What Have We Been Up To?

Hi everyone,  Lucas here!

We apologize that our website and blog have been down for almost a week; on the other hand we are happy and excited that it is back and running again.  Sorry for any inconvenience.

Back to the real news though.  We have been having a terrific time lately, meeting new people, seeing amazing sights and learning new things.   We have been making our way up the Bruce Peninsula for the past 5 days or so, and yesterday we crossed via ferry onto Manitoulin  Island.

We have been very busy through the last week so I will give a quick update on what we have been up to.

View Directions to Manitowaning, Ontario in a larger map

When we last checked in we were staying near Orangeville in a community named Whole Village.

The next day we made our way northwest towards the Beaver Valley.  It was a long hot day of riding but enjoyable nonetheless.  One of the highlights of the day was riding through the fields north of Shelburne and seeing the giant wind turbines soaring majestically among the nature surrounding them.  By the end of the day we were tired and sweaty when we landed in Markdale.  We lucked out and ended up staying at the farm of a lady named Riley who showed us some amazing things about sustainability and the quest to achieve sustainability.  We stayed up late into the night talking and sharing stories which came back to haunt us the next morning when she woke us at 5:30 to teach us how to milk the sheep. Let me tell you it was not easy, though Riley made it look natural.  For breakfast I had some of the milk with fresh eggs we had collected that morning.  Living sustainably has never tasted so delicious.  After loading us down with jars of delicious honey and other preserves, Riley's family sent us on our way.  We were so lucky to stay with them and are so thankful to have been allowed to share their home and their knowledge. 

We proceeded to make our way to Kimberly, down through the beautiful Beaver Valley.  We seemed to soar down and I even found myself applying the brakes quite hard due to the nature of the hills (I am from mountainous BC - so for me to concede that those hills were steep is quite a testimony to the slopes).  When we got to the Kimberley General Store (a local food store recently opened offering healthy, delicious, sustainable options) we were in for another surprise:  Riley and her friend Meagan had joined us on horseback to ride with us for a little while.  It would have made a good photo opportunity I am sure.  We had some frozen treats at the General store, then said farewell to Riley and Meagan and made our way towards Meaford.

We were riding along when suddenly I saw the mailbox of someone I recognized from Katimavik, (a program I was in before this where I lived three months in Collingwood).  We decided to stop in and say hi - and ended up learning a few interesting things about sustainability options in the Beaver Valley area.

We proceeded closer to Meaford where we met up with a friend named Carelyn  (man I hope I have the correct spelling of her name).  She escorted us down to Meaford - one a scorcher of a day.  We stopped frequently it seemed, swimming when we needed to, or picking cherries when we were hungry.  We arrived at sunset at her house - where a large pot of chili was waiting for us.  We couldn't have been happier.  That night Justin, Carelyn and I went down to the waters of Georgian Bay, where we brought her telescope to gaze into the heavens - and talked about that wonderful philosophy that always seems to come up when you stargaze.  Later that night we enjoyed some late night children's books.  The next morning Carelyn took us for a swim in Georgian Bay, a trip to the local market, and some berry picking.  We got rained on a little and slowly but surely our plan to take off to Owen Sound got put off another day.  We once again shared a great night of stories with Carelyn and made a delicious cherry pie with the cherries we picked.

The next morning we rode with Carelyn and said goodbye on the outskirts of town; once again we were left with many delicious preserves.  We all wished she could come along with us, however her pottery business and teaching career is keeping her busy.  So we were finally off west.  We rode on back roads all the way to Owen Sound and stopped at a beautiful waterfall just outside of Owen Sound.

When we got into Owen Sound we stopped at a bike stop to get some repairs and supplies.  We met a man named Carlo who had taken a bike trip across Canada about 6 years ago.  He kindly invited us over to his house for dinner and to stay the night - and we happily accepted.  He shared stories and we ate delicious pickles.  That night Kristi, Justin, Garrett and I enjoyed a walk along the pier.  The next day we were off, saying goodbye to Carlo and his wonderful family.  We made our way north out of town, finally up the peninsula we had been working towards.  Once again, it was a scorching hot day - but we were all happy and other than a few bike problems made great time on a big day.  We made our way up towards Lions Head.  Viera met a couple who offered to let us camp at their cabin up in Hope's Bay.  When we arrived their neighbours were having a family reunion and graciously invited us over for dinner, with the agreement that we would play some music afterwards.  We kindly obliged, though I think we got the much better end of that deal. 

The next morning we worked hard to get to Tobermory.  We stopped for lunch outside of Ferndale at a fabulous bakery.  We were just back on the road when a van pulled up and a man named David offered to let us stay the night in Tobermory at his house.  He toted, some of our gear up there for us and we were left with the open road and a lighter load.  We stopped at an amazing place called the Grotto, where the beach looked like a tropical paradise.  The highlight is walking along the rocky cliffs.  Suddenly Garrett stopped and jumped through a small hole between gigantic rocks.  I overcame my phobia of being underground and followed quickly after.  We came upon a cave with a beautiful clear pool of water in it.  It was the most clear water I had ever seen and under the water you could see light shining through from Georgian Bay.  Apparently you can swim through the hole in the rocks out into the bay but it requires a good amount of breath in the freezing water.  It sounded like the coolest thing ever to me.  And yet, like everyone else I chickened out.  Garrett got some footage of the descent through the rocks so look for it to be posted soon.  That night we arrived at David and Kathy's house and set up the tents.  We talked into the wee hours and listened to music.  I especially admired their lovely guitar collection.

The next morning we woke to rain and piled on the rain gear to make a mad break for the Tobermory Ferry.  We made it with plenty of time to spare and upon arrival met a man named Phillippe, from Montreal, who is on a trip to Regina.  We took the scenic ferry over to Manitoulin Island and ended up riding with Phillippe for the day, until we came to a town named Manitowaning.  Looking for a place to stay we came upon a spot Justin had been researching called the Natural Building Institute.  It is an amazing place where we are currently staying.  It is about as close to a purist sustainability model as one could strive to be, and yet Gino (the organizer) is quick to tell us that purist is not what we are striving for, but to be as sustainable as you can with the local resources you have.  It is an amazing model for what we can achieve - right here in the backyard of Ontario.  The Community is off the grid - so no power.  They pump their own water from a pond they made with natural purifiers of the earth itself, and they grow their own food.  You could put up a fence around this place where nothing outside comes in and I bet it could carry on sustaining itself for a long time.  Garrett will have much more on this lovely place.

Well, my apologies for the novel but I hope you enjoyed it.  We will get back into the habit of updating this every couple days or so, and sorry about all the website problems. 
Please keep reading,  please post replies,  and take care out there wherever you are!

Lucas and the PEDAL Team

Topsy Turvy Tuesday

Lesson of the Day:  Contrary to what might be expected, traveling by bicycle is far from monotonous.

I've always enjoyed my twenty-minute rides across Guelph to go to campus or to run errands, and I really get into the two-hour trip from Guelph to visit my folks, but prior to the tour, I found myself wondering how long full-day rides would stay interesting.  Well, we're only four days into this tour, and I've already learned several times over that bicycle touring holds little to no threat of monotony.

The day started with a happy and heartfelt farewell to the folks at Whole Village as we set off north along undulating dirt roads, the odd car or tractor shuffling by.  Not long passed before we were assimilated into the typical rural southern Ontario network (likely inspired by a plate of hot-cross buns) of county roads and two-lane highways populated by lumbering (but very patient and polite) sixteen-wheelers, too overgrown for their roads.

The day's ride promised to be longer than expected as we reassessed our route, but a picnic lunch in a Shelburne playground structure revitalized us.  As we rode out from the park, Kristi's oh-so-carefully adjusted seat shifted quite suddenly, and her knee began to ache as she tried to find the proper fit again.  My mood was swayed by the state of her knee, as it has been these past few days, but she and I were encouraged by the fact that her knee had remained in good condition for more than twice the distance than previous days.  Proper seat position and strengthening leg muscles are showing great promise!

As the day waned and the sun sunk low, the team grew impatient to reach our final destination for the day, but our welcome was warmer than even the evening air (at 8pm, a thermometer informed me that the temperature was 40 degrees Celsius!).  An acquaintance of ours who lives in Markdale referred us to a nearby family who could put us up for the night.  They've done far more than that; they've heartily fed us from their garden as well!  Turns out they recently moved here from Toronto, and have been enthusiastically working towards self-reliance.  They've eagerly and generously made us quite at home here, and I look forward to exploring the property and getting to know the family a bit better tomorrow before we head on to Thornbury and Meaford!

Good night!  It will be for me!

Whole Village

Had an amazing day yesterday with a mix of daylighting trees atop beautiful rolling hills, picking (and eating :P) strawberries from a huge strawberry patch, and... baling hay! It was going to thunder storm later so a call went out for all hands. Justin and Lucas baled hay till 10pm! So much work, but it almost got all done. Dips in the pond nearby were also greatly enjoyed, as wa smeeting new WWOOFER Ben, a shared supper with everyone in the house, showering in their outdoor solar shower, and catching up on some reading in their amazing library. Were happy we decided to stay an extra day to help out and learn more about this community. After a quick breakfast today were biking to Flesherton (60 km away) to stay with a friend of a friend. It's our expected average mileage, but due to injury we haven't done that many kilometers yet, so it'll be a long ride.

V

Untuk Teman dari Indonesia (dan muhkin Malaysia juga)

Setala Indonesia, setelah malaysia, saya pergi ke thailand, karena pesawat saya pergi dari bangkok. Tapis... banya berbedya, karena saya tidak mengertti sedikit!! Pertama hari, bertemu anita banyak baik. Kami tidak mengertti bersama, tapis dia "bilang" saya ikut, jadi saya ikut ke rumah dia. Rumah ada dan rumah tentara, karena swami, dan dia juga sebelum anak-anak, kerja ada tentara. Kami makan bersama, saya tidur di sana, mandi, dan semuanya tanpa bilang, tanpa kata. Menarik.

Saya pergi ke Nakhon Si Thammarat dan tinggal dengan couchsurfer dari scotland. Menggajar ingris dan sekolah. Saya bertemu banyak teman dia juga, dan setelah, nanti, saya mau juga menggajar ingris di asia. Saya sedikit uang (hanya sedikit karena credit card dan uang saya ada maling di Melaka), tapis bank tidak bisa bermaksud ke uang thai, jadi, untuk 2-3 hari sedikit lapar :P

Setelah Nakhon Si pergi ke Hua Hin. Kota di mana raja tinggal. Tinggal dengan couchsurfer juga, orang tua (retired) dari amerika. Dia bilang cerita interesting: dia bertemu orang tua, umurnya 70, jalan jalan dengan kaki!! kriling dunia. Mulai di amerika serikat dan sudah di Thailand! Wow!! Juga bertemu mahasiswa dari burma banyak baik dan banyak waktu dengan mereka.

Pergi dari Bangkok ke Vancouver Canada. Lebih murah. Tapis banyak jauh ke Toronto, di mana saya butuh pergi. Jadi, menumpang. Lihat ibu untuk ulang tahun dia, lihat teman di Regina (satu pria saya sebelum bertemu dengan menumpang), dan 2 minggu setelah saya di Toronto. 2 minggu untuk sepeda, kemah, etc. Waktu di G20, banyak masalah di Toronto, tapis saya tidak ikut. Bertemu couchsurfer documentary film maker, pergi ke Turkey dan Armenia untuk film documentary, banyak interesting.

Dan... Tour Sepeda Mulai!! Orang baru, Lukas, pergi dengan kami. Siap di satu hari! Saya 1-2 minggu, orang lain 1 tahun :P. Pertama hari Kristi masalah dengan lutut, jadi tidak pergi jauh. Tidur dekat danau. Ada gratis karena ada campground (untuk anak anak pergi di musim panas ketika tidak ada sekolah) tapis sekarang tidak kerja, jadi orang berfikir ada hantu :P. Saya mau lihat hantu, tapi tidak lihat :(. Pergi ke pertama rumah ecovillage. Untuk mandi, air ada panis dari mata hari. Setela toilet, pergi ke tanaman dan tanaman cuci. Punjak sapi dan ayam dan besar kabun! Punya jendala di atap alih alih lampu. Gunakan compost. Tidak gunakan chemical. Banyak sama. Lebih environmental. Kamu bantu dengan kabun satu hari, banyak susa kerja. Orang di sini tinggal bersama, sama keluarga. Di Indonesia muhkin tidak berbeda, tapi untuk Kanada banyak berbeda! Orang tidak mengertti kenapa tidak tinggal sendirian, karena di sini semuanya tinggal sendirian jika bisa.

Hari ini, sepeda lagi.

Makasih! Viera :)

And We're Off!!!

The days preceding the tour were a bit of a scramble. Viera bicycled in from Toronto on July 1st but left a bit late, and was thus caught unprepared (no lights) when it fell dark and she could no longer see the road or be seen by cars. So, amusingly only 5 km away from Guelph! she camped out on the porch of a random office building and biked in at 5am the next morning. Lucas amazingly managed to get all his gear together, including not one but two bikes!, on the day before the tour . Amazing!

July 2nd was celebrated by a pizza party, with homemade pizza made in the homemade cob oven we all helped make at the Onean house (out of cob: clay, straw, and gravel gotten locally from  a nearby construction site and a farm!). Lots of friends came out and it was really fun. A friend Carelynn made us all wonderful gifts: clay PEDAL necklaces she handcrafted herself!

After a morning of last minute packing and organizing and re-fitting bikes (generously helped by Garrett's father), we were ready to go! 20 or so family, friends, and interested strangers came at noon to send us off. Especially meaningful was an intended smudge ceremony (intended because the wind kept blowing it out) and Christian prayer said for our safety :). We did a critical mass/ bike tour around Guelph, with people leaving us along the way. By the time we hit the highway it was just the 5 of us.

It was a nice ride, although we hit a tiny stretch of cycling hell where Lucas' chain inexplicably fell off, Viera's panniers rammed into her tires, and Justin just randomly fell over when he stopped to check out what the trouble was about. All random and all within a 3 meter stretch of road.

After a nice picnic lunch by the lake (kindly packed for us by the Onean house :), we rode to just past Fergus. There Kristi hit some knee trouble, so after some deliberation (mixed with roadside raspberries) we decided to camp where we were for the night. We unpacked all our stuff and staked out a squatted spot for our tent, when Justin and Lucas decided to scout the lake for camping sites. They came back and said they found a great site right by the lake, and best of all it was free! When we asked how they were able to negotiate such a great price, Lucas joked that... it might just come at the price of our lives :P. Apparently we got the site for free because it was a haunted campground. Nevertheless us brave adventurers re-loaded and biked to the site. It was beautiful! We went swimming in the lake, cooked supper over a campfire, Viera explored the abandoned buildings (exploration being one of her favourite activities!) and slept in one of them. Some dog or coyote fights happened during the night, but no ghosts were sighted.

The next day (July 4th) we set out for Whole Village. Kristi was able to fiddle with her bike and find the perfect adjustment so that her knees wouldn't hurt - something that made the whole group very happy. Lunch on the trail was sourdough with foraged clover and vetch (a small purple flower on a bush - much prettier and more delicious than it sounds).

When we arrived at Whole Village that afternoon we were floored with the warm welcome we received. Brenda showed us around and the place is amazing - a fireplace (using old Slavic tradition to build it *cough* shameless Slavic plug *cough*) that circulates the air inside to heat the whole house for 24 hours, geothermal heating, sewage treatment through ponds, rain collection, eating local, and a whole host of inspiring things (to be elaborated on later and in other sections of the site as well). The people we met there were all great, including CSA (community supported agriculture) interns, a WWOOFer (World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), and residents that all bought in to live in this sustainable intentional community.

Philosophical conversations with the residents, some amazing piano playing on the part of Garrett, a house meeting check in, strumming on a ukelele, taking advantage of free long distance to reconnect with family, swimming in a pond, and an amazing dinner rounded off the evening. In a wonderful coincidence, Whole Village is sistered with the eco-village Durika, our end destination in Costa Rica. We decided to stay an extra day to learn more and help more. Feeling full, well rested, free of physical pain, at an inspiring place, and in great company is a great way to round off the second day :).

Viera

Three More Days!

Okay!  Garrett here!

Alright, here's my first-ever stab at blogging ever.  All of us at P.E.D.A.L. will be on here intermittently to share the more personal side of our sustainability searching and sojourns.

So, Wednesday.  Three more days until we leave!  (If you're in the Guelph area on Saturday the 3rd, come on out with your bike to 7 Bagot St at noon for a celebratory ride through Guelph!).

I've just moved all my non-bicycle-touring-related possessions out of Guelph, and the high seas of pre-departure emotion have become a bit more turbid.  I've been riding waves of surprisingly sudden excitement that mount towards quiet giddiness and then plunge into the sadness of leaving loved ones and a supportive community.  The latter moments sometimes turn into little eddies of nostalgia, with sadly sweet memories looping and repeating.

Fortunately, there's an unrelenting assemblage of last-minute tasks to keep me occupied and jostle all of us onwards towards Saturday.  We started planning over a year ago, spending the majority of our "free time" on organizing this project, and we'll still be gam-deep in errands until the final hour!

Most exciting recent development: this past Monday, we finally managed to meet up with Lucas Karn, a very recent Katimavik alumnus who will be joining the P.E.D.A.L. team!  His name suggests that he's a conniving outer space villain (such a cool name!), but in actuality he's a super swell fellow and we're very excited to be teaming up with him.  We've been talking with him for the past while and finally had the opportunity for a face-to-facer.  So, I suppose most challenging recent development: helping Lucas get prepped by Saturday!  Phewsh!

Alrightie, see you Saturday!