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