toronto

just arrived in toronto after a 3 day train journey through the rockies, plains and about 3000 miles of wilderness. It was chucking it down when i got out the station and none of the cabbies would take my bike (it was 1am in a strange city and i had no map and was knackered so didn't want to ride). Luckily one guy took pity and let me leave it hanging out of his boot, he took in another couple of lads looking for a bar and we had a fantastic laugh on the way to heidi's house, i kinda wish i'd ignored the fact that i was knackered, soaked through and stinking after 3 days on a train without a shower and gone for a beer with them.

anyway, heidi kindly left a bottle of wine out for me so i'm getting stuck into that and waiting for the pizza to cook whilst watching the dedicated mountain biking channels on tv! She is an awesome host. Hmm, I've just noticed that after reading 2 vietnam books on the train i've been shouting vietnamese to myself as i cook- Mung bai! Didi mau! Numba TEN GI! I hope the neighbours are understanding.

the train was kinda cool, the seat was like an economy class airline seat but with loads of legroom, there was a little cafe so you could wander around ok but i still found it nearly impossible to sleep. The staff were cool and did their best to keep long-haulers 2 seats so it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it could have been. I do think talkative people should be banned from trains though.

i saw bear, moose and beaver, and the ride really brought home to me how much of a wilderness canada is, i mean we did thousands of miles and saw a few small towns, the rest of it was wildlife country. sweet

plan for tomorrow is a lie-in (is 4am and need some sleep), a run, clean the bike and get it back into day-ride mode, and explore the city.

i tired, i write more tomorrow, i wonder if those dudes will come back and invite me for a beer, one of them was damn cute