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).