Right now I'm just winding down a very restful rest day in St. Louis de Kent, New Brunswick. With the wind dying down along with the sunlight, the mosquitoes are coming out in force. Protected by a thick layer of Off, I'll hopefully have a good hour to write before being chased into my tent by the bloodsuckers!
This is our last rest day, and tomorrow we're into our final eight-day stretch to St. John's. Where has the summer gone!? Wrapping up Quebec and starting into the Maritimes over the past 6 days has been both beautiful and eventful. The scenery has been amazing, but a third rider is having to drop out of the tour after suffering a fractured vertebra, unrelated to cycling. As well, another rider - one who I ride with daily - has broken two metacarpals in his left hand after a bike crash. Fortunately, his spirits are still high and he will be continuing the ride after having his hand casted!
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| Lobster Boy rides on! |
Following the rest day, we left Laval University for an easy ride along the bike paths to take a ferry across the St. Lawrence River, away from Quebec City. After a brief rain scare and some beautiful views of the City from the ferry, we ended up riding mostly along the St. Lawrence in dry, sunny climes. The size and beauty of the river were just amazing! The riding was quite easy throughout the day, and I really enjoyed the company. As with many days, one of the friends I ride with - Nick - got a flat. I'm not one to laugh at misfortune, but I burst out laughing when he got this flat. We were sitting, eating lunch under a tree along the way and his bike was lying, untouched, along the sidewalk. During a lull in the conversation, I heard a faint "hissssssssssssss" sound. Feeling his front tire confirmed that it had just spontaneously deflated. With 14 (I think!) flats so far this trip, that's about the luck he's had with the tires!
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| View along the south shore of the St. Lawrence |
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| Eager participant in the evening's trivia challenge! |
The next day, we rode out for a very similar ride to the previous day - fairly flat, sunny, warm weather, and riding alongside the river and farms. Overall it was a short riding day - 120 km - which now seems like a really short day! Made a stop for ice cream in Trois-Pistoles, where I ordered in French AND the cashier responded to me in French. The camp at night was awesome, with a beach and an awesome rec centre - ping pong, foosball, dome hockey... it was a lot of fun! I also had some others help me change my chain, the first serious bike maintenance I've needed for quite some time. Sadly, it was the first of much bike work to come over the next few days.
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| St. Lawrence |
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| Quebec Farmland |
The day leaving Trois-Pistoles started out promisingly - again, sunny, warm, and flat land. We even had a bit of a tailwind! The first 30 km went very smoothly, but I noticed a sporadic grinding noise as I turned the pedals. The grinding only would happen once every few minutes, but at 30 kms, the odd grind gave way to a loud "CRUNCH!" followed by a non-stop grinding noise and massive lateral movement of my pedals. This occurred just moments after asking my friend whether I should get the bike looked at by a mechanic in Rimouski -- this definitely answered my question! According to some more experienced riders with me, it was the bottom bracket of my bike that was shot - a part that, before about a week ago, I didn't even know existed. Fortunately, I was able to ride (very slowly) to Rimouski, and even more fortunately, they were able to fix up my bike. Sadly, the bottom bracket was not the only problem - the pedal crank was also shot, so altogether the fix cost about $230. Oh well - just glad I was able to get it fixed, and things are certainly moving more smoothly since then!
Anyway, before getting to the bike shop in Rimouski, Alistair had his crash about 20 metres up the bike path from me. While trying to "swerve away from a puppy", he unfortunately veered into another one of our riders, and both went down on the pavement. Aurelie had some nasty road rash, and Alistair some cuts and the pain in his hand. A local directed us to the nearby hospital, and - 7 hours in the ER later - he had a splint on his hand and Aurelie's wound was cleaned and dressed (by Sky, a fellow rider, who is also a nurse).
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| Our "hangout" for the afternoon in Rimouski |
Our 7 hour delay unfortunately put the time at about 6:30 pm, and we still had about 90 km to go to get to St. Damase. Clearly, we would not be able to make it during the last 90 minutes of daylight we had left! So - for the 7 of us riders - we bought three headlamps so we could see and be seen, and prepared to head out into the twilight. We were riding - for the most part - along a highway that fortunately was smoothly paved and not too busy. Taking it slowly and riding as a team, we safely made it until about 10 km from camp -- the point where the serious hill-climbing was to begin. To this point, our headlamps had been sufficient and the riding had even been pleasant. It was about 10 p.m. by this point, pitch black, and fellow riders at camp were - understandably - worried about our whereabouts (even despite several messages left with staff and fellow campers). As we turned onto the highway where the climbs began, we met up with two fellow riders and one's uncle in a car. They drove behind us and lit the way with high beams - thank goodness, since the road was VERY bumpy with lots of steep ups and downs. With the path lit, we climbed... and climbed... and climbed the brutal hills and finally made it into camp. I was amazed that our spirits stayed high the entire ride, and not one person complained the entire evening. Our friends back at camp were kind enough to set up our tents, and save us some dinner for when we returned.
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| Sun setting just outside Rimouski... 80 km left to go |
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| Still smiling as we neared camp! |
The next morning came way too soon, and Alistair had an orthopedic surgery referral for a town 80 km out of the way - which would have taken our total for the day to 220 km! Before starting, we decided to wait to deal with his hand until the next day, since our campsite would be only 3 km from a hospital in Campbellton, New Brunswick. Anyway, our route notes said that this day would be "payback for the climbing we did yesterday," although I have to question that statement. The first 15 km was brutal, with climbing just like the end of the day yesterday and more choppy roads. To compound this, we also had a bit of a headwind blowing at us. After about 40 km, we stopped to eat at a massive brunch buffet and - after resisting the urge to take a food-induced nap - rode on towards camp. The afternoon was much better - more flat with the odd hill, and beautiful scenery as we rode through the Gaspe peninsula. As Sky commented, it seemed much like BC, with lots of evergreens and a river along the route. My next mechanical problem occurred along the way, as the rack at the back of my bike that holds my pannier broke right off. Sky stepped up to carry my rack bag (along with his two panniers) for the rest of the day! We trudged into camp around 7:30 pm, this time actually in the daylight (well, with about half an hour left of it, anyway). My final mechanical issue was taken care of that night, as I replaced my rear tire, which was totally worn out.
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| View from the Quebec side. |
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| Made it to the Maritimes! |
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| View from the Quebec to New Brunswick bridge (click for bigger image) |
Woke up the next morning, ate breakfast, and before I could take my tent down the rain started pelting us. It persisted, so unfortunately I had to pack up a sopping wet tent (luckily had some sun when arriving in camp so that it could dry before bedtime!). Started off the day again in the ER, where we waited for Alistair to be seen while gorging ourselves with muffins (4 of them, all incredible!). I waited with them until about 1:00 pm, but I had to leave since I was on cooking duty that night. Although it was still raining when I left, it had slowed considerably and even stopped for a segment of the ride, and then for good by the time I got to camp. The ride today was not scenic whatsoever - honestly! I rode along highway 11, and the views all day were just highway and trees surrounding the highway. The ride was great - I had just replaced both of my tires with even skinnier tires, and I also lost the bag on the back of my bike the other day, so I'd just lightened the load by about 10 pounds. I felt like I could fly and did the 88 km ride in just over 3 hours! Our campsite in Petit Rocher was right beside the Atlantic Ocean -- pretty amazing to think we've now made it from the Pacific to the Atlantic!
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| Cook team 6!! |
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| Hello, Atlantic Ocean! |
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| Amazing sunrise |
Finally - last day of the stretch, and first day in a few where we didn't have to get to a hospital! A 150 km ride was all that stood in our way of a rest day. The day was fairly hilly overall, but I'm just amazed at how much easier it is to climb now that I've switched tires and dropped weight off my bike. I really enjoyed the ride! Nothing especially exciting to say in the way of scenery, aside from a tall bridge we crossed in Miramichi. We spent a while at a Tim Horton's in Bathurst in the morning, and enjoyed the friendliness of the Maritime people, chatting with many of them about our trip. Evening in camp was a lot of fun, as it was a free beer and wine night!!! Along with a lobster dinner... which I could not enjoy thanks to food allergies (fortunately, I was able to trade my lobster for more beer!). Enjoyed some time with the group around the fire, and when the weather became freezing cold I retired to my tent.
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| Rest break en route |
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| Bridge over the Miramichi |
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| Ahhh yeah |
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| Lobster!! |
St. Louis de Kent is a tiny town without much to do, so I enjoyed most of the day just lounging around camp. Over the next eight days, we'll be finishing New Brunswick, briefly going through PEI, circling the Cabot trail, and then heading to Newfoundland. We're so close! I'm looking forward to enjoying the last stretch of the trip.
Hope you're all well! Enjoy the last of summer!
Quebec City to St. Louis-de-Kent, NB Riding Stats
6 Riding Days
805 km
Overall Riding Stats
53 Riding Days
6947 km
Peanut Butter Sandwiches consumed, to date: 130
