The CGB Book - Part 5 of 12 - Quebec

7/25/2019 The CGB Book - Part 5 of 12 - Quebec

1/19

If it was easy, anyone could do it!The story of the 2013 Craig Gives Back-2-Back

Cross-Canada Bicycle Tour


2/19

2

NEW BRUNSWICK > QUEBEC

DAY #20Friday, August 23, 2013Who needs a fenders?

Day#20:151kmsEdmundston, NB to Saint Andre, QC

We awoke to a cloudy day with occasional sunny breaks so it was a cool August day and we worelight jackets to stay warm on the bike. There is an Irving Service Station with a restaurant inNew Brunswick just before you reach the Quebec border and I had been there before whendriving to visit my other sister in Toronto. We arrived for breakfast and when you are on a biketrip you can eat as much of whatever you like so it was bacon, runny eggs and lots of coffee.Yummy!

We were soon to the Quebec border and of course had to stop to get pictures of Bob with FlatStanley and Blind Charlie who we had kept safely stored behind our seat cushions on Janus. Itwas quite a feeling of accomplishment, as now we had bicycled through four of ten provinceswhen only two weeks ago I was doubtful I could even finish the first province! We had nowcovered over 2,000kms and had completed almost one quarter of the total distance we would

travel.

Secretly I started to think we could actually finish this, however I knew there were challengesahead and not until we reached the prairies was I completely confident we would finish onschedule. The other issue was how long Bob would be able to continue before he had to returnto his job and when and if Craig would be able to rejoin the tour. Lots to think about, but I triedto relax and enjoy the scenery!


3/19

3

When had continued on the highway as there was a good paved shoulder and it was fairly flatsince we had left the campground. We could see the old railway bed that was La Route Vertefollowing alongside the highway and after a quick stop at a tourist bureau we left the highway forthe trail. We arranged to meet back up with Jennie for lunch in Notre-Dame-Du-Lac. She hadstay on the highway, so Bob and I took enough gear with us so we would be fine on our ownand we gave her the morning off to do some site seeing on her own.

La Route Verte from Edmundston, NB to Riviere-Du-Loup is an old railway route so the slopes aregentle as they must be as trains cannot safely climb an incline much greater than a 2% grade.This made the cycling not so much easy, but not overly challenging either, however we were onthe Gaspe Peninsula so during the course of the next three hours we would climb almost400metres in elevation before we reached the peak and then we could enjoy the downhill slopefor the next two or three hours.

The rail was also beautiful. It started following the Madawaska River and sometimes you had agorgeous view of the river, sometimes you were traveling almost through the backyards ofcottages and sometimes the trail was paved and sometimes it was gravel. The train route wasbuilt back in the late 1800s and trains ran on it until the mid 1950s. What remains is awonderful trail with some beautiful sights, one of which is the portions where a hill was blasted

to create a narrow passage and now the vertical rock cliffs that rose up on either side werecovered in ferns and small evergreen trees that had rooted and grown over the past century. Wehad to stop and take pictures occasionally as it was so impressively beautiful.

Back on Newfoundland when Craig and I were biking towards Gander, we crossed some of thatwonderful rumble strip and to our surprise the weld on our front fender failed and came lose so Iremoved it. There is a piece of metal strap bent and a right angle that connects the fender tothe bike and at the bend it had weakened and broken. There was no way to repair it so I threwit on top of the trailer and eventually it was shipped back to Nova Scotia along with the trailerand other gear. Today as we biked along a paved section of the trail just as we were about tomeet Jennie, we hit a small pot hole in the trail and the rear fender simply fell off. We hadsurvived the past two weeks without a front fender, so I was not concerned losing the rear one.It only meant that when it rained Bob would get a stream of dirty road water spraying up in hisface. Actually the boom that formed the main frame of Janus blocked most of the spray from therear wheel. The only thing I had to do on the front was turn my water bottles around so thenipple did not get covered with mud. The best news was with one less fender, our bike just gota little bit lighter!

The trail ended when it reached the city of Riviere-du-Loup and we worked our way through thestreets and ended up on Route 132 which followed the St. Lawrence Seaway on the south sideuntil we would eventually cross at the City of Quebec. Now we still had more distance to traveltoday so we could meet up with Jennie at our next destination, a campground in Saint-Andre.

We had covered over 150kms again today, so we were grateful to finish and got busy setting upour tents and cooking supper. We were also grateful we had bug spray with us as the black flies

were plentiful and hungry! We had not seen anything this bad since the mosquitoes at the visitorcentre in Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick We were grateful that Jennie had helped us alongthe past days, however we were sad that tomorrow she would be leaving us.

Jennie had helped us through the rolling hills of northern New Brunswick and the GaspePeninsula, and we knew now we would have fairly flat and enjoyable cycling as we followed thebeautiful St. Lawrence Seaway to Montreal. All good things eventually come to an end, but wewould also be seeing her and her family in less than one week in Ottawa.


4/19

4

DAY #21Saturday, August 24, 2013Have campsite, but need golf cart!

Day#21:111kmsSaint Andre, QC to Montmagny, QC

In the morning when we awoke the good news was the black flies were gone, but the bad newswas soon our support crew would be gone too! Jennie had to get an early start as she had along drive back to Ottawa. We had breakfast and packed up the campsite then thanked her forbeing such an awesome support vehicle and then she was gone. Bob and I filled up our waterbottles and we headed west.

We knew we would see a difference in the cycling culture in Quebec and it did not take long. Inthe parking lot of the campground and along the side of the road, competitive cyclists werewarming up on stationary trainers in preparation for a race that was about to start Lucky wewere up early and the race had not yet started so that we were able to pass through withoutinterfering with any cyclists.

We passed another cyclist who was also headed west. He was fully loaded with panniers andgear just like us and as we passed he said something in French, but I did not hear what he saidand Bob does not speak a word of French. I speak enough French to order meals and find awashroom, but not a whole lot more. I knew quite a few words in school, but it was hard to usethem all in a sentence that made any sense! We assumed he said something like hello as wesped by and Bob waved back at him as we left him behind.


5/19

5

We pedaled for a few hours and then looking to get something more substantial in our stomachsthan the granola bars we ate for breakfast, we went off route in pursuit of a Tim Hortonsthecould see from the main road. Then back on our bikes we continued for another few hours untilwe stopped at a park alongside the St. Lawrence Seaway. All morning the ride was outstandingas the weather was beautiful, the road fairly flat and the scenery simply stunning. So now weare in the park sitting on a picnic bench and who pulls in, but the same cyclist we had past hours

ago. He headed straight for us and we talked as he spoke both French and English. He wasfrom the city of Quebec and was just returning from a bicycle tour of the Gaspe Peninsula. Whilethe three of us were talking an elderly man interrupted as he seemed to have many questions,but he did not speak a word of English and I did not speak or understand sufficient French to beof any use. Fortunately our new found cyclist friend was more than happy to serve as ourtranslator and the older gentleman was able to get answers to all his questions regarding our tripacross Canada on this crazy looking bicycle!

We all headed off together with our new friend in the lead, however we were pedaling into aheadwind coming out of the west so our recumbent had the speed advantage and so we soonpassed him. We offered to keep a moderate pace so he could follow right behind us and stay outof the oncoming wind, but he told us to go ahead as he did not want to slow us down so we lefthim behind again, at least for the time being.

When I had met the Worman family back in Newfoundland and we shared stories of our cyclingadventures, they mentioned that they often ignored Road Closed due to Construction signs.They always found that if they continued on they were able to get past even if they had to getoff and walk their bikes for a short distance. It was a better option than the alternative of havingto go miles out of your way or back tracking. Well today Bob and I would follow their advice andcontinue on even though the sign indicated the road would be closed to traffic ahead. I did notwant to follow the suggested detour route as it was significantly longer and would take a lot oftime to cover. Well ultimately as we made our way through the construction, eventually the roadlooked almost completely impassible. We had followed the tracks of other cyclists through thegravel and mud until we came to a massive hole that completely blocked our path. We got offthe bike to access the situation when an elderly lady motioned for us to cross through her frontyard and all that was left of her front yard was no more than six feet from the edge of herveranda to the edge of the very large hole. We thanked her and soon we were clear of theconstruction zone and on our way to our campground.

We had covered over 110kms today and finally we reached our destination which was a privatecampground in Montmagny. Lucky for us it had a small fast food restaurant adjacent to theregistration desk so Bob and I replaced our carbohydrates with hamburgers, french fries andpop. It was awesome and I even started my poutine diet as well. Thats why we bike, so we caneat whatever we want!

As we sit in the restaurant stuffing our faces, who shows up again, but our new found cyclingbuddy from earlier today. He came in and sat down with us and was trying to decide whether heshould push on to Quebec City which was still around 50kms away, or stay here for the night and

leave early the next morning. He decided he was just too tired to continue today and asked if hecould stay with us on our campsite and would share the cost, rather than pay for a full campsitehimself. We did not know this fellow very well, but I had the feeling we could trust him. My onlyconcern was that we did not wake in the morning with him long gone and some of our gear gonewith him! I mentioned to Bob later just to make sure he kept his valuables secure, which reallymeant our wallets and iPhones!

The campground itself was like a home away from home for most of the residents and therewere some pretty spectacular campsites. These Quebecers knew how to enjoy their life of


6/19

6

leisure and the first thing we noticed was that no one walked anywhere as they all drove aroundon electric golf carts. This was an elaborate campground with paved streets and even thougheach campsite was not much larger than the campers that inhabited them, they had manicuredlawns, gardens, fences, stone fire pits, wooden decks and even a paved parking spot for the golfcart! There were many deciduous trees so a nice canopy of branches and leaves shaded much ofthe campground, which gave it a natural feel and gave respite from the hot summer sun. If you

wanted a place not far from the city that was safe and friendly to share with your friends, thiswas it.

As we setup our tents, I could not help but notice a small arena on the opposite side of thecampground pathway. It was a flat rectangular playing surface of sand or fine gravel. On bothsides were stands for spectators. It was quiet now, but later it would be full of players andspectators as tonight we were told was the end of season playoffs and tonight was the finalnight. When it got dark the lights came on and the play would continue until the champion wasultimately crowned. The game is called Petanque and was invented in France in 1907. It isplayed with hollow metal balls which are thrown as close as possible to a small wooden ball, so across between lawn bowling and bocce. It was quite something to watch, and made meappreciate how integrated into the lives of the residents that this campground was.

I always like sharing funny Bob stories and this one is one of my favourites. I had gone for ashower which was in a building a couple of campground blocks away. When I returned to thecampground Bob asked for directions to the building as he wanted a shower as well so we couldstart early in the morning. My directions were good as he found his way to the building with noissues. Inside there were the usual bathroom facilities including sinks, toilets and shower stalls.Bob followed another camper in through the door to the showers and showered and then went tothe sink and shaved and then returned to the campground. Now one thing that I had forgottento mention to Bob was that the door to the mens showers was on the right, and the ladies wason the left. Bob had followed what he thought to be a man into the building, but turns out it wasa female. Bob had spent time showering and shaving with the ladies and no one screamed orcomplained, so either it happens all the time or no one minded. Regardless we had a good laughwith our new cycling buddy at Bobs expense.


7/19

7

DAY #22Sunday, August 25, 2013How do we get back to the level roads?

Day#22:117kmsMontmagny, QC to Portneuf, QC

Our cycling buddy was sleeping in today and we were packed up and ready to leave before he

finally poked his head out of his tent to say goodbye. He never did contribute to the cost of ourcampsite and I was not going to ask him for his share. He was a university student who tooksome time during his summer break to go on a bicycle trip. Rather than camping atcampgrounds he would bike each day until he wanted to stop, then go knock on the front door ofthe closest house and ask if he could camp in their field or their backyard whichever option wasavailable. There are ways to do a bicycle trip even if you are on a strict budget and I admired hiscarefree attitude and his assumption that everything always works out.

Today we would reach the city of Quebec and we needed to cross over to the north side of theSt. Lawrence Seaway as tomorrow we had a reception at the Home Hardware in Trois-Riviere.We would cover a similar distance as yesterday, nearly 120kms before we would reach our nextplanned stop.

We were making good time again and we started to see more and more cyclists passing usheaded in the opposite direction. Sometimes a single rider, sometimes groups of three or fourand sometimes large groups travelling together. There were all ages and all shapes and sizes,but most were wearing a similar cycling jersey. So now a couple hours from last nightscampground and Bob and I needed to visit a washroom in the near future. We just had not seena gas station or coffee shop or anything else all morning and the need was now getting greaterby the minute. I saw a van parked on the roadside waiting and it was painted with bicycles onthe sides, so I knew it was part of this bicycle tour. I thought the two occupants might know the


8/19

8

closest washroom as they likely take cyclists on this tour many times. Turns out they did notknow the area any better than Bob or I, so no help there, but they said there were over 1,000cyclists as part of the tour that had just passed us. We knew the cycling culture was welladvanced in the province of Quebec compared to the rest of the country, but that was anamazing number of riders in one tour.

We had no choice but to carry on down the road and soon we entered the city of Levis andimmediately stopped at the Couche-Tard service station. We were in dire need of going to thewashroom, but there was only room for one. I let Bob go first because I am a nice guy and itfelt like an hour before he emerged. As soon as he was done and the door to the washroomopened, I rushed by him and good thing. As a thank you and apology, we purchased somewonderfully processed and over packaged food and soft drinks before we left the service station.

One odd thing we noticed travelling into Levis was a small army of rental cube vans picking uptraffic cones that ran down the main street. Maybe we just missed a parade?

We continued on towards Quebec City and watched for signs indicating the bridge we couldaccess with a bicycle to cross over the St. Lawrence. Then we started to pass runners and therebecame more and more of them and then we saw the bridge we needed to cross, and then we

were stopped by cyclists that were policing a race. Turns out we had just cycled into the middleof the Quebec City Marathon! The cyclists that stopped us belonged to the local road racing cluband were given the responsibility of controlling traffic to ensure the safety of the runners.

We really did not want to take another route as it would mean additional mileage or even worsetaking a more dangerous road that exposed us to high speed vehicle traffic. I passed them aCraigGivesBack business card and with my mediocre French explained what we were doing.After a brief discussion amongst themselves one of the cyclists said that he would guide usacross the bridge and into the City of Quebec, but we were stay right behind him and not straytoo close to the runners. It was great news that we get to stick to our planned route and wealso get an escort to boot!

Up, up and up we climbed onto the bridge which is high so that large ships could passunderneath. I am on the front and focused on the road, but Bob on the back gets to watch thereaction that people have when we pass by on our tandem recumbent. It is funny as we see somany people do a double take when they glance at us, then look away and then quickly turntheir head back and watch us pass. Bob often gets told he is going the wrong way! We crossedthe bridge and took the off ramp and as we came around the bridge buttress a high school bandstarted to play for us and we waved and hooted as we passed them.

Our escort now took us off the race route and then he stopped and motioned for us to stopbeside him. He had to return to the race, but wanted to give us directions to get us through thecity, as we were looking to join Route 138 which would take us to Montreal. Back when we werehome in Pictou County and made our visit to Mountain Equipment Coop, I purchased along witheverything else, two iPhone holders so both Bob and I could mount our iPhones on the

handlebars. For me it allowed me to use Google Maps to show our route and be our GPS tonavigate. Most days I never need it as we usually follow the same highway for days at a time,but for navigating through cities it is invaluable. The only challenge is the drain on the batteryand I had not much more than two hours before it would need recharging. Anyway, I could notunderstand a word this friendly cyclist was saying to me, no matter how he tried with handmotions, so I nodded as if I understood and pointed at Google Maps on my iPhone and then heknew I would be ok. We thanked him for the escort and he wished us luck, and then Bob and Ilooked at the near vertical climb in front of us and we got off the bike and walked it up the hill.


9/19

9

We did wait until he had left and disappeared from sight before we surrendered to the climb infront of us. Its a little embarrassing.

At the top of the hill we turned left and were now on a major street through Quebec Citytravelling with the vehicles. We turned left, right, left, right, right, passed through a narrow dirtpath that had a no bicycle sign, but regardless we did no veer off the route that Google was

telling us to go, illegal or not! We trusted Google more than we trusted our own sense ofdirection so we continued to follow as the last thing we wanted was to trust my sense ofdirection! We knew we would encounter a few steep climbs in the city and we had to walk up acouple as it was easier than struggling up with a loaded tandem recumbent, but we knew wewould be rewarded once we made it out of the city and back to travelling parallel to the St.Lawrence.

We were finally on Route 138 heading out of the city and there were many other cyclists out onthe road as it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We still had almost 50kms before we reachedthe campground in Portneuf, but the cycling was enjoyable with fairly flat terrain and a goodwide paved shoulder. We arrived in good time at the campground and it was just like theprevious campground with elaborate campsites and electric golf carts running back and forth.This one also had a Petanque playing area, an indoor dance hall and just about everything you

could want at a campground. It was not quite as nice as our previous campground, however wedid enjoy a spaghetti supper.


10/19

10

DAY #23Monday, August 26, 2013Its like awesome here!

Day#23:115kmsPortneuf, QC to Louiseville, QC

Typical start to the day with a couple granola bars for breakfast and we are off to a reception atthe Trois-Riviere Home Hardware, but not until 2:00pm, however we did have nearly 90kms totravel before we would get there.

First job was to look for a place to carb load with a sinfully awesome breakfast of eggs, baconand toast. It is not as easy as you would think here in the province of Quebec. We were on thesecondary highway and therefore there were not that many options, however we came acrosswhat looked like a pub that was open and served breakfast. As per usual, I ordered for Bob as Icould speak enough French to read a menu and order. Pas de legumes or no vegetables is allI had to say to ensure Bob would be happy with his meal. While there I met one of the othercustomers out at the bar and we talked about CraigGivesBack. It turned out he had run withTerry Fox back in 1980 when he came through this community as part of the Marathon of Hopeand he wished us safe travels. Amazing to think Craig, Bob and I had travelled much the sameroute as Terry Fox did over 30 years ago.

It was a great bike ride yesterday on Route 138 after Quebec City, however Google maps wastelling me to detour to an alternate route. Not sure if Google knew something we did not know,maybe there was challenging terrain or road construction ahead, however we took Googlesadvice. We followed it onto a rural road that was paved, but not in as good condition as Route138. It was a quiet country road so virtually no traffic. A few kilometers and then the pavement


11/19

11

ended and it became a gravel road, but no problem Janus can handle gravel, then it became amud road and Janus can, no actually Janus cannot handle mud and not at the speed we weretravelling. Our tires are slicks with very little tread, made for riding on paved roads and at worstwet paved roads. We had no traction in the mud and we were going down a decline so pickingup speed when we hit a very muddy portion and we completely lost all traction. The front wheelslid to the left and then the bike began to swerve left and right. It was a tense situation and I

unclipped my shoes immediately to get my feet down to the ground to get the bike stabilized andthat is when we hit a large rock and the front wheel was now airborne and we were headed forthe ditch. I had seen the rock coming, but could neither steer nor brake in the mud to avoid therock or stop before we hit it. It felt like the bike was going over and into the ditch, but Bob toohad his feet unclipped and we both put our feet down and caught the bike just as we reachedthe edge of the road. That was a close one and we chose our route carefully and at a slowerspeed until we had passed through the muddy section.

We did eventually make it back to Route 138 because Google said we could, but we were nowrunning late and did not have any extra time if we were to arrive at the Home Hardware by2:00pm. We were a little concerned and questioning some of the choices Google had made andnow it was taking us through and well past the city of Trois Riviere. We wondered why wouldthe Home Hardware be so far out of the city and stopped at a gas station to get some route

advice and they confirmed we were on the right route. If Google was right then we should bethere right on time, but any more delays and we would be late. I do not like to be late and wehad not been late for a reception in almost two weeks.

Google was right, we arrived on time and the reception was well done. CNIB had arepresentative there to meet us, the Home Hardware owner was hosting a barbeque fundraiserand the local television station was there too. We did interviews, had a hot dog and then wewere gone again. The television crew followed us for a few kilometers getting additional footageof Bob and I on the bike. It was fun having a van alongside us on the road with the side dooropen and a camera pointed at us. The van would occasionally dart back in behind us to avoidoncoming traffic, but eventually the van turned back to Trois Riviere while we continued west.We only had a couple of hours cycling today before we would be at our next stop in Louiseville.

Our campsite in Louiseville was actually at a marina located on the Wolf River near where it joinsthe St. Lawrence. It is actually a marina and not so much a campground, but they have facilitieson site for boaters which work well for campers as well. There were a few seasonal campers, butwe were the only ones in tents, but what a beautiful site we had. We were right on the bank ofthe river on a beautiful lawn. We even had our own gazebo, but we spent most of our timeinside the main building as we had it all to ourselves. We could have a shower then put ourclothes in the washing machine and later the dryer. While we waited for our clothes we sat inlarge comfortable leather chairs texting home and eating jujubes. It was so relaxing and we hadeverything we needed, it was a shame we had to leave the next morning.


12/19

12

DAY #24Tuesday, August 27, 2013We have to go to church more often!

Day#24:64kmsLouiseville, QC to Saint-Sulpice, QC

Bicycle traffic is not permitted on Routes 40 or 30 and these are the main thoroughfares for mosttraffic travelling East or West through Quebec. The benefit of Routes 138 and 136 are they areboth less travelled by vehicles, but also these older original thoroughfares pass through thecentre of most of the small towns and villages, and so we got to see many large old and ornatechurches that would be easily over one hundred years old. They were beautiful and normally wewould not stop to take a picture, but just simply enjoy their beauty as we passed by.

Today we had a very easy day with less than 70kms to go in total and no receptions. It was

simply a day to get to the campground located closest to the city of Montreal, which we would betravelling through the center of tomorrow. So today we had lots of time to enjoy the sceneryand take our time, so we stopped in the town of Louiseville in front of a beautiful CatholicChurch. I took my iPhone from its mount on the handlebars so I could finally take at least onepicture of these gorgeous structures.

Bob remained on the bike, likely checking texts on his iPhone and while I got off to get a goodvantage point for a picture when a passerby stopped to talk to us about our bike and our trip.Turns out he did a bicycle trip with his daughter through California this past summer. He owned


13/19

13

a factory that produced clothing and uniforms, but said sometimes he likes to act on impulse andhe wanted to return a good deed for a good deed. He had to get to work, but he said that couldwait as for right now as he wanted to treat us to breakfast! That was first on our agendaanyways as we had only had a couple granola bars so far today, and so we accepted hisgenerous offer. We had a terrific meal and talked the entire time about everything from bicyclesto taking the time to do things that are important, otherwise you never do them. We thanked

him and then we were off again following along the St. Lawrence to our next destination.

Now back when Craig was injured, Bob did not have to volunteer to take his spot and I wasalmost embarrassed when he did. We had asked Bob to be a backup just in case something likethis ever happened, but we broke our promise and never did make the time to include him in anytraining. He really did not know what to expect when he first got on the back of Janus in NorthSydney. He had to trust me with his safety completely and we really did not know each otherthat well, but of course that was different now as we now had spent the past two weeks sittingonly a foot from each other! Bob manages an H&R Block office in Pictou and during the offseason the office must be open at least one day per week and this was the only condition thatBobs employer had with agreeing to him being away for an extended period. We expected Bobwould be with me until Ottawa, depending on how Craig made out healing his ankle, knee andwrist.

Today Bob received a call from the office in Pictou and the person who was working and keepingthe office open had received a job offer and would be leaving in two weeks to start the new job.We stopped at a day park along the St. Lawrence to eat and enjoy the view, but also to give Bobthe opportunity to call his office and figure out how the office could continue to open without himhaving to return home. I also had decided to stop as from past experience I knew that whenBob would focus on his iPhone, he would focus less on pedaling. There is nothing wrong withthat and it makes sense you can only do one thing well at a time, but since I saw it coming Idecided to stop so that I could relax too! Ultimately we were able to breathe a sigh of relief asBob did have another employee who normally only worked during tax season, but wasfortunately available to cover the office to allow him to continue. Bob called his employer with anupdate and everything was good. I must say Bobs employer was very understanding andsupportive of Bob being able to continue.

We hit the road again and now I had a goal. My goal was to catch a group of road cyclists thatjust passed by at a good speed, all with expensive racing bikes and spandex. They looked likethey were our age and I knew on this level terrain that we had the speed advantage. Iestimated that when we left the park they were at least one kilometer ahead of us. I told Bobwe would push the pace a bit faster today as we had only another 30kms to go and it was stillearly in the afternoon. We quickly gained on the group of cyclist and when the road straightenedout they would come into view. Soon we were less than one hundred meters behind them whenwe entered the center of another town and they stopped for a break. I was hoping for theopportunity to pass them on the road, but its all in good fun and they waved and hooted as weflew by.

We soon reached our campground in Saint-Sulpice and although it was not even close to aselaborate as our previous campground experiences in Quebec, it was right on the St. Lawrenceand our campsite was right on the bank. It was a beautiful spot, with the only down side beingthat the washrooms and shower were on the other side of the campground as far from us asthey possibly could be. Oh well, we had biked over 2,500kms to get here, surely we could walkto the washroom.

We did have one more minor equipment failure with Janus. We arrived at our campsite so Istood it up on its kickstand as I had done numerous times every day for the past three weeks. I


14/19

14

turned my back and it fell over. I inspected it and one of the two legs on the kick stand hadcompletely snapped off. We had actually had to have it repaired before even started the trip inSt. Johns, but there was no repairing this. It did have a maximum weight printed on a sticker onthe kickstand, but we had always ignored it as we knew we were abusing it. We just hoped itwould hold up as it was very convenient not having to look for something to lean Janus againstevery time we were not riding it. Personally Bob and I thought that Flat Stanley and Blind Charlie

had sabotaged the kickstand, but we did not have anything other than circumstantial evidence sowe never pursued it or brought it up. It ended up working in our favour as I simply snapped theother leg off and instantly our bike was lighter and easier to pedal! And yes after three weekswe could tell when Janus lost two pounds, just like I could tell when Bob and I had a bigbreakfast!

It was only mid afternoon so I suggested we take all the gear off Janus and go for a bike ride tofind somewhere to get a voluminous meal. Bob is always up for a bike ride and food so off wewent. We knew we were on the outskirts of town so it should only be a short ride and it wouldbe nice to ride Janus with just the two of us and no gear. Well first there was construction and adetour, and then we passed through the business centre and then after nearly thirty kilometers Ifinally saw a restaurant. I usually judge a restaurant by either how many cars are in the parkingor how pretentious it looked. This place did not look popular, it actually looked like what may

have at one time been a trendy spot and now was out of date and in another year would beclose, but we were desperate. We ate on the deck, our meal was forgettable and the fellowsitting a couple tables away snuck off without paying for his meal. Other than that it wasawesome!

We now had to make good time getting back to our campsite as it was dusk and we had left allour emergency lights back in our tents. We were on a level road with the wind on our back andwe flew along at speeds close to 40kms/hr. We even passed a Tim Hortons we should haveeaten at and the food would have tasted better! Now back at the campground it was time to getsome sleep, as we would have an early morning and long day tomorrow. We had to bike into thecentre of Montreal where we were to meet up with a fleet of tandem bikes, each with a pilot andvisually impaired co-pilot or stoker on the back. They we had bike another 50kms through andout of Montreal to Oka National Park in the afternoon. We were looking forward to it!


15/19

15

DAY #25Wednesday, August 28, 2013Raccoons stole my date squares!

Day#25:96kmsSaint-Sulpice, QC to Oka National Park, QC

We are up with the sun and gone before any other campers were even stirring. There was aneerie, thick fog over the St. Lawrence and we hoped it stayed off land. We could hear a fog hornechoing across the water, but we could not see anything much further than the bank on whichwe camped.

We stopped at the Tim Hortons we passed twice yesterday for a quick breakfast. We had almost50kms to travel to get to Velo Quebec headquarters which is deep inside the heart of the city ofMontreal. Normally 50kms is not much more than a couple of hours, but that is with a steadypace on the highway. It is a completely different beast working through traffic, city streets andcycling paths and we knew we did not have a whole lot of extra time today.

Velo Quebec had done us a big favour and had planned our entire route from the outskirts of

Montreal to our destination. We would travel on bike lanes, bike trails, through quiet streets andparks on our way there. I would be using my iPhone for navigation as soon as we reached thebeginning point of their route and I hoped we would arrive before the battery of my iPhone ranout of charge! Stress level was rapidly rising as we got closer to the city and the number oflanes on the road and along with that the number of vehicles continued to increase. It was midmorning and the worst of the rush hour with everyone rushing to their jobs was essentially over,but this still is the third largest city in Canada, so the main thoroughfares are never quiet.


16/19

16

Before too long we reached the point where we left Route 138 and turned onto a bicycle trail andnow our only stress was to check Google maps occasionally to ensure we had not missed a turn.When it comes to bicycle friendly, I do not think any other city in Canada is at par with Montreal.It contains a network of bike lanes and bike paths and it made it easy to transition from thehighway to the city streets. This was not the case in many of the other cities we would travelthrough.

Again as was always our goal, we arrived early. We would have just enough time to getsomething to eat and we were definitely hungry. We had company coming, but they were nothere so we had time to get some carbs before the afternoon portion of our travels commenced.We first checked in at Velo Quebec to let them know we were here. We sat outside on the deckso we could enjoy the beautiful day and also keep an eye on Janus that we had locked to lightpole out on the sidewalk.

Then the tandem bikes started to arrive. This was not just a random meeting, this event wasorganized by Association des sports pour aveugles de Montreal Inc., which translates to SportsAssociation for the Blind of Montreal. It was an inspiring and very successful organization thataims not to include persons with a sight disability in a simply a cycling club, but also hiking,skiing, kayaking and more. They had organized it so they have a long list of volunteers for each

activity and then when they had persons with a sight disability that wanted to participate, theywould simply start at point of the list of volunteers where they had stopped for the last event andstart calling down the list until they had a guide for each blind or partially sighted participant.

Some tandems were mountain bikes, some were road bikes, but Bob and I had the only back-to-back tandem recumbent and everyone wanted to learn how it worked. For those that could notsee, they wanted to touch it to fully understand how it was so different. First we had to do aninterview with a local television station and newspaper and then we all lined up getting ready todepart. They asked if Bob and I wanted to be the lead bike and of course I said no thanks! Ihad been looking forward to not having to worry about the route and simply follow the leader!We had 50kms to travel from downtown Montreal to Oka National Park where Bob and I wouldbe camping tonight.

Our convoy of nine tandem bikes and one single bike headed off, taking bike lanes and bikepaths, and we felt so safe dealing with the vehicle traffic in Montreal. First we had a terrific leadcyclist who was on his own bike. He was originally from New Brunswick and reminded me of apolice officer he was so self confident and had a deep booming voice. He was well over six feetin height and when we were to cross at a traffic light he would get off his bike and withouthesitation stride out into the intersection and stop traffic and wave us through. One odd thing hedid that I had experienced a few times this week in Quebec, was that if you indicated you did notunderstand what he just said to you in French, he would put his face closer to you and repeatthe same French sentence at the same speed, only louder. He was doing his best, butunfortunately I was not bilingual enough. My understanding of the French language goes only sofar, so it often simply ended up with me saying, oui, oui and nodding my head as if Iunderstood. Luckily most the riders were fully bilingual and would understand my predicament

and smile at my struggle to comprehend and then explain in English. This was quickly becomingone of the best experiences of our entire trip!

The next reason we felt so safe is that all the riders had reflective, yellow vests. Spelled outclearly on the back of each vest, the pilots had Guide and on the co-pilot it had Aveugle orBlind. It was great as any other cyclists or motor vehicles approaching from the rear understoodthat it was important to be patient and to provide good safe distance when passing.


17/19

17

There were cyclists of all skill levels on the bikes, but there were two bikes that stood out. Thefastest bike was two ladies who looked fit and well trained cyclists with toned and muscular legs.They were riding one of the tandem road bikes and could easily outpace the other bikes. Theother fast tandem had a blind cyclist on the back with massive leg muscles and the power withwhich he pedaled had earned him the nickname Big Block in reference to a large engine from a1970s muscle car. And of course Bob and I could keep up with all the bikes and we had fun

passing the ladies on a downhill and they hooted as we pulled up beside them briefly and thenwe accelerated away. Occasionally we would stop and wait for all the cyclists to catch up so noone was left behind on their own.

It was a beautiful day and we were having a wonderful time. It was amazing how many othercyclists we met and also passed as we wove our way through the city. We turned down anotherbike path with a chain link fence on the right side tight up to edge of the paved path. As wefollowed the path it curved around a corner to the right and as another cyclist was passing usheaded the opposite direction, I stayed tight to the fence to ensure sufficient space for theoncoming cyclist to pass. Unfortunately Janus is ten feet long, so when I was turning around thecorner, Bob was still following in a straight line behind me. I may not be explaining it as well as Icould, but while on my end I had space to spare between my right handlebar and the chain linkfence, Bobs space rapidly disappeared as he neared the corner until suddenly the fence caught

his handlebars wrenching them out of his grip and we both fell against the fence. The fence hadcaught us and our bike as we got caught in it, so we did not fall down to the pavement, but ithad brought our bike to a sudden halt and had twisted Bobs handlebars around at a right angle.My first concern was that Bob was ok, as this was not my first time tossing my co-pilot into afence, but with Bob ok and no cuts or serious scratches, I quickly twisted his handlebars backand we jumped back on and continued on our way. I made a mental not to tighten the clamp onBobs handlebars later that evening, but the only damage was the end of Bobs foam handlebargrip on one side had a small piece torn off. Since no one was hurt and Janus was fine too, theworst part about it was the embarrassment of crashing in front of all the other tandem bikes.Bob never let me forget about it and still reminds me about it to this day.

We were enjoying ourselves so much that we did not realize how late it was when we finallyarrived at Oka National Park. We turned off onto a little used park road that was paved andheaded down to a paved bike path that would take us from this road into the park. We wouldwait here for the remaining bikes to catch up before we continued on. It was not long andsomeone asked if I could take them for a ride as not only was our bike something they had neverseen before, no one had even ridden a recumbent bike before period. Our current locationactually had us in a small valley so the road sloped up in either direction, so first I headed up tothe top of the hill in one direction and then race back past the crowd of cyclists and up to the topof the other hill and then race even faster back down the hill. They loved it so much that I had awaiting list of people to take for rides. Unfortunately for me, no one wanted to be the pilot, theyall wanted Bobs spot on the back so Bob got to relax by the side of the road while I raced pastagain and again and again! The other cyclists soon caught up and also wanted rides on Janusand again I would do the loop back and forth and coming down the steeper hill we would reachspeeds over 50km/hr and our group of cyclists would hoot and cheer as we raced past.

Every ride ended in a smile and it was not caused simply by the speed or the weird feeling ofgoing backwards on a bicycle at 50kms/hr, but it was due to one of the reasons we had chosethis bike for our trip. For the first time, they were able to shift their own gears and it was afeeling of freedom. They felt they were not simply a pedaling engine on the back, but an equalpartner on the bike. It was a wonderful experience for them and me too and I only had achallenge with one rider. I had worked my way through the list of riders and then I came to BigBlock and I was keen to see just how fast we could go with his muscular legs. I am sure with abit more practice he would have been fine, but never being able to shift gears before, he just did


18/19

18

not do it. The faster we went the faster his legs would go as he never shifted into a higher gearand the bike was shaking back and forth as his massive legs pedaled at incredible speed. I washaving trouble steering so had to apply the brakes to slow the bike down which also slowed hispedaling speed so I could control the bike. As we passed the other cyclist they called for him toshift, but in his excitement it was not making any difference. I knew with a bit of practice hewould be fine and his cycling power would be a great advantage on a tandem, so when he asked

if he could go with me and I could leave Bob in Montreal, I replied Bob who?

Now I was truly tired, but before we could continue all the cyclists insisted on donating towardsour trip and we were humbled they would do this as this was the most enjoyable day of the tripand we were honoured to have had the opportunity to spend it with them. We headed down thebike path into the park and when we reached the administrative building, we thanked them andsaid goodbye. They had arranged for the bikes and the riders to be picked up and returned toMontreal and were meeting the vehicles there. Bob and I had to go setup our camp before darkand get a good nights sleep as tomorrow would be another long day and the longest distance wewould cover in one day so far.

Unfortunately for us the cafeteria had closed for the day as it was now after 7:00pm, howeverthere was a convenience store located inside the park. We headed off and purchased enough

junk food to make our bellies feel better and headed off to our campsite. We ate chips anddrank pop as we setup our tents. Bob was cleaned up and was in his sleeping bag before dusk.I stayed up eating date squares that Bob had no interest in as dates fall into the forbidden fruitand vegetable category. No problem as I was hungry enough to finish it off so I stayed up andplanned our route tomorrow alternating between potato chips and date squares. I stood up andwalked over to Bobs tent to ask him a question and when I turned back there was a babyraccoon on top of the picnic table eating potato chips out of the bag. I headed back to the picnictable and he retreated taking what was left of the date squares with him, but he was not doneand he had friends! Now there were suddenly four or five cute little masked marauderswandering through our campsite. One climbed up on the picnic table even with me standingbeside it. He waddled down towards me and then stood up on his back legs and reached outwith his front paws to grab the bag of chips that I was holding. He was bold and cute! I triednot to let them take any food as there was a sign warning of fines for feeding the wildlife andalso I thought if I fed them I would never get rid of them. They eventually got frustrated andlost patience with me and waddled off to the next campsite. I put the food away in ourwaterproof bag and hung it from a tree branch where it should be safe from any bandits thatmight return later. I thought about putting it under the cover of Bobs tent, but if a bear showedup for a snack Bob might be angry with me so I gave up on that notion quickly.

We were camped under incredibly tall and straight oak trees and although it was still down wherewe were, I could see the tops swaying and hear the wind blowing through the branches. I like itas it is harder to sleep when it is perfectly still and quiet so every noise wakes you up. I wasquickly asleep.


19/19

19

Top left:Day #20 We enter the Province of Quebec, Top Right:Day #20 The beautiful La RouteVerte, Middle left:Day #21Gorgeous farms along the St. Lawrence Seaway, Middle right:Day #22We interrupt the Quebec City Marathon, Bottom left:Day #25 We meet up with eight other tandembikes in Montreal, Bottom right:Day #25Heading west out of Montreal with an escort

Date post:	01-Mar-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	lloyd-mclean
View:	217 times
Download:	0 times

The CGB Book - Part 5 of 12 - Quebec

Documents