Picture by Karl. L-R: John, Tacia, Alan, Karin, Carol, Robert, Craig, Ron, Jules
The Great Canadian Cycling Adventure
Across Canada by Bicycle in the Tour du Canada 2000
Welcome > La Belle Province > Atlantic Canada
La Belle Province: Ottawa ON to Causapscal QU
Day
49: Ottawa, ON to Hudson, QU
August
16, 2000
"You
don't really ever have to fall. But kissing the ground is good
because you learn you're not going to die if it ever happens."
Jackie Phelan, US Pro Cyclist
"Never
use your face as a brake pad." Jake Watson, Pro Downhiller
Today's
quote is for Jeff, who had a bad spill. He
and Eric were cycling along when two other riders stopped beside the road waved
to them. Jeff was on Eric's wheel,
Eric slowed a little and Jeff didn't see it, they bumped, Jeff went off the
road, over a curb and lawn and into a fence. He ended up with bruises and four stitches in a delicate
place. Not cool at all.
This is the first incident of real injury in the group, and I hope it's the
last. The
group ahead of us has had several bad injuries.
I guess in comparison we're in good shape; still, even one is one too
many.
This
morning we're off to a late start due to rest day arrangements in Ottawa.
Breakfast is served in the residence cafeteria at 7:00 a.m. and Karin,
John and I pack up the truck. While
we got a bye on our galley duty due to the rest day arrangements, we still put
out the lunch-making stuff at the truck in the morning, and pack everything up
into the truck afterwards. Consequently,
it's 7:45 a.m. before we're on the road. We roll from Carleton University along
Colonel By Drive to Rideau, where we pick up Jules who's finishing breakfast
with his wife, Helene. Then off we go,
Jules, Karin, John and I, along Sussex and the Rockcliffe Parkway on our way out
of Ottawa. There's traffic coming
into the city, but little going out, and we make good time.
We're pushed along by a light tailwind under a mostly sunny sky.
In
Orleans we stop at Orleans Cycle for a few minutes to allow Karin to pick up
some gloves -- she seems to have forgotten or misplaced hers, and it's tough to
ride for hours without them. Coming
out of the bike store, Karl is just passing by, and joins us to ride on
together. Aided by the tailwind, we
scoot along the Ottawa River valley. Our
route today will follow the valley all the way to Hudson, Quebec, a total of
about 175 km.
Along
the way we meet up many other members of our tribe, and for most of the day
we've got a large group riding together, including me, John, Karin, Jules, Karl,
Craig, Tacia, Robert, Ron and Sue. At
times, Dave, Kelly, Carol and others are riding with us too.
The
weather today is quite mixed. It's
warm in the morning and gets warmer through the day. We've got a tailwind that starts out around 15 km/hr and will
get as strong as 35 km/hr later in the day.
There are storms about, and we fly parallel to one storm that builds as
we watch, the clouds thickening, spreading and turning very black. At times we
can see lightning. Fortunately, the
storm stays on the other side of the Ottawa River for the most part.
On the road from L'Orignal to Hawkesbury, the road is wet -- the edge of
the storm dumped here before we reached it.
Lucky again!
Today's
ride is not only favoured by a strong tailwind, it's favoured by mostly flat
terrain, with very few slight rolling hills.
175 km is quite manageable under such conditions, although with rest
stops we'll still be on the road for most of the day.
In
Hawkesbury, we're looking for a place to stop for lunch when Karl spots an
attractive woman in a very very short sundress pedaling a bike the other way
down the street. Off he goes to
find out about local restaurants. Yeah,
right! After lots of smiles and
animated conversation, Karl comes back with good news, and we head off to find
the recommended restaurant. There
are 10 or 12 of us there, and we have a great lunch. Afterwards, it's back on the road for the final 55 km to
camp.
The
route today is very scenic along the river valley, following county roads all
the way. Some of the turns are
tricky -- road signage is never quite as visible as one might like.
The official route also has us crossing the river at one point, and
returning across later by ferry, and we elect to take a more direct route since
we're on the road for long enough today as it is.
With
the tailwind pushing us, we're moving quickly to start with -- at times up to 50
km/hr on flats when the wind is at it's strongest in the afternoon.
Everyone is riding noticeably stronger than a month ago.
Back then, "let's take it easy" meant an average of about 25
km/hr. A couple of weeks ago it
meant an average of about 27 or 28 km/hr. Now
it means an average of about 30 or 31 km/hr.
As well, we're not so wiped at the end of the day, and don't feel tired
all the time -- just most of the time. Feeling
stronger allows more "play" on the bikes too.
We've got energy to charge hills, blast the downhills, and race for
townsigns. Most townsigns today see
at least a couple of riders breaking into sprints to capture the signs. I
participate in a couple, and tie with Jules on one.
Picture by Karl. L-R:
John, Tacia, Alan, Karin, Carol, Robert, Craig, Ron, Jules
Approaching
the town of Rigaud, we hit the Quebec border, and stop for a group picture with
the Quebec sign (above). It takes a while
when there are nine or ten people, and everyone wants a picture of the group
with their own camera!
Reaching
the town of Rigaud, Karl, John, Karin, Jules and I stop for DQ while the rest
elect to continue on the last 16 km to camp.
As we're eating our cones, we're watching a rainstorm approaching us.
Instead of trying to outrun it or ride through it, we elect to stay
inside DQ while the wind howls and the rain pelts down.
About half an hour later, rain jackets on, we head out into the final
bits of rain. Within 15 minutes
it's warming up again and the sun's coming out, so it's off with the rain
jackets. The wind's died in the
aftermath of the storm passing, so we're riding unaided, dodging puddles, and
pull into camp at 5:45 p.m. We've
been on the road for about 10 hours, cycling for over 5 of them.
The rest of the time was taken up with stops in the Orlean's bike shop,
lunch in Hawkesbury, DQ stop, waiting for the rain to pass, and so on.
The difference between cycling time and trip time is longer today that
usual, yet very rarely is the trip time less than two hours more than the cycle
time.
It's
been raining at the campground too, and everything's wet.
Fortunately, the camp has a very large roofed area used for games,
parties and so on. Brook's truck is pulled up beside it, and we're
pitching our tents under a roof! Very
nice. We ought to be able to pack
up dry equipment in the morning.
Dinner
tonight is a lentil curry served over rice, with a Greek tomato salad, and
assorted deserts courtesy of the many visitors over the last while.
We are not dessert challenged any longer!
However, we remain meat challenged, and there are suggestions that people
should send steak instead of cookies in care packages.
Tomorrow
we continue down the Ottawa River valley to Montreal, through the city and out
the other side to Mont St-Hilaire, on the Richelieu River east of Montreal.
The ride is quite a bit shorter - only 108 km, yet after seeing the route
map and instructions, I can tell it'll be tricky navigating through Montreal. No doubt there will be lots of stops too, and delays due to
traffic and traffic lights, making the total trip time longer than the three to four hours of real cycling that
the distance would otherwise dictate.
Anyway, tomorrow's ride will come tomorrow.
Now, it's time to wrap this, finish up other chores, and get some sleep.
Day's
high: Add one more day to the best series of days on this trip.
Daily
Stats:
...alan
Camping
D'Aoust
Hudson,
Quebec
Day
50: Hudson to Mont St-Hilaire, QC
August
17, 2000
"The
world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." St.
Augustine
Today
started out very chilly at 12C with a cold, dry wind blowing from the north.
Has summer gone already? On
the plus side, sleeping in a tent pitched under the big picnic shelter meant a
dry tent this morning -- no dew to coat everything.
What a treat packing up a dry tent!
Breakfast this morning is french toast with real maple syrup (courtesy of
Karl) and fruit salad. Suitably
fortified for the day ahead, I'm ready to ride.
With
rain jackets on to keep warm and to act as insurance against the dark
clouds deciding to rain on us, Karin, John, Karl, Jules and I leave the
campground at 7:30 a.m. Our route
today takes us over flat terrain through Bellevue and Oka country, along the
Ottawa River, or more properly, the broadening of it known as Lac des Deux
Montagnes. Following local roads to
Vaudreuil sur-le-Lac and Vaudreuil-Dorian, we pick up bike paths and local
streets to avoid busy roads and highways clogged with morning rush-hour traffic.
Our route leads us on a tour through neighbourhoods of Sainte
Anne-de-Bellevue, and then along Rue Lakeshore through Baie D'Urfe,
Beaconsfield, Pointe-Claire and Dorval to Lachine.
As we ride along the lakeshore in Beaconsfield, I pass the yacht club
where my daughter R was racing about 10 days ago.
To think that our paths have nearly crossed so many times, I'm happy we
were able to connect in Ottawa. The
residential areas along this route are beautiful.
There's a mix of very old stone homes with older stately building with
newer and larger homes. Everything
is well kept -- this is clearly a well-off area.
In
Lachine we leave Rue Lakeshore and pick up the bike path (picture, right) along the historic
Lachine Canal. In the 17th century,
when waterways were the main means of travel, traversing the challenging
Lachine rapids quickly halted New France's expansion. The canal was actually started in 1689, but not completed
until 1825, and twice expanded after that.
The canal allowed the southwest part of the island of Montreal to become
the key industrial area in Canada for quite a while. The canal was pre-empted by the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959,
and then fell into neglect, being closed to navigation in 1970.
The canal area is now a parkland and historic site, the canal itself is
being renovated, and will soon be re-opened to navigation for canoes, kayaks and
small pleasure boats. Today, the 11
km long canal is bordered by park, gardens and pedestrian and bicycle paths.
We
follow the canal for a bit, and then divert from the official map for the day to
follow the bicycle path that runs along the shore of Lasalle and Verdun, on the
St. Lawrence, where we can see the river and the famous Rapides de Lachine.
At the end of this loop, we pick up the map route again for the bike
paths into Vieux Montreal. Just as we cross into the city proper, we encounter a large
group of our cycling buddies stopped at the side of the bike path.
They've just come along the canal path and are also about to head into
Old Montreal.
Leaving
the bike path on Rue de la Commune, we venture into the narrow streets and
cobblestones of Vieux Montreal, and wind our way back and forth until we come
out at Place des Armes (picture above left), the central square and Notre-Dame Cathedral. The place is
busy, bustling with noontime traffic, pedestrians and tourists.
Doubling
back a bit to Rue de la Commune, we stop at Cafe Helios (picture above right) for a great lunch,
including very rich and large desserts. This
is the only way to fuel a day's ride. Then it's off to a souvenir shop to find Montreal pins and
postcards. Hitting the road again,
we follow the bike path across to Ile Ste-Helene (picture below, leaving
Montreal) then Ile Notre-Dame where we
cycle along part of the Gilles Villeneuve Formula One circuit.
Crossing to the south shore, we miss a quick turn in Saint Hubert.
Instead of doubling back for a kilometre, we decide to wind our way through the
adjacent neighbourhood, turning alternately south and east until we emerge onto
a major street that's on our route.
From
Saint Hubert we follow a main road that takes us quickly out of town and back
into the countryside. At this point
we've got a roaring tailwind that scoots us along at 35 to 38 km/hr with
seemingly little effort at all. At
one point, Jules and Karl have just enough lead to make a light that the rest of
us miss. Then Karin and I get
separated from John by some heavy truck traffic turning right onto an expressway
ramp. We find ourselves about half
a kilometer behind John and about another kilometer behind Jules and Karl.
Only one thing to do now, and that's put heads down, turn up the burn
rate, and reel them back in. After
a strong and tiring run, we do so, and then we all continue on together through
the countryside, through Masterville to Mont-St-Hilaire.
Our
campground tonight is Camping Laurier, a huge place where we have a nice smooth
grass lot to pitch our tents on. After
setting up camp and getting cleaned up, we gather for a dinner feast of nachos
followed by great chili over mashed potatoes.
Two kilos heavier, I then retire to my tent to write up the day's
journal.
As
the Wheel Turns
This
journal would not be complete with an expose of Adventure Bear's misfortunes,
especially since my Bucky has now been implicated in scandalous behaviour.
Earlier in the trip Kelly's mascot Adventure Bear was kidnapped, held for
ransom, and then returned unharmed. Two
days ago, Adventure Bear went missing again, and yesterday Kelly found a note
saying that she'd decided to run away and explore the world.
This morning, Kelly found a note along with a little mascot bicycle as she was
packing up her gear for the day. The
note said that the bicycle had been found beside the highway, and that Adventure
Bear had fallen into misfortune but
was being well looked after. Well,
this afternoon, Adventure Bear shows up again with a note, saying that she(?) had a
little caper with Bucky the Beaver, and that this cute little baby blue
beaver-bear was the result of the fling.
Now, I've raised Bucky to be a proud and noble little beastie, and I know
he'd not do anything like this. Besides,
his little butt has been firmly glued to my trunk pack all this time. Finally, we've petitioned for DNA testing to quell the
rumours. There's no way a brown
bear and a brown beaver could beget a blue beaver-bear.
Secretly, I suspect that Jon's "Turkey Bear", a blue scoundrel
of a beast, is the real father. Stay
tuned as the drama unfolds. Who
will admit to being the real father? Will
Bucky's proud and noble name be cleared once and for all?
Pictures at 11.
Day's
high: Add
yet another great day to a series of great days on the trip.
Daily
Stats:
...alan
Camping
Laurier,
Mont St-Hilaire, Quebec
Day
51: Mont St-Hilaire to Pointe du Lac, QC
August
18, 2000
"Very
little is needed to make life happy. It
is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."
Marcus Aurelius
Today's
quote provides cause for reflection on this little journey we're on.
Our life indeed is pretty simple -- all our belongings are contained in
one duffle bag and two laundry baskets; our little world is contained within the
truck; our shelter is a tent in a campground each night; our food is simple; and
our happiness derives from experiencing this journey and this country with each
other day by day. Yet there is a sad side too, that we are unable to fully
share this experience with friends and family.
We are each in contact with friends and family regularly, we have some
visits on rest days depending where in the country we are, and most of us keep
journals, some of which are shared, like this one. Yet still, our happiness would be more complete if we were
able to share more fully. So we
make the most of our journey -- we write, we take pictures, we collect
experiences and memories that will last a lifetime; and we'll be telling these
stories for a long time.
Last
night there was no dew and we pack up our tents dry once again.
Two days in a row is a real treat! Breakfast
this morning consists of toast, scrambled eggs, fried onions and tomatoes, and
fruit salad, on top of the Cliff Bar I ate right after waking up to fire up my
metabolism. I'm finding these days
that if I eat a snack right at bedtime (Cliff Bar or cup full of peanuts and
raisins), and another as soon as I wake (before breakfast), that my energy level
during the day is better. 
As well,
I'm now as conscious of eating during the ride as I am of drinking.
I'm still drinking between one and one and a half ounces per kilometre --
less on cooler days, more on hotter days, plus drinks with lunch.
I also drink most of a water bottle before starting out in the morning to
prime my system. I start eating about one to one and a half hours into the
day's trip, and eat lightly but constantly during the day -- PBJs, bananas,
Cliff Bars, lunch (lots of soup is preferable), chocolate bars occasionally, and
so on. It seems to be working to
keep my energy supply up to the 500 to 700 calorie per hour burn rate during the
day's ride. If only I'd known all
this before setting out on this trip, I'm sure I would've had more enjoyable
rides earlier.
Jules
and I leave camp around 7:15 a.m., retracing the last bit of yesterday's journey
-- crossing to the west shore of the Richelieu River and then picking up Route
233 north from Beloeil/McMasterville. The
ride north follows the river through small towns and dairy farms.
The buildings are a mix of ancient and well restored stone buildings,
some small houses and some large estates.
Each small town has a very large church (picture, right, Beloeil/McMasterville), evidence of the influence of the
Roman Catholic church in the early settlement of this area.
We
stop many times to take pictures along the way -- this is one of the more scenic
routes we've been on in a while. Following
the river valley to its confluence with the St. Lawrence at Sorel, we board a
ferry to cross to St-Ignace-de-Loyola, where we pick up the road to
Berthierville, then turn north to follow Route 138.
A side route takes us along the ancient riverbank ridgeline to
St. Barthelemy, where we get some local guidance to a restaurant for lunch.
This takes us about 7 km off our route, yet we've got lots of time, so
off we go. Pretty cool, eh? Taking what turns out to be a 10 km detour just to hit a nice
place for lunch. Well, the lunch
spot, Restaurant du Fleuve, doesn't live up to our expectations, but we have a
good lunch nevertheless.
After
lunch we've only got about 40 km left to travel today, and we take a moderate
pace until Jon, John, Karl and Jules take off on a sign sprint and then keep
going. After that, Karin and I
settle down to a really nice cruising pace of 31 - 32 km/hr, catching up with
the others when they stop at a lookout in Pointe du Lac overlooking the St.
Lawrence.
Our
campsite tonight is Plein Aire Ville Joie, a convent on the banks of the St.
Lawrence River at Lac St-Pierre. The
place looks like it's now being used as a summer camp, and we have the advantage
of staying in our tents outside, or using a bunkhouse.
We're about evenly split it seems. Some
of us much prefer being outside when it's nice, while others like to avoid the
bother of setting up and taking down tents.
We've also got the advantage of a full kitchen to prepare dinner, and
real tables and chairs for our dinner. The
cook crew sets a large bonfire roaring on the beach and uses it to roast hot
dogs for everyone. Along with
potato salad and tossed salad, we've got a great dinner once again.
After dinner, most gather around the fire on the beach to swap stories,
and I also take advantage of the dwindling light to clean the past week's gunk
off my chain -- my bike hasn't had a good cleaning since Craigleith.
That
done, I get a chance to complete this journal entry for the day, to write some
postcards, and to read another few chapters in Lance Armstrong's autobiography
("It's Not About the Bike"). This
book is highly recommended reading for anyone interested in exploring the
motivation of someone overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds. Lance
claws back
from near-certain death from cancer to go on to win the Tour de France, probably
the single most toughest sporting event in the world.
If you've been inspired by Terry Fox, for sure you'll be inspired by this
story too.
Tomorrow
we ride on to Quebec City. It's
sure to be another great cycling day, and then we get to spend a rest day
exploring the historic city and enjoying a few bottles of wine and a good meal
or two.
On
the breaking news front...
In
the latest episode of "As the Wheel Turns", two surprising events.
First is the revelation from Biff this morning ( Biff is the little
dinosaur mascot riding beside Bucky on
my trunk pack) that he's willing to testify that Bucky is gay, and couldn't
possibly be the father of Beaver-Bear. I
thought I heard Bucky signing
"I'm a beaver and I'm okay..." to Biff one night, but thought nothing
of it. Oh my!
This afternoon though was the real shocker. I returned from my shower to find my bike's trunk pack
sitting on a picnic table, when I'd left it in my tent.
There was a note attached to Bucky, ostensibly written and signed by
Bucky, telling me that when the bikes were stacked up and covered with a tarp a
few nights ago, he found himself in close company with Adventure Bear.
Being young and restless, he couldn't help himself, and we all know the
result. He promises to behave
himself in the future, and is confessing because he can't stand to see his buddy
Biff perjure himself on his behalf. Oh what a proud and noble creature! Attached to the note is a box of condoms.
Now, at face value, it would appear that the case is closed.
However, I'm not sure I've ever seen Bucky write longhand with a blue pen
before, so this could be a frame-up. And,
while there may appear to be a motive, opportunity is questionable.
Bucky's butt remains firmly glued to my bike pack.
If Adventure Bear got friendly, she must have come to him and thrown
herself at him, locking him down helplessly while she had her way with him.
Not wishing to think this of Adventure Bear, I can only surmise that
there is indeed skullduggery afoot. Methinks
Bucky is being framed. Only the
forensic DNA testing will tell for sure. Stay
tuned, pictures at 11, and we'll interrupt this broadcast with updates as they
become available.
Day's
high: Add
yet another great day to a series of great days on the trip.
Daily
Stats:
...alan
Pointe
du Lac, PQ
Day
52: Pointe du Lac to Quebec City, QC
August
19, 2000
"Knowing
others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering
others
is strength; mastering yourself is true power." Tao Te Ching
Once
again last night there was no dew, making packing up camp pretty easy to do.
As tomorrow is a rest day, this is especially appreciated -- we won't
have to dry out tents at the Laval University residence later on today.
Breakfast is soft and hard boiled eggs, toast, cinammon buns and
porridge. We're ready to hit the
road at 7:30 a.m.
Jules,
John, Karin and I set out from the nunnery together, heading NE on
Route 138 into Trois Rivieres. Riding
through downtown Trois Rivieres at 8:00 a.m. on this Saturday morning is eerie.
We're surrounded by historic buildings and monuments, and the place is
deserted. Leaving Trois Riviere, Karin stops to adjust her seat height
and Jules rides on ahead. Just a
short while later, we come to Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap, a world-reknown
Roman Catholic attraction. The
grounds and building are massive, and there's even a parking lot for RVs for
those who choose that method of travel to come here on their pilgrimage. There's no sign of Jules or any of the larger group we'd
encountered entering Trois Rivieres. I'm
guessing they've gone on ahead. It
turns out later that Jules thought we'd gone a different route through town and
were actually ahead of him, and he was trying to catch us, which of course just
pulled him further and further ahead. He'd
end up getting to Laval University hours ahead of us.
Another
hour further along Route 138, Karin and John and I meet up with Eric and Kelly
taking pictures of yet another
impressive, massive RC church. John's
front tire is soft and he thinks he ought to fix it, so I ride on with Eric and
Kelly. The three of us keep a
pretty leisurely pace, which is great today.
I'm feeling quite tired and somewhat burned out -- more than I should.
I guess the pace the last three days has caught up with me at last.
I'm
really enjoying this ride with Eric and Kelly.
I reflect that over the weeks, as Jules and I have ridden together a lot,
we've both become much stronger. However,
Jules' "cruising" pace is now between 5% and 10% faster than mine,
depending on the distance and terrain. When
we ride together, and when we ride with John and Karin, I'm always running a
burn rate that's about 5% to 10% over my comfortable aerobic level.
That means I can't quite generate energy fast enough, have little
resiliency when we run into hills or headwinds, and can't quite clear the lactic
acid from my legs efficiently enough. Every time we stop for a minute or two, or I coast down a big hill,
my legs stiffen up with accumulated lactic acid very quickly, and it's agonizing
to get moving again. In Lance
Armstrong's book, he describes cycle racing as a suffer-fest -- he who is
capable of suffering the most wins. I
can sort of feel what that must be like. I
also fully accept that at my age, with the years of osteoarthritis behind me, my
chances of regenerating the strength I had pre-osteo are very slim.
That's okay -- I can still cycle
across Canada!
The
byproduct of an endurance event is a tired, burning feeling that doesn't go away
until you warm down and then rest adequately. I'm not getting enough of either. On the plus side, I'm getting noticeably stronger.
On the downside, the price is almost always having a sore, tired feeling
except on the day after a rest day. That's
partly why I'm enjoying this ride with Eric and Kelly so much.
The pace is a reasonable match for how I'm feeling today. Another reason I'm enjoying this ride is that I haven't spent
much time with Eric and Kelly, and haven't gotten to know them well.
As we spin along, we're chatting away (another sign of a good pace -- we
can talk and ride), and getting to know each other better.
Our
journey continues along Route 138, northeast toward Quebec City.
I'm amazed at how bicycle friendly the roads are.
Most of our journey in La Belle Province so far has been on bicycle paths
-- either explicit, paved paths in the cities, or wide, reserved shoulders on
the secondary highways. Today our
150 km is almost entirely on pavement designated for bicycles.
And there are lots of bicycles. We
see groups of two's and three's, and lots of single riders along the highway
today. Yesterday a few times we
were cheered on by local folks sitting in roadside cafes and on porches.
This is great!
The
road follows the north shore of the St. Lawrence river, and we have constantly
changing vistas of this great waterway. In
some places the far shore is so distant it's hazy.
Sometimes there are freighters making their way up or downstream.
Near towns with marinas we see pleasure boats out enjoying a fine day on
the water.
At
104 km we take a brief stop at a Tim's in Donnacona for soup and sandwiches, yet
we're back on the road within half an hour. This is great because we want to finish today's ride early
enough to get our chores done today, leaving all day tomorrow free to play
tourist.
At
about 28 km from Quebec City, in a little town called Neuville, we take a side
detour to visit a large marina with a large stone pier and breakwater jutting
out into the river (picture, left). It's a great
place to take a few pictures, see the river, and even see the buildings and
bridges of Quebec City wavering in the distant heat.
Along
this stretch of the river the north shore is getting quite rugged.
This is an old escarpment, about 70 to 100m high, formed by tectonic
movement long before the last ice age. The
glaciers wore the escarpment down somewhat and rounded the hills behind it, and
then created meltwater flows that cut river and stream beds through it to the
St. Lawrence valley, itself a drainage route for the glacial inland see that
became the Great Lakes. Our
ride has a few downhills and uphills as we cross these tributary flows into the
St. Lawrence. It's been several days since we've had any hills of note, and
these are not particularly welcome right now.
At
Cap Rouge, with about 10 km left to go, we descend from the escarpment down to
river level, and see a railroad trestle bridge crossing about 70m above us.
At the bottom of this hill we round a corner to find a Tourist
Information booth and a sailing club. There
in the sailing club is a fleet of Lasers, with several on the grass being rigged
and derigged, and look at that -- I'm sure that's my old sail number!
I can't help but wheel over to have a closer look.
The sail number doesn't match the hull number, which is much more recent
than my old boat would have been -- it's
a recycled sail number. That would have been an "it's a small world" event to
have seen the boat that I spent many happy hours sailing and racing, here at
this sailing club.
Leaving
the sailing club, we're faced with about a 10% grade up the 70m escarpment back
to the top. This is low gear, stand
up, huff and grunt time! Yet once
again I'm determined that I'm going to peddle every inch of this route under my
own power! Cresting the hill, we
turn right through a beautiful residential area, and make our way along main
streets with bike paths to the Laval campus.
Along the way, we miss a turn onto Rue Charles-Huot -- it turns out it's
called one name on one side of the intersection, and a different name on the
other side. Bummer! We've developed
a feel for the route now, and this doesn't feel like a TDC route -- the bike
path is gone, the traffic is heavier, we seem to be going in a wrong direction.
Sure enough, after asking directions, we have to double back several
kilometres to find the correct street. Once
we do, we get out the sidewalk chalk and leave arrows for those who follow us.
Our
accommodations for tonight and the next are in residence at Laval University.
We find it easily, get checked in, and cart all our stuff into our rooms
to sort, organize, do laundry, and so on -- the mundane and never-ending chores
that provide the logistics backing so we can be ready to ride day after day.
Dinner
tonight is a pizza party, and then some go off to explore Quebec City at night,
while others get back to getting chores out of the way.
This entry comes to a close now as a few of us head off in search of
Internet facilities. I'll report on
rest day activities in Quebec City tomorrow, and send them out whenever I can.
We've
now come about 5,950 km from Vancouver, and we've got about 1,350 km left to go.
I'm cycling across Canada! Not
too shabby for an aging boomer who spent 14 years hobbling around, several years
of it with a cane, eh?! Like Lance
says, life is what you make of it. Well,
this is a great one right now.
Day's
high: Completing
yet another section of the Tour du Canada; watching amazing cloud formations
build over Quebec City.
Daily
Stats:
...alan
Laval
University,
Quebec
City, PQ
Day
53: Rest Day in Quebec City, QC
August
20, 2000
"When
I'm on my bike I forget about things like age.
I just have fun." Kathy
Sessler, mountain bike champion
After
an institutional breakfast in the
residence cafeteria, about half the group gathers to take a walking tour
exploring Quebec City. We all pile
onto the bus for downtown, about a ten minute ride, and get off next to the
Parliament buildings. Robert is our
tour guide today. He knows his way
around the old city and all of it's sights and sites, and he knows enough to
give us background on what we're seeing.
From
the Parliament building with it's impressive statues and fountains (picture,
left), we cross the
street to the national historic site of the Citadelle, located high on cap
Diamant, the highest point of the escarpment in the city, and the eastern flank
of the Fortifications of Quebec. The
Citadelle is sometimes called the "Gibraltar of America" and was built
over a 30 year span starting in 1820.
Running
westward from the Citadelle is the "Fortifications of Quebec",
basically a 4.9 km rampart encircling the old city. Walking through the large
gate, we find ourselves in the old city itself, with narrow streets 
and many
restored stone buildings, some of them originally constructed in the early
1600's. We also see many impressive
bronze statues commemorating Laval, Cartier, Richelieu, Champlain, and many other
names so familiar from Canadian history.
In
the Quartier Petit-Champlain, we see Place Royale, the birthplace of French
civilization in North America. Samuel
de Champlain began construction here in 1608, the first permanent establishment
in New France. Here we see la
Batterie Royale, built in 1691, a semi-circular embattlement crowned with
several cannon ranged to guard the St. Lawrence approaches, and used during the
Quebec Siege in 1759. In the centre
is Eglise Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, the oldest stone church in North America,
built in 1688, destroyed by shellfire in 1759, and rebuilt twice.
top
left: Auberge du Tresor cafe; top right: second breakfast;
bottom left: Neri and Bruce; bottom right: shops in the old city.
One
of the ancestors of Robert's wife was the architect of 17, rue Saint-Louis.
Built by Jean Maillou, architect and stonemason, between 1736 and 1753,
the stone edifice is a fine example of lasting Canadian French construction.
We
have lunch at le Brigantin, near the old port.
It's a nice place: great service, great food, nice atmosphere -- all in
all a good time.
Picture: Steps down to Quartier
Petit-Champlain
Our
whirlwind tour saw much more, yet I'm unable to take enough notes to do the
sights justice. Memories and photos
will have to suffice. On our way
back the in rain that's been coming down on and off all day, we seek shelter by
going through Chateau Frontenac, another beautiful place which deserves further
exploration on a later visit.
I'm
impressed with Quebec City. It's a
beautiful and friendly place, with a charm all of it's own.
For sure I'll be back here to spend a few days exploring and getting to
know more of my country's history.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
BREAK
... BREAK ... BREAK ... BREAK
As
The Wheel Turns
We
interrupt this journal to bring you yet another shocking revelation in "As
the Wheel Turns". Kelly has
just returned from visiting friends for the weekend here in Quebec City to find
yet another note attached to Adventure Bear, along with another package.
The note is from a "concerned foster parent group", and
admonishes Kelly for not sufficiently educating Adventure Bear in the ways of
the world. It says that seeing as
Kelly seems to find this somewhat difficult to do, "the group" will
need to step in and help protect the little Bear.
As well, attached to the note is a box of petit condoms "just in
case" Adventure Bear decides to take another little fling.
I
leave my room for a couple of minutes, stepping into the residence hallway with
others to see Kelly and the note. Upon
my return, my roomie Craig says that there was a courier delivery while I
stepped out. Sure enough, there's a
post card and a toddler beaver sitting beside Bucky and Biff, on my bike's trunk
pack. The postcard is titled,
"Bonjour du Quebec", addressed to "Papa Bucky" and reads,
"Bonjour Papa Bucky. Surprise, je suis le produit de votre liaison francais.
Je suis tellement content de te trouver.
Maman a dit que tu es parti pour le bon.
Mais je savais que tu retourneras. Quand
j'ai vu tes dents je savais que tu etais mon pere.
Je sais que je ne suis pas ton seul enfant mais j'espere que je suis ton
preferer." The postcard is
signed, "Jean-Paul le Castor".
It
would seem that before I met Bucky in British Columbia, he'd already traveled
across this fair land. He had at
least been to Quebec City and become, shall we say, entangled, with a beaverette.
I guess he had a dam fine time, and Jean-Paul was the result.
Well, it appears we have no choice but to put Jean-Paul on my trunk pack
along with Bucky and Biff, and the three of them will complete this trip with
me.
Who
knows if there will be further developments?
Where else has Bucky had flings across this fair land?
My little beaver may not be a proud and noble animal, but what an active
little guy he's been! Stay tuned! Pictures
at 11.
...alan
Laval University
Quebec
City, QC
Day
54: Quebec City to Riviere-Oelle, PQ
August
21, 2000
"When
you reach for the stars, you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a
handful of mud either." Leo
Burnett
This
morning some of us are up as early as 5:00 a.m. in order to get organized before
going for breakfast in the cafeteria at 7:00 a.m.
I'm all ready to go and take my bike over to the cafeteria, intending to
eat quickly and get on the road as soon as I can.
I want to see how I ride by myself after a rest day, and what my pace is
like. At 7:25 a.m. I'm pedaling
away from the curb in front of the residence -- the day's journey is on.
Our
route today takes us from Laval University along local streets, down the
escarpment to the river level and Rue Champlain, which take us to the ferry
terminal below Chateau Frontenac. The
ticket attendant tells me that the next ferry will leave in about 11 minutes.
After paying the $2.25 fare, I wait for the ferry which is just docking,
and am soon riding my bike onto the car deck with other cyclists, but no others
from our TDC group yet. Slotting my
bike into a rack, I take the stairs up to the passenger level and then the top
deck to get a better view of Quebec City. As
the ferry scoots across the St. Lawrence to Levis, I get some great waterfront
pictures of the city, lit by the early morning sun.
Goodbye Quebec City -- this is one place I'll be back to for sure, to
explore more and enjoy.
Once
off the ferry in Levis on the south shore, I follow the route along Rue Saint
Joseph until it joins with Route 132 heading east. I'm riding alone today, and after a while I realize once
again that, while I miss the company of others, I much prefer to ride alone.
I can go fast when I want to, go slow when I want to, and ride in rhythm
with my own energy flows, tailoring my burn rate to the wind, road conditions
and how I'm feeling.
There's
a bit of a breeze starting up now, generally out of the SW, although at times
it's out of the east and other times out of the west. When it's out of the southwest
it's a nice little boost. At
various times today I'll gauge it to be anywhere up to about 18 km/hr, and as
little as 6 to 8 km/hr.
I
spin along easily on the wide, paved shoulder which is also marked as a bike
lane. Once again, Quebec takes the
prize for bicycle-friendly roads. Route
132 here is also known as "Route Verte", a bike route starting at Levis and encircling
the Gaspe Peninsula. I pass through
a series of little towns: Saint-Michel, Saint-Vallier, and Saint-Pierre-Montmagny
before the larger town of Montmagny. The
route is generally flat, with only occasional small grades.
The road curves gently to follow the contours of the land and stay within
viewing distance of the St. Lawrence. The
river is about 2 km across at Quebec City and Levis, and widens from there.
From this stretch of the south shore, I've got a great view across the
river to the escarpment that backs the north shore. Mont-Ste-Anne stands outs quite well, with its multitude of
forest cuts for lifts and snowboarding trails highlighted by the morning sun.
Entering
a stretch of Route 132 northeast of Montmagny, running through L'Anse-a-Gilles,
Trois Saumons and St-Jean-Port-Joli, I'm now in the wood carving nexus of
eastern Canada. There are countless
art shops, many specializing in wood carvings of all sorts and descriptions.
There are numerous places with larger wood carvings outside, including
one place with a very large burl, about 1.5m in diameter, intricately carved
with faces. There are also a few
artists here specializing in boat models, including tall ship models.
I keep on spinnin' though -- if I stop at one of these places, I'll end
up stopping at a dozen.
As
I've been spinning along, I've been experimenting with my pace.
Instead of trying to keep a steady pace, I'm doing a fartlek routine --
when I feel like going faster, I put my head down and hammer the pedals; when I
can feel the burn of lactic acid accumulation start to leak through my legs, I
keep hammering for another minute, and then gradually back off until I'm
spinning easily and effortlessly again. Once
my pulse and respiration rates drop back to a nice aerobic level, then I cruise
for a while and pick a time to start riding hard again.
When riding with others, I can't do this; I'm either working constantly
and too hard trying to keep up with others, or holding back when I want to move
faster.
This
is great fun; I love cycling when it's like this. The kilometres simply melt beneath me as I spin through the
countryside. I slow down a few
times to fish Cliff Bars and bananas out of my trunk pack, but I don't stop.
This will be a continuous ride of 130 km from the ferry terminal in Levis
to the campground at Riviere-Ouelle.
Spinning
through L'Islet-sur-Mer, Trois-Saumon, Saint Jean and La Pocatiere, I reach
Riviere-Ouelle in great time. Turning
onto the road to the campground, I'm into the headwind and crawling along at 24
to 26 km/hr. I turn into the campground and stop my cyclometer at 4 hr 24 min
cycling time for 140 km, an average of 32 km/hr, and a trip time of five hours.
I'm first at camp today, even beating Brook by almost half an hour.
It's been a great ride today -- I'm feeling really good at the end of the
ride for once. I think for the next
few days I'll try to leave early and ride alone, just to see how I'm feeling and
doing.
------------------------------------------------------
As
the Wheel Turns
On
the ferry to Levis, Bucky tells me that Jean-Paul reminds him of Francine, and
while he loves traveling across the country, he's thinking that staying in
Quebec City with Francine and Jean-Paul would make him happy, and also be the
proud and noble thing to do. Nevertheless,
he stays with me and we continue on for today.
Still, for the entire ride, he's very quiet. I know that things aren't
well with him.
Will
Bucky stay with TDC? Will he decide
to run away in the night to return to Quebec City and join Francine?
Stay tuned for further episodes in our developing story.
------------------------------------------------------------
Day's
high: The
joy of riding alone -- the independence, the self-challenge, the burn of a good
workout.
Daily
Stats:
...alan
Camping Riviere-Ouelle,
Day
55: Riviere-Ouelle to Trois-Pistoles, QC
August
22, 2000
"To
achieve all that's possible, we must attempt the impossible."
unknown
Today
is a short ride that starts and ends under sunny skies.
The morning dawns clear and cool at about 14C and I head off alone about
15 minutes after Jules. Immediately
out of camp, I stop alongside the river to take some pictures of the upthrust
slabs of rock jutting out of the shore, and running parallel to the river for
quite some distance (picture, left). These rocks
are evidence of the faulting that occurred along the escarpments that form the
banks of this rift valley through which the St. Lawrence flows.
Onto
Route 132, I spin through St-Denis and catch up with Karl who's just stopped to
take some roadside pictures. We
cycle on together at a leisurely pace as the road winds across the very flat
floor of this river valley. This is
very pretty countryside -- we often have sweeping vistas from small rises that
show us the river, the high escarpment and backing hills on the north shore
across the river, and the escarpment to our right that forms the eastern ridge
of this valley.
Through
St-Denis and Kamouraska we spin, through land used for dairy farming and grains
-- fields of wheat, barley and oats spread out on both sides.
We stop so that Jules can take a picture of one of the many roadside
shrines, and his back tire flats as he gets back on.
The moral of this story? Don't
stop to take pictures of crosses -- there's no insurance value there!
Once the flat's repaired, we're back on the road and joined by Karl who
comes speeding up from behind.
Entering
Notre-Dame du Portage, we take a little detour, following the TDC map, and see
that it avoids us having climb a very large hill. It also gives us a very scenic winding route along the
riverbank, past small houses with an abundance of flower beds, glorious in the
full morning sun, and past many bed'n'breakfast places and small auberges.
On the north side of town we come to a large statue of a pioneer carrying
a canoe in portage fashion. (picture, right)
This is
a memorial and marker of the "Portage du Temiscouata", an Indian
portage route from the St. Lawrence to Acadia that was adopted by the military
in 1783. I'll have to check the map.
The portage route must climb quite steeply up the escarpment ridge here
and link up with a river on the top that flows eastward into New Brunswick.
After
passing through Riviere du Loup, Karl decides to press on ahead, while Jules and
I continue a steady and leisurely pace, spinning through St-Arsenne, Isle-Vert
and finally into Trois-Pistole. Most
of this part of the route is on side roads off Route 132.
Autoroute 20 ended in Riviere du Loup, and now there's heavy traffic on
Route 132, and long stretches with little or no shoulder.
It isn't fun on the short stretches where we do have to use the highway.
Entering
Trois-Pistoles, we descend a long, fast hill to cross the river, and then turn
off the highway onto local roads and the Littoral Basque bike path. At one point
we climb a hill that allows us a scenic outlook over the St. Lawrence and the
confluence of Riviere Trois-Pistoles -- another chance for pictures.
Near the end of the bike path we descend a big hill in gravel, and my
back tire flats. I guess that's fair
-- Jules and I each flat once today, and we've each got only three in over 6,000
km. Can't complain at that!
In
Trois Pistoles, we stop at a roadside cafe for lunch, and are joined by Dave
just as we're finishing. After
visiting a dairy bar for ice-cream, we spin the remaining five kilometres to our
campsite for the night. We're
in early enough to get our tents set up and get showered and organized before
starting our cook crew duties for the evening.
The
campsite is on the shore of the St. Lawrence.
The opposite shore is about 20 km away to the northwest, yet we can
clearly see that the shoreline is very high and rugged there.
The tide is out right now and about 100m of tidal flats are exposed.
As we're making dinner, the tide comes flooding in, rising at a rate of
about 1 cm every 20 seconds. By the
time we're finished dinner the tide is in -- the tidal range appears to be close
to a metre. While this estuary is
still called the St. Lawrence, and we're still a few hundred kilometers from
it's mouth, this is really more ocean-like than river-like.
It's a very beautiful setting.
Tomorrow
may be a tough day. We've got 193
km to go, following the river for a while and then turning inland to climb over
the escarpment and up onto the spine of the Gaspe.
Our destination is Causapscal, about halfway across the base of the Gaspe.
Then the next day we descend into New Brunswick. We're cycling across Canada!
We've come 6,200 km from Vancouver and have about 1,100 km and four provinces
left to go. What a life!
Day's
high: Great
ride with great scenery in great weather!
Daily
Stats:
...alan
Camping Trois-Pistoles,
Day
56: Trois-Pistoles to Causapscal, QC
August
23, 2000
"What
would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" Vincent van Gogh
This
morning dawned mostly sunny and warm on the beach at Trois Pistoles.
Karin, Jules, John and I are on breakfast duty this morning, and we're up
at 5:30 a.m. to get our own stuff partly organized and to make breakfast for the
gang. Brekkie this morning is
porridge (to fortify people for a very long day) and "toad in a hole"
(a.k.a. "one-eyed Egyptians"). After
breakfast, cleanup and packing up the truck, the four of us hit the road out of
camp at about 7:30 a.m.
Our
journey today takes us along Route 132, with some side detours, NE along the
south shore of the St. Lawrence to Rimouski and Mont Joli, and then inland over
La Gaspesie to Causapscal. About 10
km out of town we turn inland for our first detour. This route is planned to get us off Route 132 which has heavy
traffic and long sections with no shoulder. However, the detour to St-Mathieu
starts by climbing two massive hills to get us up onto the first escarpment
ridge. The first hill is about 100m
and the second about 125m, each with at least a 10% grade. These are easily the
toughest hills we've encountered on this trip.
This is huff'n'puff time. In my lowest gear, I'm standing on the pedals
and my weight on one combined with pulling up on the other is just enough to
power me up at about 6 km/hr. This is not the way to conserve energy for the remaining 180
km yet to go today!
Once
on top of the ridge, we turn NE again to follow a road along the ridgeline to
St-Fabien and Bic.
Just outside St-Fabien, we're treated to a wonderful vista of the valley
between this ridge and a set of very rugged hills right on the coast, a lake in
between the two, and the town of St-Fabien nestled in the hills.
In the distance the St. Lawrence is a misty blue shine in the morning
sun. This is a picture opp we don't
pass up (picture below). Once again, La Belle
Province provides outstanding scenery -- the St. Lawrence, the rugged escarpment
and upthrust ridges, the pretty wheat and other grain fields, the obvious pride
that people take in looking after their houses and farms -- flower baskets and
beds everywhere, and all in a profusion of gloriously coloured blooms.
Going
down a big hill off the ridgeline, I'm stung by a bee or something that gets
wedged between my sunglasses and my helmet.
At 65 km/hr this isn't fun at all. I
manage to swat away whatever it is, and get to the bottom safely before stopping
to assess the damage. Other than a
good smarting lump, all seems well and I continue on.
Now that we're off the ridge and back onto Route 132, we cross the bridge over Riviere Rimouski and turn off the highway to follow the coast road. As we turn a corner towards the road that follows the coast, we're hit by a blast of cold air and the temperature drops several degrees. We've just entered the cooling zone of the onshore breeze. Clearly the ocean is very cold here.
At about the same time that the cold wind hits us, we encounter a construction zone with freshly laid asphalt. It's so fresh that as we ride along it our skinny wheels sink a little, and we end up with a coating of black fuzz and rocks on our tires. It feels like I've got adhesive on my wheels -- this is tough pedaling. It'll take a lot of highway to wear this junk off my tires!
Along the shore road, we stop at Dunkin' Donuts for a snack. It's a long
day and we'll burn every calorie we consume today.
Coming
to St-Luce-sur-mer at about 83 km, we encounter a town Boulangerie (bakery) and
stop for fresh rolls, cookies and pastries.
We need our calories!!!
Finally,
at about 90 km, we follow Route 132 as it turns inland towards the hills of the
Gaspe, leaving the St. Lawrence behind. Through Mont Joli, Ste-Angele-de-Merici
and St-Moise we climb several very large hills to get us up through the scarp
ridges. Again these are hills that rival anything in northern Ontario. Somewhere
through this area we break up and continue separately.
Jules wants to ride faster, Karin and John like to stop for their breaks,
and I want to manage my burn rate more closely, and it's much easier to do
riding alone than constantly adjusting to the speed of a small group.
Somewhere between St-Moise and Sayabec, at around 140 km, I notice a stream that's flowing eastward rather than westward. I'm over the hump of the Gaspe, and on the downhill side now. The road now runs by Lac Matapedia, and it's dark blue water contrasts with the green forested slopes encircling it. The highway will follow this valley all the way down to New Brunswick and Chaleur Bay, but that's tomorrow's route.
Route
132 is not fun along this stretch. While
there are some stretches with shoulders, for the most part there are none.
There's lots of traffic in both directions, including logging trucks
loaded going west and empty going east. Several
in our group at times have to hit the shoulder to give way to trucks when
there's also oncoming traffic. I'm
fortunate in only having to bail out once when a truck's coming up behind me and
there's a stream of camper vehicles coming the other way.
One can never trust RV's or cars/trucks pulling camping trailers -- they
generally just don't know their space on the road.
At
174 km in Amqui I'm running out of fluid and energy. So far today I've eaten a huge breakfast, five bananas, two
energy bars, half a dozen cookies, two PBJ's, a large cinammon role, and a
chocolate bar. I've drunk about 150
oz of fluids -- mostly diluted Gatorade. And
still I'm feeling drained and not far from bonking.
I stop at a depanneur and pick up a quart of Gatorade that goes into my
Camelbak, a pint of chocolate milk that goes down in about two gulps, and a
chocolate bar that also goes down in about two bites.
It's a good thing I've only got about 20 km left to go; my legs are
feeling pretty dead -- I've no resiliency left for the small hills along this
route.
Entering
Causapscal and finding the campground quickly, I get off the bike after eight
and a half hours on the road, nearly seven of it on the bike pedaling.
I've come 187.7 km today according to my cyclometer.
That's 0.2 km further than the previous longest day -- from Banff to
Beiseker in Alberta. This day had
some hills to rival the Seven Sisters on the Beiseker day too.
Yet I feel much better about today's ride than the Beiseker ride.
Not only am I stronger, I've learned how to fuel myself through the day
and to manage my burn rate. I'll be
ready to ride tomorrow morning.
There
are a few people in camp already, and the others trickle in in ones and twos
over the next couple of hours. Jeff
comes in with a freshly welded frame. Perhaps
damaged in his earlier crash, the chainstays separated from the bottom bracket.
Seeking a bike shop, he ended up at La Mise au Point in Rimouski, where
he was very well looked after by Richard Levesque.
Richard is a champion mountain bike racer and runs a great cycle shop in
Rimouski. Seeing Jeff's frame, he
called a friend with welding equipment who came over to the shop and had the
frame repaired in short order. This
is typical of the service members of our group have received at some shops
across the country. If you're in
Rimouski, be sure to look up Richard Levesque at La Mise au Point on St. Germain
Ouest.
Tomorrow
we ride into New Brunswick, to Petit Rocher and a lobster feast.
We'll follow the Matapedia valley to the New Brunswick border, put our
clocks ahead an hour, and then follow the coastline of Chaleur Bay to Petit
Rocher. It'll be another long day
-- about 175 km. Still, we've only got about 1,000 km left to go in our
journey. People are starting to
talk about what they'll do once this trip is over.
It's hard to imagine that in another 10 days we'll be in St. John's,
after leaving Vancouver so long ago. We're
cycling across Canada -- traveling under our own power, and seeing this grand
country at grass roots level. What a grand country it is.
What a life!
Day's
high: The
tremendous variation in geography during this one day trip.
Daily
Stats:
...alan
Camping
St-Jacques,
Welcome > La Belle Province > Atlantic Canada