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
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
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