Darkest hour to Defining Moment - Day 36

Before leaving Edmunston I took a few photos with Mr. Giroux, left at about 9:40am - the weather was picture PERFECT - absolutely amazing... I suppose I already got that point across. Anyway, the cycling was pretty easy going, only thing that I don't quite understand is why the highways in this province change numbers as frequently as they do... a bit frustrating, the good thing is there seems to be an abundance of roads that lead in the same direction... once again a good thing, but also a curse. It seems that I ended up on the wrong side of the St. John river time and time again. Meaning that I was taking the LONG way to Fredericton. In the back of my mind I was hoping to make it to Fredericton in one day (which would have been my longest one day ride ever at 265km - perhaps a bit ambitious)... at around 6:30pm - I ran into my first snag - I was almost out of water - only about 600mL left in my emergency backpack (I have always kept one bottle just in case this situation happened). In order to solve my water dilemma - I stopped and asked one of the friendly people sitting on their porch - met a wonderful woman who gave me water and ice and continued on my way...

By about 7:45pm I decided I needed to find a place to camp or a motel to crash in... the difficult part was none were found... so I kept riding, contemplating just stopping and putting my tent up at the side of the road. This wouldn't have been the best move - but I figured I didn't have enough energy left in me to continue all the way to Fredericton (especially when i saw that I was still about 50km out of the city). Definitely my darkest hour, in this entire trip across Canada. Then it all changed.

I saw two people sitting on their front deck and I stopped... I suppose I did the right thing by asking if I could camp on their lawn first and then ask if a campground was nearby. Jerry Brown was his name and his daughter Nicole was there visiting (she works for McCain Canada). Anyway, obviously knowing this information is an indication that I camped on Jerrys' lawn. Got to meet his son John and Kathy (his girlfriend). We enjoyed a beer in there backyard and then I headed off to my tent. Oh... I also forgot to mention that he let me shower and get all cleaned up.

Felt GREAT to be in a "safe" place. I put that in quotes because the area of New Brunswick where I was - is called Bear Island (due to the large number of bears in the area - funny thing is it isn't really an island).

Amazing day! Longest as well.

Distance travelled: 227.57km
Total Distance in Canada: 4983.40km
Total Distance for the Year: 8062.19km

New Province... New Brunswick... Day 35

Well... I should've known, one good day of cycling deserves a bad one as well... not that the scenary wasn't spectacular as it was... it was more or less the bike path from Riviere du Loup, everyone is expected (I think) to take this Interprovincial bike path - yes the safe route to take, only problem is that this segment of the Route Verte is all gravel... so I was CRAWLING most of the morning and decided to try my luck on the highway when I made it to a small town outside of St. Louis de Ha ha! It turned out I ended up on the trans-Canada and the shoulder was nice and wide but the traffic was a bit loud and the hills started to climb over and over again - so I once again opted for the path, as it is the old train route and stays close to the waters edge.

Nothing crazy exciting to report from my day - was a bit disappointed with New Brunswick as apparently the "Welcome to New Brunswick" sign is being revamped or something - so unfortunately I don't have my usual pic of T1 and I at the newest province that we've crossed.

Huge storms have been happening tonight... so am really glad that the weather held off, as the bike path would've been a nightmare had it been rainy.

I kept thinking about the office today - all good stuff and was wondering how the summer has been with preparations for the contract staff beginning shortly, the 40th anniversary of Workshop - sorry Paula I ran out of time to look for more pics for you... also was thinking about Admissions and the lovely rescind numbers... I imagine they are happening and so are the phone calls. WOW a work moment.

Have decided I will head south on Wednesday - not sure how far I will get but likely not all the way to the capital of the province (Fredericton) as it is a bit too far for a one day cycle... 265km.

Loving the first stay of my Ma/Pa tour. Suzanne your father is really kind and well I know where you get it from...

Distance today - 138.35km

Quebec to Rivere du Loup 200km of pure bliss

Day 33 - Perfect day for a ride along the St. Lawrence, wind at my back and sun in the sky, then cloud... then sun... good times!

It's funny how seeing mountains again isn't really that disturbing to me... I figure soon enough I will be climbing them and enjoying some cool descents before climbing others. Only trick will be with the wind - so far the prevailing westerly winds have been my friend, but tomorrow as I turn south east things may change slightly. This also will be the start of my "Ma/Pa tour" as I have decided to call it - meeting Suzanne's father in Edmunston, Mike's mother in Nova Scotia and possibly Todd Ross' parents in St. Stephen.

Something that I noticed today was the sound of the grass... okay, now I know that sounds weird but the wind was blowing in such a manner that I noticed that noise, must've been the angle... combined with the sweet smell of sea water from the St. Lawrence (I am that close to the Atlantic that the river is affected by the tides).

Highlights:
- the ferry ride from Quebec to Levis - the beautiful view of Old Quebec and the Chateau Frontenac
- the mountains on the North Side of the St. Lawrence
- cycling with someone else - mind you he didn't ever take the lead and was enjoying a free ride most of the afternoon
- arriving in Riviere du Loup - the hostel had a dinner menu for $9.25 - included an awesome salad, chicken tikka masala curry, bread, coffee, and ice cream with peaches.... good value - and breakfast is free (too boot)

Distance travelled 200.15km
Distance this year: ???

Cycling in La BELLE province! Quebec... City, one of the oldest cities in Canada (400 years young)

Day 32 - Trois-Rivieres to Quebec City

Today I continued to be thankful for this journey... I have come so far and in such a short period of time (at least I think so). Also, everytime I enter a depanneur (or convenience store), restaurant etc... I am so thankful that I can at least understand and speak basic french - Mom and Dad were smart to have put me in french immersion so many years ago.

Anyway, I digress - today was reminiscent of the day I rode from Rosetown Saskatchewan to Saskatoon. The weather was questionable most of the day - with dark clouds everywhere - lucky for me I arrived at my accommodation prior to a MAJOR and I did mean to put that in CAPS storm. I suppose the other reason why it was reminiscent of previous legs was the generosity of the people. I am currently staying in the home of a wonderful woman named Louise (who I met at Lake Louise) - although it was a bit difficult to find her place on the south shore of the St. Lawrence upon arrival I had a warm welcome - a beautiful shower and heaps of food to eat... with Quebec raspberries the size of small apples (okay so I am exaggerating - but you get the picture).

Highlights of the day:
- wind at my back, some climbs that reminded me that this can be challenging
- thinking of so many people that are in my life or have been in my life, a sense of PRIDE in the accomplishment of arriving in Quebec City... almost to New Brunswick and the well the Atlantic Ocean is practically right there...
- cycling across the Pont de Quebec - that is the Quebec Bridge - it was LONG and although they had signs saying cyclists should walk there bikes I was a rebel.
- meeting other cyclists along the way - most had started around the same time as me - beginning of June... most are tired and slowing down (just like me... made me realize that I am apart of a club of touring cyclists.
- leaving Trois-Rivieres and only couting 2 bridges... hmmm where was the third?

Distance travelled:
Distance to this year:

Day 31 - Montreal to Trois-Rivieres, Quebec - Rain, rain go away!

Day started early and I was quite sad to leave Montreal - having made new friends. Although the plan was to leave by 9am a storm hit and I decided to head to Cora's for a big breakfast. The rain stopped a bit after breakfast and I headed to the Tourism Quebec office to book my accommodation in Trois-Rivieres and ensure that the route I was planning on taking would be appropriate.

Throughout the day the weather was miserable - grey clouds and EXTREMELY hot and humid... but the good news is that I made it to Trois-Rivieres before a down-pour of rain. Something that I've realized is that although Victoria BC may be called the cycling capital of Canada - Quebec is the most cycle friendly province that I've encountered - with "La Route Verte" and heaps of road signs that indicate cyclists are using roadways.

Total Distance for Day 31: 151.23km
Total Distance todate: 7218.3km

Bike Rally 2010

6 days + 300 cyclists + 100 crew = AWESOME - Please know that I will upload more photos shortly... internet connection keeps giving me an error message.

Another amazing journey from Toronto to Montreal, and what made it even better was that my two friends Greg and Colin were able to join me on the trip. I suppose I've been looking forward to the trip to Montreal since I completed the Rocky Mountains (no disrespect to the rest of my journey) but as a social individual riding with others to Montreal was definitely heaps of fun. Each day has it's own set of challenges...and although the distances weren't as great as I have been cycling during the rest of my journey - I pushed myself by cycling faster and powered up hills as well as riding painlessly down them. The distances were as follows - including highlights:
Day 1 - 112km - leaving Queen's Park - seeing so many people, arriving first to the lunch break (at which point I decided to slow down)
Day 2 - 125km - longest day - motivating a fellow cyclist to push herself to go faster than she was used too... I heart you Cotton Spice aka Melanie.
Day 3 - 51km - riding to Kingston - having an amazing dinner at the Keg with Greg and Colin, meeting up with friends from Kingston who I met in New Zealand
Day 4 - 110km - Johnstown - sadly I suffered from a stomach bug I think - was up most of the night being sick... and I only had a few beers the entire night
Day 5 - 108km + 7km - Dairy Queen with Sam Ward and McDonald's for dinner
Day 6 - 102km - arriving in Montreal feeling the strength and spirit of everyone on the rally, we officially raised the most money in PWA history $1.2 million. I should also note that seeing a good friend of mine in pain and unable to cycle the last stretch into Montreal was very upsetting... but was glad to see that he kept his spirits up. One last thing... I hit my 7000km mark on my bicycle this year.

It's hard to believe that the rally has come and gone so quickly - definitely will miss the crews, massage, route markers, road safety and food... along with just being with everyone in the evening. Good thing this leg of my journey has provinces that are smaller and closer together (at least that is what I think...hehehe).

Livin' On a Prayer... more than halfway there

Just thought I'd post some pics of the Bon Jovi concert... Some of you may have known that one of the reasons for me zipping across the prairies was to ensure that I'd make it to the concert. It was AWESOME!