Many years ago, my good friend Tom St. Amand and I set off from Sarnia to cycle to Ottawa. That was the first adventure fund-raiser for Big Brothers (prior to the agency amalgamating with Big Sisters) that started a new way to both raise funds for the agency while engaging the Sarnia community. Any good fund-raiser should do both, raise money and awareness of the cause. This first initiative set a couple of rules about these events. First, while we are challenging ourselves lets raise funds for a charity and every dollar donated mudst go directly to the agency with nothing diverted to cover any of our expenses. The fact that Tom and I agreed to cover all of our expenses I believe resonated with people and we were very pleased with the community response to our challenge. To keep our expenses to a minimum we mapped out our route to Ottawa and then looked to find people we knew along the way that would agree to feed us dinner, give us a place to sleep and breakfast before sending us on our way. In places where we didn’t know anyone we reached out to Rotary Clubs to ask a member to host us. In this way, we made it from Sarnia to Ottawa without needing to carry a lot of gear and without a significant cost. The only problem with our plan, hosts were so generous with the meals they served us I think we both gained weight.
From this initial event, we went on to cycle from the Minnesota border back to Sarnia the following year and then the overseas trips started including climbing Kilimanjaro, treks to basecamp on Everest, hiking Patagonia and finally cycling across Canada in two segments. Victoria B.C. back to Ontario in 2022 and now the final leg from Ontario to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Anyway, the reason I thought back to this ride with Tom was the fact that I just discovered that the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail that Tom and I road between Burlington and Kingston on that trip so many years ago exists along three of the Great Lakes. I don’t have to ride exclusively on the Trans-Canada but can travel off that major busy highway onto back country roads and trails that run from Sault Ste. Marie to Sudbury. It doesn’t eliminate the Trans-Canada but it does provide a much needed break from the highway and the traffic.
Today I set off from the Lakeside Campground in Thessalon on the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail. It follows the main road, highway 17B, out of town, crosses the Trans-Canada and heads back along highway 129. Not more than 4-5 km up highway 129 the trail turns onto a side road heading parallel to the Trans-Canada. The road is asphalt but eventually turns to gravel and over the course of the ride from here to Blind River it continues to alternate between the two surfaces. The worst are the sections of gravel that have developed ridges every few inches that shook both bike and rider. The signage for the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail is great and there is very little traffic, in fact I don’t think I saw more than a dozen vehicles the whole way. The scenery is also great. One of the nice things about cycling, especially on back roads is allowing yourself to just slow down and really appreciate your surroundings.
The Rotary Ride for Kids 
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