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Buffalo
Almost as amazing as the unicorns we saw just down the road Today was full of the stuff character is made of. But now we've arrived in Montreal, and this evening was full of the stuff motivation is made of!
We had easily our best start so far this morning. Due to some good planning and changes in our nightly routine last night, we were up earlier, and ready to go faster than usual. After eating breakfast, we were on the road and moving before 6:30 am. Not only did this give us more total time to work with, but it also led to a really nice morning as it was cooler and less sunny for the beginning of our day. For the first time so far, we wore long sleeves.
In the morning we were flying. Our average speed was high, or morale was good, and we went much longer than usual before our first break. When we did stop, it wasn't even because of tiredness, but because Eric saw some buffalo, and wanted to take a picture. You have to understand, buffalo are sort of a magical animal to Eric, he spent the first 15 years or so of his life believing that they were extinct, and now that
Quebec
Our first new province he knows better, they hold a special place in his heart (Eric really loves animals in general, Therese usually thinks they are a waste of time unless they are being eaten, or getting ready to be eaten at some future time). Also, this was the first time Eric has seen buffalo in real life (not counting buffalo burgers).
Even after the buffalo break things continued to move well. Before long we were being welcomed to Quebec by another unimpressive road sign. Once in Quebec, we immediately noticed some changes: there were lots of bike paths on many of the common roads. This was a real feather in our cap. On the other hand, the really poor condition of the roads without bike paths (far worse than in Ontario) was a real black eye. On our travels we found a nice bike path to use for a decent portion of the route to the Montreal island. This was really great until about 2 km from the end when we hit a detour, and had to go about 10 minutes out of our way on completely unpaved roads - not just dirt roads or regular gravel here, but we're talking piles
Bikers Need Love Too!
They saved the good welcome for the 401. Boo! of small stones. Anyway, other than hurting the respectable 22.6 km/h average we had worked up to at this point, we were still feeling great.
After getting back to the regular path and making it to the end, we stopped for a rest and some food at an anchor park. This is exactly what it sounds like - a park with a lot of anchors hanging around. By the time we were done eating and re-applying sun-screen it was about 12:45, and the bridge to Montreal was only about 9 km away, so we decided to take a little nap (remember we started at about 6:30).
At 1:15 we were back on our way, and headed to the bridge. At the bridge we were supposed to dismount and walk our bikes along the pedestrian route, but the signage was poor, and we accidentally ended up just biking over the bridge with the cars on the highway. Illegally. Oops! Oh well, it turned a long 850 m walk with our heavily loaded bikes into a short 850 m ride.
Once on the island however, things took a turn for the worse. Our directions were no longer a few
Therese Finds a Seat
We told you it was an anchor park long stretches with the occasional turn, but short stretches with frequent turns, and confusing "turn left, turn right" directions that didn't have street names. This was largely due to the directions trying to take us on bike paths instead of streets where possible, and though this was a nice gesture on the part of the Google maps team, it was certainly not ideal. We were aiming to meet Therese's aunt at work, and due to missed turns, confusing directions, more detours, and frequent stopping to check the GPS, the last 20 km took more like 2 hours than the 1 we were predicting. This stretch was exhausting, frustrating and painful. It hasn't been mentioned yet, but for the last couple of days, our legs (calves especially) have surpassed our butts as the number one sore-est things on our body. Shoulders take a close second though, and butts don't come in until number three (or possibly tied in third with feet - it depends which one of us you ask).
After finally arriving at Carole's workplace, we had already travelled 117 km, and were ready to be done for the day, but there was still another 20 km to go
A Hard Day's Work
Therese is rightfully exhausted. Too bad we still have another 20 km to go. back to her house. No way we were going to quit at that point though. She kindly agreed to bring our paniers in her car with her, so we were much lighter for this next leg, but it didn't make as much of a difference as one might think. That said, the motivation of getting to a nice shower and dip in the pool made this home-stretch fly by.
When we finally arrived, we were treated to some fantastic hospitality, a wonderful dinner prepared by Carole's husband Michele, and nice company at dinner from the two of them, and Therese's uncle Raymond who joined us for the evening. We will be taking tomorrow off to relax, let our muscles recuperate, and most of all, enjoy some time with family.
Kingston in 2. Check. Montreal in 5. Check. Tour du France 2012? Ex.
Ok, fine, that last one's not happening, but we're still feeling pretty great.
Stats for the day:
Departure time: 6:27 am
Arrival time: 6:32 pm (Eep!)
Total distance travelled: 137.6 km (our longest day!)
Total time on bike: 6h 35m
Average speed: 20.9 km/h
That's all for now, tomorrow we get to sleep in!
Home Sweet Home
Not ours, but close enough Hooray!
- E and T
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Alex Leonard
non-member comment
5e jour
Montreal in 5 days... félicitations! That really is amazing progress. You've earned a rest day, and you're in the right city to spend it in!