Day 37 Nipigon, Ontario to Terrace Bay, Ontario

 

68 miles, 3,860 ft ascent

Today started in fog.  I rode the first 15 miles without glasses, as the fog coated the lenses with water droplets, rendering them useless.  You can see the fog here at the Nipigon River Bridge.

 

 

Much of the day we rode close to the shore of Lake Superior.  This shot was taken early in the morning.

We knew that there would be several long Canadian Shield climbs on today's route.  The most severe of them began at this turn.

 

At the summit of that climb, we could see the descent to come as illustrated in the picture below.  Because we ride on the shoulder, we ride an obstacle course avoiding the rocks.

This view is looking out from the Rossport Harbour Marina to the body of Lake Superior.

 

We stopped here at the Marina.  Note:  There is no sandy beach.  The shore is river rock.

This was our first day riding long Canadian Shield climbs.  Surprisingly today's climbing was less stressful than climbing passes in the Rocky Mountains.  We will see what the future days between here and Sault St. Marie bring.  

The air temperature by the lake is more than 15F colder than further away from the lake.  Cyclist heated up on the long climbs and got cold on the downhills and riding close by Lake Superior. They were shedding a layer of clothing for the climbs and putting the layer back on when descending or when near the lake.  I rode wearing a compression jersey under my cycling jersey.  I was comfortable enough in those two layers that I did not have to add and subtract clothing like many of the others did.  

I will need warmer clothing tomorrow, however.  It predicted to be in the 40sF at 07:00, and the high is to be 61F with rain again in the forecast.  Tomorrow we reach the midpoint of our tour, and we are having a "Half-way Lunch" in Marathon.  You may recognize the name Marathon from the paper towel industry.

The latest challenge:  This morning at 02:00 my air mattress went flat.  Of course I did not sleep well after that.  I used ShoeGoo to repair a damaged seam today in order to get quality sleep tonight.  Many campsites are gravel.  It is imperative to be elevated on the air mattress in order to stay dry when it rains, and to sleep comfortably on the rocks below the tent.  Hope the ShoeGoo holds!  Come visit again to see if it does!