School completed Thursday, April 26th at 10:30pm. Work start: Monday, April 30th 7:30am.
What to do for the 3 days in between? Hmmm, it was a bit of a braintwister. There was not enough time to bike to say, Mexico, but still enough time to go soemwhere significant! One thing was certain, I was not going to sit on my butt at home. I just needed to get out, clear my mnd, do something active, and burn off all that winter fat.
I flipped a coin and picked one of the many places I wanted to see “close” by. I called heads, and I was heading to Trois Rivieres, QC- only 140km away. It occurred to me that camping right now in this wet and cold spring spring weather would not be the smartest idea, so i figured I’d take the oppurtunity too try out Couch Surfing for the first tme. I got in contact with a nice host, Caro, who offered a place to stay Friday night.
I headed east from downtown Montreal at 8:15am Friday morning in hopes of getting into TR by dinner time. And was I ever mistaken… It was a rough trek, much rougher than I anticipated. My overly optimistic goal was threatened by a bunch of factors; Wind,distance, carrying a heavy load by trailer, lack of strength/sleep ,extreme cold, snow/rain, 20km of backtracking-confusion, and un-motivating scenery/sky. I saw a total of 2 cyclists the whole day (and they were travelling into Montreal only 20km east of the city) on the busiest cycling route through the province. I felt stupidly foolish and proud at the same time.
On top of it all, my wheel popped off not even a 1km out of town slowing me down of the start. Trailer was running OK, but a weird feeling using it for the first time.
It was snowing, -5C, and the winds were so heavy and gusty that I barely got going past 20km/hour off the island. It was definitely damaging my enthusiasm of making it to Trois Rivieres, QC-still 135km away at this point. Hell, this is even a “haul” in perfect conditions. I did not help that this was my first time doing long distance for almost a full year, and got 5 hours of sleep the night before, but i was able to put that aside-humming tunes that reminded me of the beach.
After getting off the island and arriving at the Harvey’s near Charlemagne, I made 1 really bad choice, I followed the bike path. More specifically, the route verte #5 (I love you, and hate you even more).
East. I thought it was taking me east like it was supposed too. But damn, it was confusing in that area. I followed all the signs (when they were present), and landed in Lachenie 40 minutes later, a total back track of about 10km (with all the winding of the path). Logically, I go back the opposite way I came, in hope that I would see a sign that could take me to Repetigny (the town east of the Harvey’s restaurant). When I realized how far out I was, I almost turned back home knowing that i’d have to cycle an additional 20km on top of the 145km. A record breaking trek even for a lot of experienced riders in perfect conditions. Anyways, I ended back up at the Harvey’s just after the bridge, said f***k the route verte #5, and followed Notre Dame until I met up with the path again, I was in no mood to go on a Easter egg hunt to find the right signs/path near the Harvey’s. No time for that nonsense anymroe, I will just take the dangerous road est.
The winds were reaching over 35km/hour and were extremely amplified travelling along the river,farms and across bridges (90% of the trip). They hit me from all sorts of directions.
Now two hours behind schedule, I continued to bike east until I needed a little rest (50km later). I sat in front of la trattoria la volta (an italian restraunt) about 35km out of the city to eat a sandwhich, at 11:30am.
I continued for hours and hours, battling the heavy direction-changing winds, which never seemed to blow in my favor. But that’s life.
I made it to Lanorie by 2pm. In the next couple hours I hoped to get to Maskinonge. It took me more than 3 hours. I was averaging 10km every35-50 minutes. Not very fun.
I almost got blown off the small shoulder twice by the gusts, and finally got blown into a ditch by a transport truck along a stretch of the 138 before Maskinonge which injured my upper right thigh.
I was still 35-40km out of town. I brought no camping gear with me, and envisioned saturday morning waking up in a damp field, half frozen to death. There was no shelter anywhere in sight, and none of the hosts in Trois Riveres had cars, or friends who had cars at the time to come pick me up. I started to ask around for a ride into the next town at the local pharmecie in Maskinonge. No luck for over an hour. I needed to be 10km east in order to “possibly” catch a bus. The wind at this point must have been blowng close to 45 km/h, enough to blow over an elderly person or small child.
An awesome man and his daughter over heard me asking a resident for a lift into the next town. They offered to give me a lift. It was like an angel magically floated down in front of me despite the heavy winds which seemed to have blown all my good luck away. Great conversations with the two of them. Hopefully we get to meet again when there is more time to chat.
It was getting dark,windier, and even cooler.
I boxed my bike up at the convenience store/bus stop and within an hour off I went on a moderatley filled bus. Riding the bus along the 138, I pictured my self struggling at -10,0000 X the speed of the bus in pain. I was so happy to be insde. I got into town by 8 15pm.
Trois Rivieres was awesome, my host and her friend were really great. We went for dinner at some belguim frite place downtown of Forges street and had a beer at the Gambrinus Micro brew pub near the university. The IPA and Rousse were great.
Took the bus back Saturday afternoon and was greeted by an old friend Cam who came out to visit me Saturday night. Before I left though, I had to find the train tracks….
When we met in Montreal, Cam and I had a couple beers and started to repeat the same shanigans we were known for back in the day.. It was a hoot and we met some real characters throughout the night. Went to bed this mornng at 6am.
I think I got my fix of excitement and physical activity for a few weeks now…
