A Newbie Circles Lake Erie A ride around Lake Erie clockwise from my doorstep in London Ontario and back again. 1,359 km (845 miles) over 11 days from July 7, 2007 to July 17, 2007 Terry Payne A Newbie Circles Lake Erie Table of Contents Introduction....................................................................................................................................... 1 Equipment list ................................................................................................................................... 4 London to Selkirk Provincial Park ...................................................................................................... 6 Selkirk Provincial Park to Fort Erie, Ontario ...................................................................................... 8 Fort Erie to Lake Erie State Park, N.Y. ............................................................................................. 10 Lake Erie State Park to Lake City Pa................................................................................................ 12 Lake City to Geneva, Ohio............................................................................................................... 14 Geneva State Park to Stanford House Hostel, Cuyahoga Valley National Forest,............................ 16 Rest day in the Cuyahoga Valley..................................................................................................... 19 Stanford House to Sandusky, Ohio .................................................................................................. 22 Sandusky to Monroe, Michigan Sterling State Park ......................................................................... 24 Sterling State Park to Wheatly, Ontario........................................................................................... 26 Wheatley to London ........................................................................................................................ 28 Last Thoughts.................................................................................................................................. 29 Introduction I'm writing this nine months after my tour and so far I'm finding it more intimidating than the actual ride. For a computer troglodyte this is a daunting task. I'm now realizing just how much work people put into these things. I guess it gets easier as time goes by. I have been wanting to ride a bicycle across Canada for years so I figured that it was about time I started somewhere. During the winter of 2007 I started looking at maps of the area around where I live for places to ride. I finally hit on the totally unheard of idea of riding a bike all the way around Lake Erie. What a novel idea. I bet nobody has ever done THAT before! Then I stumbled on the internet and found many many accounts and journals of everybody, their grandmothers and family dogs who have done it. So much for pioneering. It was still a pretty big thing to contemplate for me though. I even found out that another guy from my home town of London, Ontario had done the exact same trip (more or less). I read Jamie Noble's journal on crazyguyonbike and saw that you don't have to be a world class athlete to do this (no offense Jamie). My name is Terry Payne. I'm 47 and in reasonably decent shape.I started telling people about my plans and got different reactions from "Are you crazy?" to "I wish I could do that". After telling enough people I realized that there was no backing out so now it was time to plan. A lot of time was spent on my home computer looking into bicycle touring logistics ie: equipment, bike,camping,food etc. etc. I kept it simple (too simple at times) and got my route information from google maps. All I took in the way of maps were 3 or 4 pages of maps printed off the computer. I forgot to even take a regular road map. God looks after drunks and small children. I'm just not sure where I fit in. I just thought that I'd get to the water and pretty much keep it in sight all around the lake. How hard could that be?...right? I did buy and read Harvey Botzmans book on cycling around Lake Erie. I copied out the sections on getting through Buffalo and Detroit. A Newbie Circles Lake Erie by Terry Payne - Page 1 Introduction I was in an outdoor store in London and came across this cool thing called a Hennessey Hammock. It was really light (under 2 lbs), had a built in mosquito net, a rain fly,was apparently easy and fast to set up and was supposed to be comfortable to sleep in. I checked it out on the Net and found out that it was loved by many. I later found that Jamie Noble used the same thing on his ride with great success .That was out of the way. Now I had to buy a bike. I bought a Devinci Caribou II touring bike at Champion Cycles in London. After it was outfitted with racks etc. I was ready to train. The rest of the preparations were pretty straight forward (camping equip. etc). Time to ride. I found that doing the spin classes at Goodlife Fitness in London 2 or 3 times a week and taking long rides on the weekends got me in what I thought was good shape for the trip. I gradually worked my way up to 125km rides on Sundays. I printed off route maps from The London Cycling Club website to follow. Thanks folks. Some day I'll join up. The last 2 weeks I did the rides with fully loaded panniers (about 50 lbs) and averaged 20 to 25 kmph. I was ready! I made a final discovery on the internet before I left. I found a youth hostel south of Cleveland in the Cuyahoga Valley. It looked great so I booked a room for 2 nights as part of a rest day. That meant that I would have to be there. A reason to push on no matter what. The other nights I would just camp where I ended up... hopefully in a campground. If not I'd sleep in a field or in the woods if I could find some. It was time to go. The months of planning went by quickly. I still think that the planning is half the fun. I won't say I wasn't nervous the day before but off I went. I'll do the daily pages of this account in the present tense in an attempt to relive the experience. Corny I guess but there it is. A Newbie Circles Lake Erie by Terry Payne - Page 2 Introduction Oh yeah. I'll apologize now. I forgot to take a camera. Can you believe that? My wife Joanne and I drove the other way around the lake a month later. We visited the hostel for a night and spent some time in Cleveland. I'll add some pictures from then which correspond to my trip. Not all though since the camera quit on us. Man I thought computers were tough... but digital cameras A Newbie Circles Lake Erie by Terry Payne - Page 3 Equipment list I found that other peoples equipment lists helped me. They were a place to start when I had no idea. Right Front Pannier Hammock,over sized fly/tarp (for hiding/covering bike etc.), 2 S-hooks, 2 screw in hooks (all for alternative hanging of hammock if no trees can be found ie. baseball backstop or abandoned barn), 2 bungie cords,rope, cord, chain lube,cable ties,duct tape,a few nuts & bolts, i-pod & cell phone chargers Right Rear 2 small hikers pots, cup, MSR Dragonfly stove & fuel, rain jacket, leg warmers, Tigers baseball cap,insect spray & afterbite, sun screen, first aid kit, food (instant oatmeal,rice,pasta,protein powder,4 packs instant hot chocolate, tea bags,salt, pepper, almonds, olive oil, saffron, Gatorade powder, granola bars), cable lock, rear & front light (nothing fancy since I won't ride at night - more for rain riding), basic maps, journal & pen, book Left Front sleeping bag (10 degree C), small camp pillow (forget the rolled up jacket-pretend I'm at the Ritz),toiletries bag,needle & thread,laundry soap, Vice grips(used for everything from hammering in tent pegs to bike repairs), bag liner, toilet paper Left Rear clothes(2-bike shorts-not crotch hugger type but almost look like dress shorts, 3-synthetic shirts , 3 pairs socks,nylon cotton lined track pants, long sleeved cotton shirt, 1-cotton tee shirt(sleeping),bathing suit), insulated sleeping pad(car windshield cover), mini umbrella, bike multi tool, pump, presta tube adaptor, camp towel, wash/dish cloth, freezer bags, patch kit, tire levers, spare tube, small radio( for listening to music/baseball games in camp), small A Newbie Circles Lake Erie by Terry Payne - Page 4 Equipment list cheap garden solar light(cut down-it charges while tied to rear rack during the day), running shoes - most of the things are packed in separate plastic bags to save space and stay dry Handle bar bag watch/with alarm, swiss army knife,head lamp(for reading in sleeping bag and around camp at night), tooth picks,I.D./money holder, i pod,cell phone, camera(forgot don't get me started), change holder, camp eating utensils, thermometer/compass (hanging), multivitamins, various meds(asthma, ibuprofen,anti histimines,Visine), Bic lighter 3- 1 liter water bottles in holders bike gloves, sun glasses, helmet, bike computer (speed etc.) Approx. 50 lbs A Newbie Circles Lake Erie by Terry Payne - Page 5 London to Selkirk Provincial Park 135 km (84 miles) - of total 135 km (84 miles) - on Saturday July 7, 2007 I packed up the night before and got to bed at a good time and actually slept. I left at 7:10 AM and made great time. What a feeling. I'm really doing this! A beautiful sunny morning with a slight tailwind for my start. What more could I ask? I rode all back roads which I have trained on at one time or another and made it to Delhi in 3 hrs where I took a 1/2 hr rest in a park beside a little waterfall. Delhi is in the middle of the Ontario tobacco belt (or former tobacco belt) and is a town going through some big changes due to tobacco production decreasing so rapidly. I adjusted the gears on the bike which were acting up a little. They sometimes shifted on their own at the worst of times (usually while I was standing and climbing making me fear emasculation).