Time: 4h13m06s
Distance: 125.04km
Avg Spd: 29.64km/hr
Climbing: ??
We woke up today to a storm warning, and lightening flashing in the distance. This is the scene during breakfast this morning... the sun is up, no rain yet, but dark, ominous clouds were everywhere.
Around 7am, the skies opened up again, and unleashed torrents of water on us. Thankfully I don't usually leave camp until 7:30-8am, so we were able to take refuge in the school for an hour, waiting for things to lighten up. The rain certainly didn't stop, but it did ease up around 8am, so we hit the road. The toughest thing mentally is to start a ride in the rain - it's like jumping into a cold lake: you just need to make the plunge. Same thing this morning. Once you're all geared up, all that's left to do is get wet.
And so we did. We rode our first 45km in the rain, then after it stopped, we rode in the leftover slop and road grime. By the time we reached Marine City, the rain had stopped, but we had a bit of headwind and the skies were clear-ish. The beautiful, blue St Claire River met us, and we sat in a little cafe while we waited for the rest of the riders to arrive for our ferry crossing.
Fifty people was the limit on the ferry, so we took over two trips to get across, plus the semi trucks. It was only cyclists on my crossing...
Immediately after we crossed through customs, the people of Sarnia had a big spread of cookies, coffee and watermelon for us in the adjacent park. The route into the school was also well marked with balloons and bright red and white signs.
Then when we showed up at the Christian School, the gym was all decked out in red and white Canada colors and the locals church prepared an epic meal of pork chops, potatoes and beans, not to mention a dessert table that blew my mind.
Tonight we're crashing at Karel's parents' place about ten minutes from the school. We had hot showers, Wi-Fi, laundry and real beds with sheets! Big thanks to Mr & Mrs Van Klaveren for hosting us guys tonight...
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