For today's 134km ride from Sault Ste Marie to Blind River I enjoyed great weather, but did hit 20km of atrocious road conditions that put a lot of stress on Gracie and had my joints barking. I've ridden over pre-repaved asphalt on this trip already, but never over such a long continuous distance.
With cheese grater road surface and loose gravel shoulder, I picked the lesser of two evils and rode in the traffic lane, darting over onto the shoulder when vehicles squeezed me over.
Whenever I have to ride in the traffic lane because of a loose shoulder, I constantly check my rear view mirror to see if cars are getting ready to move over to accommodate me. If I can't see them moving over well in advance, I don't wait to make sure, I just move onto the shoulder and try not to fishtail into the ditch until the vehicle passes. It makes for slow riding, and today was even more of a challenge with both the shoulder and the road surface being so poor for a long stretch.
However, aside from the aforementioned 20km stretch, I had a good rhythm for today's ride. I didn't have the cold breeze off Lake Superior, and the terrain started to flatten out and become less rocky. On the whole, a good day on the road.
Bumpy ride
On the road from the Soo
Kickin' it, old school
Road into Blind River
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