Short break

Sorry for the tardy posting, but I have been finding it next to impossible to get an internet connection. I even tried a number of places when I was in Ottawa with no success.

July 21: Sudbury to Rutherglen (156.48km)
Today, I was defiant. In the morning, everything seemed to be working against me again. It was raining, I had a head wind, I hadn't slept a lot (my fault, I went to bed late), etc. But I had a big breakfast and my attitude was to hell with it, I'm going to make some serious mileage today.

I wanted to get past North Bay because I figured there would be a lot of traffic until then and I wanted to get that over with. All in all, it went pretty well. Going through North Bay was touchy as there was a lot of traffic and the signs indicated that bicycles shouldn't be on the highway. I ignored that suggestion:), because I didn't know how else to navigate the city. I suppose I could have asked someone, but that would have been in violation of the male credo.

I figured I'd find a motel just past the city – I decided that I would take a motel until Ottawa in order to maximize my daily mileage. This was the first time in my trip that I found it difficult to find accommodation. I had been told at the tourism office in Sturgeon Falls that there were motels in the first three towns after North Bay. The first town had one, but 12km off the road, the second was full and the third one only had a campground. By this time, I was getting hungry and tired. So I went for the campground which was 2km off the highway on a dirt road.

Point of note: From Sturgeon Falls onward is the first bit of road that I have been on before since the beginning of my trip. Everything up to that point was new territory for me. Why Sturgeon Falls you may ask, well Stats Can has an office there and I had to go there for work a few years back.

July 22: Rutherglen to Deep River (138.32km)
The past few days, I've been riding for the destination. The only concrete thought I had was that the earlier I arrived in Ottawa, the more time off I could take. As a result, I wasn't looking at the scenery much. Mind you up until North Bay, there isn't much to see except for some views of Lake Nipissing which are quite nice. This focus on arriving was making me impatient with the wind, the road (the pavement in some stretches are embarrassingly bad) and the traffic (mind you since Mattawa I have been blessed with lighter traffic). As a result of this impatience, curses could be heard under my breath a number of times when the wind picked up or when I saw a particularly steep hill ahead. I even yelled out an expletive at one point since my silent reproaches weren't having the desired effect.

I then realized that my focus was all off. I was sacrificing the present for the future. Everything was about making good time and not on the sights that surrounded me. I'd like to say that I became all Zen about the obstacles after this realization, but that would be a lie. It did however bring my frustration level down a few notches and I did pay more attention to the scenery and it actually is quite pretty in parts. Deux Rivieres is a nice stretch of highway in particular.

I had a vague hope of making it to Pembroke today in order to be able to reach Ottawa tomorrow, but I quickly saw that the conditions weren't going to allow for this. I therefore settled on Deep River. As the traffic will pick up shortly going into Ottawa, I'm going to go on some side roads. I think I may in fact cross the river into Quebec and go into Ottawa from there. I've been told it was quite pretty and that it has little traffic which would be nice. Reaching Ottawa tomorrow is very unlikely.

July 23: Deep River to Eardley (168.36km)
As I mentioned yesterday, I had chosen to cross the river into Quebec in order to get to Ottawa on a road that had lighter traffic. The traffic was a bit lighter and there were a lot less trucks which was good, but the road conditions in parts was deplorable (I know, there is just no satisfying me:).

I also remembered that morning that I had a friend (Sarah) who lived along the road that I was going to ride on. I figured it would be great to see her and her 2 month old that I hadn't seen yet. However, I didn't know how far it was. As it turned out, it was far – notably the longest day of my journey so far.

The conditions were ok most of the day except for a downpour that lasted about ten minutes and got me completely drenched. After a very long day of riding, I arrived at Sarah and her partner Christopher's at 7PM and I was spent. It was great to just sit down and chat with them. Thanks again Sarah and Christopher for taking me in:)

July 24: Eardley to Ottawa (29.50km)
Today was even shorter than I anticipated. I knew I had covered some good distance yesterday, but I figured I still had 40 to 50km ahead of me. In any case, I slept in to catch up on rest and in order to miss the morning rush hour. I took my time so much, that I only got on the road around 10:30. After a relatively easy ride, I was back in my house.

It's weird being in my home. Some of the things that I didn't even notice before look strange now. There are no major shocks, but when I walked into my kitchen, for instance, I was struck by how blue it was. Like I say, this is nothing extraordinary, but I was just surprised how I didn't recognize the house. A big thank you to Brian actually who has been taking care of my house while I've been gone.

As I'm writing this, a thunder storm is falling outside and the rain is coming down in sheets. And I am thanking my lucky stars that I am not riding at this instant:)

July 25 and 26: Ottawa to Ottawa (0.76km)
These past couple of days have been incredibly busy, but fun. I met up with a number of friends. It was good to talk to people I knew and about subjects other than my trip. It's easy on such a trip to become self-involved, because all that I talk about is me and my trip. It was fun to hear about other things happening in the world.

I was also very busy doing paper work type stuff around the house and fixing my bike – nothing major, but I had to change a few components as they get pretty worn after approximately 5000km.

Well, enough lazing about, I'm getting back on the road tomorrow morning as long as the weather isn't overly foul.

July 27: Ottawa to Papineauville (73.47km)
This was a short day for a number of reasons. First, my day started with a flat tire. I had gone to the bike shop to top up my tires and I think I asked them to put too much air in because my rear tire was flat yesterday and my front one was flat this morning. Anyways, it was sort of a blessing in disguise because I then discovered that my pump was broken. Better to find this out in Ottawa where I could buy a new one then in the middle of nowhere. Second, my friends Ginette and Denis had kindly invited me to breakfast. Since the company and the food were so good, I lounged around for a while and only got on the road around 11:00.

The conditions initially were good, but slow moving. I got out of Ottawa-Gatineau region via bike paths and while very useful, one cannot go very fast. Once I was on a major road, I could pick up the pace and the conditions were excellent. The shoulders and the pavement were the best since Saskatchewan and I could relax even though there were quite a few cars on the road.

I stopped for lunch in Thurso and while I was there the skies darkened and there was torrential rain. Thankfully, I was inside and when I left, the rain was stopping. Thinking I wouldn't get too far because of the threatening skies, I stopped in Papineauville.

It was difficult leaving Ottawa this morning. In the final few days prior to my arrival, the prime motivation was arriving, but I've lost this motivation. I have another stop over point (Moncton), but it seems so far away that it's not spurring me on at the moment (this will change as I get closer I guess). In any case, I'm off and curious to see what experiences await me.

July 28: Papineauville to Rosemere (about 120km - I don't have my bike computer with me)
I was unsure how to choose my route today. The thing is, Velo Quebec (a volunteer organization) has identified "La route verte" which is a network of roads that they consider to be bike friendly. In my short time in Quebec so far, I followed some of their recommendations and they were spot on. However, the next stage of my trip would take me across Montreal if I followed their suggestion and I wanted to avoid Montreal as much as possible. So I opted for a compromise. I would try the road that I wanted to take (the 148/158) and if I saw that the road wasn't great, I'd take a side road down to a road they recommended (the 344), but not go into Montreal. As it turned out, neither road was particularly good, but it got me this far, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Finding accommodations in Quebec will be challenging I suspect. So far I've been traveling mostly on the Trans Canada or other busy roads. This had its disadvantages in that there was a lot of traffic and stress, but there were always motels or campgrounds. In Quebec, I now have more road options and I will be going on minor roads to be able to enjoy the ride. However, these roads take me through small towns that don't have a lot of tourism and, as a result, don't supply accommodations. Today, for instance, I didn't see any place to stay between Montebello (a tourist trap) and Rosemere (about 100km apart) and I only found this place by chance.

Other than that, things are going well. Check out my photos of the past week.