London (Ontario). Must make Zippy a bit homesick for England, just by the sound of it. There were many other English place names: Wanstead, Warwick, Hyde Park, Sherwood Forest, Trafalgar Heights and more. It was even overcast and drizzly, to make him really feel like he never left England. But this really was Canada. Now they have to deal with Loonies and Toonies for two days. OK, I'll tell you, if don't know. The Loonie is the picture on the Canadian dollar bill, as in Common Loon. Toonies are two Loonies.
Before telling you about the crossing over the Blue Water Bridge, I just learned something very funny from Ian, one of Terry's boyhood friends in England. Zippy was a character in a children's program, somewhat like Sesame Street. This Zippy was loud and domineering, but usually very funny (albeit not to the other characters in the show). He was actually a rugby ball, with a body attached. His mouth was a zip, and when he became too bossy or irritating, this would be zipped shut to prevent him from continuing. On at least one occasion, he unzipped himself, though he appeared unable to do so on other occasions. Totally different circumstances, but the end result seems to be the same. LOL!!!
Last night's preparation for the bridge crossing was quite strict. According to Steve, it went like this: "The Handlers are nervous as cats. .....The bridge is the second busiest transportation artery between the United States and Canada. Accordingly, they close the highway! Nobody is going to Canada on the second busiest transportation artery between the United States and Canada until this little group meanders across. Upon penalty of death there will be no stopping for pictures (this bunch takes a LOT of pictures, this rule will be impossible), we will smile at the Canadian authorities, we will speak when spoken to and at no other time. Tonight’s briefing sounded a lot like going somewhere with my parents." Mike also warned that anyone late to the departure in the morning will be left behind!!
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| Mike Giving Instructions At A RAP Meeting |
After a night of thunderstorms and lightening and pouring rain until 15 minutes before the departure time, the actual crossing seemed to go very well. The entire ABB peloton was positioned at the hotel at 6:45 am. An escort car drove up with lights flashing and worked out the final details with Mike about which lane to ride in, which toll gate to pass through, and where to go on the Canadian side to get to Customs. They will have both lanes of Canadian inbound traffic closed before the bridge and it won't be re-opened until they're across. Mike informed the group that he will be in the lead SAG van with the rear door open to keep tabs (and take photos). Jeff, another handler, will be the lead cyclist. The rest of the instructions were: " No one was allowed to get in front of Jeff. There are two large expansion joints on the bridge--one on the uphill and one on the downhill. You can't ride over them--they'll swallow bike tires. You must dismount and walk over them. Remember, the road is wet . Don't stop, don't look around, don't think about anything else but following Jeff over the bridge."
Dutifully, the riders followed. Zippy was towards the front. The Bridge was, of course, totally empty. Up they went, dismount, over the expansion joint, remount, down they go, dismount, over the expansion joint, remount, and off the bridge at the first exit. Then comes getting through Customs/Passport Control. The Custom Agents' only instruction was, "Don't take any photos of the headquarters building or of us". Zippy was impressed with how efficiently and quickly this went. The Customs agents already had a list of all the riders. The riders went through in a line by one of 6 Custom Officers, who checked the passport to see if it matched the face of the rider and that they were on the list. One of the riders (nicknamed Rocket Scientist) works on high security defense projects, and he was on some list that caused a bit of a delay. But, all in all, a perfect crossing.
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| Pre-departure Gathering In Hotel Parking Lot |
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| Keeping In Formation |
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| Mind The Gap |
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| Karina On Bridge---An Illegal Photo!!! |
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| Waiting To Clear Customs |
After the riders were off the bridge, the traffic was let through. My thought was that the people in the cars (and a lot were trucks) were either very curious or very furious about what all this was about!
Once in Canada, the ride was pretty much like the rides in Michigan---lots of farms and flat roads. Travis and Terry (and I'm sure others) stopped in Delaware, Ontario for lunch. Jeez, a person can get dizzy with these place names---now we're reminded of the little state of Delaware! Anyway, Terry looks happy.
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