Across Canada 2014: Day 53: Tough Mudder

Mud Horrific. Day 52

(Danica) What could possibly go wrong. We left Kelly's lovely cottage and decided to trust google as it did a lovely job getting us to Lindsay. (Quiet peaceful fun backroads) So off we go, left, right, past a person on an atv and then the nice road ended presenting us with a Muddy path. This is bike-able so we continued on. Over some rocks, through a few small puddles then BAM we are in the middle of the forest on the worst snowmobile trail ever.... Here are the worst moments:

(Laura) I wouldn't say the worst moment more just the funniest for me. As I was trying to dismount my bike before crossing one of the many lakes across our path, my foot got caught on my bike. I ended up essentially diving/ face planting into the mud/ bushes. Danica rushed per to see if I was ok but at that point I was killing myself laughing at this ridiculous adventure.

(Kelly)

I have two funniest moments. The first was when we had to wade through that pond. It was a literal pond. The bikes were floating. The second was when my back wheel got stuck in a valley. Regina was stuck and wasn't moving. I tried every direction of pulling but nothing was working. I promptly announced to the group that that hole was my new home and they should just go on without me. Luckily Danica, killing herself laughing at me, came back through the mud puddle and we managed to get my bike unstuck.

(Vroni)

For me it was a swirl of emotions. When we started this trail I was so mad at everyone and hated everything. Then I started laughing after the biggest mud puddle ever. My bike was so light because my panniers started floating however the water was up to my bike shorts. When Courtney told us it's another 17 kms at least I thought we will never get out. I can't even describe my emotions because it was ridiculous and scary at the same time.

(Cate)

It was funny how tiny puddles we skirted around on foot at the beginning soon became puddles which we rode right through. It was a game to see who could keep their feet dry for the longest. Eventually we came to a full-on pond which was mid-thigh deep where I gave up all hopes of staying dry. At one point I announced "why bother paying for a tough mudder when you can just load up a touring bike to weigh 80 pounds and then walk/peddle/portage/carry/push it through 20 km of a nasty, muddy, hilly ATV trail." It was definitely tough, muddy and a test both physically and mentally of our strength. We had gone about 13 km (over 3 hours) and reached a map on the trail. I thought we were over half way done, but the map made it seem as if we had only gone 1/3 of the way. I started to worry if we would even make it out by dark or before running to critically low water levels. I decided we needed to let some family know where we were and which direction we were heading in case we needed a search party if we never resurfaced. Fortunately we reached a road after 4 and a half hours of the most intense physical test I've ever been through.

(Courtney)

There was defiantly a moment that I realized we were kind of idiots for not turning around ages earlier. It was when I was wadding through mid thigh deep water floating/carrying my $2000 plus worth of bike and gear, and beside me there were Lilly pads. I'm no expert but I don't think our bikes were made to swim with Lilly pads. Oh well that's where we were and every one kept their spirits high by laughing at the silly situation we'd gotten ourselves into. I guess most of the time your bike carries you but sometimes you have to carry your bike. It's a team thing, you know.

(Danica). Well that's about the synopsis of our adventure. Cross mountain bike off the list (or bingo square). We ended up coming out on a nice gavel road which finally came to cement. Biggest celebration of Ontario! My parents and sister were planning to have dinner with us in Bancroft however I told them we'd be falling short. They came and found us on the cement road with dinner, groceries for the next day, beer, cider, and most importantly congratulatory hugs! We stayed at a highway pullout with a mini lake and shared our most ridiculous story! They almost couldn't tell us apart due to the mud and grit on our bodies. My Dad tried to re-wash (again!) my handlebar bag as it still smells of skunk but the tomato juice this time didn't work again. Oh well try again later! Overall due to their dinner and tent setting up we were in bed by 8 fast asleep. Thanks Family!