Day40 - je suis parti mon coeur à Québec

I made the decision to stick around for another day last night.  Quebec City is just tool cool to rush away after only one day, and I've still got a lot to explore.  Really, I could probably spend a full week here easily.  I slept in, chatted with the concierge about what to see and do, and was off for a tres petit petit dejeuner.  It was 11:00 already, and I didn't want to spoil my lunch.  :p

I wandered down past the walled part of Old Town to Petit Champlain and Place Royale, and then out to Vieux Port.  This part of town is pretty much all retail, but it's less of the "crappy tourist trinket" stuff and more of the "upscale artesianal" tourist stuff.  Local artists hawking their wares, boutiques and galleries, loads of restaurants, etc.  I had a goal for lunch - le buffet de l'Antiquaine.  The concierge had told me that this was an inexpensive place where they served traditional Quebequois food - "like grandma would serve".  Sounds good to me.  He was also a big beer fan, and pointed out a few different options where I should stop for various brews.  Lunch was decent.  HUGE, and while not anything magnificent, all in all not bad.  After lunch I found a really cool kitchen store that was actually two stores - a large, beautiful, open "traditional" type of store with pretty displays and overpriced celebrity branded junk, and a cramped, hot, sweaty, dusty "professional" store where restauranteurs go for supplies, etc.  I spent a good chunk of time in the latter store and scored some great stuff for next to nothing.  I'm sure such a place exists in Vancouver - I just have no idea where it might be.  (and being in Vancouver, it's probably much pricier)

On to the Marche de Vieux Port where I picked up some other stuff to send home (I'm not going to carry all this stuff with me...), and then back to the post office - where I was reminded that off-the-cuff literal translations don't always go over.  I asked the lady: "s'il vous plait, donnez mois une pistol ruban" and she looked at me as if I'd just asked her to change my diaper.  So I switched to English, and she was happy to lend me a tape gun.  :p  I don't think it was purely a language barrier however, as when I went back and asked (in English) for scissors, the guy at the counter (another customer) had to help her understand what I meant - and it's the same damned word.  By the time I had packed up my box and was ready, the gal from yesterday was there in her place - and she remembered me.  She's a real sweetheart and asked (en Francais) if I hadn't just shipped a box yesterday.  This was a little over my abilities en Francais, so she switched to English and I replied - "ah, ouis".  Then she asked "en Englais, ou Francais"?  I sort of shrugged and said "je parle un peu Francais, tres mal".  To which she gave me a smile that could have convinced me to join the army and said "en Francais"!  We continued the rest of the transaction en Francais, with only a little difficulty on my part.  Pat mentioned that they ship all the ugly women in Trois Rivieres to New Brunswick, but this does not account for the rest of the province.  I really can't understand what's going on here but (tourists aside - they're ugly everywhere) all of the women under 40 are at least somewhat attractive.  It's really quite odd.  I'm not complaining, but it's somewhat eerie...  Anyway, no sonnets will be written about my unrequited love for this lovely post office agent - but she was extremely pretty, very friendly, and had an incredibly warm and engaging smile that could turn around anyone's day.  C'est tout.

It was hot, humid, and raining - so I went back to the hotel to take a shower and relax for a bit before souper.  This will very likely be my last night in town, so I left the "tourist district" and went down to "new Quebec" (where the locals hang out).  On the recommendation of the concierge I hit up "Joe Smoked Meat" for the best smoked meat in Quebec City (remember that sad excuse for a smoked meat platter I had in ON?  This was redemption.  As Seb would say, it's like GoBots vs Transformers) - and then wandered down to a local microbrewery called Korrigane, for a couple of pints of their "biere noir" - a rich, heavily coffee flavoured stout.  One last stop at a little depanneur that specilizes in microbrews for the road, and back to the hotel for a somewhat early night.  Tomorrow I'll (try to) get up early for a nice breakfast and then hit the road at a reasonable hour.  It's ~300km to Van Buren, Maine where Karen and Max are supposed to be spending the summer.  If I can get hold of them I'll cross the border and hang out with them for a bit, otherwise I'll head North to Dalhousie and skirt the coast for the final leg of my journey.  2+ weeks and counting...

More buildings & stuff...

One bad-ass kitchen store...  (yes, that is a wall of immersion blenders)

Tres petit, petit dejeuner

dejeuner

souper

gras - the ONLY way to order smoked meat!

la glace!

biere

Day39 - Je rentre en matières grasses!

petit dejeuner

pain au chocolat
chausson pommes
biscuit trois chocolat
cafe Americano


dejeuner

soup a l'onion gratinee
tourtiere
tarte sirop d'erable
verre de vin


casse-croute

poutine dulton saucisses
root biere


souper

canard confit avec frites et salad
deux verres de vin
pain au beurre
cafe
les profiteroles



Oh yeah, I walked around and saw a bunch of buildings and stuff, too...

A row of defensive shooting positions...

The view from behind the musket

A sculpture, tucked in a random narrow alleyway...

people lined up for crepes

petit dejeuner (chez Paillard)

dejeuner (chez Anciens Canadienes)

caisse-croute (chez AshTon)

Souper (chez l'entrecote Saint-Jean)

 Excessif?  Vraiment.  Beaucoup trop.  Mais, excessiv a la perfection.  :D

Day 38 - Slacktour

I woke up luxuriously late.  The room where I was sleeping is in the basement - so it was not only nice and cool, but dark as well.  I had stirred a bit when Michelle and Dave were getting ready for work and leaving, but I didn't wake up until after 09:00 - and didn't actually wake up and get out of bed until well past 10:00.  I lay there for a while pondering if I should take a day off, or press on to Quebec City.  Trois Rivieres is a nice town, or so I'd heard.  I had just taken a day off in Ottawa however, and even though I'm no longer time pressed, taking days off still makes me kind of antsy.  I can't explain it - I just like to be moving. 

I packed up my stuff and was rolling by 13:00.  The nice thing about short easy days (~135km to QC) is that I can get away with stuff like leaving at 13:00.  I hadn't eaten before I left, so I stopped at a little roadside casse-croute / bar laitier for a poutine and milkshake chocolat.  Since entering the province, I've been trying to speak primarily French - only reverting to English if it's complicated (complicated being relative, of course).  Ordering food, paying for stuff, etc can all be done pretty easily in French unless I need further explanation.  Hell - I'm even getting decent at the "where are you from/where are you going" conversation en Francais.  :p

I ordered a smoked meat poutine, moyenne, and a milkshake chocolat, grand.  The shake wasn't that big but the poutine was massif!  I threw down and polished all but a few lumps of curd (I swear there was more cheese curd and meat in that thing than there were fries), and it was delicious - but it sat like a lump of concrete in my stomach for the next 3.5hrs. 

Back on the bike I was rolling "slowesque" - not exactly crawling along, but not the brisk pace to which I've become accustomed.  I was feeling bloated and thirsty - but drinking was really hard due to how full I was.  I also had a pretty nice head/cross for a good section of the way.  I stopped a couple of times to buy Gatorade (incidentally, Gatorade seems to have a lock on the market in Quebec - I haven`t seen Powerade in any of the small depanneurs) and chatted with a few locals - many of whom had English skills that rivaled my French, and even one or two that made my French seem good by comparison.  I was a little surprised, but I guess in many of the small towns there's simply no need for English. 

I plugged away, just rolling, and the road was pretty flat until maybe 40km out of Quebec.  Then it started to get a little hilly.  Not big hills, but rollers.  I passed the town limits sign at a little after 20:00 and thought that I had beaten my inital estimate of 21:00 by a good margin - but I was still a ways from Old Town.  The airport is pretty far out.  Rolling, rolling, rolling.  I had a decent idea as to where I was going, but when a police car pulled in front of me and stopped at a red light, I figured I'd take the opportunity to verify.

(pointing up the road)
"Excuse, est centre ville dans la rue?"
"Oui.  Ou allez vous?"
"Le Marriott, Courtyard"
"Ah... oui..."
>> very fast conversation with her partner
"Continuez dan la rue est a droit en la boul primiere..."
>> more fast conversation with her partner
>> very fast French (to me) that I didn't get entirely
at this point my eyes must have widened - I didn't say anything or make any gestures
"Do you speak English?"
"Yes"
"Do you have a map?"
"Yes"
"Let's pull over there" (pointing to an empty lot to the right)
In English, she told me that it was very easy in a car but that on a bicycle it was more complicated because I can't take the highway - but she showed me where to go on my map.

I thanked her and she was on her way.  I looked at my map one more time and rolled on.  It was a little more complicated than I had expected as I approached town, but it wan't all that bad.  It was hilly though.  I had forgotten that Quebec City was built as a fortress on a hill, and was expecting to roll down towards the water - like I would in Vancouver, Seattle, Boston, or any other town.  Nope - up some STEEP hills to old town, where the Courtyard sign was shining like a beacon in the night.  I crossed onto the sidewalk for the last two blocks because it looked like I couldn't turn left where I wanted to go, and scared the hell out of some poor girl who saw my lamp and thought a car was on the sidewalk.  Have I mentioned how much I love this light?  It RULES!!!

I checked in (en Francais), put my bike in my room and then went out wandering in search of chocolate milk.  Back in the room I grabbed a shower, downed my milk and then headed out to explore the town.  It was only 22:00, tomorrow is an off day, and this town looks way too cool to be holed up resting in my hotel. 

Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 8hrs
Actual Ride Time: 6:27
Total Distance: 143.4km
Avg Speed: 22.1kph
Max Speed: 52.4kph


POUTINE!!!!! (that's a 7" or 8" round tray with the poutine piled a good 2.5-3" high)

Close-up:

Day37 - je t'adore la belle provence!

Late start again today.  I wanted to be on the road at a reasonable hour, but when you check in at midnight and still have a bunch of stuff to do (including blog updates and bike repair) those early starts just don`t seem to happen.  Oh well - I`m ahead of schedule now and today was a "short day" - just ~160km to Trois Rivieres. 

The girl at the front desk convinced me to take a different route than I had originally planned.  She said that her dad rides this all the time, and I'm a sucker for a pretty girl with a nice smile - and Montreal is FULL of those.  Actually, all of Quebec seems to be...  The roads around the airport seem like they were all designed to put one on the highway - so the initial part of the route wasn't exactly optimal but it did get me out of the city and onto the 138 - which is what I wanted. 

The winds were moderate today, blowing from the North/NorthEast early in the day, and then changing to a North/NorthWest.  That made for a pretty good head, head/cross all day.  The 138 is a really nice road to ride.  The actual road itself isn't anything particularly great, but it passes through so many small towns and has fairly low traffic due its proximity to Hwy 40.  I was passed by lots of motorcycles (and trikes - I saw more trikes than I think I've seen in the past 10 years combined) and there were plenty of short distance touring cylists, roadies, and other people on bikes.  People were very friendly, and it seems that anyone who's in a hurry takes Hwy40 - leaving the 138 to those with time and who don't mind slowing down from time to time. 

The road winds a little bit as it follows the river in a general NorthEast direction, and many of the small towns that dot the old highway are quite charming.  Plenty of tourist activities like antique shops, ice cream, chip stands, etc.  One doesn't need to stop often due to traffic lights or stop signs, but there are towns frequently enough that one could easily ride Montreal to Trois Rivieres with one bottle and no food (or just pockets).  A welcome change from the vast expanses of nothing I found in the prairies and parts of Northern Ontario.  This is what riding should be like! 

I had been on the road for a little over 2:30 when I started thinking of lunch, and rolled by an amazing looking ice cream stand.  Like a fool, I continued on as it didn't appear to have "food" - just ice cream, and I was focused on "real food".  I stopped at a little boulangerie and then spent the rest of the day looking for an ice cream stand that looked as good as the one I passed up.  A lesson from the road - never pass up an attractive ice cream option!  I did find a place later on, but I don't think it was as good as the one that got away.  :p

The day rolled by somewhat slowly as I was riding into a head, head/cross pretty much all day.  Ken hooked me up with a friend of his in Trois Rivieres, so I had a place to stay - but I needed to nail my arrival.  I sent her a text that I was looking at ~20:00. 

The wind died down a bit toward the end of the day and I picked up a little time, rolling into town just before 19:30.  Michelle and Dave have a beautiful home and offered me a place to stay for several days if I wanted to rest and relax.  A tempting offer...  A fantastic meal with great wine and company, laundry (you know you've been on the road a long time when laundry is a highlight), and in bed before midnight. 

Not sure if I'll stick around for an extra day or push on to Quebec City tomorrow.  I'll see how I feel in the AM.


Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 8:30 hrs
Actual Ride Time: 6:58 hrs
Total Distance: 154.19 km
Avg Speed: 22.1 kph
Max Speed: 38.9 kph

Days 34-36

Day 34 - Ottawa or Bust!

I opened my eyes and noticed that Seb was already sitting up in bed, checking his phone.  "Man... what time is it?"  It was still relatively early, so I flopped back down and passed out for a little whil longer.  Finally out of bed and packed up, we made a quick breakfast stop @ Timmy's and another at a gas station for road fuel and were rolling by 10:00.  It was "Ottawa or Bust" day ~220km with a few hills, but mostly flat. 

The wind was good to us for the first few hours, and we made Pembroke in just over 2hrs where we stopped for a quick fuel break.  The gas station had an attached restaurant that looked pretty good, but it was too early for lunch so we just grabbed milkshakes and kept rolling. 

Rolling along well, we were making good time and enjoying a nice tailwind for a change.  It was pretty warm out, but one can't complain about sunshine after all the rain we'd just been through.  We stopped in a little hamlet for lunch at ~4:30 and had a surprisingly good meal - HUGE sandwiches that were very well made and delicious, but entirely too much food that sadly would not travel well on the bike. 

Back on the bikes and rolling, we just kept kicking over the pedals until the highway turned into a major highway and we had to exit.  That's where things got a little more confusing, as we weren't exactly certain how to get into the city from there.  We had an idea, but there was a lot of construction and all of the small highways have alternate names - so we were looking for Hwy20 but it was called "North Whatever Hill Rd".  Stopped at a few gas stations for directions and we finally made our way to Carp, and then eventually to North Kanata - where S had a pretty decent idea as to where we needed to go.  We ended up on a multi-use bike path that goes along the river just as the sun was setting.  It was a fantastic view, but by this point we were just hammering the home stretch into town.  Once darkness fell the awesomeness of my SON dynohub and E3 Triple headlamp came into play.  I was blasting along the unlit path, able to see very well.  S wasn't so fortunate as the batteries in his headlamp had died so he fell off the back a few times and I had to stop and wait on several occasions.  I haven't done much night riding on this trip but those last few kilometers on the bike path really showed how well this system works.

Once in town Seb's wheel finally started to blow up.  It had been making weird noises since AB, and we figured it would get him home - which it did, although just barely.  It pretty much failed as it approached the finish line - still holding together, but definitely no longer true and losing integrity by the minute.  We limped it in to the market where I went to the hotel where Paul and Terry were staying, and S went down to a bar to meet up w/ some friends. 

Day off tomorrow with a massage planned, some bike work required, and hanging out w/ the guys.


Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 11:45
Actual Ride Time: 9:00
Total Distance: 213.13km
Avg Speed: 23.6kph
Max Speed: 57.1kph



Day 35 - off day

p/u Amex
AWESOME massage
Bike shop
Out w/ boys
Bye to Seb



Day36 - back to rollin' solo...

I got a late start.  Had breakfast with Paul & Terry at the hotel, they left, and I went to pack up my stuff.  I didn't get rolling until just after 11am.  It was very hot, very humid, and a pretty "blah" kind of day.  Getting out of the city was pretty easy, though it did take close to an hour.  After that I spent a very short period of time enjoying a really nice country road before being dumped back onto Hwy17.  Hwy17's an okay road - it's just that there isn't anything particularly nice about it. 

I had been told to take a detour to "Old Hwy17" and then a bunch of other stuff for the best route into Montreal, so I tried it - but the road was so brutal that after less than 5km of it I cyclocrossed my way back onto Hwy17 and rode it out to Plantaganet.  I stopped there for lunch and proved that just because one is far enough East in ON that the default language is French, DOES NOT mean that they know how to make smoked meat.  Bah.  At the restaurant I met some touring cyclists who were doing an Ottawa-Quebec City run.  They were checking into the motel, finished for the day.  They plan on making Montreal in 3 days, and QC in 7.  Now that's touring speed...  We discussed route options and they shared their maps with me as I had some confusion about my final approach into the city.  Back on the bike I must have either misheard them or misunderstood what they said, but I missed my turn and wasted about an hour and a half noodling around, trying to find my way back.  It didn't help that the signage out in Eastern ON is terrible, and that now that I'm in in flat farm country, there are lots of options.  From Hope to just outside Ottawa it's really straightforward.  Now I have to pay attention.  :p

I had lost what little motivation I had going into the day with the unplanned detour, and the wind had been hitting me with a head head/cross pretty much all day.  It was also spitting a bit.  Never full on rain (yet), but enough to be threatening.  I just kept rolling along, wondering how far I'd make it.  Fueling was pretty easy, but it was also a bit forced.  There was no joy in fueling today - just ensuring that I was taking on enough calories to keep rolling.  When you don't get any joy from eating Snickers bars, there's something wrong...

Finally I crossed into Quebec (see ya later, ON!) and my mood picked up.  It was a little after 20:00.  I had made plans to stay with a friend of a friend in the Western suburbs of Montreal, but knew that he had to be out the door at 07:15 tomorrow morning.  I called him just before 20:30 to let him know that I was going to be pretty late, and that I didn't want to keep him up - so that I'd find other accomodations whenever I decided to stop.  He was mostly concerned about the fading daylight and my not having anywhere to spend the night, but I assured him that I was very well lit and that I'd be fine.  He told me "not to be shy" about calling if I changed my mind, and thanked me for letting him know.  Still ~60k from his neighbourhood, I didn't want to be rolling in at 23:00 and waking the guy up - nor was I sure that I wanted to be rolling at 23:00 period.  We'll see what the road gives us.  A common theme...

It got dark and I turned on my lights.  That headlight is so kickass that it brings me a ridiculous amount of joy to see it light up an otherwise pitch black street.  I can ride at pretty close to full speed with that thing.  Barreling down a hill, all of a sudden the shoulder disappeared and I was on very loose gravel.  Glancing over to the street, it was all broken to hell as well.  Great - no option but to ride it out.  Thanks to my cat-like reflexes and super awesome ninja skilz, I cleaned the section without a hitch - but I did slow down a bit afterwards.  The road was crap anyway, so there was no point in trying to go fast.  Somewhere along the way my front derailleur (that the guys at the bike shop in Ottawa just bent back into shape for me) decided to try to commit suicide again - for the 4th time this trip.  Then it started to rain.  Great.  Let's see...  Dark.  Mechanical issues.  Crappy roads.  Rain.  I'll happily deal with any one or two of those issues.  Three might be pushing it.  But all four?  Forget this - I'm getting off the road.  Unfortunately, that proved to be a little more difficult than one might think.  I was ~10km from the nearest town, so I had to at least ride there.  Okay, no problem. 

Dorion, the next town, has lots of motels.  Frightening looking motels.  I rolled by a good half dozen of them and then came to a bridge.  Does the town span the river, or is this it?  Is this really it?  Do I want to stop badly enough to go back and stay in one of those ratholes?  I crossed the bridge and was pleased to discover that there was indeed life on the other side.  Suburban type of life.  Canadian Tyre.  Subway.  Tim Horton's.  The kind of life that compliments a Best Western, Super8, Travelodge, or some such chain of motel.  Sweet.  Or was it?  I didn't see anything, so I went into Timmy's and asked the staff there.  They seemed hung up on ym use of the term "decent" - as in "are there any decent motels in town"?  Okay...  I went outside and called Phil, but he didn't answer.  I called Julian, who was at home studying - he looked up a bunch of stuff and it looked like that I had one option that might be decent.  While we were on the line Phil had been trying to call me back, and as I hung up I noticed text messages from both him and Andy just checking to see if I was okay.  As I was in the middle of replying, he called back again so I explained the situation.  Phil used to live in Montreal, and convinced me that my best option was to continue on to the airport.  At least there I'd have several options.  There was also the carrot of a Marriot at the airport - though it's right at the terminal, so sort of a pain to get to.  Still, a carrot is a carrot. 

Back on the bike and the rain had stopped.  Sweet!  I made good time over the bridge into the city, and then hopped back on the highway - which was now a freeway, and apparently somewhere where cyclists aren't supposed to be.  I did what any person in my position probably wouldn't do and decided that the best option was just to drill it.  The less time I'm on this road, the lower the odds of a problem.  :D  I got a lot of honks and some yelling, but really there's a wide shoulder and I wasn't in anyone's way - so I guess they were just yelling for the sake of yelling.  Riding a Montreal freeway is trully exhilarating.  I was fully jacked, cranking away at over 33kph with no assistance from any wind, up a moderate grade with Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" blasting on the Khaipod.  (For those unfamilliar with the term, the "Khaipod" is not an actual device and I don't ride with earbuds - it's the broken music player in my head that I have very little control over, which dictates the soundtrack to my life.  Sometimes it tortures me, and sometimes it nails it with absolute perfection)  It was pure, visceral, animalistic, hedonism.  A combination of the feeling of immense power, and fear from being hunted at the same time.  I think I used up my supply of adrenaline for the month.  I've never really been an adrenaline junkie, and even though I've dabbled in what many might label as "extreme sports", I was never in it for the rush.  This showed me why they do it in a way that for the very first time, made sense to me.

A large truck pulled up right behind me, so I moved over as much as I could and waved him through.  He hit the jake and scared the living crap out of me.  Then he followed me, honking for a few kilometers.  Finally he pulled up beside me and told me that I had to get off at the next exit - and proceded to "escort" me off the highway.  Some might say "pushed".  :p  Anyway, I got off the highway.  But I wasn't at the airport yet.  So I called Phil back, and he and Andy worked out my route options as well as a few hotel options.  It's good to have support.  :)

Blowing a tonne of points on a "full" Marriott when I'm checking in at midnight just doesn't make much sense - plus it's a pain to get to - so I went for the Travelodge.  Rather, I tried to.  I got to a point where I could see it, but the only way I could see to get there was going back on the highway.  I figured that I'd loop around the back and try another route.  That's when I noticed a Fairfield Inn.  The Fairfield is another Marriott property, but a "lower ranking" one.  So it costs a lot fewer points to stay there.  Plus is was relatively easy to get to.  Nothing is really easy to get to near the airport without taking the highway in Montreal...

I have to say, I was really blown away by the quality of service at this hotel.  The check-in staff were very good and the nighttime cleaner offered to open up the pool for me so that I could relax after my long ride.  He was so excited to do something special for me that I had to oblige.  If this place was downtown I'd stay an extra day just because I like the staff so much.  It's a nice hotel, too - better than a lot of "full" Marriott's where I've stayed in the past...

On the road again tomorrow, headed for Trois Rivieres.  It should be a relatively easy day at ~165k, but I'll try to get an earlier start than I did today.  The plan is to stay with friends of a friend again, so I don't want to arrive too late. 


Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 13 hrs
Actual Ride Time: 9:01 hrs
Total Distance: 203.72 km
Avg Speed: 22.5 kph
Max Speed: 52.8 kph



For Quina: (this was actually before Ottawa)

Looks MUCH better than it was...

I've never seen one of these before...

Oh yeah - a milestone

Day33 - The Weather Report

It had rained last night, and when I awoke the skies were somewhat dark and foreboding.  As I packed up my stuff, thunder pealed loudly - it's boom signaling the weather's intent for the day.  A few moments later the rain was CHUCKING down.  Fantastic.  By the time I was ready to roll however, the rain had stopped. 

It was hot and very humid.  Not ideal weather for me, but not atypical for Ontario.  S & I rolled out of town, stopping at Timmy's for a quick breakfast and hitting the road proper by 10:00.  There was very little wind; perhaps even a slight tail - but the road was pretty rolly.  It started out just "wavy", and then got properly hilly.  After about 1:30 we made a quick fuel stop and continued on - the weather still very warm and humid, but sunny. 

The highlight of my day came while working up a moderate climb.  Sebastian was just behind me, and I was looking at the road.  "Moose"  "What's that?"  "Moose - down and to the right"  I looked down into the marsh/forest and lo and behold, a moose was standing there!  I've seen deer, mule deer, marmot, hundreds if not thousands of prairie dogs, coyotes, a bear, more birds than I can imagine, and all sorts of other wildlife on this trip - but I had yet to see a moose.  Antonella had told me that when she and Vanessa had driven across the country she wanted to see a moose but hadn't - so I've been looking.  I wasn't quick enough to get a decent shot, but Seb - ever the pro, was.  He's carrying an SLR and is actually a good photographer - so his pics are way better anyway.  :P

We had been told that there was "a big hill - about 2 miles" somewhere along the route, so we were on the lookout.  We found it.  It started out fairly simply - a 3 step hill with the last being a little guy.  Then it turned the corner and went up again.  Then up again.  Then down a bit, and up again.  Seb was getting pissed off, and I was laughing every time we discovered that it kept going up.  I think that it went up about seven steps in total, and I'm not convinced that it's any smaller than Montreal River Hill - supposedly the largest hill in ON.  Luckily the weather had cooled off so I was pretty comfortable while climbing, and for some reason every turn and "next stage" in the hill widened my grin.  I can't explain why I thought it was so funny - it just was.  We'd been climbing all day through rolling terrain, and it was just kind of ridiculous, I guess.  It's not that I'm a "climber", that's for sure. 

We kept rolling and noticed that it had cooled off.  The humidity was no longer oppressive.  Looking back, the skies were dark and threatening.  Hoping to outrun the storm to the next town, we picked up the pace.  It started to rain.  Lightly at first, then a little more.  We passed a sign for a campground that advertised a cafe, and made a run for the turnoff.  It was down a steep, dirt & gravel road that was quickly turning into a rocky mudslide.  Not gonna happen.  We had just past the townline sign for a small town, so we figured that we'd try there instead.  With the delay we missed our window to find shelter before the hardest part of the storm hit, and were getting soaked by crazy hard rain.  Within 5 seconds I was so completely and thoroughly soaked that I might as well have jumped in a pool.  "Town" turned out to be 2 abandoned stores, across the street from one another.  One had a 6x6 awning, so we took shelter under that to wait out the worst of the storm.  We were getting cold, so we pulled on rain gear even though we were already soaked and under shelter.  After maybe 15min, the worst of it had subsided - so we headed out. 

Soon it was warm and sunny again.  Rain gear off.  Still nowhere to stop for fuel, and the counter was running ~2:30 since our last stop.  I like to refuel every 2hrs, give or take.  Looking at the map, it was still quite a ways to the next "town".  We were both carrying fuel, but were still holding out hope for a nice cafe or something.  We still had fuel in the tank, so we kept rolling through the hills toward the next town.  Seb said "look back" and as I did, noted that the sky was once again black.  Looks like round 2 was on it's way.  Round two struck faster than the first, and we attempted to take shelter under some trees at the top of a hill.  Rain gear back on, we stood in the downpour taking on what fuel we had.  It had been 3hrs since our last fuel stop, and we needed to get the tanks filled.  I'm really gla that I had company today.  I was in a pretty jovial mood despite the weather, but had I been solo I think I'd have been A LOT less entertained by all of this.  It was windy and cold.  This time the rain wasn't quite as hard, but it looked like it was going to rain for a lot longer.  I was getting cold, and worried about siezing up.  We talked it over and decided to ride on - at least the effort would provide some warmth.  All lights flashing, we remounted and hit the road once more.  We rode through the downpour for another 45min or so, and then pulled into a gas station to replenish our supplies.  Originally we had discussed trying to make Pembroke, but given the harsh conditions we'd had, the hilliness of the terrain, and the current time, we figured that Deep River would be it.  Not bad, considering...  Back on the road it finally it cleared up again so we made one last stop to ditch the rain gear - then it was the final push to Deep River.


Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 10:30 hrs
Actual Ride Time: 8:20 hrs
Total Distance: 174.96 km
Avg Speed: 20.9 kph
Max Speed: 64.5 kph


Cool shot from a "real photographer"

Rain - pt I

Moose!