8/22/09: Segment 89; Crabs River, NFLD to Cornerbrook, NFLD. 75 miles.
Check out Barney’s blog on http://www.nwpassage2.blogspot.com/
Man, we all just slept so late today. The crew, Judy, Ryan and Bill, hadn’t slept for almost 2 days, and Barney and I were about 24 hours in with no sleep. Woke up at about 9am. Now Bill was up much earlier, and so was Barney. But me and Judy……..toast! My sinus infection was in full bloom last evening with……..well…..I’ll spare you the details, but it was just a miserable night for me as I had to sleep partially sitting up agains my yak gear bag. I must have put Judy through the same misery with my haking and coughing through the night. So we woke up to a very ominous day, what we thought was the beginning of the hurrican, but likely just a really crappy day in NFLD. It rained lightly last even, but this morning it looked as though the sky was going to let loose.
We hit our breakfast destination by 9:30am and all filled up. Barney and I got our usual Grand Slam selection, with Barney getting a kid’s menue single pancake to boot. Bill and Ryan went for egg meals just a bit lighter, and Judy opted for the triple stack of cakes. Inside the restaurant we watched it rain like heck for about 20 min, coming down in a torrent. Then it abated. Back to the campground for the start. Today, Judy wasn’t too key to ride with the potential for some really gnarly rain, so she played support for the four of us. I really thought that we would get into some terrible weather what with the velocity of the tailwind we had and the looks of the dark grey clouds above just sailing on by. So we got the show going, and soon, withing about 40 min we were all separated into a group of Ryan and I, Barney, and Bill. And it pretty much went that way for the rest of the ride.
With such a beautiful tailwind we were able to big ring dang near the whole ride today. There were points where we were doing a good 23-24 mph on the flats, 16-18 mph on the low angle climbs, and 12-14 mph on the steeper climbs. It was stellar despite the ominous grey cloud action above. And the feel of not dragging 75-80 lbs on my yak, it was just beyond beautiful. So we sailed past Stephensville in under two hours, and that’s when I began to believe that we could hit Cornerbrook in under 4 hours. Now from our start point today that was 75 miles away, but sailing at over 20 mph, put’s a whole different spin on the day. So we just kept it in cruise control for K after K.
Judy did a famous job of making sure everyone was taken care of. It was just amazing to have this kind of support after doing this gig for months on end were we just had to fend for ourselves. She’d check on all of us as far as food and drink needs, and then wait at places to make sure everyone went by and was doing ok. She even gave us time and mileage checks on the rest of the group. Finally, about 2.5 hours in Ryan and I began to experience wetter road conditions, and then eventually we began to ride into the rain, a very light, but consistent drizzle. But it was blowing from behind with the tailwind, so it wasn’t half as bad as it could have been. Man, we were just on fire, and I was amazed that my lungs were feeling ok with the state I was in with these inflamed sinuses.
All the guys rode a very great day today. Barney was on fire, Bill was kicking it, and Ryan hasn’t lost a stroke since I last rode with him. For such a crappy day out, it was just a wonderful ride for everyone. Now Ryan and I had talked about going past Cornerbrook earlier in the day, when our legs were much fresher, but then like at the 2.5 hour mark, when we saw that the barn was much closer in Cornerbrook, we agreed to hang it up there. I also was going to blast to Cornerbrook, jump off of the bike and let Judy ride for a bit while I did sag, but by that time it was drizzling quite hard, and she just wasn’t into starting out in the rain and getting wet. So she was good doing sag for the day.
At about the 3:15 hours in mark Judy met us about 11 miles outside of Cornerbrook, and I asked her to just meet us at the Dairy Queen at exit 5, and then we’d work backwards with the rest of the group – this because we had just seen a sign for the DQ on the highway. So we just put it down for the final 11 miles, with a couple of these descents just off the charts fast – like 46 mph on the mt bike in the rain. And by this time we were completely soaked, to the bone. The rooster tails were hammering me on the descents, and the berm was often covered with puddles and washouts of gravel, so we were forced to ride in the driving lane.
Today’s topography was much like yesterday’s, and will continue to be this way all the way to St. John’s. It reminded me of our rides through Alberta where the plains were just starting and where you could just see this ribbon of highway go off in the distance for miles on end, where you could see your next long, gradual climb some 4 miles off in the distance. But here in NFLD, there’s just this high latitude, stunted forest cover surrounding you – moose paradise. No towns, no cities, no nothing. It’s just you, the road, the traffic and the vastness of the landscape. I’ve driven this stretch in a car numerous times, and have never felt like this. On a bike……wow, what a different feeling. It’s like you’re part of this giant landscape unfolding in front of you. It’s cool, it’s intimidating, it’s so big that it boggles your mind. And it just stretches for 550 miles! W
We finally passed a sign for St. John’s – 728 kilometers away! I mean to see that number when you’re riding a bike – it just blows me away that we have that much more of this massive landscape to cycle through. So anyway, Ryan and I just gunned it for the remainder of the ride, blasting up the climbs and just sailing down these long and winding descents. Finally got to the exit 5 ramp, but saw no Dairy Queen, just this nasty climb if we took a right. So followed the signs to Cornerbrook, and low and behold, there was Judy parked at a gas station. We got the bikes loaded and then went to Micky D’s for a post ride eatathon. Me – three big macs, large fries, large chocolate shake. Ryan several dbl cheeseburges with the fries and shake. Then we go back for the guys. Barney is just about at the exit, so Judy yells for him to go to Micky D’s while we pick Bill up. Then we go back, get Bill and head back to Micky’s.
Barney is doing his milkshake thing when we get there. We checked on hotels for downtown Cornerbrook, but nothing. Only availability was at a place with a disco above the rooms, and we were warned that the music and traffin inside was loud. NOPE. So we settled for a campground just west of Cornerbrook. Go everything set up at camp and then back to town for food. Hit a bistro, but the prices and servings there were just silly, so everyone just got an appetizer. We were able to post our blogs from yesterday and check our emails there – sorry, but no nothing last night at Crabs River Campground. Then back to camp. Everyone is in his tent reading or blogging, while Judy and I are in Hotel Dodge Ram 1500. Another day in the books.
Now this hurricane thing could cause us some problems. Maybe! We learned that they canceled the ferry crossings for tomorrow to NFLD because of the storm surges. So we could get some real crap, or we could get nothing. Still not sure how it will affect us here on the western side of NFLD. So……Until tomorrow…….All the best.
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