I arose early, packed and was on my bike around 7:15. With no one in the office at the camp ground (Durham Conservation area) it was a free nights stay. I could already feel that today was going to be very very warm (this was in fact quite an understatement).

With little real choice of route, I headed south on Highway 6. The flattening out of the route and quick shift, whilst still undulating (not a great deal), to predominately downhill came quick. This was very welcome given the rising heat. I had plans to meet up with a friend in Guelph, so I pushed on most of the morning, stopping only for refills my water bottles.

By mid morning the heat was stifling. I was going through water very quickly. Given this, I also took opportunities when possible to down 'sport' drinks when I could. I took a major break on the side of the road at Fergus before the push into Guelph — where I arrived downtown by 1pm. I had gone through either 6 or 8 bottles of water and two of the large size 'sports' drinks!

As I pulled up in Guelph, the temperature was in the mid 30s. One thing I had learnt along my trip, and enjoyed immensely in Guelph, was that tree's really are your friends! I sat in the downtown square for an hour — under a tree — and the decision to sit out the heat was definitely an easy one, especially given I only had 50-60km left to ride.

I ended up relaxing all afternoon in Guelph, and with the heat still over 30 well into the evening — and the impacts of exposure over the last three days on my arms and back of legs (which I could feel as soon as sun would hit my arms) - I decided to spend to night and complete the remaining 50km to Hamilton early the next morning!