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
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.
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
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.
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.
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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