7/27/09: Off segment. Took Rt 132 east on the south side of the St. Lawrence River. Quebec City, Quebec to Saint Jean Port Joli, Quebec.
Man did we stay up late last night, Barney and I drinking all of our hand picked micro brews, with Barney doing his blogging, Ryan sawing logs, and me checking out other people who are and who have done the Trans Can and have websites. Just wanted to see what else is going on out there. I did come across a guy who did the Trans Can while filming himself with mini cameras mounted on his bike. It was a great job, and I was really blown away by this guy’s project. So hit the hay at 12 midnight.
Now Ryan was sleeping on his ground pad with sleeping bag between Barney and my beds. So I get up at app. 3am to take a pee, and go to the bathroom, and the door’s shut, and I open the door and there’s Ryan in there with his pad and sleeping bag sleeping. I’m like what the hell are you doing? And he tells me that Barney and I were doing tag team snoring and he just could not sleep, so he found sanctuary in the bathroom, curled around the sink and wedged between the commode. I was so sleepy that it wasn’t even funny, as I had to pee in a massive way, but this morning it was hilarious to hear him recounting how Barney and I were creating a duet with our snoring.
So got up around 7:30, and it was not raining. Hit the continental breakfast and was hoping to beat the Euros – they are Italian. So much for me and my Hungarian guess. I got my plate and then down they came, an army of short, squat, rotund Italians just battling for a position in the breakfast line. All over again. So I zipped up there and got a second plate just to make sure I didn’t have to do battle. I took my spoils and went back to the room to Skype my parents and to get any last out emails before we set off today. We were all ready to go by 8:30am, and it had begun to drizzle very lightly as we were exiting the hotel. The temps had increased a great deal over yesterday, and the wind had died down considerably to. So off we went, on the exact route that we had taken back from Quebec City yesterday when we had gotten caught in the rain.
Our intension was to get over a bridge on the east side of the city and then continue to ride east on the south side of the St. Lawrence River. We will go off route, riding on the south side of the river rather than the north due to the fact that Barney had found out that the north side is filled with Shield Country type climbing, while the south side is not. Now I’ve been on the south side before and was looking for something new, but I was totally good with this minor change to the itinerary, and it would be good for Barney and Ryan to experience this part of the province as I had several times prior to this. We got it rolling on our bike trail route to the old city, and it was wet as hell out, pretty much soaking my shoes for the second time in about 12 hours.
We made it to the downtown in about 45 min, and then started looking for a place to access the bridge across the river. Finally we stopped and Barney asked a local about the bridge location. And he came back and said, “I made a big mistake, here. There is no bridge!” So what were our options? We would have to ride back along the other side of the river as we had ridden yesterday, and then do a very big climb out of the river valley, up to the one and ONLY bridge across the river. It was a good 6-8 miles back up to the bridge on the other side. We gave Barney some good natured shit about his first gaff in the trip. So we rode back downtown, and then we saw it. Our big chance to rectify the gaff……take a 10 min ferry to the south side of the river rather than do all that backtracking. So we looked at the schedule and found a ferry in about 20 min. Went back to the old city, on the bottom, at darned near riverside, got a coffee and Danish, and just relaxed.
The ferry was a total no-brainer, and we were on the other side in a matter of ten minutes. We got off and just got onto this beautiful bike path that was pristine asphalt, and just started pedaling east. It was wonderful, and I was sad to see it end in the 4 miles or so, and then we were on Rt 132 east. Barney was riding strong as hell, and pulling up the first section of road for a good 5-8 miles. Then we traded off and I pulled for a while. We had a pretty good average seeing that that wicked headwind from the east was really dieing down and the sun was actually beginning to show itself after nearly one week of gloom. The views along the St. Lawrence were just fabulous, and I can see why this is one of the premier cycling routes in all of Canada. The river is on our left shoulder, and it is getting bigger and bigger by the hour as we work our way east. It almost looks as though there is a tide here, with tidal flats next to the road we’re riding on. The small towns and massive French catholic churches in each one are outstanding. It’s just sensory overload as you ride through these small hamlets.
When we got to the town of Montmagny, we took a break. This was not one of the small, scenic towns, but more along the line of the strip mall variety – and it will be one of the last as we work our way east. Now we were going to go into town and try to find these meat pies that Barney has been raving about, and we got on the bike trail but once we stopped and talked to a local we found that the trail did not go into the town center. At this time we had seen a Subway when we entered town, and Ryan, like a bee to honey, went straight to the big S. Barney and I ended up back at the big S with Ryan and did the dirty with the subs. I got a lowly 12 incher, while Barney, the rookie, got a 6 incher. He did remark though that he could see how you could eat a 12 incher – he’s learning quick here, and so is the gremlin in his stomach.
So we subbed up and decided to shoot for another 15 miles and call it a day. We got on the road, and the clouds were really building up to the point to where it was looking a lot like rain. And then the drizzle started, and then it was light, and then it was steady and then there was lightning and thunder, and then we…….decided to get the hell off of the road. We found shelter in an information booth on Rt 132. It was manned by a very nice young French Canadian woman by the name of Marie. She could speak English and was quite friendly to us as we waited out the freaking rain storm. She was teaching Ryan and Barney the pronunciation of some of the towns on the peninsula, while Ryan was teaching her English slang, with “hey dudes” and “what’s up dudes?” It was pretty hilarious to listen to her repeating “what’s up dudes?”
I dog gone near feel asleep in a chair there waiting for the thunder storm to stop. Finally did and we got it going, said our goodbyes and went out to our bikes…….when I noticed that my rear tire was looking low…..it was going flat. So there I am, with the sun coming out, now fixing a flat, when I could have been doing it the whole time we were waiting in there. Patched the flat, blew the tire up and got it rolling. Ryan had taken off to find a place to stay in the final destination, while Barney helped me with the flat. Once back on the road Barney and I got it cranked up pretty good, and made the next town in about an hour. When we got there Ryan had already gotten a camp spot, with a nice restaurant and store 200 yrds up.
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