KRAC Tour!: Day 49 - under pressure

Stopping in Westville (New Glasgow area) to hang out with Anglea, Bernie, and the kids was great. I had a fantastic time with them and they were amazing hosts. Like most of my stops, it's a pity I wasn't able to spend more time there. As luck would have it however, they are going to be in Vancouver in September - so hopefully I'll get to see them again soon. The one minor "issue" with stopping in Westville was that it left me with a very big day today - >250k over very hilly terrain to the ferry terminal in North Sydney. Both Ang and Bern did offer me a ride, multiple times, but I figured I should probably do this the hard way. I didn't ride this far to get in a truck... :p

It had rained overnight, and was still raining a bit when I woke up - but by the time breakfast was done (an amazing spread of pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, juices, coffee... the works!) the rain had abated - leaving the air thick and heavy with humidity. It was going to be one of *those* days... I packed up, said my goodbyes, and headed off. There was a bit of a Westerly today, which was nice - finally, the wind is cooperating with my direction of travel. I made good time through Antigonish and stopped at ~3hrs and 74k for my first fuel break of the day. Back on the bike the hills were rolling - not terribly steep, and not terribly long - just consistently ever present. Highway 104 is a pretty nice road to ride. It's scenic in many parts with a great shoulder and is well paved. I met another cyclist from England who was wrapping up the final 3 weeks of his tour, and later on, a guy pulling a freaking RICKSHAW!!!!! This guy left Duncan, BC in Feb '09 and made it to Thunder Bay by Nov where he quit for the winter. He started up again in the spring, and was on his way back to Halifax from Nfld to finish his trip. I don't really know what to say about that other than I'm really glad that I met him. HARD CORE.

I was feeling good, rolling along and pounding out the miles in the sunshine. The sun had come out to play so the day was beautiful, if extremely hot. I kept an eye out looking for an nice looking ice cream stand and passed by a few towns in my search for "a good one". After the high quality options in BC, Quebec, and PEI, some of the roadside offerings look pretty sad in comparison. I finally found one - a good 4hrs after my last break and stopped for some fuel. There I met an older gentleman who offered some advice for my route and we chatted about cycling for a while. He worked as a bike courrier in Ottawa for a few years after he retired (fromer professor at McMaster), and now spends his time mostly surfing. He was trying to convince me to take a day off and go surfing - and if I had the time, I probably would have. Like my "real life" however, somehow the schedule seems to dictate all.

Back on the bike I made a quick stop at the visitor's center to use the washroom and to fill my bottles, and I was back on the road. This next hour was really hard. It felt super hot and humid (if someone had told me that it was 46degrees with the humidex, I'd have believed them) and I struggled over the hills. I stopped at a gas station at a reserve to cool off and get some electrolytes, and kept it rolling. Luckily my rough period only lasted about an hour and I was back to my "normal" self not terribly long thereafter. If you only have one bad spell that lasts an hour or so over the course of a day like today, that ain't too bad...

Back to rolling hills. They got steeper and longer as I got further East on the island of Cape Breton, but the scenery was magnificent. I'm a little disappointed that I have to miss the Glenora distillery while I'm out here - Canada's only single malt distillery, but I guess I'll just have to come back. I want to spend more time on PEI as well.

More hills, more hills, and more hills. About 50k shy of Sydney (based on the road sign - which can be horribly inaccurate) I noted that if I really pushed hard I could probably finish the day in under 12hrs total elapsed time. Hmmmm.... Then it dawned on me that 12hrs is just a stupid arbitrary goal, who's only real consequence would be thrashing my legs and making me wait at the ferry terminal for even longer. I took my foot off the gas, and coasted the rest of the way in. This turned out to be a good decision as the ferry terminal in North Sydney is significantly farther than Sydney, and I'd never have made my 12hr goal anyway.

It got dark and I rolled to the ferry in blackness - the road illuminated by my super awesome SuperNova E3 Triple headlamp, powered by my SON dynohub. I swear I'll never tour without one of these...

When I got to the ferry terminal I cheekily asked if they had shower facillities - and was shocked to discover that they do! A FREE shower in the restrooms! Well if that don't beat all... Cleaned up and feeling human again, I met some other touring cyclists who were also on the same boat, had a crummy dinner (ferry food is ferry food, it seems) and waited to get on the boat.

I had been really impressed with the ferry service from inside the terminal, but once on the boat it was the Keystone Kops meet the Three Stooges. The folks loading the boat had no idea what to do with cyclists (there were six of us, and we certainly can't have been the first) and kept having us move our bikes around. Finally I got my bike secured and went upstairs - where there was nobody on-hand to guide people and all of the passengers wandered around confused as to where they ought to be. Because this is such a long trip (~16hrs) most people opt for some sort of sleeping accomodation when they book their ticket. I had purchased a "dormitory bed" and it took a good while before I figured out the system. Nothing luxurious about it, but it was a bed. I wandered upstairs and talked the guy in the laundry into giving me some sheets (the beds come with a pillow and blanket only, on a plastic covered mattress) and settled in for what I hoped would be a decent night's rest.

We're scheduled to land in Argentia at ~17:00 tomorrow (the same day the ferry leaves, as it departs at 01:30 in the morning) so there won't be much riding tomorrow. Just enough to get away from the ferry terminal and find a decent campsite or motel.

For the record, that's the entire Canadian mainland, coast to coast (plus PEI) in seven weeks to the day - including about a week of not riding (slacker time).

Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 13:30
Actual Ride Time: 11:50
Total Distance: 273.4km
Avg Speed: 23kph
Max Speed: ~~~ (electronic interference has my max speed over 150kph again...)

RICKSHAW DUDE!