8/13/09: Off and on segments.
http://www.4thehealthofit.net/segment_htmls/Segment82.html Rt 1 east toRt 26 east, to Rt 1 east to Rt 23 east to Rt 206 to the Confederation Trail. Chalottetown, PEI To Pictou, Nova Scotia. 50 miles.
Check out Barney’s blog on http://www.nwpassage2.blogspot.com/
Woke up the the sound of workers drilling in the rest room in the dorm at around 7am, and it sounded like I was being worked on by my friendly cycling dentist Doc Mike. By this wasn’t so friendly, it was long, whining, and incessant. And well, that was my wake up call. No going back to sleep with that racket. It was worse than Barney’s snoring last night, which was long, gasping chugs of air in and out, like trying to fire up a big plane. Give a guy a few pints and he snors like a B-52. I had to push wads of TP half way through my brain to deaden out the airplane noises. Used a dowel rod to ram the TP up to my eardrum…..just kidding. So I probably got about 4 hrs sleep last night. Not good.
We got up around 8pm, still hanging in the dorm room for a bit. Then we hit Subway for the breakfast Meg sub. Barney wasn’t as taken by this bomb of a monster as Ryan and I am. This thing is filling, like downing a Thanksgiving dinner for God’s sake. We we ate, then packed and carted all the gear down four flights of stairs. Now we had planned on shoving off early, but then thought twice about it because we both need some work done on the bikes, and this was our last option before…….hell……I don’t know. Not much left in the way of big places other than St. Johns NFLD! Barney had a new drivetrain put on, and a very badly frayed rear shifter cable replaced. I had my rear wheel trued. This place was not as friendly as were the last several places that Ryan and I had stopped at. But, my wheel is pretty true, and Barney’s drivetrain and shifting is now a-ok for Cape Breton.
So we finally got going around 12 noon. Rode through downtown Charlottetown, and off to the east on QEW 1, then detoured onto a secondary Rt 26 east along the coast. This was quite nice and not nearly as busy as Rt 1. I’ve gotten to the point to where anything on the freeways is just not fun. The traffic is gnarly, the scenery is less than stellar, and it’s just not what I intended when conceiving the backroads Trans Can experience. So we looked at the map, and decided, once we were forced back on Rt 1 again, to get back on another section of the Confederation Trail. But before I go on, let me say this: PEI is NOT flat. Not, not, not. It’s not at all high, with the highest climbs just going 200-300 feet above sea level, but it’s more composed of short and steep climbing. In places it’s like a roller coaster, up and down and up and down. And it just kicks the tar out of your legs after about an hour of power climbing. I was just floored today by the quantity and severity of the climbing today.
Another thing about PEI. This was a province that I’ve pretty much avoided for the last 10 years of traveling up to the Maritimes. I figured, quite erroneously, that this place was a flat pancake sandbar. After just two days of riding there – this place is a riders paradise. Between the secondary and tertiary roads and the hundreds of miles of crushed limestone bike and hike trail, you could spend an easy month out here touring the coastline, the interior highlands, and hanging out at wonderful beaches and seaside towns and cities. It is a very beautiful place, with very challenging riding. I give this province a massive 4 thumbs up for cycling. Want to do something totally different – get your arse to PEI to cycle!
So we got off of Rt 1 in leu of Rt 23 and 206. And these kicked my tush with all the power climbing – with gear. No gear and this would be just amazing to cruise. And I’ll have to admit that the “power partying” at the pub last eve took some zip out of the legs. But……ride on whether good or bad day. You just have to move on. We finally got to the Confederation Trail, and it was just stellar as we rode to the south of the island. This particular section was way different than yesterday’s section. Here, on the east side of the island, it was very woodlands, with coniferous trees making up a large portion of the forest cover. You could just smell the pine in the air as you cruised down the trail. Not doubt about it, this and yesterday were just wonderful, full blown hot August summer days.
Most of this old rail grade is either up or down, though it’s very gradual and very long false flat climbing, and then the same amount of descending. So you power up for 3-5 miles, and then descend for the same, time after time. And on this section of trail you really got the feel for being way the hell out in the forest, away from main roads and any towns of any sort. This was just fantastic cycling, and very much resembled riding in the Black Forest way up on the mountain tops. Finally hit a junction, and headed further south to the ferry at Wood Islands. That section was really a long uphill, and a short downhill to the ferry port. By this time I was starving, and hit a tourist trap for food about a quarter mile from the ferry facility, but all that was available was ice cream and candy. I need something substantial, so I headed to the ferry, and there, all that was available was this nasty looking cafeteria. So a big fat NO to that crap. And there I was stubborn enough to just wait in line hungry. And then I saw it when they called us to get ready to board – Crabby’s crab shack, way off to the left, beyond where I could see when I arrived. Too late Crabby!
We boarded, and shoved off, and Barney and I slept most of the 75 minutes on the ship. NO to another sterile cafeteria on board. By gosh I wanted something good, not these prepackaged sandwiches for 7 bucks. So I figured that I’d eat once we got off the boat. When we did, we were in the middle of nowhere. And going out of the ferry facility, we saw a sign for a campground at 3.5K away. So we went for it, as the time was after 6pm. Got there and it was in the middle of nowhere, and I do mean nowhere. It’s a provincial park, with no real amenities other than toilets and showers. We ask about town………..8-10K away. Very nice indeed. So the big gameplan is hatched: we get a site, ditch our gear in the check in booth, much to the graciousness of the park personnel, and TT down into town for dinner. And we motored with no gear on the bikes. Barney got a taste of some pretty aggressive riding, going hard out of the saddle all the way up these power climbs, and then hammering on the flats. And he did great, just slamming up and over these climbs
Finally got to town, and had to do this big descent down to the ocean where the town was situated. But we were rewarded with a very nice little pub with an outdoor patio. Both of us got the steak special and a couple of micro brews and toasted another great day on the road. Got done and hammered up the big climb out of town, and then stopped at a convience store where we picked up some chocolate chip muffins and cookies to satisfy the sweet tooth. Then another hammer fest back to make it back before dark. We made it back by dusk, got our gear back on the bikes, and then found our sites. Set up nearly in the dark and here we sit.
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