Day 45: St John's - Excalibur Insurance Group

We woke up this morning absolutely giddy. Only 170km to the end. Our last day of the trip!

And what a memorable last day it was. The last 60km into St John's was definitely one of the most difficult sections of the entire trip. By that point the rain was coming down hard, the temperatures were still hovering around freezing, and we were crawling into a 30km/hr headwind. When we finally reached the outskirts of St John's Will and I were absolutely gutted. It was a fitting end for a trip full of consistently bad weather.

When we got to St John's we started searching for a place on the water to take a few final pictures. Easier said than done. No beaches to be found around here, just cliffs. By this point we were so cold that our patience was pretty limited. We had to sneak through a fence to take a few quick pictures and then called it a trip!

All in all we ended up biking 7184km over the past 45 days. An initially short route, 70km shortcut through New Brunswick, staying in accommodations right along the highway, and a few rides through some of the less bike friendly big cities all made us a bit short of the full 7650km. This is disappointing, but we won't be losing any sleep over it.

Over the past six months Bike7650 has grown from an idea to an event much bigger than we ever could have imagined. We would like to thank everyone who has been a part of this process!
In particular: 1) Mom! You've been with us every mile of the way and have been a great RV pilot, head chef, and camper extraodinaire.
 2) Everyone who has donated to the Jumpstart Foundation! As of right now Bike7650 raised $32,540 for Jumpstart. Wow! This will allow so many kids across Canada to be able to participate in organized sports.      
3) The well-wishers! Your words of encouragement have been inspiring and kept us going every day.
4) The drivers along the way! You have been very tolerant of us on the roads and we are very, very grateful.
5) The kind people we have met along the way! We've met so many kind and generous people and your hospitality has been greatly appreciated.

  Despite the bad weather, it's been an incredible experience. Biking was a great way to see more of this great country and we have made so many memories along the way. We're glad you've decided to follow along our journey, it's been an unforgettable ride!

 Claire  

Day 44: Clarenville - Mike & Sherri Dooreleyers

Wow, last day tomorrow!

This was another rough day on the rock. We just learned that this week set an all time record for the coldest last week of May EVER in Newfoundland.

We were soaked and it stayed just above freezing with a headwind in the morning. After that Claire and I were going nowhere near the road...

and mom put in some miles for us.

We happily bombed around Newfoundland in the RV while mom biked.

We did 100km, Jenn did 50km before dark.

That was as far as we could make it today on the bikes. Since I need to be into St Johns for tomorrow night we had to drive the RV the last ~90km into Clarenville. I need to start work on time before Mastercard repos my bike. Not ideal, but Claire and I sure aren't loosing any sleep over 90 at this point.

Finally, the last supper.

Will

Day 43: Grand Falls-Windsor - Flynn Farms Ltd & Brian Dupuis

Start temperature: 2C. We found this very cold. A handful Newfies however were sighted walking around in t-shirts. They couldn't care less.

The cold temperatures and headwinds made us pretty sour this morning. Mom captured some nice photos of us. Happy happy.

                                             

It was pretty slow going this morning but after about 100km the road changed direction! This meant that we had a tailwind for the first time since Montreal. It was glorious. We were able to cover a lot of ground this afternoon and made it to Grand Falls-Windsor. This move shaved 20km off of our planned route since Springdale was a good 10km off of the Trans Can.

Due to the Rangers game tonight a motel room was in order. If all goes as planned we only have two more sleeps until St. John's!  

Claire

Day 42: Deer Lake - CHSS Staff & Corrie's Freshmart

Late post - no internet northern Newfoundland. We woke up on the ferry to NL and drove off into our final province! Arctic storm bike7650 continued with some rain, some headwind, and 2 degree temperatures.

The first vehicle we saw on our bike was this thing on the side of the road. We have no explanation.  

Claire had her first flat tire of the trip! Wow. I was thrilled when I saw it because I could jump back into the RV for while while she fixed it. Hit the couch and fell asleep on impact. Claire was rattled. 

This was after the next downhill. Happy. 

And me on a break, trying to avoid the wind. 

We made it into Corner Brook just before dark, but there was nowhere to stay. All full. Mom had to drive down the road to Deer Lake just to find a campsite. But it gave us a head start on the next day so can't complain. 

Will

Day 41: North Sydney - Maureen Wildfong

Biking sucks.

  

Five minutes after we headed out it started raining. This continued all day. Early on we came across this sign. It was so cold that blowing snow seemed like a possibility so we proceeded with caution.

Today was one of the least enjoyable of the trip. At no point during today's ride were we dry or warm.

Motivation during each break to head back into the cold, rain, and fog was so low that we had to resort to setting timers to signal when each break was over. Otherwise we never would have left the RV.

However, we had a reservation for the ferry tonight to Newfoundland so we had to keep going! It was a long day but we made it to North Sydney in time to have dinner before lining up. Right now we’re waiting to board the ferry and we'll be travelling to Channel-Port-Aux-Basques through the night. Then we get to wake up and do this all over again! 

Claire

Day 40: Antigonish - Gary Robertson

We passed New Glasgow and landed in Antigonish tonight - 60km up the road!

Little rain - but no wind and we were thrilled to be averaging 25km/h on the day. We're getting into construction season now and New Glasgow wanted nothing to do with us and our bikes. After riding the white line tightrope and trying not to get hit for the first 2 km the cars just waited for us to get out of the way. We weren't popular with rush hour traffic.

We are now above halfway from the equator to the north pole. 

This was about as soaked as we got on the day going in for a break. Glad the cars could see me because it was head down and look 4 feet in front of me for a few hours in the afternoon. 

Since we're ahead now we will be able to take the ferry to Newfoundland tomorrow overnight!

Will

Day 39 - Rest Day

By this point in our trip we've been on the road for a while and, well... you can tell. We've had a quiet day catching up on some things that were overdue and getting ready for the last leg of our trip.
 Our bikes have taken a quite a bit of abuse, so finding a bike shop was priority #1. We ended up stopping at The Bike Peddler in Dartmouth this morning. They came up with an impressive list of things wrong with Will's bike. Fortunately my bike has been a mule and only required a new brake pad. A few quick laps of a parking lot this afternoon confirmed that all problems were resolved!

We were starting to look a bit scruffy, so hair cuts also seemed appropriate. Right outside our hotel we found Clarence at Rite Cuts. Didn't take long for him to fix us up. Thanks Clarence!

Winding down now after spending the evening in the streets of Halifax. If all goes as planned this will be the last rest day of the trip!

Claire
 

Day 38: Halifax - Kim Mohammed

Finally, the Atlantic Ocean! It was our shortest ride of the trip today into Halifax at around 90km. Took the ferry over to the city and walked the streets for the afternoon.

Not many pictures because this first one took 1/2 an hour to load.. But I have a story instead. 

We walked by what looked like a homeless man outside the midtown tavern. Mom, bless her soul, gave him a couple bucks. He was pretty mangy looking, said he was crippled from work, and was shaking. We didn't think anything of it until we caught the 9pm ferry back home. Right beside us there he was, pecking at his blackberry, wearing a gold ring, and nursing a six pack of blueberry ale on his lap. We still haven't stopped laughing. 

Will

Day 37: Truro - Rick & Mary McGlynn

We started off the day at the Holiday Inn in Moncton. It was a pretty leisurely morning... made short work of the buffet breakfast then started biking a bit after eight. Our stay was sponsored by John Wood. Thanks Uncle John!

Highlight of the day was reaching the Nova Scotia border about 55km in. We were so happy to see the sign that we shamelessly climbed all over it despite the park ranger glaring at us from the lighthouse.

 We arrived in Truro in good time. Will got some more practice changing a flat tire but besides that the ride was pretty uneventful. We didn't stop for too many pictures of us along the way, but we did capture quite a few of the dog.

Smuggled into the Holiday Inn

 Loose and making a break for the Nova Scotia border

 Tolerating Will

All of the campgrounds in Truro are full because of the long weekend so we're situated at the Super 8 tonight. Less than 100k tomorrow to Halifax!


Claire

Day 36: Moncton - Chad Lamont

We saved 70km by biking through the middle of New Brunswick and are BACK ON SCHEDULE! We launched the RV on an old mining road in the woods. Not much of a campsite, but it was Claire's night to pay so side of the road it was.

 It was raining at the start of the day but it wasn't windy so we were loving it. The roads were in rough shape and there were some hills. Because of that there were no cars. Made for so much more fun for us than the busy Trans Canada highway!

Once we got near the main road down to Moncton we got a little lost and biked through big unleashed dog country. It was like the running of the bulls for an hour as we raced away from the monsters like mailmen. Neither of us wanted to be the slowest today.

But their owners were very friendly. We stopped for a break and 2 people instantly asked if we needed any help. Change from some parts of the trip where you couldn't get someone to stop if you were being mauled by a grizzly.

We ended up finding Holliday Inn where we're embracing our first shower in 3 days and 30 hours of biking around. Very Happy.

The sweep begins.

Will

Day 35: The New Brunswick Forest - Huron Fish and Game Conservation Association

We are posting this from Plaster Rock just prior to heading into the wilderness.

Today we were supposed to head south to Fredericton, but that would involve a 30km/hr headwind all day. Enter plan B. We are heading east today. This means ditching the trans can for a remote back road in a forest. We will ride until dark then spend the night miles away from cities, people, and internet on the side of the road somewhere. 

Day 34: Notre-Dame-De-Loudres - Summerhill Community

We made it to New Brunswick!

But thats about all we did. We fell behind schedule today. Came up about 25km short of Grand Falls where we wanted to be. Did our best; started at 7am and punched out at 9, but the headwind was too much and we only got done 135.

My 3, yes 3, flat tires didn't speed us up. For those of you counting at home I think thats 8 for the trip. Can now change a tire faster than Jimmie Johnson's pit crew.

Still a problem with the back wheel = tonights project. Now on Atlantic time, 1 hour ahead of Ontario. Moose warnings everywhere. This picture suggested they're double the size of a car out here in NB.

Will

Day 33: Riviere-du-Loup - Brian Dupuis

After a few lousy days of biking, today was solid. It ended up being almost 200km of riding to tonight's campground a few kilometers east of Riviere-du-Loup. Things on this side of the St. Lawrence River looked pretty similar to earlier parts of Quebec. A huge church every 10km in a small town with <1000 people seems to be standard around here.

The language barrier continues, but we've been able to understand a few of the signs lately.

Near the end of today we started seeing signs for "Nouveau Brunswick". Less than 90km to the border!

Day 32: Quebec City, QC - CHSS Staff

Finished off the huge comeback to win the series last night! Bring it Montreal. 

Today was shorter than expected given the wind, rain, a broken tire, and broken up roads.

Just before we got into Quebec City my back tire blew up. Needed a whole new wheel instead of just the usual tube or tire replacement. The staff said my tire was about to explode from overuse too. Hope they're wrong. Quebec City was great riding through for the first half, with our very own bike highway.

But then we made a wrong turn or two during rush hour after crossing this bridge.

Ended up on the 132 highway and we were the only cyclists on the road after they were swarming like locusts everywhere else. Why? Because they all want to live. Tough stretch of road but we made it into Levi for the night.

Will

Day 31: Saint-Anne-de-la-Perade - Jackson, Bryson, & John Wood

By this point I could write a pretty long list of disadvantages of biking across Canada this early in the year. I think it's safe to say the biggest problem though is that the NHL playoffs are in full swing. This does not coincide well with our biking schedule. We were pretty weary heading out of Montreal this morning after game six.

After two warm days of biking, the temperatures dropped again. Hats and mitts were required. There was even a 20km/ hr headwind all day. Just like old times. Between the headwind and stoplights throughout the day, things were pretty slow going. The weather forecast doesn't look very favourable for the next couple of days either. This sparked a change of plans. Since we're one day ahead of schedule we'll spread out the next four days of cycling over five. This will get us back on track and make the distances a bit more manageable.

Despite the headwind, it was a very enjoyable day of cycling. The bike paths were great and winded through a lot of little towns which always gave us something to look at. Lots of other cyclists out as well. Our favourite was the guy unicycling while walking his dog in downtown Trois-Rivieres. We ended up biking until just outside of Saint-Anne-de-la-Perade. A campground complete with hedges, stained wood, and a nice restaurant conveniently appeared on the side of the road.

Claire