Sorry for the gap
between posts the last couple of days. I have been socializing (there
are people in Canada and you can talk to them...who knew?) and had a
bit of a lack of access to there interweebs. So with that in mind get
ready for a huge ass blog post.
Pembroke to
Ottawa - 156 km
I stopped at a
truck stop first thing this morning to get some snacks for the road
and noticed a map of Canada. I have been using my iPhone a lot for
navigation and with that you get a narrow view of the distances you
are traveling. You are focused on the route for the day and don't
really get a solid perspective of the trip as a whole. So when I
walked over to the map and saw where I was and where I have been I
blurted out "HOLY F@#$!!!" After apologizing profusely for
my profanity to everyone in the store (most of the people in there
were truckers so it really wasn't an issue) I stared at the map a
while longer. With the realization that I have gone a long way and I
was close to getting this adventure done I aimed at getting off the
the #1. After the last few day's shenanigans I was looking for
quieter calmer roads. This had me winding though all the farm land
out side of Ottawa. I hit the occasional gravel road but for the most
part it was awesome to get to quite country roads surrounded by
farmland under a beautiful clear sky.
Right
after hitting a town called Carp I ran into another touring cyclist
and he was actually going in my direction. His name is Curtis
Anderson and he lives on Vancouver Island and that is also where he
started his trip. He was awesome and it was great to have someone to
chat with and ride with for the rest of the trip into Ottawa. We
decided to ride to the Parliament buildings together and found
ourselves weaving though rush hour traffic and chatting about our
trips. Curtis was actually only intending to ride to Thunder Bay and
he decided just to keep going! If you want to learn about his trip
and follow his progress as well you can at:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=10377&v=T1
On this day I
learned:
- I can climb a
70 lbs bike up an 18% hill. I am all that is man!
- Our Capital has
a solid amount of badassness so yeah us!
- There are other
riders out there and its way better to get off the #1 when you can.
- There is a town
called Carp... yup... Carp.
Ottawa to
Saint-Benoit - 155 km
After the success
of getting off the beaten path the day before I decided to jump into
Quebec and take the 148 to Montreal. I had read that the this road
was much more cycle friendly and once I got out of the city the road
was fairly light on traffic and had an excellent shoulder. I stopped
at a McDonald's to use the bathroom and take a break and one of the
customers asked me where I was coming from (first he asked me in
French really fast and then switched to English). I said "Ottawa
today and Vancouver to start with" to which he replied
"TABARNAK!" and proceed to tell everyone around him what I
had done and they all said "TABARNAK!" It was hilarious
because I think I heard it said 7 times in the space of 10 seconds.
From there it was
more small French towns along the Ottawa river. Every town has a
giant Church in the center of it usually with a statue of Jesus
suffering something fierce. I had not realized the level of religion
in this area but at the same time the churches seem to be in ill
repair for the most part. Not sure if this is because small towns are
slowly going away or because religion in the area is changing. Soon I
dove off the 148 and was riding though country back roads from farm
to farm. All in all a very pleasant area to ride
The day was SUPER
hot...very very humid as well. By mid afternoon it was actually made
it hard to breath and it never felt like I could drink enough. I was
originally thinking I would do the 207 km ride from Ottawa to
Montreal in one shot but I decided to pull the plug at about the 150
km mark into the day because I was afraid of overheating. It was 34 C
but with the humidity and riding on the black tarmac it felt more
like 45 C. Found a park outside of the town of Saint Benoit and set
up for the night.
On this day I
learned:
- Humidity is not
your friend
- I can pee
florescent orange
- Farmers like to
help people...I needed a lot of water on this day
Saint-Benoit to
Montreal - 47 km
So a light ride
today meant that I got to sleep in a bit (only a bit because my tent
was smoking in the sun in the morning) and a easy ride to meet my
host of the evening Wenner. Wenner is a champion human being who took
me in, feed me and made me feel super welcome. He is honestly one of
the most open and friendly people I know.
First thing he is
an awesome cook and was greeted with scallops and salmon with
vegetables for lunch and then we wandered around his neighborhood
which is in 'little Italy' and there is an amazing farmers market
right near his place and it took all my will power not to buy every
piece of fruit I saw....it was all so tasty looking. We were there
for lasagna ingredients because he was having people over that night
so we kept our focus and got some amazing ingredients. All Wenner's
friends were stellar as well and they brought food too! So I ate my
face off (the lasagna was bitchin!) and throughout the night I was
thinking I could totally live in Montreal. Its a cool city that I
have always enjoyed visiting. Thanks again Wenner and I will be back
to hang out soon or hopefully have you out to Vancouver! All in all a
successful rest day.
Montreal to
Trois-Rivieres - 135ish km
Got a late start
to the day with not really wanting to leave Montreal and late night
festivities. Getting out of cities is always hard with all the lights
and traffic. Luckily it was Sunday and it was much cooler than the
day before so I was able to get some kms in at a steady pace. Just
after lunch I decided to stop for a snack and a stretch at a road
side rest stop and there were four cycle tourers sitting on the grass
stretching. WOOOO HOOO more cyclists to talk to after basically 4500
km of seeing no one its awesome to get to run into other riders.
Turns out that they were all from Vancouver too and had left from
Montreal late the day before and were headed in the same direction as
me so I asked them if they minded I joined them for the rest of the
day into Trois-Rivieres.
I
honestly was not sure who I would meet on the road on this trip. Up
until Ottawa, other than Alex (the French dude on the recumbent) I
had only met hitch hikers and truckers with the occasional rig pig
tossed in. This crew that I ran into on this day was more interesting
and impressive than I could have ever imagined meeting. They had
started in Montreal and planned to be at a wedding in New Brunswick
and then head up to Newfoundland.
Gala
on the far left had a few years ago done a gigantic tour starting in
Amsterdam and heading through eastern Europe all the way to Istanbul.
Danielle, in the blue shirt, is a former university volleyball player
who was teaching me about meditation as we chatted on the road. Sean
started this amazing project where for 52 weeks he had 52 different
jobs. You can check out his site here http://oneweekjob.com/
and
he even wrote a book about his adventures which I want to check out
as soon as I get to a place with a English book store. And last but
not least Josephine (right side on the slide), who created a web
documentary called 'The Sticking Place' which is about Leah Callahan
who is a Female wrestler and her journey to the Olympics you can
check it out here: http://thestickingplacefilm.ca
For the rest of
the day we chatted and rolled into Trois-Rivieres. Did some hunting
for a grocery where I bought a whole cooked chicken and then I
suggested we head to a camp ground that I had found on Google maps. I
wanted a shower and needed some internet access. So Google failed me
and we rode to a location that was obviously not the campground and
when we eventually found the campground it was very different from
anything I had seen in any of the other provinces I was in. This was
more of a resort than what I was expecting with waterslides and RVs
everywhere. We were informed that it was 25 dollars a tent (the
places in Ontario are 25 for a section) and we all agreed that 75
dollars to put up a tent was bananas but the woman working the gate
was super nice and let us 'use' the showers (they cost a dollar for 5
minutes) so we ate our dinners there and had showers. From there we
loaded up and headed to a park that we saw on the way to the
campground and set up our tents and cashed out.
Yesterday I
learned:
- I have stupid
tan lines that make people go Oooooooo!
- I can now eat
an entire chicken....the whole animal
- 5 minutes is
just enough time to shower
- You cannot buy
beer at the Couche Tard (Macs) after 11 pm
Trois-Rivieres To
Montmagny - 217 km
This morning was
a bit slow as I was lamenting leaving my new friends. It was so much
more fun having people to share the adventure with and I realized
that this will more than likely be my last solo tour. But this trip
is a bit different and we are definitely on We packed up and ate
breakfast together and then said our goodbyes. We are on very
different timelines and it made me lookforward to my next tour which
I plan to be a bit more about exploring and less about distance.
So with a late
start on the day I headed out to try to make up for the shorter days
I had done in the last two days. The wind was at my back and was
helping out so I made good time zipping from town to town along the
St. Lawrence. The roads here are beautiful and occationally I got the
smell of salt water which made me feel like I was getting close to
Halifax. I am constantly amazed at the size of the river which is
more like a lake. It is massive and getting wider as I go. Its also
very scenic and today I only was able to roll though Quebec City and
made a promise to myself to return to check it out more.
Using the wind at
my back I rolled into town here at about 7 pm which was not bad for
such a late start. From here I have 155 k a day. I am super inspired
from the people I have meet the last couple of days and have a whole
bunch of things to think about as I ride the last 1000 km. Almost
there.
Today I learned:
- It is way more
fun to travel with a crew
- Wind is my
friend
- I am not
aerodynamic at all
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