Disclaimer: I apologize in advance for the length of this post. However, if you refer back to my original post, I believe I warned you all about this 'narcicistic' endeavor, and as you may know - i do have a tendancy toward verbosity. So without further ado...
On Wednesday we crossed the border by ferry into Canada and were welcomed by a large group of supporters - as well as plenty of tasty Tim Horton's coffee and other delights! Since that time I have been enjoying the company of family and the warmth of a real bed.
I arrived in Chatham and was met by my grandpa. We went back to his place near Ridgetown and had the typical meat, potatoes and vegetable dinner - i hadn't had grandpa's meatballs in quite some time, so this traditional meal was a welcome bit of variety to my normal diet! Then, as tradition would have it, after dinner we went for a crop tour - although I think grandpa recognizes the fact that I intentionally left my agricultural career behind for a reason, and so rather than the more extensive tour that i'm sure my brothers and father would still get, he simply pointed out which of my uncles or cousins owned which plots of land, and we returned to the homestead for a couple cold ones. I always enjoy visiting my grandpa, and was happy that Chatham was a stop on this tour. I did hear a few of the same stories retold again, but no trip to grandpa's is fcomplete without hearing the one about the little old lady in the back of the church who stood up told the pastor that her husband's first wife was perfect.
The next morning (Thursday) grandpa dropped me off back in Chatham and I continued on to London where I stayed with my brother Richard. On the route leading to London, one of the participants of the Canadian Sea-to-Sea tour in '05 organized a 40km time-trial for us. I obvioulsy couldn't back down from a little friendly competition, although i was slightly nervous because my title of the fastest rider on the tour was now on the line, and time-trialing isn't my strongest suit either! Anyway, luckily the rider who I was most concerned about began just in front of me, so i had my sights on him the entire time. I caught up to him about 20k into the race (he started 1 minute ahead), but i couldn't get much of a lead on him after that. he caught back up to me shortly thereafter, and for the last 10 miles of the race we rode side-by-side. This really helped as we pushed one another to keep up the pace. We finished together, and so my victory was secured - my final time was 1hour and 3 minutes (unofficially). This was about as fast as i had hoped for considering the slight head-wind we were riding into. At any rate I was relieved to have endured that effort and retained my title. We then proceeded to ingest several pounds of tasty roast at a nearby CRC church that was hosting us for lunch.
Later that day, upon entering the city of London we were greeted by a group of people from one of the local churches. I was about to blow right by when I heard some one call out my name - it was my cousin Hannah. This was quite a surprise to see her out there, and it was nice to catch up briefly. When I arrived at my brother's place he was "working" outside on the deck, but he quickly put his laptop away and we enjoyed a couple of Mr. Sleeman's finest in the shade of his new gazebo/tent. When Tara came back from work we drove over to the high school where everyone was camped out and picked up my stuff. It's always nice to give friends and family a better picture of our set-up and introduce them to the people we constantly blog about. After chugging some chocolate milk provided by the local church (this is a rare treat, and therefore worth highlighting!) we returned home for dinner, which was awesome and healthy - way to go Tara... and Rich!
I signed out of the tour in London, and printed off some rough maps to guide me on a detour that I had been hoping to take for some time. I went to visit my Uncle Jake and Aunt MaryAnne in the Guelph area - they live close to where I grew up, and our families were quite close when we lived there. I had the chance to pass by my old high school on the way, and I took the same route that I had taken on several occasions when I had biked to school in the past... ah, nostalgia! My cousin Jeremy showed up that evening as well which was nice, and we caught up on our respective life situations and aspirations (isn't it amazing how you can make something so regular sound so much more sophisticated with the right choice of words? ok Reuben, too much coffee!) Right, so the next morning I slept in and had a relaxing coffee with Jake and MarryAnne on their new patio, and finally got on the road after 10am - that's the way every morning should go!
For those of you who worry about my safety on the roads I won't describe in detail the route I took to arrive in St. Catharines, but I will say that I am safe and sound at my Aunt Yolanda and Uncle George's house, and am looking forward to seeing my parents and other relatives this evening.
More interesting and more concise posts to follow...
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