May 31, 2007

A lot of work to get not to far.

We awoke around 6:30, had breakfast a couple of blocks from the hotel, and caught the 8:30 ferry across the river. On the ferry we met a couple of young guys from Ottawa with backpacks who are hitch hiking to Riviere-du-Loup. They stealth camped just outside the old city walls on the bluffs above the river. Denny started talking about the hockey with them since he plays and follows the sport. They said “they didn’t care” as they stopped following the season when Ottawa was out of the playoffs.

Evidence of the stiff breeze.

Riding down the hill to the ferry I knew we were in for a rough day when I looked a flag on a building and it was flying straight out in the stiff wind. Our heading was east north east after we crossed the river and the wind was a buffeting 15 to 20 MPH one coming out of the east. So that is pretty much how it was all morning and part of the afternoon. The best we could average on fairly flat terrain was just over 10 MPH. It was really slow going. The route was pretty though as we were on le Route verte 1 which runs up Quebec Route 132. A few times we were diverted into small towns which were quaint. For the most part the shoulders were wide and debris free. Route 132 runs fairly close to the river and we could see it much of the time, white caps from the wind and all. The river is fairly brown up here, I guess from the spring sentiment. We are starting to see more pine and fir trees the farther we go north.

View from the ferry.

It was chilly today in the low 50’s with a wind chill making it feel around 45. It reached a high of around 60 at around 2:30 when we stopped to get supplied with camping food as we were both about out. I was hungry so I got a sandwich at a Subway to tide me over. As we were leaving Montmagny I was in front and Denny called out one of the most dreaded words in bicycle riding: “FLAT!!” I was beginning to wonder when one of us was going to get one, although, with the conditions of the roads I was beginning to think that maybe no one would. The fix took a while as the hole was very small and hard to find. My guess is that something got in the tire many miles earlier and finally worked its way to the tube. Neither Denny nor I could find anything in the tire, so he replaced the tube. The new tube had a hole in it probably from rubbing against something in the tool bag. The stem on the next tube developed a leak where it meets the tube as sometimes happens when inflating a tire with a small pump. Denny only brought two tubes so he patched the original one while I asked where a bike shop was so he could get another tube. What they called a bike shop on le Route verte was more like a general sporting goods store that has some bikes and bike stuff but not the right size tubes. Denny bought the closest size he could find and we were on our way at about 4:00. We checked our options for camping and saw two, one in about 18 miles and another at about 28 miles. About ten miles out Denny’s tire started getting soft again so we decided pump the tire up each time it got soft as it was a very slow leak and to stop at the first campground.

Cycledog's friends.

The winds after we left Montmagny were still there but not as stiff. All in all it was a really slow day as the best we could average was 10.4 MPH and this on fairly flat terrain. It took all day to ride just under 53 miles. I do that occasionally on a Saturday mourning in about three and a half hours, albeit on a light road bike with no gear.

Denny is having fun now.

The campground we are staying in is right by the river. Our site is maybe 100 yards away. After sunset the winds died down but it is still quite cool. After dinner and a very hot shower I crawled into my tent to write this log entry. The site has an electric hookup so I am not working off batteries as I set up my tent about 4 feet away from the hookup. Denny said it is the first time he saw an electric hookup to a backpacking tent.

The campsite.

Neither Denny nor I are discouraged by the events of the day. It still continues to be a good ride.

Jim

Cycledog (Ride the extra mile!!)

© 2007 - JNS