Day 28: Hamilton to Toronto

This is a long blog post, so bear with me.

Yesterday, after having a cup of coffee at Joanna’s house I decided to depart since I had about 45 miles to ride to Toronto.

I found a Tim Hortons not too far away at a strip mall so I had a wrap, a donut, and another coffee for breakfast. Surprisingly, the food was good considering it’s a fast food chain restaurant.

The sky was cloudy again and the temperature was cold, in the 40s. Many of the roads here have bike lanes, which was great to ride on. On my route to Toronto, I rode on a mix of bike lanes, bike trails, and the occasional road with the cars.

I passed through Burlington and Oakville before stopping at Ben Machree Park in Mississauga to take a rest. There was a great view of downtown Toronto from the park and I was enjoying the day now that it’s getting warmer.

I was just about to leave when an older Chinese couple saw me. The man is Mr. Wang and his wife is Mrs. Zhou. Mr. Wang was impressed by my journey after I told him about my trip. He said that there’s a proverb in Chinese, which said something like “It is better to travel ten thousand miles than read ten thousand books.” I completely agreed with him. He also suggested that I look up cycling groups on WeChat if I want to bicycle tour in China. That means I need to learn more Chinese since I’m bad at writing Mandarin after all these years in the US. I appreciated practicing my Chinese with Mr. Wang. It’s the first time I spoke Chinese with someone in a long time.

It was around noon that I stopped for lunch at Sushi King, about four miles from the park. I had two rolls of sushi, a total of 20 pieces. They were just OK, nothing to brag about, but they did fill me up.

I had about 13 more miles to ride to my Warmshowers host Ben’s place in Toronto. That’ll take me about an hour to 1:15 hours. I would be arriving at 2:30 PM.

I followed Google Maps and rode on the road. Most of the roads have bike signs, which is good.

There were some cars passing on my left as I rode on the right side of the road. Then I saw a white Toyota Solara. I didn’t think anything was going to happen, but it made a sharp right turn immediately in front of me. I was going about 12 to 14 miles per hour and there was no way I was going to stop in time. The next thing I knew I heard a loud thud, I flew over the handlebar, did half a barrel roll, then landed on my back facing the sky. I thought to myself “Well, it finally happened. I got hit by a car.”

I stood up. Checked myself. I’m still alive and I didn’t feel any major pain, which is a good sign that there’s no broken bones. Blood is coming out of my left thumb due to a cut and there’s a light bruise on my left thigh. No major damage at all.

I was glad that I wore my helmet, as I alway do when cycling. And that I don’t wear clip-on bike cleats. If I did I would have be injured a lot more.

The driver got out of his car. He’s an older man, looking stunned. He asked me if I saw his turn signal. I said there was no turn signal. I pointed to his headlight, which clearly indicated no blinking of a turn signal.

I looked at my bike and realized that I can’t ride it because the whole front wheel is bent. The right shifter is also bent. The pannier on the left side popped out of the bike and its hooks are broken because they are made out of plastic.

After some discussion, I learned the man’s name is Don, and we decided to put my bike in the trunk of his car and the panniers in the back seat so that we can take it to a bike shop. I was glad it wasn’t a hit-and-run situation.

I had crash into the right mirror of Don’s car and broke it off, but he was still OK to drive the car.

We arrived at Cycle Butik that’s not far away from the crash site. The mechanic’s name is Thomas. He told me since my wheel has a thru-axle he has to order a new wheel. Since it’s a Saturday, he won’t receive it until Monday or Tuesday. He was able to fix the shifter by pushing it back into place. But his shop doesn’t carry Ortlieb panniers or the hooks to fix the pannier.

Don told me that he’ll pay for everything and insisted that I stay with him at his house until the bike is fixed and that everything is fine with me. I had to call my Warmshowers host Ben to let him know that I won’t be staying with him, at least not right now.

Don is 83 years old and lives a few blocks from the bike shop. He bought his house 50 years ago and it overlooks Lake Ontario. Don told me he never had an accident in over 50 years and this is his first one.

I felt he was more shaken than me. I actually felt fine. I simply had to put a Band-Aid on my thumb. But for Don, this accident seemed more traumatic. I told Don that accidents happen and maybe this is fate. Don said that he’s fully responsible for what happened and told me that I treated the situation very well. I didn’t get angry or anything.

Don had to drink several glasses of wine to calm him down. He was impressed by what I was doing, bicycling around the world. He had ridden a scooter all around France for two years when he was 21 years old. For the past 22 years, Don goes to The Philippines for seven months out of the year. He has a girlfriend there, whom he bought a house for. Don invited me to come to his place in The Philippines next time.

Despite how we met, Don considers me his friend. I think it must be fate that we met this way.

I’m just glad I’m fine overall, but the emotionally damage on Don must be very heavy since he feels a lot of guilt for what had happened.

After I took a shower, Don showed me his old bicycle and told me that I can use it while I’m here. I was able to fix it up a bit so that it fits me. Later, Don made hamburgers for dinner.

We also searched online to see if I can get a pannier replacement or get the part that I needed. The panniers come in pairs, but I only need one. We ended up calling some local bike shops, but none of them carry the pannier in my color. Finally, one guy told me to look on ortlieb.ca to order the part that I need directly. I found the part and it’ll take 3 to 9 days to ship here. I’m hoping it’ll be quicker. Don sent them an email asking them to ship it faster. It looks like I’m stuck in Toronto for a while.

I went to bed around 8 PM and got up at 4:15 AM. Not sure why I got up so early, but my sleep was restful. Don is still asleep. I wonder if he’s OK from what happened yesterday.

Not sure what I’ll do in Toronto. Don lives on the western edge of the city so he’s a bit far from downtown. Yesterday, I rode 39.5 miles out of the planned 45 miles. My total mileage is 868.6 miles since I started in King of Prussia, PA. For the next few days, it’ll have to stay that way.

Loving the bike lane!

Sometimes, the sidewalk has a bike path.

One of many little libraries in Canada

The view of Toronto from Ben Machree Park

Mr. Wang and Mrs. Zhou

Nice bike!

One of many modern houses in Mississauga

Another cool house

The goslings are getting bigger now.

Black squirrels are common in Canada.

Twenty pieces of sushi for lunch

Front wheel got bent after the car accident.

My only real injury, plus a bruise on my left thigh

Going to stay with Don for the next several days while waiting for parts for my bike and pannier.