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