Fellow Cross Canaders

Something that I've learnt over the last couple of weeks is that there is a community of other cross canada cyclists that you will meet or pass on the journey. These are people who are doing some form of the same trip that I am.

The first that I met was a guy called Martine who stopped and hailed me down when I was about 40km's away from espanola. He had a somehwat grizzled but happy way about him and was full of details about general info to do with camping, bears, road conditions, his own start and finish destinations. he had been a departmental manager in a big store in Quebec and gave up his job to set off from Vancouver about a month before. He told me about making sure to put anything i owned that was sweet (including things like toothpaste and suncream) at least a 100feet away from my tent when camping. He had done so but had woken one morning to go and retrieve his gear to find his bag wripped to shreds by something during the night. Even his suncream had been consumed...a sober story told with an amusing laugh...one that made me re think the prospect of camping for the next few days....

Another guy was Ben who came up to me when I was sitting outside a Tim Hortons in Sudbury and just started talking to me and asking what my trip involved. Interestingly I was feeling pretty uninspired at this moment and he was full of friendship and comradeship when I told him i was going east to west....most go west to east to take advantage of the prevailing winds...he had done same trip east to west 2 or so years before on a mountain bike and had done it in 31 days!!! He worked as a mountain bike/outdoor guide and was just so positive that it left me feeling re-invigorated again....I was blown away by the fact he aimed to do 160kms per day as a minimum and would often camp in peoples gardens having knocked on their doors to check it was ok.....It made me think about inspiration and how it often has come unexpectedly when I most need it....

Others I have met include a guy called Paul (who was going my way and we rode together for the morning), Matt and Dean I met near terrace bay (both from vancoover) and 3 girls I past on the way round from sault Ste Marie.

All the time poeple are friendly, share information of what is coming up in both directions and a little about their story of why they are doing it! In fact before I got into the swing of these chance 15 minute meetings I would feel guilty for not having passed on anything that I might know but having my map handy now helps for me to exchange what I know and feel like good about sharing what is known out there....

....the other thing (and this relates to inspiration) is that everyone is happy for everyone else and encouraging of them achieving what they have set out to achieve and also that people inspire people who inspire other people in sharing backgrounds...its liked we are all amped for everyone and you are part of an immediate bonded club.....congratulations, good luck, best wishes and watch out for the bears!!!