Day51 - it is finished...

 I was up quite early, as is the norm when camping - but it was really cold out so I stayed in the hammock and slept in 'til quite late (for camping).  I finally rolled out of the hammock at ~08:00

Breakfast was an exercise in what do I have that's heavy, that I can eat so that I won't have to ditch it before getting on the plane? Seb has a thing for canned beans and Chef Boyardee, and while we were shopping together in Wawa I was convinced to buy a can as "emergency food".  It makes some degree of sense - though heavy, it's extremely calorically dense, high in carbohydrates and salt, and also provides a fair amount of fat and protein.  Pretty much exactly what one needs in a food emergency/bonk situation.  I'd been carrying this blasted can for some 1500km at minimum - likely over 2000, and I was damned if I was going to toss it in St John's.  (I was also in a mood that if I had been carrying something, I was going to USE it!)  The backup stove came out to boil water for tea, and the Chef Boyardee went onto the main stove.  While not a gourmet meal or something that I'd buy to consume at home, it was palatable and did the job.  I packed up my gear and was rolling by ~10:30.

The weather was absolutely perfect.  Gone was the oppressive humidity from days past, and it was sunny but still somewhat cool.  Low 20's, I'd guess.  Absolutely idea cycling weather.  I got rolling and before long I was FLYING down the road.  I'd picked up another map on the ferry - one that had quite a large scale map of Newfoundland.  Because of the scale I was just screaming across the page - flying 1/2 a day's worth of travel on my old map in a matter of an hour or two.  In truth I was actually moving pretty well, but the difference in scale magnified it to somewhat ridiculous proportions. 

That can of Chef Boyardee, while a decent kickstart to the day, certainly doesn't go as far as a proper breakfast (and nothing ever went as far as the incredible breakfast that Bern and Ang sent me off with) - so I was hungry within an hour.  A "rolling fuel stop" (Snickers bar) and I was back on form and feeling decent again.  I kept up the rolling stops as necessary (every hour or two) until I found an ice cream stop for my first "real break".  I don't recall exactly when that was but I'd guess somewhere in the 3-4hr mark, and at around 90k.  I had a chocolate milkshake, a PowerAde, and a bag of chips - and was rolling again on my way to Petty Cove.

This is when it started to get hilly in earnest, and though still feeling good, I took notice of the terrain in addition to the incredible scenery.  Not terribly long after Petty Cove comes Cape Spear.  I had been told that there was some "significant climbing" on the way out to Cape Spear, with grades at ~20%.  I rolled along wondering if this was an exaggeration, or if I just hadn't hit it yet.  I crested the peak of a moderate climb and it looked like the road was going to drop all the way to the water.  "Well that wasn't so bad...  Hardly anything, really"  Of course, just before the water the road hooked right and went STRAIGHT UP.  This was (one of) the climb(s) I had been warned about.  D'oh!  Out of the saddle, grinding it out in my 32x32, I climbed several switchbacks that never seemed to end nor relent in pitch.  Finally the pitch broke and I started to descend - only to go back up again.  Finally a steep-ish descent to the water, and one last (moderate) climb back up to Cape Spear proper.  Okay - so he wasn't kidding. 

The other tourists at Cape Spear were all eager to help me take pictures, and asked a lot of questions about my journey, etc.  One family had been "tracking" my progress as the kids in the back kept yelling to their dad "That guy on the bike is still behind us!  There he is again!  He's still coming!"  They thought it was hilarious.  Of course the real beauty of having climbed and descended into Cape Spear is that you have to turn around and climb out again.  Then once you get back to the main road it's a fair climb over the rocky crags that make up the Nfld coastline, and a good amount more climbing until you reach St John's.  Which is a city built on steep hills, much like San Francisco.  As expected, my hostel was up a few of those as well.

Might as well end the ride memorably, right?


Stats:


Total Elapsed Time: 7:45
Actual Ride Time: 6.22
Total Distance: 143.62km
Avg Speed: 22.5kph
Max Speed: 63.3kph

Total mileage - Vancouver to St John's - 6881.3 km


Newfoundland scenery

Cape Spear - the Easternmost point in North America...

The odometer reading

Actual pictures of Cape Spear (not just me with a sign)

St John's - this town reminds me a lot of San Francisco...