If David Lynch were to make a cycling film - May 22, 2007

hello from St. Thomas, Ontario!

perspective. so much of life is based on the idea of perspective. achievement, expectations, success, failure are all subjective concepts that are flavored with the spice of perspective. when we first started this ride a few weeks ago we were thrilled to ride 60 km on our first day. we were excited and proud to have traveled so far under our own stream. fast-forward a few hundred miles on the road and things are a bit different.

we had both hoped that a day of rest would be a panacea for Andrews' nasty cold, but the reality of the human immune system stepped in and reminded us that, despite having cool plans - colds take as long as they like to leave the body. Andrew woke up today saying that he in fact felt worse then he had the day previous. in the wee hours we debated what to do, take another rest day, ride for a short while, who knows what.

explaining that it felt just as bad to lie down as it did to ride the decision was made to try and cover some miles. as we saddled up and pushed off I asked Andrew what his game plan was. he looked at me with the doe eyes of a patient that was more suited for the infirmary than the open road and responded, "all I am going to do is follow you and just keep pedaling no matter what."

and that's just what he did. we started slow at first but every time I looked over my shoulder he was right there in my wind shadow. with every passing mile I turned up the volume and my haggard companion matched me pedal stroke for stroke. soon enough we were riding faster than we have ever gone! as the side roads flicked by ever faster and the cars passed us slower and slower I could tell that we were really moving.

the kilometers fell by the wayside and before we knew it 50 km were behind us. I was gobsmacked, somehow Andrew was finding energy from some hidden reserve, maybe it was a day of rest, maybe it was accumulated fitness, but maybe it was something harder to define - heart. sometimes you have to dig deep, deep enough to reveal what you are really made of. that's what Andrew did today. by the time we got to St. Thomas 80 km from where we started, he was shattered - but he did it. we had averaged about 25 km/hr and rode the distance in just over 4 hrs including a lunch break. for a guy that looked pretty close to death this morning - that's pretty impressive!

on a very different note I have to attempt to describe the restaurant that we had dinner in tonight. first you have to realize that St. Thomas is a pretty grim little town - dirty, way too industrial and badly in need of a good wash. so in the hotel there is a place to eat, our hopes were not high. I thought it was going to be yet another in the long line of club sandwiches, white lettuce, fries with everything sort of place.

whoa, was I wrong! it's a Moroccan, middle eastern vegetarian / Canadian cuisine mash-up. the decor was priceless, in the corner was a fake electric fireplace that was pointed out as a feature by our waiter. not too subtle watercolors of nude women adorned the walls, Greek god lounging chairs were interspersed throughout the dining room between the institutional tables and 70's sports lounge lazy chairs. somehow the waiter mentioned that he was about to enter the army, when Andrew showed the most basic of interest, the kid just went off the deep end and spent the next 30 min telling us all about the Canadian army and all of the equipment it uses, it's relationship with NORAD, Australian battlefield tactics, the manufacturing sites for Canadian jets, the on ice supremacy of the Ottawa Senators Hockey Team and the difficulty of receiving the Victoria Cross in battlefield conditions... and then they got the Karaoke set going. with only us eating it was up to the staff to get the party started. it's bad enough to hear a tone deaf rendition of Pretty Woman - but did we need it twice in a row? it was like being in a David Lynch film - utterly bizarre yet strangely captivating....

back on the bike tomorrow - Windsor, the town I was born in and the end of my ride is just down the way, well like 150 km down the way, but you never know?????

~Scott