.

As it was Mother's Day, Meg got to choose the dinner spot. She was awfully tempted to call in a meal and stay in the room. In the end though, we decided to Uber it to a Vietnamese restaurant a few miles away. We hardly had room on the table for all the plates. Perhaps the ride tomorrow will provide a bit more of the promised “rest.”