Bike Gaspe Day 9

Rimouski to Cap Chat. 168 of 1137 km. Today there was no breakfast at the motel and nothing open until Mont Joli so we had brunch at the Normandin restaurant there. Then we enjoyed the tail wind for the rest of the day. It was about 12 kph almost all day. At Matane we stopped at the Canadian Tire store to buy a spare tire to keep with us. As we were there in good time we continued on to Les Mechins as that was a spot that we picked as the furthest destination for the day. Over an ice cream cone we decided to go on to Cap Chat after booking a room there at the Pirate. The ride today was great as the scenery was great and the cycling conditions ideal. If it hadn't been so much fun, we would have stopped earlier. Part of the fun was coasting down a hill after climbing up over a headland. This afternoon we had one with a wide smooth shoulder to ourselves that allowed us to really let go. During the run, I peeked at the speedometer and saw 58+ kph; after the run, the bike computer read my maximum speed being 60.5 kph, which was probably the best ever. 

Bike Gaspe Day 8

Riviere du Loup to Rimouski. 118 969 km. Today we got off to a great start. Firstly we had a nice substantial breakfast courtesy of the Comfort Inn. Then we set out on our bikes in sunny weather with a modest headwind; it was nothing like the previous day. Between 20 and 25 km out, Susie noticed a bump with every rotation of the front tire. She showed me the bump on the tire and the damaged tread. So we reduced the tire pressure and rode on to a rest area where we could change the tire and dispose of the damaged one. It was a good decision to carry a spare tire yesterday. That made it 3 tires that had to be replaced on this trip.
Later we detoured into Bic National Park. It was the kind of thing that we came to see- great views. It's got the river in front and a small steep mountain at the back. We entered via a rough paved road and exited via a nice smooth bike path through the woods. We didn't book accommodations on line today and just called a motel after stopping in Rimouski. We lucked out as it's clean,  reasonably priced and our back door opens onto a deck overlooking the St Lawrence. What a view.

Bike Gaspe Day 7

La Pocatiere to Riviere du Loup.  72 of 851 km. We started with a nice large breakfast at Mikes. This really held us for most of the day with a small top up later. Then it was off to Canadian Tire where I was able to buy a tire for my bike and also a spare to carry with us. I changed the tire in the Canadian Tire parking lot making sure to recover my  $20 bill that had served as a tire reinforcement. We crossed the autoroute and headed NE on the rail trail. That's when we encountered the headwind that would dictate our day. It was blowing very hard,  perhaps 30 kph with additional gusts. We were often limited to just 8 kph on level terrain. That made us decide that Riviere du Loup would be a reasonable destination for the day. So I looked on Hotwire and ended up with a nice room at the Comfort Inn;  it has a hot breakfast included so we should have a good good start tomorrow.
The vegetation along the way has been really lush and healthy looking. The dandelions were the largest and healthiest that I have seen.

Bike Gaspe Day 6

Levi to  La Pocatiere. 121 km of 779 km.
Much to my surprise, we woke up to sunshine and nice biking temperatures; granted the wind was from the north east at about 15 to 20 kph which added to the energy required. Our motel was on Hy 132 and we will follow it all the way into New Brunswick.  Last time when we biked through this area, my bike needed a new cassette near L'Islet. The people at Tibo bike shop were so nice that we planned to bring them some business this time. When I looked at my rear tire in Levis it had some small cracks in the rubber so I thought that I could have it replaced at Tibo. Wouldn't you know it; it was Sunday and they were closed. So we continued on toward La Pocatiere. About 9 km out my rear tire blew so I changed the inner tube using a plastic bill as a patch for the tire. With 50 psi and a prayer we made it to a motel for the night. There is a bike shop listed on the Internet so I hope it's open when indicated tomorrow morning. There is also a Canadian Tire store so I should be able to do something. Adjoining the hotel was  a Mikes restaurant, which we tried and found to be quite good so we'll return for breakfast. This is useful information because this is part of a chain in Quebec. 

Bike Gaspe Day 5

Danville to Levis. 142km. 658 km from Kingston.  Since the restaurant near the motel has closed, we ate a breakfast snack from our reserves and started out toward Victoriaville. By the time we made it to Victoriaville,  it was drizzling - what else. That made it easy to decide to have brunch and stay dry and warm.  Susie tried their breakfast entrée of bacon and cheese on egg whites. It's not a winner. In contrast my foot long roast beef sub was good and also substantial. Just before we left, I made adjustments to the front derailleur so that it would shift into high reliably. Today we switched back and forth between the rail trail and Hy 116 as they ran parallel most of the way. We had rain a few more times although it wasn't really hard. From Victoriaville almost all the way into Levis it was straight and quite flat. The rest stops along this part of the rail trail are frequent and really well done. They appear to be adopted by various groups that groom the grounds and installed  various sculptures.  Our route took us right past a Costco store so we stopped there for carrying food and decided to eat in the cafeteria. We booked a motel room from Costco and then ate leisurely because all our necessities were in place. It was nice eating before going to the motel because we didn't have to go out again.

Bike Gaspe Day 4

Walking in Portugal and Spain certainly got our legs in shape even for bicycling. So they haven't given us a lot of trouble.  But walking did not prepare our bottoms for sitting on bicycle seats for hours at a time. To help Susie, we exchanged bike seats and spent quite a bit of time adjusting the seat height, fore and aft position,  and tilt. To explain,  my bike seat is bench style so the pressure points are quite different.  We ran into some detours on the rail trail due to culvert replacement. From Grandby to Waterloo we rode on a perfect rail trail; it was paved a very smooth. Along the way we encountered a man whose wheel chair  batteries had died. So we got the gears disengaged,  loaded him in it and pushed him a few hundred metres to his home. Just before noon we decided to get something warm to eat in Waterloo. As we entered town it started to rain so we stopped at the nearest rest which happens to sell a lot of poutine; so we had poutine and Montreal smoked meat. Lots of calories. Our food break was extended by the and the other customers who wanted to talk. Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed their interest in our bike trip.  The afternoon was less eventful and we made better progress through Richmond and finally to Danville where we booked into the St Regis motel.

Bike Gaspe Day 3

Valleyfield to Farnam- 130 km. We packed up, and dropped in at the  Subway store downtown for breakfast. After that we got off Grand Isle and started the real Quebec bicycling - on dedicated bike paths. The first section was along the  Beauharnois Canal- perfect bicycling.  After that we would ride a bit then stop to check the maps as moving from one section of bike path to the next proved a bit challenging.  The weather conditions were similar to yesterday's with lots of westerly wind. It wasn't as helpful as yesterday because we had change directions so often; occasionally we even rode into a headwind.  Eventually we rolled into St Jean Sur Richelieu and stopped to buy new biking gloves for Susie. This bike shop was right on the Trans-Canada trail so we just continued along it to Farnam. About 15 km from Farnam, the fun began.  Susie's rear tire blew so I changed inner tubes and we saw that the tire appeared to hold albeit with a small bulge where the weakness was. After putting 70 psi into it Susie rode carefully along the hard gravel piste hoping that it would hold for the 12 km into Farnam. About 3 km out the replacement tube gave out so we walked to the motel. It is Le Pigeonner, which is where we stayed 8 years ago; that makes 2 out of 3 same motels.  Fortunately there is a bike shop in Farnam and the website said that it was open until 21h00. So we had showers then walked to the bike shop with the rear wheel in hand. The guy at the shop was great. He disappeared into the back room for what seemed to be a long time. I was concerned that he might come back apologizing that they didn't have the right size- WRONG he came back with a selection of 5 different types. I selected a slick with Kevlar which is supposed to be puncture resistant. For the princely sum of  $5 they installed it sent away two happy customers.