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I made it!!!
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You have NO idea how happy I was when I reached my motel!!!
So I started off from Casino Windsor biking along the Detroit River. With all the stop and go traffic I felt like it took forever to get out of the city. But it was a grand time for important adjustments to be made on my bike before I got out of the city.
Well, first of all, I was trying to figure out how to carry the four bags of cereal I brought along with me. I was wearing my backpack, and initially I had the cereal in a plastic bag hanging from my handlebar. But that just proved to be annoying, as the bag kept swaying around. So I decided to attempt to strap the cereal to the rack I had on the back of my bike with bungee cords. This worked. For a little bit. But still being in the city and riding mostly on sidewalks, every bump had me paranoid that the cereal was just going to fall and I kept looking back to make sure it was okay. Occasionally it was, other times it just kept shifting. So finally I just decided to put the cereal in my backpack. Why didn't I do this from the start? Because believe it or not, cereal is heavy!! I didn't want to put my backpack on the rack for basically the same reason: I'd be paranoid that it was going to fall off. Solution for the future: panniers!!
So yes, this cereal situation was resolved within the first five miles. But soon after I fixed that situation, I decided my seat needed some adjustment. Actually I had been thinking about this for quite awhile, but never got around to changing it. I decided before I set out for the highway, perhaps I'd want my seat adjusted probably. Wow, what a thought!! haha. So I whipped out the handy dandy tools and adjusted the seat slightly lower. Improper seat height can lead to injuries, and I certainly would like to avoid injuries!! But the seat adjustment felt much better, as I no longer had to jump to get on and off the bike. (So that's a slight exaggeration.)
Anyway, I finally made it onto the highway. This was a two lane highway where the speed limit is 80km/hr (50 mph.) Initially I was riding on the right side of the road, like a good law-abiding citizen biker. But soon (as in actually awhile later) I decided to shift to the left side of the road, so I could see cars as they were coming. Personally, in this situation, I would much rather be riding against the flow of traffic so I know when I am about to get hit by a car and die, instead of having it be a complete shock when some car comes up from behind me. Not only that, but being on the left side of the road, I was able to see when a car was approaching me. When I was on the right side, I couldn't continue to check back behind me to see if cars were approaching (or rather, it was annoying), so I ended up riding mostly on the unpaved shoulder. Switching over to the left side, I was able to see oncoming cars and rode on the road and just shifted over to the shoulder when a car approached. Riding on the paved roads was just a much more efficient use of time.
As I was riding, I saw Subway and decided to stop in and refuel. The quarter bag of chex and banana I had five minutes earlier just wasn't doing it for me haha. So the only reason I'm even bothering mentioning Subway is because of a little cultural thing that occurred here. Okay, so it's not really a cultural thing, but do you know what American cheddar cheese is? Because I don't. I asked for provolone cheese on my sub, and the dude was like we only have colby/monterey jack, swiss, cheddar, and white cheddar--American cheddar. I was like what's American cheddar, and he's like "it's white cheddar... Americans call it American cheddar, I dunno." I was like interesting. I have never heard of American cheddar in my life!! I know white cheddar, because I like white cheddar cheez-its. haha. Anyway.
So I got back on the road. It was shortly thereafter that I started noticing something wasn't right with my brakes. Not the brakes themselves, they were working fine, but something else. Somehow it came to be that the brakes were rubbing against the front wheel. I occasionally had the problem on my other bike, but that was because I hadn't properly realigned the front wheel after taking it off and putting it back on. That was not the problem here. Seeing as how I know like absolutely nothing about bike maintenance (which should probably change), there wasn't anything I knew of to do in order to fix this problem. So basically I was riding with the additional resistance of the brakes rubbing against the wheel. How is that for high efficiency? There were like 15-20 miles left, and my legs were getting fatigued, and on top of that, there's added resistance. Of course, the non-paved roads I was riding on most of the time wasn't helping my situation either.
I just wanted to get to Chatham!!!
And it was starting to get dark. And I felt like the further I went, the more snow there was on the ground... a sign I was continuing to travel further north?? Although I really didn't feel the cold too much. I think the temperature was hovering around 35°F all day. The sun was out, so it felt warmer. Temperature really wasn't an issue though. It's just that the snow I saw didn't exactly help me mentally, when all I wanted to do was get to the motel.
I saw the Comfort Inn. I was like let me just stop there, but no, I kept going. I saw Travelodge. I was like let me just stop there, but no, I kept going. I needed to get the the place I was seeking out. I saw Wheels Inn, aww how nostalgic! haha. I went there con mi familia a few times when I was younger. Miles (literally) later, I finally spotted the Super 8 I had been looking for. How relieved I was!!
The Super 8 staff was extremely friendly and nice. There was someone working the front desk, and the owner was also there. After a long day, it was refreshing. I actually think I'm going to put in a good word for them--superb customer service!! You know customer service can make or break an experience, haha.
So yeah, checked in, headed to my room, and called it a night.
Route (Windsor to Chatham): CR-42 / CR-2 / HWY-2
Bike: 52 miles
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