Hi Everyone,

I am in Campbellton, New Brunswick, just over the border from Quebec.

This morning it was raining hard and and the weather forecast was terrible. 
 A couple of days of rain, one day of sun, and then a few more days of rain.
 It is no use doing a bike trip if I get to ride only one day out of three.

The motel that I stayed at is the bus terminal for Orleans Bus so they had
 a bike box and the tape, etc.  I had to take off the front wheel, the front
 fender, and the front rack.  I took off the pedals also but I'm not so sure
 that had to.

They also gave me a big plastic bag for the sleeping bag, tent, helmet, 
and handlebar bag.  I have to send back a lot of stuff by UPS or US Mail
 to make it easier to fly.  First of all, all of my tools and spare parts
 will go by US Mail on the fixed price for anything that fits in the box.  
I wonder if I can get 30 pounds in there. Then I have to ship my bike.  
It is already boxed so I'll try UPS first in Bangor.  I hope that the 
bus terminal and hotel is near an UPS facility.  Otherwise I have to find
 a taxi cab company with a van or station wagon. Or I can just pay the 
airlines a bike fee.  It may end up the same price.  I'll check once I get to Maine.

Riding the bus distorts my sense of hills.  It seemed like that the road 
along the coast was fairly flat but there were a few hills and I saw 
several downhill signs showing 10, 12, and even 17%.

There periods of heavy rain and heavy winds and periods of dry.  Still, 
I am glad that I did not have to ride under those conditions.  

The bus company does a large package delivery business.  It seems that
 in every town there is a gas station that is a bus stop and the driver
 gets out and drops off boxes and picks up boxes.  A few times passengers 
got off and on.  Since I have to change from Orleans Bus to Acadia Bus, I 
expected the bus terminal in Campbellton to be a hotel or a separate building.
 Wrong!  The bus arrived at a large convenience store and the driver said in
 effect "Here you are".  I asked him "Is this Campbellton?" not believing
 that this was where I was supposed to get off in a nodesceipt parking lot
 with a group of "punks" hanging around.  Now this is at 8:30 pm in the dark.

It took me a while to get the convenience store / bus terminal to agree to
 store my bike overnight.  However, as soon as the clerk saw my bike box 
with a Orleans luggage tag on it, he said that he was obligated to store 
the bike overnight as a package.  He had thought that I arrived with a bike
 off the street.  He probably didn't realize that I had arrived with luggage
 from an Orleans bus.

The bus for Maine leaves tomorrow about 10:45 am and I will be there early.
 This time I may take a cab for the three blocks because I carried my front 
and rear panniers to the Howard Johnson Hotel.  The clerk here called a cab 
company to get an estimate and it was $6.30 and it is worth $6.30 not to have
 to lug all that weight again, even for three blocks.

Looking at the map, I estimate that it will take me two days to get to Bangor,
 Maine.  I can't take care of shipping until Monday, so I probably can't leav
e until Tuesday.

By the way, New Brunswick is on a different time zone.  It is one hour ahead 
of Eastern Time.



Steve in Campbellton, New Brunswick

It's Over

> Hi Everyone,
>
> I give up.  I satisfied what my original intent of the trip was.   
> That was to go across the country and I am east of Maine and only a  
> few miles from the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula.  I don' t know where  
> the St Lawrence River meets the Atlantic Ocean, but I am close  
> enough to it.
>
> I am waiting for the Orleans bus to take me ton the base of the  
> Gaspe Peninsula where the New Brunswick border is and I wil probably  
> stay overnight there and then take the Acadian Bus to the US border  
> with Maine and then take another bus (maybe the same bus, who knows)  
> to Bangor or Bar Harbor or Portland.   I have the bike in a box  
> already so I can ship it home by UPS and half of my stuff so I need  
> to go where there is an airport and an UPS office.  That I can  
> decide tomorrow.
>
> I may need to call one of you for a ride home from the airport. I  
> don't plan to have my bike with me but I may.  It depends on the  
> circumstances after I get to Maine.
>
>
> Steve still in Rivere du Renard
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPad

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday's email was name Day 69.  It should have been Day
 68.  Today is the real Day 69.

Yesterday I looked all the weather reports and decided that
 the one I believed was cloudy in the morning and rain in
 the afternoon starting as early as 12:00.  So I considered 
my options including staying in Grande Vallee.  Taking the 
short cut across the peninsula would cut about 30 km off the 
distance to Gaspe but that would leave me exposed if it rained.
 Going toward the lighthouse at Cap de Rosiers was a favorite 
option because of the location but it was 93 km.  The only good
 thing about it was that I could stop short at several different
 towns along the way.

As I left Grande Vallee this morning I coiled feel that my legs
 didn't have it it did yesterday morning.  The hills seem steeper
 but I made my way up them in lower gears and at an easier pace.
 But I found out that all the bailout towns have steep hills 
before and after the towns.  I hated going down to a town but
 there was no alternative.  

It was hard to predict the weather.  It was clear over the 
water and overcast over me but there were threatening clouds
 to my right over the hills.  Later the clouds ahead of me 
( coming from the hills) were crossing in front of me some 
distance away but that was where I was going.

Finally the hill out of Petit Cap got to me.  I had to stop
 a couple of times to rest going up the 10 - 11% ( average) 
hill and when I got to Riviere du Renard I looked at the 
motel options.  It was my intension to ask about the short 
cut versus going around the lighthouse here because this is 
where the junction is.  The clouds ahead looked more menacing
 and they were coming from the hills on the right where the 
short cut is.

I saw the Auberge Caribou as I entered the main part of town 
and it looked busy with the lunch crowd leaving the restaurant
 and the motel rooms had just one car parked there so I decided
 to ask about the rates and the wifi situation.  I got a nice 
room with a sofa and a kitchenette so it will be comfortable 
if it rains tomorrow and I have to stay another day.  


The Statistics:  4.68 miles and 3541 feet of climbing with a max of 15%


Steve in Riviere du Renard, Quebec, Canada

I made a mistake.  I actually went 41.68 miles.

It is raining now so all I have to do is to figure the weather for
 tomorrow.  This trip has become a matter of watching the weatherman.

When I get to Gaspe, I have the option of 

1. Riding on to Nova Scotia and taking the ferry to from Digby
 to St Johns, NB and the bus to Portland or Bar Harbor, Maine

2. Riding  to St Johns, New Brunswick and taking the bus to 
Portland or Bar Harbor, Maine 

3. I can take the train from Gaspe to Quebec.

My problem with flying home from Canada is shipping excess 
luggage goes through customs.  Flying from the US makes it 
easier to ship excess luggage via UPS.

I allocated three months for the trip so I have until Oct 1
 to make up my mind.  The weather may decide it for me.  

A potential problem that Joe mentioned was the lack of motels
 in small towns and some of those motels may be small.  I use
 Google Maps to look for motels in the towns ahead of me and
 I never depend on the towns that have one motel.  I have been
 through too many towns that have closed up motels, closed for
 the season or abandoned or for sale.  Some motels have  only 
10 to 20 units and some motels have hardly any customers although 
they do get more customers about 6 to 7 whereas I try to get in 
between 3 and 4.


Steve

 

Sent from my iPad

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday I kept getting conflicting weather forecasts.  So what else is new?
 Most weather reports for the towns that I had already been through said 
rain today.  Gaspe was predicted to be sunny today and tomorrow, but it
 is on the southern tip of the peninsula so has different weather depending
 on which direction the rain clouds are coming from.  Finally, on the tv 
weather channel (in French of course) showed that the rain would stop in 
the middle of the peninsula and the the far end of the peninsula (where I am)
 would not get rain.


I decided to go for it!  This morning the computer weather forecasts were 
the same as yesterday - rain but the tv weather radar showed no storm cells 
coming my way and there were no rain drops so I left for Madeleine Centre 
or Ste Madeleine de la Riviere Madeleine.  It is where the Route Verte ends route 1.  

Why is it that things happen at the start of the day?  Just as I left the
 motel, a bunch of trucks appeared.  The Lanor Day holiday is over and 
trucks are back on the road.  There are fewer cars as the tourists with 
kids are back home and the kids are in school.  There were fewer trucks 
once I got a few miles down the road so maybe they had been stacked up 
in town with traffic lights or maybe they all left the company parking 
lots at the same time.

I met a local who knew the road to Gaspe and beyond who told me about the
 hills.  I had heard this before about how the hills were past Matane.  
However he knew where all the big hills all and how long they are.  He 
also told me that the Orleans bus runs all the way around the Gaspe 
Peninsula and that they take bikes but may charge for bikes.  One big
 hill is out of Madeleine and he also mentioned Grande Vallee.

I ran into a few rollers out of town but they were what I had the day 
before.  Then I got back to the coast and rode for 80 km on almost flat
 roads.  I thought "I have it made!"   Then I got to Madeleine.  There 
were two really good looking motels there and I was tempted to stop, but
 I still had two more hours of riding time left and I felt good so I 
decided to push on to made it easier the next day when I was sure the
 hills would appear.  

The minute I left Madeleine De la Riviere Madeleine on the coast, I 
started climbing and I remembered that the local had mentioned a hill
 here.  The hill looked like a 1.5 km long and a couple of hundred feet. 
 It went down a little and then another hill.  It was series of uphill
 rollers where I climbed a hill and then went down a little only to climb
 another hill.  This went on for 10 km and the hills were up to 14% 
(speedometer had 15% max) and there was a highway sign that warned 
about 14% downhill near the end.  

All that talk about the hills were later on.  Well that time had come! 
  I had visions of a narrow road with turns, etc similar to Page Mill 
Road but this is a main highway (Hwy 132) so it has nice wide lanes 
and good shoulders mostly.  The uphills usually had a slow truck lane
 and a shoulder so I can't complain.  

I got into Grande Vallee and found a motel on the way down.  It was not
 the name I expected because there are two motels listed in Google and 
I remembered the name of the other motel.  However it is next to a Dixie 
Lee restaurant (chicken and pizza place) and the motel has super fast
 wifi from the cable company.  And the price is right.

Tomorrow I may get to Gaspe but if I don't make it, I will awful close. 
 Hwy 132 goes along the coast but I can take a short cut cutting across
 the tip of the peninsula, but you how that goes.  The short cut goes 
over the ridge and the coast is reasonable flat and longer.  I'll have
 to ask the locals when I get close to the junction.  But once I get 
near the tip of the peninsula, there are numerous motels because that
 is the tourist area (southern side of the peninsula).  The only reason
 I pushed today and I wanted to get close to Gaspe is because there is
 rain forecast for Thursday and Friday and I wanted to get to a place
 where I can do something if it rains.


The Statistics:  71.41 miles and 3141 feet of climb almost all in the
last 20 miles.


If you want to find me on the map, Grande Vallee is on the northern 
coast of the Gaspe Peninsula near the tip and at the northern most point.


Steve in Grande-Vallee, Quebec, Canada

Sent from my iPa

Hi Everyone,

I committed to the north coast of the Gaspe Peninsula today.  Besides 
that is how the wind blows.  Going across the peninsula would have
 been a headwind.

Today is Labor Day in Canada as well as the US but I can't see any
 difference in traffic since I left Levis (across from Quebec) although
 I saw a lot of traffic going my way today instead of against me as I
 expected as not many people live out this way.  But I justblooked at 
the map and there is a cross peninsula road that goes out of
 Sainte-Anne-des-Monts so maybe they are all that way.  I'll find out tomorrow.

When I left Sainte Flavie this morning, I felt a "rumble" as I pedaled. 
 I thought that it could be the chain or it could be the bottom bracket.
 It varied depending on the gear and the force that I put on the pedal. 
 At a gas station, I lubed the chain and the "rumble" went away. 

I got into Matane so early that I decided to try for Sainte-Anne-des-Monts. 
 A few days ago, I looked at the map and though that Cap-Chats would be a 
stretch and Sainte-Anne is pass Cap-Chat.  Wonders of a tailwind.  However 
Matane is the dividing line between the flat coastal road and the hills, 
although they are more the rolling type.  A typical hill would be about a
 half mile long and 7 to 11% but I did get a max of 13%.

I have heard, however, that the hills are steeper and more often further on. 

The views of the St Lawrence are better than what I saw of the Great Lakes. 
 With the hills, I am getting cliffs which is more dramatic than beaches, 
in my opinion.


The Statistics:  96.98 miles and 2272 feet of climbing (only 360 feet before
 Matane - lunch) with a max of 13%.


Steve in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, Quebec, Canada  



Sent from my iPad

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday it was obvious from the first time that I looked 
out the window that I was not going to ride.  It was pouring!

Last night the weatherman said it was going to ok today 
and tomorrow and then maybe more rain or showers.  This
 morning I looked out and it was fine.  Then I checked 
the weather report and it said 60% chance of rain.  A 
person I talked to said that he heard was chance of 
rain this morning and sunny in the afternoon.  

I decided to ride based on two key factors: it was not 
raining and the wind was significant out of the southwest
 which meant a tailwind!

As I left the hotel, I felt a couple of drops but that 
means nothing. As I got out of the bank (ATMs are in the
 lobby) there were more drops so I put on the new rain 
covers.  As I rode out of town, I debated whether to 
return to the hotel or to keep on going.  I decided to 
keep on going it wasn't bad and it was probably going 
to end soon.

It was 10 miles down the road that I decided it was time 
to put on knee warmers, booties, and a rain jacket instead 
of my windbreaker.

When I stopped, I could feel the rain, but when I rode, I 
was going fast enough that I kept up with the rain.

I couldn't believe how fast I was going.  I was twice as 
fast as I rode into Riviere Loup but I was going real slow
 going into the headwind and today I had a good 10 mph tailwind
 with gusts up to 20 mph.  

At noon, the sun came out but I kept everything on just in case. 
 My original goal was Rimouski but I decided that with the tailwind,
 I might go to Sainte Flavie so as I rode through Rimouski, I kept
 looking for a motel on the far end of town to make it easier to
 get out of town tomorrow.  Then I was out of town and I decided
 to go for Sainte Flavie. 

So here I am in Sainte Flavie, the junction to stay on the St 
Lawrence and go on the north coast of the Gaspe Peninsula or to
 cross over to the southern coast of the Gaspe Peninsula. The 
weatherman now says that tomorrow is cloudy with chance of showers
 and sun and a tailwind and then Tuesday and Wednesday is a 40 a 
60% chance of rain so I have to go to a place where I am willing 
to stay for a rain day / rest day which means a longer day.  The 
only thing that I don't know is where the north coast starts the 
famous ups and downs.

  
The Statistics:  91.46 miles and guessing at 1000 feet of climb. 
 I don't believe the 6600 feet that the speedometer says because 
there was a weather change that changed the atmospheric pressure.


The St Lawrence is so wide now that I can't see across it any more.


Steve in Sainte Flavie, Quebec, Canada on the Gaspe Peninsula

Sent from my iPad

Hi Everyone,

The weatherman said it was going to rain today - 60% chance but it rained during the night.
it was fine this morning and the roads and shoulders were dry by 9am but it was cloudy
 or overcast and chilly all morning.  i did not see the sun until noon.

The problem was a headwind all day.  It let up only when I had to climb a hill.

I am only one day (105 km) from Rimouski which is only 30km from Sainte Flavie  where I have to decide whether to do the entire north coast of the Gaspe  Peninsula or to do only the southern coast.

The only problem is the weatherman is predicting rain on Saturday and
Sunday but I take the weather one day at a time.


The Statistics:  62.49 miles and 702 feet of climbing.


Steve in Riviere du Loup, Quebec, Canada


Sent from the hotel pc because the wifi will not ask me for a password

Hi Everyone,

I am across from Quebec in Levis.  

This morning I left with the intention of riding on the Route Verte trail
as the terrain to Quebec was supposed to be fairly flat and I ended up 
riding almost the entire day on the Route Verte trail.  The exception 
was as I approached Levis the sign for the direct route disappeared and 
a policeman stopped me to ask if I needed help with navigation.  He said 
that the route 1 sign to the left (Levis via Quebec) went through the old
 town and that I continue on the street I was on Hwy 132 for another 5 km 
to go to downtown Levis.  I had already gone further than 2 km pass the 
Levis 2 km route 1 sign so I was thoroughly confused on what is actually
 Levis.  

I continued for several km on Hwy 132 and found another route 1 sign 
and turned to find a bike path which was great as I was tired of fighting
 the traffic.  Then I rode on the bike path for another 4 or 5 km and got
 to the ferry terminal.  Now I knew I was in the heart of Levis as I 
looked at the map the night before to find out how to get to Quebec to 
sightsee and Joe had mentioned the ferry as great for viewing the cliffs.

The problem was that the hotels are at the top of the cliffs on the 
Levis side as there are cliffs on both sides of the St Lawrence River.  

I don't know where all the traffic in Levis comes from or maybe I just
 ran into rush hour but the hotels are on Blvd Kennedy and I made better
 time riding on the sidewalks because the traffic is truly bumper to bumper.

You may get this email a bit late because I have a wifi connection but 
server problems.  Maybe I can send but not receive.


The Statistics:  75.91 miles and 659 feet of climb all in Levis.


Steve in Levis, Quebec, Canada across from Quebec City


Sent from my iPad

Hi Everyone,

I am across from Quebec in Levis.  

This morning I left with the intention of riding on the Route Verte trail
as the terrain to Quebec was supposed to be fairly flat and I ended up 
riding almost the entire day on the Route Verte trail.  The exception 
was as I approached Levis the sign for the direct route disappeared and 
a policeman stopped me to ask if I needed help with navigation.  He said 
that the route 1 sign to the left (Levis via Quebec) went through the old
 town and that I continue on the street I was on Hwy 132 for another 5 km 
to go to downtown Levis.  I had already gone further than 2 km pass the 
Levis 2 km route 1 sign so I was thoroughly confused on what is actually
 Levis.  

I continued for several km on Hwy 132 and found another route 1 sign 
and turned to find a bike path which was great as I was tired of fighting
 the traffic.  Then I rode on the bike path for another 4 or 5 km and got
 to the ferry terminal.  Now I knew I was in the heart of Levis as I 
looked at the map the night before to find out how to get to Quebec to 
sightsee and Joe had mentioned the ferry as great for viewing the cliffs.

The problem was that the hotels are at the top of the cliffs on the 
Levis side as there are cliffs on both sides of the St Lawrence River.  

I don't know where all the traffic in Levis comes from or maybe I just
 ran into rush hour but the hotels are on Blvd Kennedy and I made better
 time riding on the sidewalks because the traffic is truly bumper to bumper.

You may get this email a bit late because I have a wifi connection but 
server problems.  Maybe I can send but not receive.


The Statistics:  75.91 miles and 659 feet of climb all in Levis.


Steve in Levis, Quebec, Canada across from Quebec City


Sent from my iPad

Hi Everyone,

Today was a rough day.  Several Canadians have mentioned to me the 
hills of Quebec when I told them where I was going.  Well, today I 
found the hills.

It all started with a bike path along the river leaving Sherbrooke.  
Then the bike path went away from the river and onto a regular road 
that led into several hills.  I get up to 12% on a hill. Then I went
 down to another river and the trail went on the road.  No problem.  
A road next tom river means fairly flat road.  Then the road turns 
into dirt.  Then back to a bike path along a paved road and then the
 "fun" started.

The Route Verte trail becomes a dirt trail and then it goes down and
 up. Hey this is a mountain bike trail!  Then it becomes more even 
and then more ups and downs.  Then it goes along a freeway and should
 be more even, but freeways are made more even by taking dirt from the 
tops of hills and filling in the gullies.  A bike path along a freeway
 goes the way the original terrain was.  Lots of ups and downs.

I get to a town and hey, all I have done is 30 km.  I'll never get to
 Victoriaville at this rate!  Then it is more bike path along a freeway
 and I get to Richmond which has a hotel and I can call it quits for the
 day, but there seems to be a wino sitting in the doorsteps of the hotel 
so maybe not this hotel.  There is no other hotel.  Then I take a good
 look at the map and Hwy 116 goes from the town to Victorville.  
Yesterday I took Hwy 112 and it was much better than the bike trail 
so I decided to take the highway.

The highway starts with a long, straight uphill to the top of a ridge.
 Well, the map shows a valley so I must be climbing to the top of a
 ridge and there will be a valley on the other side.  Besides, the
 bike trail is probably much worse.  I get to the top of the ridge 
and I see a big valley.  I get a great downhill and get to Danville 
and a tourist information office.  The young lady tries to talk me 
into taking the bike trail that just happens to be just behind the
 office but it isn't paved so I don't trust it and besides, the 
highway is fairly gentle and smooth and has a great shoulder.  
So I continue on the highway.

I finally get to Victoriaville and the shoulder disappears at the
 city limits.  With all the traffic lights, traffic gets bunched 
up and a shoulder is more needed than ever.  I stay at the first 
motel that I see and it is a Route Verte certified hotel and it 
doesn't offer any more than other motels than I have stayed in. 
 They do have a place to work on bikes and some supplies but I 
carry that stuff with me.


The Statistics:  68.66 miles and 2025 feet of climb.  15% max 
uphill and 14% max downhill.


There were times that I was thinking about cutting short the 
trip because I could never get the whole trip done in time if
 every day is like this.  But Hwy 116 saved everything.


Steve in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada
  

Sent from my iPad