It was raining when I woke up. ICK!!!!! I was thinking that we finally were going to have to take our tents down in the rain, BUT by the time I actually got up, well the rain had stopped. We have been very very lucky in that respect on this trip, however we still had to take down a wet tent.
By the time we were finished with breakfast and ready to roll, it was still raining, drizzling. The biggest question is what to wear. Should you put on the big rain gear - I didn't think it was raining hard enough for that so I packed the rain gear, but wore just my windbreaker. No knee warmers - again - it wasn't that cold, but they were packed. I did put my shoe covers on though as the roads were wet and I hate wet shoes and wet shoes can be cold!!!!!!
We had to ride through Trois Rivieres and there was TONS of construction and lots of twists and turns - I was very happy when we got out of there. At one point, we had yet another detour. The street was ripped up, but the sidewalks were OK - so we took the sidewalk, although had to detour across the street at the end as the sidewalk was also ripped up. I am sure those construction guys thought we were idiots - the road was closed after all. But Neil got us through that detour with flying colours.
Then back on Chemin du Roy which was a nice fairly quiet highway with decent shoulder for most of the way. Lots of little towns along the way and BIG churches.
Lots of bridges to cross - what is with all these rivers????? Several metal bridges to cross including one where we were supposed to take the sidewalk because the surface is a metal grate. OOOPS - here we are on the damn bridge before we realized and had to ride the metal grate across. It wasn't that bad, but the grate makes the surface "slippery" and the sidewalk was on the other side of the road. Oh well - we made out just fine, but it was a LONG bridge.
We did have some rain, but not much - mostly drizzle and that was for the first hour or maybe more. I sometimes just zone out when I am riding and don't pay attention to all those things. Again lots of cute little houses - (OK Margo - I hear you, maybe I could do without MM, but NOT without the nanaimo bars!!!)
Stopped at a small bakery along the way and had a cupcake and a tea. Wasn't the best we have had - they were NOT freshly made, but they were still good. I am waiting for the day when I can sit and have a nice cup of tea that will last for hours - no need to rush off. Again- a number of the group passed us.
Not sure when, but during the day, the wind picked up and we were less protected as we rode along the north shore of the St. Laurence. Well let's just say that it became a character building HEADWIND that wasn't fun. Neil and I ended up doing a pace line and switched off after 2 K. Leading for 2 K and then getting a break for 2 K works great. Your legs are tired, but no so tired that you can't recover in the 2 K. I then started calculating how many K I had to lead and those were the ONLY K that I counted for the remainder of the day!!!!! I probably should have started leading a bit sooner than I did - sorry Neil!!!!
A quick stop on the side of the road for lunch - our peanut butter sandwich!!!! We did stop at another place to get a drink - a small store and when I asked to use the TOILETTE (we are in Quebec after all), the man was fixing the toilet, so I had to fill the tank so I could flush!!!!!
The closer we got to Quebec City, the busier the traffic and MORE construction. This time we HAD to detour (there were flag people present) and we went for a merry ride through a residential area, but Neil got us back on track once the detour was over. Even though we were twisting and turning that head wind was pretty much present for most of the ride through the city and it wasn't pretty. At one point in the map the instructions indicated a VERY STEEP hill. Now the big comment was "how steep is steep?" Just before the hill, we saw a railway bridge that in the words of The Friendly Giant "look up - look WAY up" - that was how high the bridge was. so how steep could that hill be????? OH YES - it qualified as a VERY STEEP HILL. It was one of those that you look at and think - I am NOT going to make it. However, those gears that I have been saving for the Cabot Trail - I just used them. By this time, my legs were tired, my knee was hurting and I thought - why make it worse!!!
As we got to the top of the hill, I looked up and Neil was gone!!!! OH yes - we were supposed to make a right turn at the top - well almost the top. Anyway - then we went through a maze of streets, twists and turns, and crazy turns and BIG traffic streets that I did not like!!!!! But at last we arrived. At least one half hour later than I had figured, but there was so much at the end, you couldn't zip through any of it at any pace.
It is an indoor stay so we carted our stuff off the truck and into the rooms. Now I got lucky. These rooms are TINY and we are two to a room with our bikes. But I managed (and it wasn't my doing) to get a room to myself, although I do have two bikes in the room. OK - so I should have thought about a single supplement but it worked out OK. If any of you decide to do this tour - pay the extra for the single room!!!!!!
We had pizza for dinner last night and that was a nice change. Then a number of the group were going downtown to see a Cirque de Soleil show. It was a free show somewhere downtown (apparently the show is outdoors for one hour - a practice or something like that) (I just found out at breakfast that the show was canceled due to the high winds and they ended up going to a bar - yes I am just happy that I decided to stay back and relax).
On that note - I will see if later today I can get a few pictures loaded. You see my problem now is that I can't log into Blogger through an internet browser. I have to go through the app and loading pictures is weird. Oh well - I LOVE technology.
And just for those who need to know - Day 54 marked three quarters of the trip in terms of days. We had 14 riding days left :) and :( , 1 rest day and the final day which is just our brunch. I haven't had a chance to see the total mileage - another technical screw up because I can't off load the garmin, but I am going to see if I can find a computer in this university and get all that caught up to date.
Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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