Wednesday’s ride was short to accommodate an international border crossing that no-one really knew the timeline for. It’s one of those things that can go very well or quite poorly and as a result it’s been a topic of prayer for quite some time. Well it took more than 6 ferry loads to get everyone across the river but beyond that bottleneck the border crossing was quick and all of the cyclists had been pre-approved to cross and just needed to be cross referenced with a list as we poured over the border.
The reception was great with more than 100 people waiting at the end of the wharf to greet us and then treat us to all sorts of baking, fruit, droppies, peppermints, cupcakes and Tim Hortons coffee and donuts. I passed on the donuts because we still had 60 kms to ride but people were pretty pleased to get their T-H fix. What a crazy addiction…
The rest of the ride was smooth even though we were dealing with a headwind. Jenna Zee, Kincso, Stephanie and myself rolled along together and mostly deafted off Jenna who had announced that morning that she felt like she finally was in good enough shape to begin a cross-continental bike ride.
The greeting in Chatham was great and it seemed like every CRC person in town was out there pitching in to help. I got a ride to go find a clavicle brace to replace the taping job that Melissa had been doing each morning. It’s basically a backwards bra and there have been jokes about my new lingerie catching a bit too much attention from the other boys. I can deal with it though because it makes things stay in the right spot and that’s what counts.
I then caught another ride with Peter Hogetoorp (spelling is 99% certainly wrong) to find a new battery for my cycling computer and on our travels we figured out that he pastored my Dad’s church in Peers Alberta growing up way back in the early 60’s.
Andrew Aukema treated me to his bed in Chatham so I didn’t have to deal with my little tent and could sleep all sprawled out. I soaked my legs in the hot-tub for a bit and also got a play by play of the Olympic triathlon which I never got to watch.