I woke up early and by 700 my bike was ready to rumble. For breakfast I heated up a can of beans using my portable stove. I've been eating beans for the entire trip and today I was finally sick of it. I started to gag as I was finishing the can. No more beans!
The other biker wasn't getting out of his tent and I was ready to bike out on my own when he came out. His name was Scott and he was 40 something years old. He started his cross Canada trip in March or May and was planning to finish in September in Newfoundland where he had relatives. That's all I really know about him. You can hang out with someone for a day on the road and not know much.
We biked to the next town over where we had food. He got a sandwich and I purchased a bottle of strawberry Kefir. Scott called my bike a souped-up CCM. Simple base CCM with lots of pricey gear on top. He's not wrong.
We bike together to Belleville. Scott was familiar with the area and gave lots of insight. At Belleville we biked together on the road which was busy. At one point I almost was run over by a truck. I was warned by yesterday's bicyclists that the truck drivers in this area are stupid, but I did not know it was to such a degree. I was leading Scott as we were biking and as the truck was passing us he gave us lots of room to our left - about a meter. However, as the truck got ahead it started to move back towards to the edge of the road while only half of the truck had passed us. I was essentially getting squished by the truck. I hit the brakes hard and managed to escape unharmed. Scott told to me that he thought I was screwed. We had lunch at Subway.
Today I noticed my bike making clicking noises in the crank area. Scott mentioned how he had to get his replaced and I was worried mine would lead to trouble as well.
This was my first time in Kingston. The downtown area is very beautiful. I said goodbye to Scott. He was going to stay at the university hostel. I wanted to bike further as I wasn't biking as fast as I could with Scott and wanted to spend the next day on my own. Farewell Scott!
As I was leaving Kingston, a driver pulled up near me and offered staying at his place. I got Ted Bundy vibes and kept biking on myself. A couple of kilometres later I ran over a squirrel. I was biking over 25km/h (I tested my speed 10km prior by biking past road side speedometer) and out of the corner of my eye I saw a squirrel spring diagonally across the road towards me. I saw that its fur was missing in some parts. I only had a second to make my observations and conclusions with no time to stop. My only thought was rabies so I lifted my legs high above the pedals and felt two thumps and never looked back. What are the odds of running over a squirrel on a bike?
At the campground I met a couple of bicyclists from Montreal. It was late and there wasn't much time to talk.
