060712 e-Mail from the Road

Newfie Travels

Been there and done that. I'm not in Newfoundland anymore. I got to Vancouver last night after a brief stay in the St. John's area but I've not had a chance to write a bulk letter yet to let people know how things have turned out. I've had a few social obligations and I, somewhat foolishly, promised to write an article for The Independent, the paper that Doug does editorial cartoons for. I guess I just had so many people saying that they liked my writing that I let it go to my head. I spent most of this morning writing for people that I don't know instead of keeping my friends informed. I've never tried writing newspaper-style before and it feels a bit unnatural. Of course if they offer to pay me for more articles it could start to feel more natural.
I'll probably spend most of tomorrow entertaining my niece Lisa, much as I did today and then head home on Friday so the bulk mail won't be getting done until Sunday or so. Oop. There's Lisa now.
Talk to you later. Brent 

End of the trip.

Cycle Canada, Day 66, July 9/06

July 9/06, Sunday                                                 Day 66                 6488 Kms

Nikki McGie's, Holyrood, Newfoundland                                            55 Kms                       ~ 2:30 Hrs

Meagan made us a nice breakfast of bacon, pancakes and strawberries before Nikki had to go to work.

Doug, Mark and I started shortly afterward and made such good time on the first 20 Kms that we decided to take a longer route to "Mile 0." When we got there Mark's folks were waiting and his dad took some pictures. We waited around for some media-types to show up but after the appointed time had come and gone no one appeared. I suggested that Doug use his 'in' with The Independent to place an article that we would write. We did an interview on the mini-disc and will have to get a photo from Mark as my camera chose that moment for the batteries to fail.

I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering along Water St. and shooting video as Mark and his folks had their things to do and Doug went to work. Later we went to South Brigus and looked at a piece of property that Nikki is interested in buying.

Finishing Mileage ~ 8384 Km

Starting Mileage ~ 1835 Km

Total Mileage ~ 6550 Km

Cycle Canada, Day 65, July 8/06

July 8/06, Saturday                                                                Day 65                    6433 Kms

Doug & Nikki's, Holyrood, Newf.                                                                            94 Kms                                  ~ 4:20 Hrs

I was up about 6:00 on a clear, bright, windless day. After a bit of thought I chose to not ride back in a vehicle. I felt a bit bad because both Nik and Meagan had come out in separate vehicles, there not being enough room in the truck for 3 adults and 2 dogs. I latched on to Mark and met his folks who were there to greet him and their host at the B&B where they had spent the night. We went back to the B&B for "coffee" that turned out to be a full breakfast and about 3 hours of chat. We also stopped at the Irving about 30 Kms more down the road for a snack.

Doug and Nikki had taken most of my stuff and my trailer so my ride was easier but no faster.

At Nik's we had a couple of beers and Mark showed us how to make pasta and he, Doug and I spent about 90 minutes rolling the dough into correct shapes. It was time consuming but tasty and filling.

Jean came over with his wife, daughter and mother-in-law. Also a propane tank for barbequing the pork chops and a roll-a-way cot for me to sleep on. Jean is so handy. (Cathline, Julliet and ?)

Gnoki (?) pasta

Today's ride took us from Argentia to Holyrood therefore, technically, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the North Atlantic; across Newfoundland.

Cycle Canada, Day 64, July 7/06

July 7/06, Friday                                                 Day 64                6339 Kms

M.V. Joseph and Clara Smallwood, at sea                                          4 Kms                          ~ 0:20 Hrs

Bumped around town a bit after getting up early and away late. Had lunch and a gimlet at a Chinese restaurant and headed for the boat about 13:30.
We ran into Mark Longo on the boat. We had crossed paths with him several times in Ontario but had not really spent any time talking to him. He had left his 'companion of the road' around Toronto and was continuing by himself to St. John's. That plan later changed to 'continuing to St. John's with us.'

Cycle Canada, Day 63, July 6/06

July 6/06, Thursday                                                                     Day 63                         6335 Kms

Clansman Motel, North Sydney, N.S.                                                                                  63 Kms                      ~ 2:55 Hrs

Another short day of riding. Some of the speeds were quite good over rolling terrain.

I keep having these "Tour de l'Alberta" fantasies. I could burn it up this year. I think it's about 3 weeks after I get home. (I'll have to check the web.) Though it may be the day that I get home. It will be very strange not riding the bike for a few days. The 2 days off in Thunder Bay being my biggest break in over 2 months. Now I think of riding 60 K's as nothing. Planning to ride 140 K's is just something I do. It's not intimidating any more. Doug talks about maintaining this level of fitness for the rest of his life. I doubt that I'll do it. We're exercising 4 to 6 hours a day, some days quite hard. I don't have the time for it nor, I fear, the ambition. I'll likely go back to being a weekend rider, lucky to do 1000 Kms a year.

Our trip is basically over. Friday all we have to do is roll our bikes 2 or 3 Kms onto the ferry and Saturday roll them off again. Nikki will meet us with the truck for a ride to Holyrood. I guess the only thing to do after that might be to ride into St. John's, ~ 40 Kms, but I'll have to make the time for that if I really want to do it. I've got shopping and running around and packing and drinking and recovering to do. Also, if Doug is into it, I'd like to take a look at his welder and scope the barn for electrical requirements. Nikki wants to get off the grid but I don't think I'll be doing any work on this trip. Just a bit of planning.

Cycle Canada, Day 62, July 5/06

July 5/06, Wednesday                                                           Day 62                        6272 Kms

Highland Heights Inn, Iona, N.S.                                                                                  86 Kms                          ~ 4:25 Hrs

~ 60 Kms to boat.

Woke up to what Doug calls a "moozie day" though when I hear that term I think of mosquitoes. Around here it means gray, cloudy, foggy. With about 1 hard day's ride to the ferry and two and a half days to make it the urgency in our riding seems to have suddenly disappeared. We ate most of what we had left for dry food (oatmeal) and got away about 11:30. I was cold at first but we climbed a hill right off the causeway and I warmed up.

Moozie days make for comfortable riding.

We ran into 3 cyclists heading west, all on identical new Giant touring bikes. Two brothers from Lloydminster and the girlfriend of one of them from Calgary. It sounded like they had done little preparation for the trip but they had all of the good equipment. It also seemed that they had left St. John's about a week ago and taken a circuitous route to get to the Argentia Ferry. We didn't get much into the smaller details but it seemed to me that they hadn't made it too far in a week's riding. One of them said that they figured the ride would take about 70 days.

Good luck.

I just had a thought about long distance cyclists, the 'real' ones (Bill Quaille, Nick, us) don't have the slick look of Tour de France riders. We're more individuals, cobbled together junk on our bikes, ratty clothes, worn equipment. Rarely sharp, clean and cookie-cutter perfect, long distance cyclists individualize as time goes by and miles build up. Each person's personality and physical capacity comes out in their appearance and the configuration of their equipment. You can tell something of what's important to a person by checking them out on their bikes.

It's strange but as the trip approaches its finish the enormity of it is striking me much more than it did at the beginning. At the beginning I tried not to think about it as a big project. I was afraid I'd be discouraged. I tried to think of just that day or just that hill or just 4 more kilometres or just 60 more seconds holding this speed. Now, with just a half day of cycling left the fear of failure is gone. (Though I'd thought it was gone between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury)

060704 e-Mail from the Road

Flyin' through the Maritimes

Zoom:
Just stopped for lunch in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. We made pretty good time across New Brunswick, including a day of 181Km that landed us in Fredericton 3 nights ago.
I feel sorry for the cleaning staff of the motel that we stayed at in Fredericton. We'd been rained on while camping the night before and were out of clean clothes anyway, worked hard all day and then we were put into a room that had a sealed window, a non-working bathroom fan and no direct access to the exterior. The motel clerk wouldn't let us use the laundry facilities either. The result was a room that quickly developed 100% humidity and a foul stench of sweaty bodies and old, stale, fermenting clothing. I knew it smelled bad in there but didn't realize how bad it was until I started packing the bike the next day. Leaving the room was so nice but re-entering was like walking into a wall. The odor had a physical presence.
I recommend burning.
The trip continues well. There have been a few things to hold us back like camping in the rain a couple of nights and one 24 hour period in which Doug and I combined for nine flat tires. Of course a flat is a good excuse for taking a rest, having a snack and a drink.
On the 'pleasant surprise' side we just bumped into a fellow on the highway that we had been sitting beside at a sidewalk cafe in Portage-du-Fort, Quebec, the day we left Ontario. He had come to Nova Scotia for a holiday and recognized us as he drove passed. He stopped his truck, got out, introduced himself, shook our hands, said "good luck," and drove off.
We've bumped into another couple of cyclists who are riding from Quebec City to St. John's, Newfoundland. They camped next to us one night in Woodstock, NB but were up and on the road before we were and we haven't seen them since. I think we probably passed them somewhere along the way since they seemed impressed with the mileage that we had been making each day and we've had a couple of good days since.
Uh Oh. This is a public access computer and the line-up is forming. Gotta go.
Love to everybody. Give each other a hug.
Brent

Cycle Canada, Day 61, July 4/06

July 4/06, Tuesday                                                    Day 61                      6186 Kms

Capeview Motel, Hawksbury, Nova Scotia                                                 123 Kms             ~ 6:00 Hrs

A good day for riding once we got away from the mosquito infested park. New Glasgow is a nice little town that looks like it may have been running down a bit lately but hasn't deteriorated completely. The folks there seem to have some pride in their town.

Stopped in Antigonish to make a few phone calls and send out a quick e-mail.

Got the name of this place at the tourist information place. It's small but neat. There's not much around but the owner ran out for beer for us and ordered a pizza too. Nice service. Too bad we had to pay. Haw haw.

Made reservations for the Friday boat to Argentia.

Cycle Canada, Day 60, July 3/06

July 3/06, Monday                                                                  Day 60              6063 Kms

Trenton Park & Campground, Trenton, N.S.                                                   149 Kms                                           ~ 6:50 Hrs

Bugs! Gaa! This is the worst place for mosquitoes yet.

This place cost $26 and there's not much to it.

There are two kids on gas powered scooters running around and around the loop road. They come passed us every 3 or 4 minutes. I'm sure they'll give up eventually.

Cycle Canada, Day 59, July 2/06

July 2/06, Sunday                                                                      Day 59         5914 Kms

Parkview Motel, Oxford, Nova Scotia                                                           104 Kms                             ~ 5:40 Hrs

~ 450 Km to ferry

A good day of riding on a bad day for riding.

Driving rain, dropping temperatures, moderate headwind and moderate climbs. After yesterday's run it made for a hard slog. We considered stopping at Amhurst but that would be wasting yesterday's advantage.

Towards the end of the day the weather started getting better but the next town is 30 Kms away and a "small dot" place. There's no telling what services could be found there.

Cycle Canada, Day 58, July 1/06

July 1/06, Canada Day                                                                              Day 58                 5810 Kms

Camper City campground, Moncton, N.B.                                                                             181 Kms                ~ 7:30 Hrs

Good day. It started with me getting a flat about 12 minutes down the road. After the late-ish start we got it was a bit annoying but howling tail winds and gentle hills made things all right. First 100 Kms = 4:05 Hrs.

We stopped at the Irving Big Stop at exit 433. After 70 Kms without services it was nice to eat. The weather was starting to cloud up and the sun heading for the horizon. We'd already made 160 Kms and considered camping behind the Irving but the wind was still blowing and it seemed a shame to waste.

Twenty more K's got us to Camper City. City is right. The place was big and crowded. It's basically a field. Electronic gate controlled. Run by humourless camping Nazis at $25/night for a tent - no services. Hook-ups are probably in the $40 range. They probably pulled in 4 or $5000 that day.

One wash house with coin-op showers.

With the strong tail wind we are finally above 100Km/day. 5810 K's in 58 days!

Cycle Canada, Day 57, June 30/06

June 30/06, Friday                                                                  Day 57            5629 Km

City Motel, Fredericton, New Brunswick                                                     110 Km                                 ~ 5:10 Hrs

Woke to rain this morning though it was clear enough last night. Got a little miffed with Doug as he rose from bed and started striking the tent with me in it for the second time this week.

Doug got a flat at the LCB last night then at least 5 more this morning. We lost an hour or more to flat fixing and dicking about. Stopping to repair a flat can make a nice break in a day but after the 4th one in 20 Kms in the rain it got a little frustrating for both of us. It was the one time we got a bit snappy with each other. I must admit that I was being a bit of a dick.

Got in to Fredericton late-ish. Big line-ups at the liquor store. Rain had stopped but we and our stuff are still very wet. There are no deals to be had on motels any more as we are into the high season.

The room we got has no air circulation. I mean that. The door opens into a hall. The one window is a sealed type - a la 70's. The bathroom fan doesn't work. They wouldn't let us use the laundry facilities. Wet, smelly clothes and 2 showers very quickly brought the room up to 100% humidity and the stink of dirty clothes, dirty socks, wet shoes, bike shorts, and moldy tent didn't take long to become a physical presence. I thought it was bad while I was in the room but once I left and tried to come back in it was almost over whelming.

It was thick.

Cycle Canada, Day 56, June 29/06

June 29/06, Thursday                                                                       Day 56               5519 Kms

Commercial Campground near highschool, Woodstock, NB                                 129 Kms                   ~ 7:00Hrs

Headwinds made today very mentally challenging. Though we were following the St. John River (I think), and going generally down hill, I'm sure we pedalled hard for at least six and a half of the seven hours in the saddle today. Doug said it was the first time he wanted to quit, lay down in a ditch and die.

Tonight makes 8 full weeks on the road. We've moved faster than I thought we would in one way but it looks like we won't make the 100 Km/day I thought before we left.

I figure about 7 more days to Sydney. If we don't get some favourable winds along the way it will be a hard and depressing week. We've had 4 hard days in a row and I'm already feeling the strain.

060628 e-Mail from the Road

New to New Brunswick

Howdy Folks:
Well, we've had an interesting few days zooming through Quebec. We made stops in Gatineau, Lachute, Berthierville, Deschambault, Baie-St.-Paul, Riviere-du-Loup and Degelis. Right now we've just crossed the boarder into New Brunswick and stopped in Edmundston.
Riding was good and mostly flat along the river from Cobden all the way to passed Quebec City. We skirted passed the cities to avoid the traffic so didn't get in to Montreal or Quebec City proper.
The province of Quebec has Routes Vertes - green routes - for bicycles and we found ourselves on one from Gatineau to Quebec City. Mostly they are pretty nice. While we were passing through it was also St. Jean Baptise weekend and the roads were crowded with cyclists, vacationers and party'ers.
We got up early on Sunday the 25th after spending the night camped in a roadside picnic area (with 'no camping' signs prominently displayed). Other folks were camped there also and the revelry in the picnic site and across the river had gone on until quite late. I was surprised to see other riders out on the road before 7:30, like us. It was a great day for riding we made good time along the green route, occasionally being passed by speed bikes (velo's) and, less often, coming up on them from behind. It's always amusing when you can surprise a speed biker.
As we approached Quebec City I spotted a speed biker about 300M back and suggested to Doug that we have some fun with him. We cranked up the speed and held it until I couldn't keep it up any more. It took Mr. Velo almost a half hour to catch us. After a few minutes of slower riding I caught my breath and we resumed our earlier cruising speed. We came around a corner and there, about 300M ahead, was Mr. Velo, stopped for a rest. He saw us, jumped on his bike and took off.
Game on.
I knew we could catch him if we didn't try to do it all at once. I picked up the pace a bit but not enough to wear myself out. The gap started closing very slowly. Every 2 or 3 minutes Mr. Velo would look back over his shoulder to see if we were still there, two middle-age guys on loaded mountain bikes. We hit the outskirts of Quebec City and there was almost no traffic this holiday Sunday. Mr. Velo started running red lights when there was no cross traffic and we followed right along. The gap had closed to about 150M when Mr.Velo made it through an intersection and we had to stop for traffic. Damn. He had 2 minutes free run and he was gone. We never saw him again. I know we could have caught him by the far side of town. I prefer to think that as soon as he got out of sight he turned a corner and hid.
We stopped on the far side of Quebec City for a big meal and a rest. We'd covered over 100Km and it was only 2:30. Doug and I both felt good and wanted to go farther so we made the decision to push on for another 40 Km or so. We left the riverside and started to climb a hill. And climb. And climb. About 35 Km later we reached the top and the sign that said 'check brakes, use lower gear, 7% to 10% grades for 20 Km.' Yippee. It had been a hard climb up but the day was beautiful and the zoom down the hill was great. Cool and refreshing. We took a motel at the bottom of the hill and awoke the next morning to the smell of burning brakes from every car that came down that hill.
Life is good once the work is done. 163Km.
Bye for now.
Brent

Cycle Canada, Day 55, June 28/06

June 28/06, Wednesday                                                                Day 55                       5390 Kms

Auberge Pres du Lac, Grand Falls, New Brunswick                                                      108 Kms                   ~ 5:30 Hrs

A pricy motel. It was probably a quaint out-of-the-way place at one time with cabins around a central man-made lake. Now seems to be a bit of a convention centre with a large-ish new motel on one side.

Cycle Canada, Day 54, June 27/06

June 27/06, Tuesday                                                                    Day 54        5282 Kms

Motel Claude, Deglelis, P.Q.                                                                                90 Kms        ~ 5:10 Hrs

Oy! What a day! I'm writing this the next day (as I frequently do). We were so bagged and miserable yesterday that we took a room at 16:30. Had lunch, a beer, a shower, supper, a beer and in bed before 21:00. It rained during our night at Rivier-du-Loup and the tent hasn't become any more water-proof than it was in Algonquin. We got up to wet clothes, wet sleeping bags and rain. Through the day we had the triple-whammy of cycling. Hills, head-winds and rain. Let me say that none of these were very bad. The rain was warm. The hills were mostly long slow slopes. The winds seldom exceeded 20 Km/Hr. But the combination of all three plus fatigue from the last two days rides made this day painful.

Doug seemed reluctant to stop, passing through at least one small town after we'd ridden two and a half hours without a break. I think he feared not being able to start again. I know I did. When we finally stopped at Cabano he said that he had almost stopped 6 times at motels along the way. I would not have objected.

We are far enough east to be in the Atlantic time zone (and will be once we cross the border into New Brunswick) and the sky was bright at 4:11 when I woke up this morning. Today, 28th, should be mostly down grade as we follow the river on the Maine border to Grand Falls.

My safari shirt has seen its last as I tore the whole back out yesterday. The mending at Mom's was wasted.

Cycle Canada, Day 53, June 26/06

June 26/06, Monday                                                                             Day 53           5192 Kms

De La Pointe Municipal Campground, Rivier-du-Loup, PQ                                     91 Km                       ~ 5:30 Hrs

Don't let the low miles fool you, this was a tough day. Aiming for the 16:30 ferry we allowed 6 hours for the trip. We planned to leave the motel at 10:30 but it was more like 10:42. My fault. "No problem," thinks I. "It's only 80 K's along the coast. Nice and flat. We could push it and do this in three and a half hours saddle time."

We took highway 362. I should have checked it on Google Earth first. I'm sure the first hill was 300M at 7% or so. We then spent the next five hours climbing and diving, sea level to 200 or 300M over & over again, some slopes at least 15% (18%), coasting to speeds of 72 Km/Hr then working hard to make 6.

Where the 2 highways met back up we checked time and distance and said, "OK. Let's try to make it." We had about 2 hours and 33 Kms to cover. Very do-able if the terrain flattened out.

No such luck.

With about 40 minutes left we swooped passed a sign that said, "St. Simeon 16Km." At the bottom of the next climb we agreed that we weren't going to make it. Loped up the hill to find a sign that said, "St. Simeon 8Km" and 20 minutes left. There must have been a long, slow slope to the final plunge because I started riding and pushing the pedals like I could make it. Speeds seldom dropped below 20 and riding at 28 or 30 common. We made the final plunge into town and powered to the ferry dock in time to see the last cars of the north bound trip coming off. Made it! I was so tired I almost couldn't get off the bike.

We grabbed the second campsite off the south end. The first was too far from the depanneur.

See a quick video http://www.youtube.com/user/snottyvar#p/u/3/qtqQrY_Yzfc

Cycle Canada, Day 52, June 25/06

June 25/06, Sunday                                                                  Day 52                 5101 Kms

Motel des Cascades, Baie-Saint-Paul, P.Q.                                                           163 Kms                                   ~ 7:55 Hrs

Ferries sail from St. Simeon @ 9:30, 13:00, 16:40, 19:30. $18.90+tax/pp c/w bike.

Tues July11 WJ 15:30 WS 427 -> WS 683 20:40 Vanc $454 $327

What a crazy day of riding. I let Doug know last night that I wouldn't object to higher mileage days if we started earlier and took a couple of good sized breaks during the day. So, quite predictably, Doug was up, striking the tent with me in it at 6:30.

Pea soup and boiled eggs for breakfast.

Riding on the flats along the river is easy and after a while our speed came up to the mid 20's. There are still lots of riders on the road from the weekend. Doug played tag with a couple of velo riders. Coming into Quebec City I spotted a velo rider about 300 M behind and we decided to have some fun with him. Took the speed up to 28 ~ 30 and it took the fellow 20 mintes to catch us, and that only after I had to slow down to rest. About 20 minutes later we came around a corner and there's Mr. Velo stopped for a rest about 300 M ahead. He jumped on the bike and took off.

Entering the city I knew I could catch him. We were all blowing through red lights in the light Sunday traffic and every couple of minutes Mr.Velo would look back to see if we were still there.

Cycle Canada, Day 51, June 24/06

June 24/06, Saturday. (St. Jean Baptiste Day)                                Day 51                4938 Kms

Deschambault Picnic Area, P.Q.                                                                                        133 Kms                      ~ 6:10 Hrs

Mostly flat riding today with a bit of a tail wind towards the afternoon. Huge amounts of bicycle traffic on La Verte Route 5. Lots of Harleys too. There seems to be some St. Jean Baptiste Day rally or something. There are individuals, families and teams out riding their bikes.

The picnic area is a good place to stop but the bathroom is foul. Too many visitors too quickly.

It's a "No Camping" area and possibly a gay-guy pick up area judging by the way some of the lone men who occasionally cruise the parking lot have been staring at Doug and I.

Cycle Canada, Day 50, June 23/06

June 23/06, Friday                                                                     Day 50                 4905 Kms

Chapelle des Cuthbert church yard, Berthierville, P.Q.                                      119 Kms                           ~ 5:30 Hrs

Nice place to camp. Pretty church with super sculptures on display. In a residential neighbourhood but nobody seems to mind. A local boy (~ 10 yrs.) cruises around on his under-powered quad. After a while one of the neighbours came over and asked in broken English if we would mind if he set off some fireworks. Mind? I'd encourage it. He set his off about 22:00 or 22:30. Other folks around the town continued into the small hours.

060622 e-Mail from the Road

Jerks from Ontario

Hello again after a long absence:
I think the last thing that I sent out was from Lively, Ontario so there is a bit of catching up to do. Shortly after leaving Lively we found out that Ontario can be a bit unfriendly to bicycles. One of the favourite things to do to cyclists is to put the 'No cycling' signs about mile down the highway, after the entrance ramp. Now you've got three choices. Turn around and ride against traffic on the highway and backwards up the entrance ramp, try a u-turn across 4 lanes of traffic (and sometimes a median) so you can ride with traffic, or just ignore the sign and keep going. We have always chosen the latter. Generally the 'No cycling' roads have the best shoulders for cycling on, the cops that have seen us have uniformly ignored our presence, only a few drivers have given us a hard time about being on their roads.
We've covered a lot of ground in the last week or so. From Sudbury (which looks less like the surface of the moon every time I re-visit) we turned south to Perry Sound and stayed in a campsite that was a throwback to the 50's. It was very comforting in a way. It reminded me of a lot of the places that the family had camped when I was a child. A lot of the stalls were rented on a seasonal basis and I got the feeling that a lot of the people who stayed there had been coming back every year since they were kids themselves. There was a real community atmosphere.
From Perry Sound the next stop was Bracebridge to visit with Jenn, Andre and their new son, Leo. We took a rest day and were treated like kings by two very busy people and took a bit of tour through this town in the middle of 'cottage country.'
Leaving Bracebridge we tried to stick to the back roads up to Algonquin Provincial Park. This area has hundreds of lakes joined by rivers and canals and many hundreds of islands and every inch of waterfront is taken up with cottages, cabins, parks and people. It's truly a beautiful place in a wilderness that really has no wilderness. I mean it's hard to go 100 yards without bumping into somebody. Still the area is very green and has a rugged feel. I can see the appeal to folks from Toronto who come up here to get away from the more crowded city and breathe the cleaner air. Everyone I met seemed to be in a good mood.
By the time we got into Algonquin Park the weather had changed from hot and humid to rainy, then to stormy. Doug and I grabbed the first campsite we could find. This being a provincial park there was an office as we got into the campground. We weren't allowed to go in without first paying and being assigned a site to camp in. We paid $33 for a site near the laundry facility and went in. The site that we had been assigned had about 3 inches of standing water in it and the rain didn't show any sign of letting up. We stuffed all of our wet things into a dryer and waited for the rain to stop.
And waited.
After a while I started to advocate for sleeping in the laundry room. We stayed in there and cooked supper and chatted with people who came and went from their campers and trailers. At 10:30 PM there were still folks using the washers and dryers and we were getting pretty sleepy so Doug set up the tent right outside the laundry room, on the sloped lawn. During the night the rain continued, the tent leaked and a small stream formed at our feet. Good thing it wasn't cold. I was pretty owly the next morning to find out that the power was off and we had to wait before we could put our things through the dryer again. I sure didn't want to be hauling all of that water with me to the next campsite.
A couple of more days got us to Cobden where I visited with my Mom and some of the other relatives that live in the area. Unfortunately Mom had some things scheduled and couldn't be around the next day so it was a short visit. Still it's nice to see her doing so well.
From Cobdon we hopped the border into Quebec. It's strange, but I keep thinking of the phrase 'the two solitudes.' It was very difficult to find a road map of Quebec in Ontario, even when we were within 30Km of the boarder. And around Cobden few people had done more than take day-trips into this province. On our first day in Quebec we had our first 2 hostile incidents of the trip. Both involved young men in vehicles with Ontario plates. One threw a beer can at us and gave us 'the bone' as he went by. About three hours later a van with 3 guys in it stopped in front of us, one fellow opened his door and all three started swearing at us in English. Doug thought they were looking for a fight but nothing materialized from it. It was a very strange afternoon. I started wondering if the guys in the cars were just random jerks or if they had come to Quebec to be jerks to Quebecois. Since Doug and I have no licence plates no one could tell where we are from without talking to us first. Jerks aren't big on dialogue.
Anyway, the trip continues. All is well. We're somewhere between Gatineau and LaChute on Highway 148. The goal later this week will be Saint Simeon and the ferry across the St. Lawrence.
Bye for now, keep those cards and letters coming, and if you haven't sent one now is a good time to start.
Hugs to all, Brent

Cycle Canada, Day 49, June 22/06

June 22/06, Thursday.                                                               Day 49                 4686 Kms

Motel Weldon, Lachute, Quebec                                                                             116 Kms                                 ~ 5:10 Hrs

Good riding conditions this morning, mostly flat along the river. A good deal of the day was spent on "La Verte Route 1" (Bike Route 1) which has a good shoulder. We pushed the pace all day. Had a break in Papineauville to send out an e-mail. Didn't eat until after 16:00. Doug wouldn't stop for a rest anywhere. We were pretty dry and hungry by the time we stopped. I think I drank close to 3 litres of water when we finally did stop. Perhaps more.

There don't seem to be places to camp in Quebec. At least not on this route.

Cycle Canada, Day 48, June 21/06

June 21/06, Wednesday                                                                 Day 48            4570 Kms

Some Divey motel, Gatineau, Quebec                                                                   125 Kms                            ~ 6:00 Hrs

Mom was up and gone pretty early. I had a brief chat with Walter and Edna who were going to Ottawa with her.

Jim stopped by breifly as well, to check out our bikes. Jim is in his mid eighties. His son (my cousin) Dean has cycled from the Ottawa Valley to the Sunshine Coast in BC in the mid 70's. I must say that his trip was at least a partial inspiration for mine. And I felt proud and a bit contented when, later this day, I rode east passed the house where Dean had started his westward trip about 30 years before.

Doug and I did a couple of quick errands in town then went down to the local newspaper office and gave an interview because my mother wanted to see my name in the paper. When the paper came out some of the facts weren't correct.

Spent the night at some dilapidated motel on the way out of Gatineau. The place had recently changed hands and the new owners hadn't gotten far in their renovations. The young girl who took our money didn't seem to speak any English at all. We had a couple of incidents involving being hassled by young men. The first bad bits on the trip. One guy drove passed and threw a beer can at Doug then gave us the bone. The second one was three teenage boys in a van. We were stopped at an intersection when one opened his door and they all started yelling rudeness at us. I didn't notice but Doug said that both vehicles had Ontario plates.

Crossed the border into Quebec and had breakfast at Portage du Fort. Quite a pretty little town. There were some Ontario Hydro workers having lunch at the table beside us. We chatted while we ate our burgers and poutine at the sidewalk tables. The country roads have more traffic than I would have thought and little or no shoulder. We asked for the directions to the back road to Gatineau and I was pretty sure that we had been told wrong at first because we seemed to have reversed directions but Rue de la Montange is the right one.

There followed a hair-raising speed run through Gatineau on a "No Bikes" freeway. Once again the "No Bikes" sign comes after you're already on the road. At rush hour this road was crowded and fast moving. The shoulder was narrow, not much wider than my trailer, and strewn with junk. With a guard rail on the right and traffic on the left there wasn't a lot of room to maneuver around the detritus. I got a 3 quart bucket jammed under the trailer and dragged it for a mile or so.

My one complaint against Quebec drivers so far is that they seem more than ordinarily unwilling to cross the centre line when passing us. Even when there is no traffic coming the other way the drivers seldom do more than move over to the centre line, some don't even do that. This can be un-nerving when there is no shoulder. At one point we got passed by a transport truck, I thought that he had come pretty close to me but as he passed Doug I saw his side mirror pass over Doug's shoulder.

Cycle Canada, Day 47, June 20/06

June 20/06, Tuesday                                                    Day 47                  4445 Kms

Mom's Place, Cobden, Ontario                                                                       46 Kms                               ~ 2:20 Hrs

Toast and coffee at The Golden Sands, a late start and an easy ride to Cobden. I felt a bit guilty about not stopping at the Kilby's but it would have been more freeloading than visiting anyway. The Kilbys are relatives of mine. I knew they lived in the area but not how close to the motel. In the morning we were less than 1 K down the road and recognised their house.

Got to Mom's and took care of my mail and a problem with the power bill. (My cheque for $200, dated 04/27/06, was returned by the power company because they wanted it dated 27/04/06. Now I've got 3 bills totalling $180 and a disconnection notice.) Spent the afternoon walking around Cobden. After supper we had a visit with Jim and Sheila. Their son, my cousin Dean, had cycled from Cobden to Port Coquitlam in the '70s. George is in hospital in Ottawa and should be home on Thursday.

This is the day that we passed through the first Polish settlement in Canada.

Just how far is Eganville from Barry's Bay?

Lost Doug for a bit sweeping down the hill into Eganville(?), can't recall what happened to put him 10 minutes behind.

Cycle Canada, Day 46, June 19/06

June 19/06, Monday                                                        Day 46                  4399 Kms

Golden Sands Motel, Golden Lake, Ontario                                                127 Kms                              ~ 5:50 Hrs

Golden Sands Vacation Land. $77.28/night

Edmonton Oilers lose game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to Carolina Hurricanes.

Woke up wet. There was 100% humidity in the tent to begin with and then it leaked. Rain fell hard most of the night with occasional lightning. Water dripped on my face, shoulder and stomach intermittently. Water from the ground wicked up into the foot of my sleeping bag. But it wasn't cold.

The power was out when we got up so we had to wait for it to come back on before we could use the dryer. It was one of the few mornings that I was keener to hit the road than Doug but we made coffee and ate snacks, chatted with Ryan and got another late-ish start.

Ryan was a kid about 12 years old. The night before we had spent some time talking to him, his sister and their father as they used the laundry facilities. They'd come up from the states to spend a week canoeing around Algonquin Park. We'd talked about travel and politics. It turned out that Doug and I knew more about US politics and foreign policy than the father.

The sky threatened rain for much of the day but it never materialized. Once again 100% humidity and sweat running in my eyes 'til I finally wised up a bit and tied my Tanzanian flag around my head as a bandana.

The people along Highway 60 seem a simple folk. I asked several about distance to Eganville. Some gave blank stares, some gave driving time. When I asked them to convert driving time to kilometres none of them could do it.

In Barry's Bay, at Generations Restaurant, we chatted with the waitress and told her that we had come from Vancouver. She asked us several times where we had started, after a bit I figured that she meant 'that morning.' I told her Algonquin and she asked if we'd flown into the park and started our ride there.

The 4th repetition of "Vancouver" seemed to sink in.

Cycle Canada, Day 45, June 18/06

June 18/06, Sunday                                                                          Day 45                 4272 Kms

Canis Bay Campground, Algonquin Prov. Park                                                          110 Kms                         ~ 5:30 Hrs

Left Jenn & Andre's kind of late, Andre was making a run to look at some surplus building material. Took a looping back road through cottage country to get to Huntsville. The ride was hot. High humidity, warm temps, and lots of (short) steep hills on a good road that wound itself along the rivers and beside the lakes, all crowded with summer homes & cabins every few hundred feet.

We rode into the wind up to a triathlon in Huntsville. Simon What's-his-name (Whitfield), the Canadian Olympian was there as well as a few other luminaries & about 1000 hobby triathletes. We stopped at the Tim's and wound up talking to a retired couple who had run the marathon part. The gent suggested "pose running" as a solution to sore knees. He called it, "Running like a girl, but it works."

It started to sprinkle outside of Algonquin Park & rain as we passed the first campsite. We decided to stop at the next available. Well, that was a ways & in the mean time it started to pour. I could hardly see. When we got to the campsite turn off it was up a gravel road with a small river running down the centre of it. Being a government campground there was an air conditioned kiosk with 4 staff at the entrance and we weren't allowed in until we had filled out a survey, paid & been assigned a spot. We paid $33 and went in to find our spot under 3" of water. We never used it but moved into the laundry room instead.

There must have been a fair amount of economic activity in cottage country in the 1800's. There are canals and locks linking a lot of the rivers and lakes that now provide recreational opportunities to the folks who live and vacation here.

Cycle Canada, Day 44, June 17/06

June 17/06, Saturday                                                            Day 44                                 4162 Kms

Jenn & Andre's, Bracebridge, Ontario                                                                                Rest Day

Cycle Canada, Friday Day 43, June 16/06

June 16/06, Friday                                                                   Day 43             4162 Kms

Jenn & Andre's house, Bracebridge, Ont.                                                       97 Kms/2 Days                      ~ 4:50 Hrs

The only thing I have on this page of my journal is the crushed corpse of a mosquito.

The 97 Kms was over 2 days. First day was from Perry Sound to Bracebridge then on Saturday we rode Bracebridge to Jenn & Andre's

I knew that Andre had just bought a gym and figured that it shouldn't be too hard to find. I was pretty surprised to find that there were about 8 gyms in a town of 30 or so thousand. The Yellow Pages and a little deductive reasoning lead us to his place first time.

Chatting with the guys in the gym shower room. Nobody believed that we were eating so much chocolate and no supliments.

Visiting the coffee shop for coffee and peacan pie (?). Highest prices since Calgary.

Playing with Leo.

Leo's babysitter

Got a ride from the gym to the house.

Flat tire at the turn off. Cop stopped to check us out.

Nice little town (name) on the canals half way between turnoff and Bracebridge.

Cycle Canada, Day 42, June 15/06

June 15/06, Thursday                                                           Day 42                   4065 Kms

Hall's Marina, Perry Sound, Ont.                                                                          155 Kms                             ~ 7:15 Hrs

A longish day but satisfying. Hall's Marina is a blast from the past. Just about as basic as a place can get but well laid out in a post WWII way. A lot of spots here are permanent rental I suspect. One even has a rude cabin built on it. There are names on the docks for the regular parking spots for the boats. Strangely, this campsite has a homey/community feel to it as soon as you come in. It reminds me of my youth.

I thought that I'd slung all of the food into a tree but it looks like I missed something. A racoon invaded our site and managed to open one of my saddle bags. He had the 1st aid kit half way out before I got out of the tent and heaved a shoe at him. He broke the mirror off of my helmet. I put the whole saddle bag into the tree with the food bag since I wasn't sure what he was after. Half an hour later he was back and climbing on the bike again but he soon gave that up for the tree and after 15 minutes or so he gave up on that too.

Doug's broken shifter cable. Apart from flat tires and my broken speedo cable this was the only breakdown on the trip and the only breakdown that affected the operation of either of our bikes. Mountain bikes rule for touring. They're bullet proof. We stopped at a Canadian Tire, bought a cable, and were good to ride again in less than a half hour.

Lady who thought that we cut our own hair. @ hot dog stand on the highway. Believed that I might have cycled across Canada but thought Doug was making it up.

Hall's Marina not obvious from the highway. No signage.