Day 4 - The city and some rest

miles today: 34 total miles: 209
km today: 54 total km: 346

Today was a very chill partial rest day. This trip has an interesting cadence because these exciting Canadian cities we will visit - Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City - are not really far enough apart to justify full rest days as they are only a few days between them on bicyle. We also wanted to visit friends and family in a couple spots, so to take advantage of the cities, we have planned partial rest days where we can cover some ground in the morning, arrive in enough time to explore the city a bit, eat well, stay in a hotel or AirBnB, and then get a late start the next day. This is also a distinct advantage of having long hours of daylight this time of year!

So, we packed up at the campground, did a round of Yoga stretching, and hit the road feeling refreshed and excited for short kms. Our route for the day was nearly all along the shore of Lake Ontario, through more tawny neighborhoods with lake views, some industrial areas, and loads of bike paths filled with walkers, bikers, dogs - it was a vibrant welcome into a big city. So nice to avoid traffic!

There were a couple of these cool bridges along the way and we were happy to see the CN tower peaking through from one of them, knowing our hotel was nearby.

We even saw our first other loaded bikes of the trip - an older couple with about twice as much gear as us headed to Montreal. We said hello, but startled them when we passed so not much of a conversation….

We pushed the kms and then stopped at a beach for a coffee and a nice dip of our feet in the lake.



Chandra staged a charm offensive at the hotel for the night to get us early check in which meant stowing the bike for the night and getting a shower before venturing out into the city.

Jason had recommended a northern Thai restaurant Pai and we got lunch there - the line was out the door even at 2pm by the time we got there, so we were hungry but the wait was worth it! Honestly, it was the best Thai food I remember having since being in Thailand many years ago!

We ate ourselves into food coma, but ventured out to walk through Kensington Market, Chinatown, the University, and then looking for Old Town with some interesting architecture Chandra was keen to see. We inadvertantly found a super toursitry street (felt like Times Square) and I hit my walking and tourists limit so we returned to the hotel for a quick nap, a little soak in the hot tub, and then contemplated heading out for dinner. Still pretty full from lunch, we decided to check out Radical Road Brewery in the Leslieville Neighborhood that had interesting looking beers and simple Bao snacks. We took the bus (always love checking out public transport in a new city) and even got to see the main building that Chandra had been wanting to see in Old Town before I crashed earlier in the day - that Flatiron building.

Radical Road was a perfect place to have a couple pints and Bao (the Tofu/Enoki Bao was off the handle, and, um, I did try the pork belly just for grins. Honestly, it was not as good as the Tofu!). We played a couple hands of cribbage, and enjoyed being in a neighborhoody part of the city out of the blast radius of downtown. This place had a pretty great sense of humor, naming their New Zealand Pils Business Time (if you know, you know, and if not, this video will start down the deep cut of inside Kiwi jokes).

Awesome day all around! It’s nice to get a few kms combined with rest. We walked alot, but felt good on the legs. We are riding well together, totally loving being out in the world as our little team of two but also riding on the love and support of friends, family, and even strangers. Travel by bike in North America is not a wilderness experience. It’s made possible by the infrastructure and society around us. That’s part of what I love about it though - the combination of focused self-reliance as a team, but also experiencing cities, people, food, and culture. I can’t think of a better way to check out eastern Canada!

We plan to wake up early tomorrow morning to see the Women’s World Cup US-Sweden game, and then laze around for the morning before checking out and jumping on the bike for 120km likely with a headwind. It would be awesome to explore Toronto more - someday!