Tom and Marna's Bike Blog (Posts about Leg 4)

Leg 4, Ride 6: Kitchener to Brampton

Tom Walsh — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 22:25:34 GMT

Today was a bit of a challenge, a little over 60 miles with a decent amount of hills.

We started early, because we knew that thunderstorms would be coming through the region at some point, and we wanted to work our way out of empty farmland before that happened.

Our first 30 or so miles was mostly farmland again. We also passed through the city of Guelph on this stretch. Guelph looks much older than the other cities we've been to in the region. But, we didn't stick around to learn why because we wanted to keep moving while the weather was still clear.

Leg 4, Interlude 2: Kitchener/Waterloo

Tom Walsh — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:40:43 GMT

Today was a rest day in the twin cities of Kitchener and Waterloo. Kitchener is the hometown of my illustrious half-sister Sharyn. Waterloo is where the vampires hang out.

There's a decent amount of attractions here, but most of them are closed on Mondays. So, we scrambled to get into town early yesterday, so we could go to "THEMUSEUM". This is kinda aimed at kids, but there are a number of fun/cool interactive exhibits here that adults can enjoy.

Sharyn recommended a German social club for dinner. This would have fit in with our earlier visits to a Wisconsin supper club, and an Italian social club. But alas, they are closed on Sundays and Mondays. So, we found a Serbian restaurant that specialized in schnitzel instead. We had the schnitzel. It was pretty good.

Leg 4, Ride 5: Woodstock to Kitchener

Tom Walsh — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 19:56:04 GMT

We got an early start today, because we wanted to get to Kitchener before some places of interest closed for the day. Although we have a day off here tomorrow, most of the attractions are closed on Monday. So, we wanted to make sure we arrived on the early side.

I decided it was finally time to ditch my 1980s satin NBC jacket. This served me pretty well! It was nice and lightweight, and it took the edge off the cold evenings during the early parts of the trip. But, I haven't needed it in the last couple of weeks, so it's gone. RIP.

Leg 4, Ride 4: London to Woodstock

Tom Walsh — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 23:32:38 GMT

I had a tough time getting excited to ride this morning for some reason. I think our double rest day kinda worked against me this morning, psychologically. I wasn't dreading the ride, just wasn't looking forward to it.

Once we started pedaling, however, that changed. Today was another beautiful day. Last night, the forecast called for rain during the ride, but the radar showed the incoming rainclouds just kinda disappearing at the Michigan/Ontario border. I think rain has been holding off because I bought a new raincoat back in Ann Arbor.

Today was a very short, easy day. 30 miles with the wind at our backs. We started on riverside paths through parks, then transitioned to roads. The roads were largely decent rides, because of the lack of traffic. Only the last couple of miles into Woodstock had a significant amount of cars.

Leg 4, Interlude 1: London

Tom Walsh — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 01:50:37 GMT

We had two days off here in London. We did this because we wanted to be conservative and give ourselves time to recover from any injuries/soreness/weakness from our long ride into town on Wednesday. As it turned out, we didn't really need two days, as our legs coped with the ride pretty well, and our ride tomorrow is quite short.

Leg 4, Ride 3: Chatham to London

Tom Walsh — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 23:41:15 GMT

Well, we made it!

Today had been sorta looming ominously on the calendar for a while. Today's ride is the longest of the entire trip, by a decent margin: 76 miles. On a loaded touring bike, that's a lot! At least it is for us.

This was also the most rural/remote ride of the entire trip. There were exactly two settlements on our entire journey: a small village (Glencoe) at mile 40, and a tiny village (Delaware) at mile 60. Any injuries or mechanical problems would have been a Very Bad Thing today.

Leg 4, Ride 2: Windsor to Chatham

Tom Walsh — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 01:24:47 GMT

Not a ton to report today. Another beautiful day -- low 70s and sunny.

The ride itself was only okay. Today is the flattest day of the entire trip, but we didn't actually make very good time because of a lot of detours and a headwind that picked up over the last 20 miles. A lot of the ride was on roads with no paved shoulder. But, in general, drivers are much better here than in Michigan, and they leave plenty of space when passing.

One annoyance about my setup is that one of my bags doesn't properly interface with my rack. The rack gets in the way of the bag's locking mechanism, and so the bag can't fully clamp on as designed. This has almost never been a problem in the past. On previous tours, the bag would come unhooked due to a bump maybe once or twice per week, tops

However, in Michigan, most trails did not have smooth transitions at intersections. Instead, there would be a concrete piece with a groove in it (presumably for water drainage). Something about the shape of that groove causes my bag to come loose multiple times per day. So, in that sense, I was happy to no longer be riding in Michigan. Bad news! Ontario (at least this part of Ontario) uses the same system.

Leg 4, "Ride" 1: Detroit to Windsor

Tom Walsh — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:56:20 GMT

A grueling ride today! Seven whole miles (at least 1 of which was walking).

We crossed over into Canada around 10am (more on this below!), and spent the remainder of the morning at a laundromat a couple miles south of downtown.

For lunch, we went to an awesome/ridiculous Italian social club. A big tacky building with a big tacky fountain/statue out front. They had a pizza bar in their basement which is open to the general public, and the pizza was really good!