Random photos from the entire trip so far!

Me, heading up a hill, on the 110km ride from Nipigon to Terrace Bay




Heading down a hill on the same ride..yippeeee!



This is a monument to Terry Fox, a famous Canadian who had a leg amputated aged 18 due to cancer. He ran a marathon every day from the East coast of Canada to Thunder Bay until he was unable to continue due to his illness. He died aged 23, and Canadians run on this day every year to commemorate his short life and amazing spirit.



Kat and me at the Terry Fox monument. In the background you can make a long peninsula in the bay, known as "The Sleeping Giant" in Ojibwa folklore.



Some camp fire singing just outside of Dorian



Breathtaking views that make all that uphill pedaling worth it!




My cooking squad :Bad Spatch and the Utensils. Cooking up a storm for the group once every 4 days. From left to right, Kat, Jana, me and Zoe



Check out that savvy bicycle mechanic on the left ;-) Seriously, I now know how to fix my brakes and gears when they get temperamental, haven't had any flats yet...touch wood!



A chilly September morning in Atikokan, right before it snowed. Note only the sandwich hand is out of the mitten.



Facilitating a workshop about bananas in the paper mill town of Terrace Bay



Schroeder and Kathleen, fixing bikes for "Bicycles for Humanity" who ship them to Namibia.

Always time for a roadside ditty ;-)



Well it's been a fairly eventful stint since I last wrote. Our elementary school performances were well received and the kids were fascinated by how we got there, where do we sleep, do we repair our own punctures, and "can any of you do the splitz"! Then, for the first of the high school performances we decided to rewrite and re-rehearse the play to make it more relevant to this audience. This entailed a lot of work, but at our premier the kids seemed to be paying attention and laughing in all the right places. I had worried they would just laugh throughout ;-) but apparently we're on the right track!


Thunder Bay has presented us with lots of exciting opportunities, including both running and participating in workshops at Lakehead University. Another highlight was connecting with the group "Bicycles for Humanity". This organization collects bikes that are headed for landfill and repairs them. Mountain bikes are shipped to Namibia en masse, where they are converted into all kinds of trailer bikes and even ambulances for health workers. Road bikes are donated to families living in shelters in the Thunder Bay area. We performed our play for them, before helping with bicycle repair for a few hours...very inspirational.

There is so much more to tell but so little internet access; so maybe I'll have to fill in the gaps (i.e. the beauty of Quetico and Kakabeka Falls) some other time! I hope you're all having a lovely day, ciao for now!

Bring on the hills!

The Otesha Lake Superior Bicycle Tour adventure has begun! We're 2 weeks in and the itinerary has been jam packed with team building stuff, a crash course in bicycle maintenance, learning the play and of course, riding. AND, I learned a new word: "rowdyism"!


Training week took place at Wiens Shared Farm near Winnipeg. This is Liz and Kat and of course the solar powered oven:

We have already cycled from Winnipeg to Steinbach, into Ontario to Falcon Beach, and yesterday to our current stop: Kenora. The country has been beautiful: flat prairie in Manitoba and we just hit rolling hills on the Transcanada 5km before the provincial border.
Our coincidentally all-female-tour-team are getting along marvelously, despite having spent almost every waking hour together for the last 15 days. Today is a day off and of course it is pouring it down, but we don't care since we are all so excited about being able to read, journal and wander about as 14 single units for the day! Much to my delight, co-teamleader Kristen brought her guitar :-) Happy Days. From left to right, tour members: Liz (Ontario), Jess (Newfoundland), Myself and Jana (Saskatchewan):


We are very much still filled with anticipation, as school is starting soon - which means we will be starting our actual outreach. I am truly thankful to all of you for your support of the project and for making this tour a reality. I'll keep you posted on how it goes and what kind of reception the team gets when the real work starts as we roll into school gymnasiums ;-)