Day 44 - Baie St-Paul a St-Simeon

Baie St-Paul to St-Simeon
84 km, mainly sunny, hot and humid
Winds on/off, 10-15 km tail and crosswinds

Incredible. Incredible scenery. Incredible hills. super nice here. I really enjoyed the ride today.

I ended up sleeping in fairly late – probably from the combo of the amount of beers consumed that night, and the lack of sleep the night before. The site was quiet, no one disturbed me, and it was free. Too bad it was quite sandy.

I cycled into town to buy some juice and milk for my breakfast, ate cereal while sitting on a curb, and then power-washed my bike at a car wash. That puppy was very dirty and gritty. Clean as a whisle now.

The route decided to give me around 8-9 km of climbing as soon as I left town. We're talking from 7 to 10 %. My biggest concern of the day was not to overheat with the effort and the hot and humid conditions. With every bottle that I drank, another was used to dump on my head to cool the mellon down. At the 9 k mark, I checked my average speed: 12 or 13 k/h. Nice. I wonder what it'd be if I did't have that 2 k or so of flat roads leading me out of town. The route along the St. Laurent is very beautiful. The hills add a nice majestic feeling. Very enjoyable ride. Oh, the downhills were quite nice too – max of 78 k/h today. There were a few hills I took it easy (used the brakes), as it was a bit rough, and I got scared.

In a few of the little towns, some hills were 18 % and hovering around that. Those weren't 400 metres either, up to a km. They were usually winding roads, so you never know when you're going to reach the crest. The downhills on those hills? Well, the brakes were on the whole time.

In La Malbaie, I stopped for a quick little lunch, and to try the other beer from the Charlevoix micro-brewery that I didn't get a chance to sample. The milk stout, by the name of La vache folle – noir. The grocery store didn't have them in the fridge, so I would have to sample it at room temperature. It was rather tasty. Sweeter than most stouts (except for those chocolate or coffee stouts).

In Malbaie, there was a jerk who has a rather interesting way of life. He (or she?) values making a quick right turn a lot more than a human life. A**hole cut me off, and it was probably the closest I've ever had to leaving my teethmarks in someone's side panel. I can just wait for karma.

Arriving in St. Simeon, due to the high levels of humidity, there's fog all around. It makes it a bit damp and cool. I am wearing my toque at the moment while writing this entry.

The other day, in MTL, I thought I'd duck down to Sherbrooke and zip up to Quebec City. I thought it would be nice to hit the Eastern Townships (with a bunch of englishies there?). But, I opted not to do that (yet). If Frank and Annick would have been there that week-end, I would of done that route. But, I'll do another special trip in that area as I hear it is quite lovely riding (and touristy things).

Oh, today, I believe I have officially gone over the 7000km mark. Another day of riding the North shore before I take the ferry to ride the South shore on the way to the beautiful (and another mountain range) Gaspe region.

Bonne nuit. How's that for a shorter entry?

Pierrot

(updated from Trois Pistoles, mid afternoon on July 1st. Happy Canada Day. 141 years old country). (Trois Pistoles is the subject of a Tragically Hip tune. I should do my research and find out what it is). Pics uploaded, comments are next...
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