Day 48 Rest Day in Tottenham

First of rest day agenda items:  Shopping.  Almost everything is more expensive in Canada.  Milk is sold in plastic bags, rather than cartons or jugs.  This 4 liter bag, for example, costs C$10.19, or about USD$8.00, in a Canadian discount grocery store, called Sam's No Frills.  Our milk is so much cheaper, and I am thankful!

 

Sam's No Frills policy requires a deposit for a shopping cart similar to Aldi US.  At Sam's the deposit is a Loonie (Canadian dollar).  At Aldi US, the deposit is a quarter.  Just as at Aldi, when the cart is returned and stacked with its partners, your coin is returned.

 

Second item on rest day agenda:  Bicycle maintenance.  Simon, pictured here in the center of the photo, and his wife, Julie, are professional cycling guides in Britain.  They are very kind and generous in assisting other riders on our tour, despite the fact that they are guests, rather than tour employees.  Louis, from Montreal and on the right in the photo, has been having shifting problems, and Simon is volunteering his time to teach Louis what is wrong and help him fix it himself.  We consider Simon our ace mechanic, and we are extremely grateful that he lends his services.  (In thanks, I will therefore honor him with the call sign, Ace.)  Ace is also fun to be around, and you may recall that he was the one behind the repair of my own shifting problems a little over a week ago.)  Since a number of our rest days have been on Sundays when bike shops are closed, the TDC policy has been "fix it yourself, or take an Uber to the next campsite or bicycle shop."  

 

 

Unfortunately, friction has continued between cyclists and the TDC tour director, call sign, DIR.  Although the water rebellion of Day 32, is behind us, strong disagreement continues between the bikers and DIR and his wife.  They both joined the tour in person after Connor, our initial van driver,  announced his departure.  

One point at issue:  Cyclists were told that the tour will not provide sandwich bags for the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches  riders make at breakfast and store in their cycling bags to consume as a snack during the ride, since there are no SAG stops for refreshment provided by the tour.  According to DIR, supplying sandwich bags violates the TDC environmental policy against single use plastic packaging, so riders must purchase and carry their own sandwich bags, use a multi-use container like Tupperware or Rubbermaid, or come up with another idea.  Many Canadians cycle with panniers or other large bags strapped to their bikes, so carrying a plastic container is not necessarily a big issue with them.  However,  carrying so much additional clothing and equipment was never necessary on the many tours I have ridden in the US, and there was no mention in the pre-tour briefings that extra transport space would be needed, so I am without panniers and very limited in the space I do have.

DIR also proclaimed that the tour will not provide paper towels for use in camp.  Doing so is also a violation of their environmental policy.  There seems to be a lot of inconsistency in their environmental policies, because yoghurt, peanut butter, and other foodstuffs purchased by the TDC come in single use plastic containers, and they are thrown out in the trash, rather than separated and placed in recycle containers in the campgrounds.  

There are other issues related to what foodstuffs the tour will purchase for the riders.  For this rest day, I requested saltine crackers, and they were rejected as junk food.  Contrary to the junk food policy on crackers, there are notes on tour maps suggesting  ice cream parlors and bakeries selling junk food as possible rider refueling stops.  I requested Granola cereal for the rest day, and it was rejected.  I was told to put Gorp over regular cereal instead.  What?  We were also refused Raisin Bran cereal, and told instead to take raisins used to make GORP and sprinkle them on Bran Flakes, ie DIY Raisin Bran.  

The constant use of white bread was another issue.  Riders had to complain to get whole grain bread for sandwiches.  What????

Each of these hiccups seems minor, but they happen for many riders and continually add up.  I have only noted some of my own refused requests and omit any other items at issue for other riders, of which, I am told, there are many.  If our rest day is at a campsite far from town, and we are experiencing one of the rainstorms I have noted in this blog, it is difficult to get to a store or a restaurant without calling an Uber or a taxi.

Part of the reason for the many rejections of suggested foodstuffs could be cost, however, 21 riders paid for the tour in full, and the two who quit early in the tour brought consumption costs down nearly 10%.  Other riders dropped out temporarily, for various reasons, so there should have been additional cost savings on food.

There have been discussions on more substantive issues such as safety, but I will not go into them here.

Tomorrow we ride again, departing as late as 08:00, because DIR wants to be sure we do not arrive before the 15:00 check-in time at the next campground.  I hope that it is not going to be another day riding in the 90sF.