Day 71 - Argentia to St. Johns's

What can I say - today - the LAST cycling day of the Tour du Canada was probably the HARDEST day of the entire trip. It almost was the END of my cycling adventures!!!!

Had a pretty decent sleep on the ferry, but every time I woke up - I looked out the window and could see the waves. Now that is not a bad thing except waves mean WIND. Of course - we are on the open water, so one could expect wind, but we knew from the forecast that there was going to be a LOT of wind.

The buffet breakfast on the ferry was awesome and we all stocked up as much as was possible. Still had time to kill until the ferry docked. I guess with the ferry - it can sometimes take longer or shorter depending on the weather conditions. I do believe it took 18 hours to cross. I got a chance to read my book, but not finished (OK - I finished this morning - NUMBER TEN on the trip)

Then it was another half hour at least before we were able to go downstairs to catch the shuttle bus to the terminal. They unload most of the cars before they allow us down to the car dock. Different than BC ferries, but there is no other way off than shuttle bus. We got to the terminal where Adam and Bud (who joined us in Englishtown) had most of the bikes off the truck/van. Found my front wheel and got that installed and the wind was HOWLING!!!!!!   Made a sandwich in the event we find no place to stop along the route. Get everything loaded on the bike, get dressed (FOUR layers) because not only was it windy, but the temperature was cool. Barely double digits. By the time we left the terminal, it was 11 ish. I didn't look at the time and don't have access to my Garmin info.

As Neil and I left the terminal, we wondered - could the forecast be wrong????   Could we be having a fabulous tail wind?????   We stopped at the Welcome to Newfoundland sign - PROVINCE NUMBER TEN. Hard to believe. Too bad my euphoria didn't last long because soon we were climbing and into a FIERCE headwind. I don't know what the speed of the wind, was, but it was strong. So strong that at points, you were struggling to handle the bike.

After doing some mental math - how long to the mid point, how many kilometers in total, our speed - well it be apparent that it was going to be a LONG day. Originally the mileage for the day was 140 K, but Bud had said that if we take a couple of "shortcuts" we could knock 20 K off the day. Those 20K in fact were only 6K and that 14 K difference did NOTHING to pep me up.

I have to say that I had to dig deep - really deep in order to actually cycle the entire day. I thought of everyone cheering for me, I thought of Bob and Irene, I thought of the distance that we had already done. I thought of how close we were to the finish and even with all that - there were times when I was close to dropping my bike on the side of the road and having a tantrum. OK - so make that a wallow in self pity!!!!   Then I thought of all those things and said - you are so close - just suck it up princess and get your butt in gear and keep pedaling. And as always happens on a tough day - all manner of things come up - my butt was sore, I couldn't get my cycle shorts to sit on the seat - they were pinching, my knees hurt, my eyes were watering from the wind, my wrists ached, my ears were tired of the relentless wind whistling through them. Anyway - as you can tell - it was a tough day. My only consolation was that we were all experiencing the same situation - even Bud!!!!!

And that wind - well it wasn't really gusty - it was steady. Now how many of you have paid attention to the wind?  I think it usually calms down in the afternoon????   NOPE - not this wind - it stayed nice and steady and strong, the entire day!!!!!   And most of the roads that we had to travel on were major highways which are WIDE OPEN. Just perfect for that wind to whistle down. And there were spots where I must say that I was a tad worried as some of the bigger trucks went whipping by and the wind generated by the trucks coupled with the wind made handling the bikes a tad precarious!!!!!!

We did turn off the main highway at one point and that offered a bit of relief, but not much. But it was enough to get us a few kilometers down the road with minimal effort. I was taking every wind "free" point that we could get. Even downhill - you still had to pedal like an idiot in order to go anywhere. Normally that route from the ferry to St. John's would be amazing, but with an EAST wind - it wasn't pretty.

After more calculating, I figured that by the time we reached St. John's it was going to be dark or very close. We stopped at the Tim's where we were going to meet and ride as a group to Signal Hill. Of course - no one was there - we hadn't seen many people in the day. I told Neil that at this point, I couldn't care less about Signal Hill - I just wanted to be at the hotel. He felt the same way - so we headed to the hotel. Neil's wife flew out to meet him, and they were in a different hotel than the group. By this time, I had my glasses off (they are prescription sunglasses and my other glasses were NOT on the bike). It was getting dark and I only had a small light for the back of my bike. It was crazy!!!!!!   I so wanted to be at the hotel.

We had calculated the street where we would split off and I went one way and Neil the other. I turned the corner and saw this MASSIVE hill (Barter's Hill if any of you know it). ARE YOU CRAZY???????   You want me to cycle up that FLIPPING HILL?????   I don't think so!!!!!!!   I checked on Google Maps and saw that I could zig zag my way up that hill and that is what I did. But of course - I had to stop a couple of times to read the streets signs and house numbers. Good god - it was AWFUL. I was never so happy to see a hotel in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I will confess that I was close to losing it at this point. I came in - saw a couple of people who just stepped aside when they saw me. We were supposed to be sharing rooms, but I said - SCREW THAT and got a room to myself. I was in NO MOOD to be with people, to talk about the day, to share the experience. I was spent - emotionally, physically and mentally - I was hungry, I was cold, I was exhausted. I know that sounds extreme, but that is exactly how I felt. I had a shower and donned my PJs and my fleece jacket and crawled into bed to read. I think I arrived at the hotel sometime after 8 PM. It was DARK to say the least.

There was a pizza dinner and the traditional Tour du Canada cake - I just couldn't have cared less about either. I bought a chocolate bar at the vending machine and that was it. That sounds so pathetic now, but let's just say that it was NOT a good day. OK - to be fair - the others went through the same thing,  I just didn't handle it well!!!!!  But as Becky said this morning - you have energy for the kilometers of that day and when you think they are going to be 120K and ends up being more - well it just doesn't work for me. Plus the wind or maybe because we didn't stop for ice cream??????

The bottom line is that I made it to St. John's. I was a bit disappointed in myself because I wanted the trip to end on a better note. Don't worry - all is fine now - wait for Day 72 blog.

On that note - I am out of here.

Have a great day!!!!!!!!

Ciao!!!!!!!!