Day 49 - Sault Ste. Marie - Transfer Day

July 1st, 2026 (Wednesday)

Start time: 6:45 am

Stop time: 7:50 am

KM Travelled: 14.8 km

Elevation: +68/ -158 m

Special Stuff: Extra Rest Day due to high temperatures - Weather Alerts - Severe Thunderstorm (Yellow Watch) and Heat (Yellow Watch)

Due to the Heat Warning I take an extra day to consider how to proceed on towards Sudbury.

I take advantage of the cool morning and bike from one part of Sault Ste. Marie to the other side of the city. The idea is to shave off the 14.8 km from the bike ride tomorrow. When I get to the other end of Sault Ste. Marie, Brian picks me, my bike and panniers up at the motel, we go out Canada Day breakfast and then hang around at the campground where Brian will stay one more night. At the end of the day, Brian drops me, my bike and panniers back off at my motel - it is VERY hot. We will meet up at Bruce Mines tomorrow.

Our Canada Day was blissfully uneventful!

In lieu of a post about my uneventful day, I will share a post that has been sitting in my DRAFT folder since May.

The Weight of It All

May 8, 2026 (a bit over a month before I left for my ride)

The past two weeks, I've been obsessed with weight.

Images courtesy of Rob Keir, Cheerleader

On my second test ride from Squamish to Whistler with the bike fully loaded, I could feel what I can only describe as a 'shimmy' - a constant vibration on the bike. When I got to my campsite in the evening, I did some research and realized this is a significant issue - which could contribute to a "wobble" (also referred to as a "death wobble").

Yeah. 'FULL STOP' - this requires immediate sorting out.

(The test ride ended up only being a one-way ride to Whistler because I realized that it was not safe to continue on home with the shimmy.)

Since that ride I tried what I thought made sense to resolve the issue. I had my bike fit adjusted, had the bike serviced, researched the causes and suggested solutions for shimmies and wobbles, weighed every-single-thing on my bike and moved things around in my panniers (lightening my load at the front of my bike). I also emailed the vendor (their auto reply said to expect a delay response due to a high volume of emails).

No luck. The shimmy persisted.

After trying to solve this issue myself, I decided to pose the question to one of my Facebook biking groups. After many thoughts and ideas on my post, someone suggested flipping the panniers - put the heavy ones on the front, and the light ones on the back.

WHAT?!? That seemed like a crazy idea...counter intuitive...AND I was curious.

After a bit of looking around on the internet, I learned that some bikes work better when they are front-loaded! So, I gave it a try! The outcome... the shimmy is gone!

What a relief - I am ever so grateful for the amazing wisdom and generosity of fellow bikers. Not only did I solve my current issue, but I also learned of so many other things that could contribute to a shimmy or a wobble (and how to solve them).

With the shimmy issue resolved, I am now focused on getting my total bike weight (rider and luggage) down to 130 kg. I need to shave 3 kg off of my already sparse contents. I am asking myself questions like:

• Do I really need a backup battery for my headlight?

• Can I make due with one power pack?

• Do I need 3 sets of gloves, or will two suffice?

• Can I live with a shampoo bar?

• Do I need 3 sets of biking shorts or can I live with two?

• Am I ready to start using a Kindle?

I used to read about people obsessing about the weight of their bike supplies. It sounded a little over the top to me when I heard about this, and now, I'm exactly in that space.

Post Script (July 2nd, 2026)

When I had arrived in Dryden, Ont., I had been well into my bike ride (Day 34), but I was still weighing my panniers with a handheld luggage scale every morning to make sure my weight distribution is balanced (60/40 front and back) and balanced evenly on both sides. Weighing my luggage is part of my morning ritual.

When I arrived at the Dryden laundromat, I made a frightening discovery. I had ridden from Kenora to Dryden with my luggage mismatched on the bike - I had one small and one large pannier on the front and back of the bike. The strangest thing is that I did not even notice the mismatch while I was riding. Everything must have be balanced just right. Given my obsession with making sure my luggage is well balanced, it just goes to show that sometimes it shockingly 'just works'.