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Cross-Canada bike trip 2008 – Summary.

Well, the finale of the entries. I can now add my name to the greats that have done this similar trip before me (I think of Tanya and Al from Ottawa, and the great folks I ran into during this trip - you know who you are). For some reason, Canada doesn't seem so big anymore.

10775 km, 65 days, average of 166/day. Ten out of 10 provinces, 0/3 territories (later, later...) If you include +300 k I did for the race, that brings me over the 11,000 k mark. But, it's not really part of the trip, so I guess I'll have to live having done a trip shy of 11k. Approximately 480 hours of biking (I guess that doesn't sound that much). Pedal revolutions: 2,300,000 (give or take thousands).

Province breakdown (approximate numbers):
BC – 1200 km, 12 days (100 km/day) – includes Vancouver Island
AB – 600 km, 3 days (200/day)
SK – 700 km, 6 days (116/day) – notice the winds had an effect on me in SK?!
MB – 700 km, 3 days (233/day)
ON – 3100 km, 16 days (194/day) – few detours here and there
QC – 1600 km, 10 days (160/day) – includes Charlevoix region, and Gaspe region
NB – 700 km, 4 days (175/day)
PEI – 150 km, 1 day
NS – 1000 km, 6 days (167/day) – includes the Cape Breton region
NL – 1020 km, 5 days (204/day)

Rest days: 11, plus 5 pre-race rest days, 2 post-race rest days.

Longest run between rest days: 10 days (3 times)
a) 1843 km, Halifax to St-John's (via Cape Breton)
b) 1592 km, Calgary (Crossfield) to Winnipeg
c) 1366 km, Ottawa to Perce

Honourable mention: Winnipeg to Timmins (Val Gagne), 1624 km in 7 days (232 km/day).

Top 3 days (highs/lows).
Lows: Day 1, 2 (50 km, 53 km respectively), and Day 21 (66.66 km)
Highs: Day 25 (250 km), Day 30 (271 km), Day 37 (303 km).

Accommodations:
Paid camping: 27 nights
Free camping at campsites: 10 nights
Roadside camping: 9 nights
Family/friends/friends of friends: 21 nights (mainly rest days, therefore two nights at a time)
Hostel: 8 nights (half on rest days)
Hotel: 1 night
Overnight ferry: 1 night
Ottawa: my gracious hosts, aka dear family (bro, sis-in-law, and the kids – many thanks)

Nights spent in a tent: 47 nights (two nights at a buddy's house under construction). No wonder I got used to the tent. Near the end, I thought the tent seemed HUGE when I was all set-up (cathedral ceilings, screened-in porch, front and rear doors, etc). I could have a party in there.

Flats:
Around 8 (up to 10? I forgot) in the rear, and two in the front. Longest stretch without a flat: +4000 km (unbelievable). I wore through the tire before the first flat appeared. Front flats: one was a puncture (screw). Provinces with flats: Ontario (6?), Quebec (1 front, one rear?), Nova Scotia (2 rear), Newfoundland (1 front).

Tires:
Total of four used on the rear. First: for the first 4000 km, used right through. Second: changed in Ottawa before it was too used. Third: changed in Halifax, worn through a bit. Fourth: lasted me the rest of the way.

Equipment breakdown:
Original bike – stripped and abandoned in Sudbury. “New” bike finished the trip (rough initiation, 6000 km within 7 weeks?).
Rear rim: cracked, was due to be replaced sometime this year, new wheel rebuilt in Ottawa.
Front shifter cables: two! Really, how'd that happen?
Shoes, replaced in Regina – they were due to be replaced, after 10 years of use.
Tent: replaced in Ottawa for reliability reasons – it is over 10 years old as well.
Helmet: changed in Sudbury. Not due, but mainly for comfort reasons.

Beers:
very noteworthy micro-breweries (not necessarily in order).
a) Garrison's (Halifax)
b) Le Dieu du ciel (Montreal)
c) Grizzly Paw (Canmore)
d) Charlevoix (Baie St-Paul)

Tunes (aka playlist) – not inclusive. In parenthesis is the number of albums (if applicable):
The Cure (7), Radiohead (7) and Thom Yorke (1), Tom Waits (6), Beck (4), Saez (3), Tori Amos (3), The Dead Milkmen (3), Sarah McLachlan (2), Morcheeba (2), Daft Punk (2), Amy Winehouse (2), Smashing Pumpkins (2), Pierre Lapointe (2), Blue Rodeo (2), Caribou (2), De La Soul (2), Hotel Costes (various albums, 6), Massive Attack (2), Portishead (2), Nine Inch Nails (2), System of a Down (2), Tool (2), Voltaire (2), MTV AMP (2), Hawksley Workman (2), Jimmy's Chicken Shack, Justice, Kanye West, LCD Soundsystem, Primus, The Offsprings, Faith No More, Pearl Jam, Wu Tang Clan, Beastie Boys, Peter Gabriel, Ani Difranco, Beth Orton, Big Sugar, Bjork, Black Cabbage, Bob Seger, Deep Dish, DJ Krush, Dr. Dre, Feist, Eagles, Grinderman, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Groove Armada, Junior Boys, Kill Bill OMPS, Les coyboys fringants, Lunachics, Metric, M.I.A., Ice-T, Pascale Picard, Patsy Cline, Paul Anka, Pixies, Poe, Propellerheads, Pulp, Puscifer, Recoil, St Germain, Singles OMPS, Sonic Youth, 3rd Base, Dresden Dolls, Lounge Del Mar Chill Out (various), Violent Femmes, William Shatner, and a bunch of 80's, some 70's, a fair bunch of 90's, and few 2000's. Noteable groups/songs: Snoop Dogg, Billy Idol, AC/DC, Bruce Cockburn, Bare Naked Ladies, Cake, Bob Marley, Butthole Surfers, Cindy Lauper, Eminem, Genesis/Phil Collins, Israel Kamakawiwoole, Gordon Lightfoot, James, K's Choice, Johnny Cash, LL Cool J, Marc Almond, Mr. Bungle, Ministry, New Order, Nirvana, Placebo, Prince, Pursuit of Happiness, Rush, Skinny Puppy, The Tragically Hip, Sloan, Adagio for Strings (Albinoni, Barber).

Friendliest people:
Northern New Brunswick, NFLD, Manitoba (West of Winnipeg), Cape Breton, PEI, and Northern Ontario.

Well, I guess that's encompasses the trip.

Last words: I've had a hell of a time. Things haven't sunk in yet (still). I feel I saw so much over a long period of time. Yes, lucky bastard. I want to thank all of you who have read bits and pieces (and some crazy dedicated folks who read the whole stuff on a regular basis, even those long entries). Thanks, and I hope you had some fun.

Thanks for allowing me to share some of my passions with you.

What's next you ask? I know what's next...

(sung to the tune of My Way by Sinatra, written by Anka, edited by me): And now, the end is here, and so I post, my final entry.

Signing off, over, out.

Pierre

Day three, St. John's

Day three in St. John's

Oh my f'n lord.

I saw an episode of South Park one day, where Cartman saw a family that had asses for faces. Seeing that, he basically became catatonic, and realized that nothing will ever be as funny as that. So, he couldn't laugh at anything else, since he saw (what he thought) was the funniest thing on earth. It was an interesting concept, in which I've thought about in similar ways. Could this phenomenon happen with me meeting a woman? Could it also happen with biking certain parts of the country? Or, with the scenery I would take in today?

I dropped so many f-bombs today. They were usually with the words “un.....believable”, “unreal”, “surreal”, “this is a..... different world”. and just plain “holy ......”. Amazing, I couldn't talk at times (except for that one or two words I could muster-up, and could only say that for those minutes I was there). Unreal. More on that later.

So, after 2 hours of sleep (I went to bed after the sun went up), I got up early to get the scheduled 8:15-8:30 ride. I waited. Waited. At 9:00, when the lovely Florida girl (aka worker at the hostel who would be my gopher for the bike box and gift today) walked outside, she realized that the driver hadn't shown up yet. Out goes her cell phone, and calls 'dem bastards. So, 9:30ish, he shows up, and we finally leave around 9:45. We got to the spot (after getting lost, as the guy didn't know where to go) at around 10:15. Nice way to start early. Hopefully I'd be back in town by sundown.

From Maddox's cove, I would hike the Cape Spear path. It is an 11.5 km trail (estimated 4-6 hours, moderate difficulty) to Cape Spear. My gear consisted of close to 3 litres of liquids, bananas, granola bars, some gels as a back-up, the left-over bread I had, with the last of the PB. The kit also included duct-tape. Being limited with hiking gear for this bike trip, I did the hike in my sandals, wearing black socks (what rule does that break – the Jacky-Chan rule? I forget), and duct-taped my feet to prevent blisters. Just 3 km into the hike, one of the straps on my sandals got pulled out of the sole – out comes the duct tape. Useful that stuff.

The hike. The start was quite fun, and I was hoping it'd be like that for the rest of the day. Nice and challenging paths, where you had to occasionally use your hands to pull yourself up or descend (what I call three/four-point contact climbing). The whole hike basically goes along the coast, right back to the city. So, there's some great spots of cliff-side views, staring out at the vast ocean that just seemed to go forever, blue skies with the occasional white fluffy cloud, and drop-offs of up to a few hundred feet just located a few inches from the trail. Beautiful, breath-taking. The second half of the hike was basically on a plateau, where I thought that it would be great to ride a mountain bike in these trails (especially with a 29er). For the first half of the hike, it would be impossible to ride a mountain-bike (especially with a 29er). What was also amazing for the hike was that I was completely alone, and felt completely alone in this amazing world. Great, peaceful and amazing feeling.

Lunch time, at Cape Spear, PB sandwiches were on the menu. Exciting. How was your lunch? I sat on the edge of the cliff, maybe a 100 feet below me was a rocky base, being pummeled by aggressive waves. Lovely sound. I stared-out at the ocean, watching fishing boats coast by in the distance, and spotting whales just bob up and down nearby. The cool breeze from the ocean was nice, and surrouded me with a subtle sea-salt ocean smell. So, how was your lunch?

The second hike was the Blackhead Path. It is a mere 3.7 km path, considered “easy to moderate, 1 to 2 hours”, was nice. But, there was a km that wasn't easy. If this was “easy”, what would “moderate to difficult” be for the last trail of the day? Although short (1 hour), it was quite pleasing.

After stocking up on more water, consuming a fudge Popsicle with an iced-tea just at the trail head of the final one of the day, I trekked on. This was called the Deadmans Bay Path, a 10.6 km, 4 to 7 hour hike. This path would hike along the cliff-sides, then venture into the woods for a while, then dump you back to the cliff-sides at the top. Great scenes. There was one spot, called Peggy's Leg, that just knocked me on my arse (see paragraph 1 and 3 of this entry). I just stayed there for a while. There were many times during the hike that I just stood right on the edge, and I couldn't stay there for too long (got scared). Some cliff sides I didn't even have the courage to get close to the edge. Amazing.

During the first hike, I found that I was taking too many pictures and videos. “Memory Card Full”. Shit. So, I had to delete a few pics and vids to hopefully make it to Cape Spear, where I would hope to buy a memory card there. All the other ones, 3 gig's worth, are full of stuff from when I left Ottawa. But, I had to take videos at times as the pics didn't come close to capturing some stuff. The vids were alright, but can't replace being there. At Cape Spear, I wasn't lucky this time. So, more pick-and-delete stuff. I would definitely make it back to town with a full memory card.

Well, with the views on the 3rd hike, I had to take tons of pics, and a few fast videos of good quality (not compressed). I made up my mind that when I do hit Gros Morne one day (hopefully soon), I will make the detour to come back and hike these trails again (and more trails).

The last part of the last trail was on a plateau full of slanted rocks. The texture is similar to concrete mixed in with small rocks, where their appearance is also multi-coloured (different rocks, some hardened-peat, etc). This could be bike-able. Later on, I guess I had the same thoughts as a few other folks. Four dudes, riding some pigs, were doing these trails. Sweet. I got the big urge to go back to Ottawa and finally ride my new bike – Beckie. What was really making me curious is how they would descend (or at times ascend) some of the long unrideable terrain). Some sections would take me 5 minutes to go down 100 metres, having to grab on to anything and everything to slowly get down. Sweet, excellent hiking.

So, arriving to the edge of town, I took a cab to the hostel. Lazy. I then took a much-needed shower, packed up the bike and my gear. At 10:30, I went out and had supper (KFC). There was still two QB beers I hadn't sampled yet, so I went on a hunt. The QV Ale I found, but the Iceberg beer, I had no luck. I went back to the hostel, where I would get a max of 3 hours of sleep before having to get up to go to the airport.

Rest days, they were.

So, I am finishing the St. John's entries as I am waiting to board on the final flight home, from Halifax.

See you soon,

p
(pics uploaded, finally)
(yes, one more entry left, a little summary of the trip, more stats basically, to conclude this blog).

Day two, St. John's

Day two – St-John's

Let's do things differently. I am writing Day Two before Day One, but thanks to technology, you'll read them in order.

As always, the day started late, as I really like to sleep. The two frenchies had to get up early in the morning, so that interrupted the rest a bit. Breakfast at noon (strawberry ad banana French toasts with sausage and excellent fried potatoes). Again, as yesterday's breakfast, they were just cut strawberries and bananas on top.

After some window shopping, procrastination, running into the “you're cute” girl, and eventually buying some gifts, I headed to Signal Hill. There, I started my journey at the Johnson's Geo Centre. That is an underground exhibit/museum of anthropology and geology, with special exhibits on the oil and gas industry, plus the titanic story. The latter was quite amazing and enlightening – a no-holds-barred tale of what happened, and why. Newfoundland is a major hot-spot for archaeological stuff for the World. There are so many different types of rocks here (even noticeable by me, a total amateur). The exhibit shows, amongst many other interesting things, how NFLD broke away from Africa and started drifting away. Boy, with this big-bang theory, and evolution, my strong beliefs in the catholic religion didn't permit me to believe all the scientific stuff. Oh boy.

I continued the hike up Signal Hill for some astonishing views of the steep cliffs along the ocean shore, as well as the city itself. At Signal Hill, it's also where the first Trans-Atlantic wireless message came through in 1902 (or 1901).

I continued the hike through the hill and ended up in Quidi Vidi Village, where I wanted to visit the brewery (QVB). When I got there, after that nice hike along the shore, I found out it closes at 5 pm every single night. Took a cab back to the city, and had lunch (par food) at a pub where I continued to sample the QV beers. The VQ beers tasted yesterday were the 1892 Traditional Ale, as well as the Honey-Brown. Today, it was the Eric's Red, as well as the Honey Brown again. The red was the best of today, as the honey brown wasn't anything to write home about.

I finished my meal in time to head down to the haunted walk of St. John's, where I would meet, for the second time today, Kelly and Lindsay. We did the tour together (which was quite good, with an exceptional host), then headed to George Street for some brown pops in some local “house of worships”. It is also fun to be with some very good laid-back folks. A very comfortable, relaxed, no pressure situation. Appropriate lyrics that comes to mind from the song “Instant-club hit” from The Dead Milkmen: “I came here to drink, and not to get laid”.

The bar, Green Sleeveless, or something, was fun. There was a solo artist playing guitar and singing cover songs. What made the night a bit more interesting was the drunken single older guys hitting on the girls. Key lines to remember of the night: “You're a sensible person”, and 'You're a nice looking lady”. Nice pick-up lines, I must remember to use those one day. Other lines notable about the evening, from one of the songs sang: “We're just two lost souls living in a fish bowl... Wish you were here.”.

I took a cab to the 24 hour Sobey's nearby to gather some food for the night (aka supper) and breakfast (which was fast approaching), as well as for the hike planned for tomorrow. That should be a dandy one – an all-day hike (11-17 hours, pending on how well I do). Hung over? I will find out tomorrow.

I also scored today. One of the workers at the hostel will do some gopher work for me. Being stuck in the trails all day, I can not go get that last gift I wanted to get, nor the bike box and pedal wrench necessary to pack my bike for the plane back home in a few days. Time's running out, but I think I'll be able to manage everything I wanted to do in the days I am here. Worse comes to worse, I will come back for more time – more for hiking some trails in the area.

Tomorrow evening, after the hike, it is planned that I continue the George Street festivities, and get “screetched-in”. I am not looking forward to that. But, I might as well keep it to the last day where I can relax (aka sleep) in the plane the next day. Lindsay and Kelly are wonderful to be around. I'm sure they'll watch over me.

Later,

p

Day one in St. John's

St. John's, rest day 1

Who am I kidding, it's end-of-trip day 1. I am still in denial.

Alright, what did I do that day. The morning started off the usual – I slept in. It was around 1:30 when I finally got out of the hostel and headed for breakfast. There's this restaurant downtown that serves basically only breakfast, and there is often a line-up. I had a nice meal there – the mixed-berries pancakes with bacon caught my eye. Well, it was tasty, but it was simply a few pancakes with mixed berries on top. I guess I was expecting mixed berries into the pancake.

I was a downtown tourist afterwards, doing the sight-seeing on the West, North and South part of town. The East, where Signal Hill and other attractions are located, were on the menu for day 2. I ventured to Mile One Centre, where the St. John's Fog Devils play, an oddly enough, located at Mile Zero of the Trans-Canada Highway. On that site, there were a bunch of little plaques showing how far certain things were (including Ottawa, Dublin, North and South Pole, etc).

Shortly after having breakfast and only visiting a few sites, I decided to hit the (apparently) World famous Ches's Fish and Chips, since I was in the area. Being here, I had to try one of their main dishes, even though I've been scared of fish for years (I generally don't like the smell, so it throws me off ad I don't want to eat it). It was alright, nothing fancy, but alright. I was tempted by the Quidy Vidi (pronounced Kiddy Vidi) Iceberg beer, which is a local company that makes this beer with, you guessed it, iceberg water. Since that brewery was i the plans either later tonight or tomorrow, I decided to skip it.

I was quite full at that point. I can't believe how many times I just stopped at a park bench and just sat there. This definitely felt different than any other rest days, as I was always busy trying to squeeze everything in. This time, I just sat there, with not much motivation (or rush) to move. It did kind of feel nice. It was also a time to soak in the view of multi-coloured houses all over the place. jelly-bean-ish. A local told me that it might of come from a tradition that the house was painted the same colour as the fishing boat. This way, the wife (home-bound) would be able to look out to the harbour and see if her husband was coming home. Years ago, all the levels of government had a program that donated various different colours of paint to home-owners, and started the boom of all the houses painted differently. It definitely adds charm to the city.

I visited a few other local attractions – the Bascillica, a few cathedrals, The Rooms (re-enactment of a soldier's barrack during the time of wars over a century ago), and eventually returned to the hostel to relax a bit.

The downtown, aka South part, was next. The main attractions are the courthouse, the big monument at the harbour, the harbour itself, the many stores lied the main streets, and of course, George Street. St. John's holds the title of having the most bars per capita in North America, where at the centre of it is George Street. I was saving that for the next two nights, where I could hit the sauce a bit, and even try screetch (local rum, terrible stuff apparently).

Something caught my eye: The Yellowbelly Brewering Company and restaurant. Yes, time for supper. Pretty good food, where I had the beer and cheddar soup (Pale ale, white cheddar, chive creme fraiche), grilled Atlantic salmon, with black pepper and horseradishpotato mash, spinach, pancetta and raisin saute. For desert, I ha to try the rosemary and wild honey crème brule, with a tuile cookie spoon, and fresh fruit garnish. That was quite delicious. The waitress stated that if that desert was a man, she'd marry it. Their beers: The Fighting Irish Red Ale, the Wexford Wheat Ale, and their Honey Brown. No testers, so I had to have a pint each. To accompany my desert, I ordered a half-pint of the red, as it was the tastiest of the bunch. But, since they didn't have half pints, she brought over a full one. Oh well, more to enjoy. You could taste the caramelized grains in the red, it really stood out. Tasty.

What was fun, and unexpected, was the conversation some folks were having beside me. At one point, they said “well, Barrymore's on Sunday for 80's night is fun”. What? Hey, Ottawa folks. So, we got into a conversation. Lindsay and Kelly, who drove all the way here, met Matt, from Maine, on the Argentia ferry. The girls were in town for a few days before heading out to Gros Morne for a week. So, with those folks, I would try to hook up later on in the evening.

The night already had a plan. Remember the 4 boys that I ran into just inside the Saskatchewan border, who were biking to raise funds for Cancer research? Well, their final destination was also (of course) St. John's, and their arrival was on Friday (like me). I didnt' expect to be here at the same time as them, so I thought I'd miss out on the bash they'd have on the Saturday night. So, the game plan was to show up, have some beers, congratulate the fine fellows, and eventually meet up with the fine Ottawa ladies.

As soon as I walked in the door, the boys recognized me. I was shocked, as usually cyclists don't recognize each other if we're in our casual clothes (if we're only used to seeing them with tight revealing clothes and a bucket on our head). Very good fellows, quite genuine, and also half in the bag (rightly so). It was great. After sharing some stories, I eventually heard about someone else who was suppose to show up tonight. This person, for the entire province of NFLD and parts of Cape Breton, I referred to as “The Ghost”.

You see, when I was biking through BC an Alberta, when I would stop at campgrounds, I would hear of “this girl from Victoria who was biking by herself across Canada”. I was quite sure I'd run into her at one point. But, it never happened. Once I hit Ontario, where I would take a different path than everybody else (until hitting St. John's), I would probably not run into any other xCanada cyclists. In Baddeck (where I had that lobster lunch), Bob and Joan, two older folks who were also biking this fine nation, told me that just ahead of me was this “girl from Victoria who is biking by herself”. Holy shit, The Ghost is back! Would I eventually run into her on the ferry or in NFLD? Time would tell. The big thing was which ferry she would take – the long one, or the short one like me. But, I never did run into her, and basically thought she took the long ferry and ended a few days before me. Alas, at Club One, where the big shin-dig for the boys was happenin', there she finally was. We met, and had a few stories of our own. She was amused at my story, and surprised as well. For her, she heard about me, as I was called (which became my reputation) “Mr. 200-a-day guy”. Thirty million people, a country that spans 8-9 thousand kms, and two individuals form a reputation that is known amongst select campgrounds and cyclists alike. Freaky. It felt nice to have a little rep. A nice heart-warming story about her trip – three girl-friends of hers from back home, flew to Moncton to ride the rest of the trip with her. They were busy hitting the sauce a bit, and tearing up the dance floor. One was feeling pretty good, was bold and said to me: “you're cute”. That was funny.

At the club, there was also two other cyclists, Darrick and Sinisa, that did the same trek, but did it with recumbent bikes. They, oddly enough, also arrived yesterday. Every one of us had a different agenda, different starting point, different day of departure, and we get there on the same day. Freaky.

At the club, I sampled (a few times) the local “Canadian/Blue” beer of NFLD – the Black Horse. Well, nothing major. It's like a one-legged, toothless, wrinkly lady – not pretty, but it can do the job. Now, would I meet up with the ladies from Ottawa? I was half in the bag at that point, and started doing what I refer to as “walking” back to the hostel. No meeting tonight. Bed time.

p

We did it, Thank you

I will write the story of the day sometime soon. Pictures of NFLD to be uploaded soon after as well. Tourist time in St-John's, which will have it's own post. Stay tuned, and be patient. Merci.
p

Day 65 - Bellevue to St. John's

Bellevue Beach to Cape Spear, then back to Saint-John's
The final destination
167 km, a little more than 7 hrs of riding
Sunny, hot, and winds around 20 km/h (mainly in my favour)

So, here I am. We made it to the end, and I can't go any further East. Cape Spear: The furthest point East in North America.

I get times when I don't feel the trip is over; that I have a rest day or two in St. John's and then have to bike somewhere again. Then there's other times that I know (and feel) that it's done. Those times I get a bit chocked up; but you guys knowing me a bit, I control those emotions fairy quick and become “normal” again. It hasn't hit me yet, I guess. After a few days of being the tourist here (which is great, because there's a bunch of things I think I want to do), I'll figure out a way to get back to Ottawa. For that, there's many options; from the quickest (fly back), to the slowest (mixture of bus, train, plain, hitch-hike, ferry, and bike). Honestly, I haven't thought much of the logistics yet, only on Monday or so that I'll make the arrangements.

The ride today. Thinking I was only about 100 from St-John's, I slept in late (8:30-9:00 am). But, going to bed just 5 hours before didn't help. The last ride itself was fun, it felt fairly non-chalant and quite easy. Roads, as usual, were pristine. I was behind on uploading two posts, so I took a little detour to Chapel Arm (15 km from the start) and ducked into that village to access the internet at a local school. I figured that if I upload the short post first, it would give some of you a bit of time to read it, before the monster post is uploaded. The 3 km fairly steep downhill into town was nice, especially with the wind at my back, but I thought that I'd have to climb that puppy and hopefully not use the granny. That was going to be a bitch. But, I stuck to my guns, and grinded up without touching those gears.

The next stop was a small detour to another little town, where I would then upload that big post. I also stopped for some PB sandwiches, before kicking it in to Cape Spear and such. There was a couple on a motorcycle that I had a fun chat with. They confirmed what I was hoping it wasn't true: St-John's city limits was 70 km away, then there's more distance until the downtown, and then another little hike to Cape Spear. No biggie, I knew I'd be alright for time. They also said that George Street is very safe, only a few mishaps happen here and there, with the latter usually a scuffle between some drunken friends. So, they highly encouraged me to spend a fair amount of time there.

The last bit of biking. Nice. Remember that string of songs that came on in NB (Seductive Barry, Sergio's Theme, Seven Notes in Black, Silverf*ck, Sing, Sing For The Moment, etc)? It was playing again on this leg. Great tunes, the moment wasn't the same though (but still good). The winds were now at my back, and fairly strong (up to 20 k/h), so I knew I was going to enjoy that last bit of riding (100 k or so).

The sun was fairly hot. I did like yesterday and rode without the jersey to try to even out the tan a bit (so I can be white in the front, and tanned in the back). At one point, the road shoulder was covered by a bunch of rocks, and both lanes behind me had cars there. Shit, I knew I was going to go through that. I just hoped that I could dodge most of it. The back wheel (my priority) cleared well, but I did feel the front wheel hit a rock fairly hard. I just hoped that it didn't cause a snake-bite. Sure enough, 5 minutes later, I feel the front a bit soft. So, my second flat of the front wheel for the whole trip. No biggie, I dont mind at all changing the front – it's a lot easier than changing the rear where I have to remove all the panniers and such. But, no flats with the rear since changing my tire in Halifax. The tire itself is looking a bit worn out. I wouldn't give it more than another 1000 km on it. Vittoria isn't as good as Hutchinson's.

When I turned onto the Highway 2 to head to downtown, it was a very very very plesant ride. New pavement, wind at my back, and downhill for probably 15-20 minutes. Fun. Got to St-John's, took some pictures of the “Welcome to St. John's sign. From there, I had to figure out a way to get out of the downtown (bit confusing, lots of loops), and hike (climb big-time) 17 km out of town to get to Cape Spear. Here I was, climbing the side of a mountain, and being very stubborn not to use the granny again. Water was running very low, the heat was still high, and I was getting close to red-lining it at times. But, I managed not to drop down to those gears. Steep stuff though. I guess it's the price I had to pay for that long downhill to St. John's.

Long climbs. Some steep ones too – switch back at times. Grind. But, I got to where I wanted to get. I was expecting tons of people there, but there were hardly any. I was also expecting to feel quite weird and sentimental, where I would just stop 5-10 metres from the spot and just stay there. You know, not wanting to go the whole way as I knew that if/when I touched the spot, it would technically be the end of the trip. But, I didn't feel that way. I just got out the phone to make a few phone calls, and the camera to take a few pics. There were three guys from Trinidad that were there, so they took the pics of me with the signs (when I was ready). I was their camera man and they were mine. They thought it was sharp. “We're here with a guy who biked across Canada, we're part of history here”. They were funny. With their camera, they filmed me. “When the camera rolls, state your name, where you're from, and what you just did”. Fun folks.

After spending a fair amount of time there, buying some water and a lollipop, and watching the whales bob up and down (with nice blow-holes, fun), I headed back to town. Weird to get to the end, and then having to contine biking. But, that ride back was so mellow (especially with that big lollipop in my mouth), even though there were a few nice long climbs, that it was hardly an effort. I debated: “Do I use the Granny, since the trip's technically over, or do I have to stick to my word and not use it for the entire province?”. I tried without the Granny for the first hill, and it worked. So, granny stayed sleeping.

The last few kms into town (well, more like 5-7) were all downhill. It was easy to hit 70 km/h (if it's that steep, think of how it was to climb that), and that's with the brakes on. Nice ride.

In town, I searched for a Hostel, and found the HI. On my map, HI doesn't have a hostel in St-John's, but this one just became a member of HI just two months ago. After settling in, nice shower, procrastinating a bunch, I finally headed out to have supper (at 10:45 pm). My roommates are two frenchies from Riviere-du-loup (QC), who are riding the Avalon Peninsula. Good guys, fun conversations.

So, that's it for the ride today. The next post will be about my touristy adventures (which will include my gastronomic and beer adventures, with maybe some screetch).

I guess my timing was bad, as most of you will read this during the work week (a few days behind my arrival). Understandably so, who wants to sit at the computer on the week-end when they do that during most of the week?

I hope you are all doing well.

Oh, to add to the day, my bike arrived in Ottawa today. My bro, sis-in-law, and my nieces put it together. If I have permission, I will post a few pics of that process with this. I get to ride the new bike soon. I get to ride again soon! But, more importantly, I get to see a bunch of you lovely folks soon. Just try not to laugh at my forehead-helmet tan lines and such. Maybe I'll get burnt on my noggin to blend in that tan before I get back home.

Home sweet home (soon).

Pierre
Final km at Cape Spear: Odometre at 11012 km.
Final km at the hostel: odometre at 11028 km. I'm around 10850 km for the trip. (unofficial).
Original ETA was the 30th of July, 63 days of biking, around 9900 km (estimated), 9 provinces. I guess I deviated and miscalculated a bit.

Day 64 - Gambo to Bellevue Campground

Gambo to near Bellevue
196 km, 9 hours on the nose
Sunny, winds up to 15 km/h (mainly head, some cross)
*100 km away (most direct route) to St-John's.
*second last riding day...

As per the warning I wrote at the end of the July 22 entry when I uploaded the post earlier today, I decided to divide the entry today in parts. This way, if you are bored, or pressed for time, you can read it bit by bit. That is, if the entry becomes long. I have been in a mood to chat today (maybe the Newfie is seeping into me), and since there's only one day of biking left, I have some house-keeping to do. Out of curriosity, for those who will read the whole thing in one sitting, time it. I am curious how long it will take to read. I'm sure it'll be a lot faster than what it took me to write it. Let me know (those brave and currious ones reading the whole thing) how long it took, s.v.p.

Scroll down to read the day before's entry, just posted an hour ago.

Here goes. The “novel” entry:

Part A: The ride today

Swell morning. When I woke up (well, the second or third time) at a reasonable hour, I knew the alarm would go off in half an hour. I just relaxed in bed for a while. I like resting in bed in the morning – I don't like to rush. But, with the sun beating down, it was getting a bit hot in my appartment. So, I rolled out of bed to start the day sooner than expected. Wow, it could be a nice riding day where I'd finish biking an hour or two before it's dark!

Left town, got back on the highway, and the first tune that played was “Peaceful Easy Feeling”, by the Eagles. How appropriate. It would be like that for the rest of the day. Way to set the mood. Plan: ride to Clarenville (100 k or so), eat lunch there, upload an entry on the blog, check the blog for those comments that I look so forward to reading every day, check email (diddo as the blog), and do a bit of business stuff (never stops, this registration thing for work, insurance, etc).

Well, 30 k into the ride, I spot another rider who just looked like he finished lunch. I pulled over and we talked. More accurately, he talked for 20 minutes or so. Another Swiss guy – that's 3 this trip. He started his trip in May, 2007, in California. From there, he hiked (well, biked upwards) to Yukon, did NWT, hiked down to the Sault. Since it was starting to get cold, he biked to Texas, then to Florida, and eventually went back to the Toronto/Ottawa/MTL corridor. From there, he continued to the Gaspe region, where he spent 3 days in Perce, where it was foggy for 3 days and he didn't see the hole in the rock. Bummer. Then, he rode down basically the same route as me for the Maritimes (I dont know if he did the Cabot Trail), and is now 2 days away from St-Johns. Twenty thousand km so far. He also created a little kick-stand for his BOB trailer, which BOB trailers bought the patent off of him for 500 bucks. Interesting fellow, talks a lot, and is writing a book about his trip. I scored a free book when it's written/published this fall – all I have to do is pay for the S and H, and the tax (2-3 bucks). It's in German, but there's access to the English version online once I have the book. It was the first time I spoke to someone who didn't even ask any questions about my trip. Funny. He rides also 8-10 hours a day, but does a max of 150/day. Since we had a different agenda for the day, and different speed, we parted ways after our brief encouter. A bit of time lost, but no regrets.

Going through Terra Nova National Park, it was starting to get hot. I figured it was one of the last days I could work on my tan (I am soooo vain). Yesterday, I wore my Rin N Hammer jersey, where the zipper unzips to the belly-button. That's the perfect shirt to wear for the days you just want to peel off the jersey while riding, tan, and put it back on when ready. But today, I didn't have that luxury. I pulled over, put away my jersey, and just rode with the shorts (hiked up, of course, to tan those white little twigs I call thighs). I was heading directly South, so that was perfect to tan the front of my shoulders; I have a lovely farmer's tan at the moment.

The park itself is nice. Nothing spectacular, but nice hills (still no use of the granny), few little lakes on the side, and many rocky streams. The shoulder is quite large here (almost a whole lane), which is great. But, the park pisses off the drivers, as there is no passing lane the whole 50 km. Honestly, I'd cut both shoulders in half (still plenty of room to bike on), and form a passing lane here and there.

Just before exiting the park, there was a hill to my left that caught my eye. It was a sight where people would re-arrange rocks (few inches in size) and write their names. One looked like it was similar to “PERRON”, so I decided to go check it out. There was an E, an an O. So, I decided to re-arrange things and wrote PERRON. I tried my art skills and did a bike logo on top, and an '08 underneat. So, I hope it turned out (in the pics). I wonder how many days it'll last. That probably took me 30 minutes, so more time wasted. Again, no regrets.

It was hot at that point, and the water was starting to run out. Just another 15 k left until I hit Clarenville. Finally, I get there. The cutie at the Information Centre let me fill all my bottles with their cold water-cooler. That was nice to drink, and to feel those cold bottles on my low back (in the pockets of the jersey). Off I was to the grocery store for lunch meats (the last of the bread was to be eaten today, yes by), and then find a spot to tap into Internet again. This little piggy rode a bike today. This little piggy had roast beef for lunch today. This little piggy didn't go “wee-wee-wee” all the way home (well, not yet at least – few more days).

Emails – I took care of a couple, where I am now under 40. Gees. There's also one I got from our College (Physio), where they stated they are missing documents. How can that be? As it turns out, my work didn't send out the papers my sister-in-law brought to them. Bastards. That's a delay I dont want. Anyways, after a few phone calls, I hope they fixed the situation.

I ended spending a fair amount of time in that town. Nice place, by the way (people wise, didn't see much of the town to have an opinion, but it felt friendly). So, riding time left was diminishing. On the way back to the Highway, I stopped at Tim Horton for another Iced Cap (seems to be a daily thing, almost), and a donut. I got into a nice conversation with some folks about the trip. After 10-15 minutes or so, I was heading out of town. It was 5 o'clock at the time – not much play to put in close to 100 k before it gets dark. I trekked on.

The winds picked up. Oh, getting out of the park, that's when the winds started (headwind), but honestly, I didn't care. Peaceful easy feeling, remember? That stayed with me the whole day. Leaving Clarenville, it was the last major town/city until St-John's. From there, all the signs just say “St-John's, x km”. They are accurate, as there's only little towns off the TCH from here on. Things started feeling weird from there; hills felt effortless, the wind didn't even phase me, and I was singing fairly loud here and there. Well, I call it singing, but I don't know if you'd call it that. St-John's is within reach. It didn't matter if I stopped right now, or later, but it would be reached in one riding day (or less). As planned, I wanted to leave the last day of riding fairly light (100 k or less). So far, so good.

I continued to ride until I would hit the last possible campground accessible. From here on, there's no campground near the TCH, so it was redundant to aim for further campgrounds. Just like yesterday, I would ride until the sun set. I got to my destination when it started getting dark. Perfect timing. I didn't hit 200 km though (too bad, I hope you are not disappointed in me).

Just within 20 k of the campground, I stopped into a convenience store to buy some supper. I was hoping for some KD or something, but they didn't have such thing (like most convenient stores). I settled for a few pepperoni sticks (for meat, to replenish my hugh bulked-up muscles), and a fresh loaf of un-sliced bread. I have peanut butter left, so at least I could have some PB sandwiches tonight and for mid-ride snack tomorrow. So, that was my supper.

(gees, this guy keeps on writing. doesn't he ever shut up?)

At the campground, I negotiated a serviced site from 22 bucks, down to 18. Then, after some of my usual flirting (lucky her husband wasn't around), she gave me the site for 16. Nice. After a shower, I got into a hockey conversation with the husband. He is a big MTL fan, and collects tons of cards. He has sweet cards – bunch of rookie cards in mint conditions: Rocket Richard, Ryder, Gretzky, Sundin, Lafleur, Boom Boom, you name it. We also had a nice chat about George Street in St-John's. Apparently, I shouldn't go there after dark. Rufi's (rohipnol), stabbings, fights are quite common. Nice. It's the combo of non-local (non-Canadian) fisherman mixed in with drunken Canadian-Irish folks, and some trouble-makers. Dont worry, I will be there during the day.

Well, that concluded part A. If you stuck around to read up until this point, I thank you. I hope it was at least a bit entertaining and not a waste of your valuable time. I give you permission to get up, stretch your legs, go empty your bladder, maybe grab lunch, and when you're ready, and if you're interested, read on. There might be some interesting stuff next.


take a break. the long stuff starts...



Part B: loose-ends (and no, I am not talking about the men at Church and Wesley, nor the ladies attending Curves). Those were really bad jokes, sorry (well, not that sorry).

Here's a bunch of bits and pieces, random stuff. Sorry, long entry. Being fairy organized person, I labeled the sections so you can read what intrigues you, and skip the rest.

Funny names in NFLD.

Blow Me Down Cove, Goobies, Come By Chance, Tickle Harbour, St Jones Within, Little Heart's Ease, Heart's Delight, Heart's Desire, Conception Bay, Witless Bay, Dildo, and South Dildo. I'm sure there's more, these are just some that I've noticed.

Injuries, and worries during the trip

I wasn't sure if I was going to make it past Vancouver. Honestly. I thought I could get some problems with the rear wheel (too heavy of a load for such a small tire), but the 28c (instead of the 25c) turned out quite perfect. Thirty-two might have been better, but I don't live in the “what-if” world. The “c” means millimetre for you non-cyclists out there. That was one of my worries. Once I would reach Vancouver, I could either buy a new wheel that would accept a 32 c tire, or do the trailer thing. I was lucky not to have to resort to that.

The other big worry was my Ilio-Tibial Bands (aka ITB). I've had chronic problems, mainly because I am a lazy bastard who doesn't work out on a regular basis. I tend to load up my training in May/June for Solstice (team or solo), and that's about it. So, having only done two indoor rides on my rollers in April, and 4 outdoor rides (2x30 k, and 2x50 k), I took a big risk with the start of the trip. If you have noticed, I would keep the days fairly light until I got through the Rockies. That was, I guess, my training. But, I pushed it (i.e. risked it), and it turned out well. I did stretch very often for the first few weeks. When I started gaining confidence in my legs, stretching took a back-seat. I would have to have a discussion with you about stretching, but there's no scientific evidence proving that it reduces injuries. The studies show that it leads to more injuries. So, why do I tell people to stretch when I'm at work? Hipocrite you say? Well, let's have a conversation on that (if you want) an allow me to convince you. Trust me, I would not tell you to do something I didn't think it was beneficial. I mean well, and I do care about your well-being.

The trip almost ended just a bit past Winnipeg.

You might recall a photo of my right knee patched up, with a scrape on the right inner-arm, and some puncture wounds above the left knee. I called that picture “Ode to Vinokourov”. Just before Moose Jaw, I was standing beside the bike before leaving for the day. As I was putting on my gloves, the bike started to fall (away from me). I grabbed the bar as quickly as I could, idem with the bike seat, and the bike pulled me down with her. With most of my weight, I landed with my right knee on the chain-rings (the front gears, for those who are not bikers). Nice deep gash, irritated the knee-cap). With such a nice deep cut, it didn't bleed for a minute. But, there was some nice grease at the edges. The other knee? Well, somehow, I got the teeth of the chainrings (5-6?) puncturing just above the knee-cap. I have no idea how. Arm got scraped up too. Dizzie had her handle-bar tape ripped up. I was not happy.

I spent most of the ride to Moose Jaw (30 k, I can't remember – don't hold it against me) cleaning up the wound while riding. The right knee bled for most of the day, on/off. For a few days after that, it would hurt under the knee-cap. I wasn't sure if it was the skin just healing up (scarring), or something else. Few more days later, the knee was affected. If I wasn't moving, there was no pain. But, if I bent the knee, it would be stiff pain until I stopped. It didn't matter if I went from bending to straightening, or vice-versa. At first, it was only at the end of the day that the knee would be quite bothersome (and +++ worrisome). But, a few days later, just before Souris (MB), the knee would start hurting mid-way through the ride and didn't let up. That's a good 4-5 hours of riding with some increasing discomfort. Not good.

I started appying Pennsaid (topica anti-inflammatory) on the knee, as it was noticebly swollen. The contours of the knee were gone (from all the swelling). After a few days, with repeated applications daily, I would start feeling a bit better. But, I quickly ran out of that magic stuff. Winnipeg I was entering, where I would hopefully score some samples at walk-in clinics. Hmmm, seems that no office has samples of that great stuff. No where. Drug reps for that company doesn't visit Winnipeg. I eventually spoke to a pharmacist, who said he hardly sees that drug prescribed in those parts. I'm not a doctor, but that's too bad. So, we discussed the situation, and he suggested I try Baclofen. But, I would have to have an MD prescribe it. Off to a walk-in clinic, pay my out-of-province fee, and got the prescription from an 75 year-old doctor. “So, you're a physiotherapist, what's your diagnosis?” He was a good guy, gave me what I needed, and off I went.

The next few days would be the big test to see if the knee would get better. Yes it did. Baclofen is good (did the trick), but it's a messy cream. Pennsaid is number on in my books though. The whole time the knee was swollen (and a bit hot), I thought of two things: a) pannus formation, leading to osteophytes, and eventually to some sort of early arthritis, b) swelling of the knee causes inhibition of the VMO, creating a delay in the co-contraction, and eventually leading to patellar-femoral tracking syndrome, and possibly illiotibial band friction syndrome. Gees, I was gonna get screwed if I kept going and this didn't heal up.

But, things turned out well, and the trip (and the race) weren't compromised.

How am I feeling now? Relieved, and still no issues with any parts of my body. Honestly, there are two parts that are a bit sore (but very minor) – my triceps, and the skin at the right ischial tuberosity (butt bone) – it feels like there's a tiny little cut there sometimes.

Shorty

You get a whole paragraph. I dont know who you are, where you are based out of, but welcome aboard. Thanks. When you originally posted something (and took it off somehow), I was intrigued. I checked out your blog quickly, but I dont recall if I could find the info I was looking for. I did notice that you were fighting some demons. Good luck with things, and I hope you are still victorious. Feel free to send me an email to give me an insight of who you are.

Friends in need

During the trip, there were times I wanted to be with a few friends who were/are going through tough times. A friend in need is a friend indeed. A friend with weed is better. A friend with breasts, and all the rest, a friend dressed in leather. Anyways, (good tune). But, I was thinking lots about the three people that I was feeling helpless, hoping it would send good vibes to you. So, sorry I couldn't really be there, but I hope that the phone calls and emails did help a bit. See you very soon (now that the storm has passed through for the most part).

Another big worry, pre and during the trip, was having a death in the family. I knew I would have to temporarely halt the trip in case of such event. I feel bad as I feel a bit selfish. But, there's always that possibility.

Being a lucky bastard

Let's see if I can stretch out that simple statement. You know I can.

Lucky. In many ways.

Lucky I can do a trip. I know some can't do a trip for whatever reasons (health, time, commitments, money). To be honest, that gave me a bit of fuel to do the trip, and to (hopefully) bring you guys along with me. With the stories and the pics, I always had a bunch of people in mind. It's much easier to tell a story when you have a specific audience. So, this trip is not just for me, I was a bit of the messenger.

I am also extremely fortunate to have the health and abilities to do a trip like this. Riding up to 11 hours in a day, and getting up the next to do another 8-10 hours, it's not an easy task for most people. By no means am I better than those who can't do this, I am just lucky that I can get away with it. Squeezing a race (and being relativelly happy with the outcome) in the middle of this trip, that too makes me realize that I am very fortunate. A bike trip like this is doable by many of you. You'd be surprised. No, I dont recommend you shooting for 200 k/day, but 100-120 is very reasonable and doable. It's actually ideal distances, very manageable (you'd be surprised).

This trip also takes a significant amount of time. Yes, I did do a bunch of detours, but I did load up the kms to make it happen. Usually, people do around 8500-9000 k in around the same time. So, 3 months off (between school and starting work), I am lucky.

Money. Hell, that shit is mandatory for this trip. Since I was pushing it with some of the old equipment I had (bike, tent, shoes, even clothing), I am very happy and grateful to have the funds to support me and allow me to finish the job at hand. I have such nice equipment, I like quality stuff (MSR, OR, MEC, etc).

Support. My folks have always stood by me, and believed in me. That means a lot to me. You guys have encouraged me tons throughout this journey. I love you for that. You guys believed I would complete this trip waaaaaaayyyyyy before I thought I could complete it. I was (basically) the only one who knew what could go wrong (my worries), and was being cautious on a daily basis. It's only once I got past Quebec City that I thought I might end up in St-John's all in one piece. I started to relax then. So, thank you very much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The comments on the blog, the emails, the odd phone call, and the family/friends I visited along the way, it all meant so much to me. It all means so much to me, and always will. Thanks. I think I owe you somehow, every one of you.

Work

I haven't worked since the end of February. It'll be interesting to file my taxes next year. From that last working day, the focus was on school, the placement for school, the national exam, moving (since the house was sold), being homeless (literally), buying a car (aka a boat, but can easily do 500 km with less than a 60 litre tank, surprisingly), trying to train for this trip, and of course, doing this trip. So, I technically haven't earned revenue in almost half a year. Ouch. Revisit “I'm a lucky bastard”, as I can survive financially (mainly due to me working full time during university, and buying/fixing up the house to sell it with a gain). Lucky bastard.

But, I love to work. I enjoy what I do for a living, and enjoy the people I get to work with (sure the colleagues are nice, but it's the people under my care that I like, since they are appreciative, and they put their health in my hands). That's the high I get – someone comes to me for some guidance, I try to steer them in the right direction, and they are appreciative of the help. I can't help everyone, but I try. I hope I get to be more and more effective as time goes on.

Solstice

I may seem “la-di-da” about the race. Yes, I am happy with the results, but I think there's more to the story. Where do I start?

a) I was wishing for first place, hoping for second, and expecting top 3. I've never trained much for when I did get the second place finishes, so with this trip, I thought I'd be in good shape (pun intended). With my experience, my training this year, and my amazing support crew, I was pretty sure I'd be on the podium. So, if I seem non-chalant about it, it's because I was pretty sure things were going to go my way (like many things in my life, freaks me out too many times). I didn't realize some of the (new) big boys were going to be there.

b) I didn't get some “flack” per-say, but I did get a bit of comments/criticism for possibly jeapordizing my podium finish by riding with someone during one very messy lap. Comments such as “you know she has a boyfriend”, “would you have done it if she wasn't so (compliments about who she is)”, etc. I was a bit surprised about all that. But, i wouldn't of changed anything. I know she could of gotten out of her own. I knew I wasn't jeopardizing the final outcome (see “things pretty much go my way”, and see “I'm a lucky bastard”, and see the third point).

c) priorities. ride with someone vs risk losing out on the podium. Friends first. Plus, I wanted to ride with someone. There are more important things in life than menial things such as a podium finish. There's probably a reason I get into the transition area and I stay fairly calm, instead of yelling “I need a sandwich”, “I need 5 lbs less in the front shocks, and 8.453 lbs more in the tires”. Relax, it's just an event. Side note: I could get a really talented person on the podium, with some advice I could give to them, but they'd have to swallow their pride. Sorry to pick on you (or your brother, pending on who reads this), but he's so talented now, but needs to learn some major things before he can excel.

Woah, slight tangent there. Oops.

Travelling

This trip was amazing. Not done yet, but I think it's not premature to say so. I really thing everyone, if they have the means, to do so. I reallly dont want to preach, so I'll try in a different manner. I have gotten lots from seeing many different parts of the country, and especially the manner I did it in. There are many things I've learnt, and I'd say it's fairly safe to say that I've changed in some ways. I wont say how, but I think the ones close to me might see a slight change in some things.

I honestly believe that when I do have my own family, I will try to somehow incorporate one or two Canadian trips (say one westward, one eastward) so they can get in touch with the various parts of our great nation (pun intended). It is such a valuable experience, I wish it upon anyone, and hope every one has a chance to do it somehow (bike, car, bus, train, hitch-hike, motorcycle). The world is ours to discover.

Heart rate, and genes

I notice in NB that my heart rate has changed. It was always at 70-80 just resting in bed (no matter what time of the night, how relaxed I was). That is fairly high, especially for someone considered “young” and “healthy”. I was never able to get it lower. But, I now realize it's at 60 when I lie down before I sleep. I wonder what it's like when I wake up. Unfortunately, I always forget to check it, so I might never know. Sixty is a good range for resting heart rate. As for the genes part, I feel I will be able to pass along some nice genes to my (eventual) kids. I guess I got to get a woman first. Always a catch, damn. Anyways, with my VO2max at 71-75 (under normal conditions, i.e. no Dextran injections, not fighting sickness), that's a very high endurance/performance measure to pass along. I wonder if my kids will want to do sports, maybe they'll just turn out to be lazy and trouble-makers. We'll see.

Past year

Freaky. I'd say since last June, maybe July, things have been on a slight roll, with picking up speed after xmas, and I've been riding a nice wave that just keeps going. Honestly, I am afraid of a crash. A year ago, someone important from my past, MIA for a while, came back into my life at a very good time. They helped me out tremendously, and I am forever grateful for that. Merci. I'm glad that the communications lines are open again, and I dont want anything more (or less) than what we have now. Why ruin anything? So, thank you.

Other bike trips

As mentioned in an earlier post, here are some cool ideas for other bike trips (no specific order)

a) tip of Alaska to the tip of Chili/Argentina (Patagonia), going along the Pacific coast.
b) Europe – especially Norther Europe (even ducking down to Romania, Czeck Rep), and doing the Scandinavian countries. Might as well throw in Iceland and Greenland.
c) South America (i.e. the perimetre)
d) South BC, up to Jasper, and towards Whistler (and down to Vancouver)
e) Yukon, NWT, Nunavut
f) Gaspe (with/without starting in Quebec City to do the Charlevoix region)
g) Saguenay/Lac St-Jean (route des bleuets)
h) Cape Breton (mainly the Cheticamp-Ingonish strip)
i) Russia
j) hell, might as well throw in New Zealand, and sure, Australia
k) Canada (again, but with my family, maybe nephews/nieces)
l) USA
m) I'm sure more will come to mind in the years to come. any suggestions?

Well, that's enough of me rambling. I do hope some things were interesting, and not a waste of your time.

It's now 2:45 am, and I guess I should go to bed soon. I have up to 150 km to ride tomorrow (detours and such), so I should rest up.

See you soon.

p2
(thanks for your patience and interest).