Well folks, the time has come for another blog. Remember how I said that I would post 2 blogs today? Well, I've mushed them into one because they are both quite short. So here we go.
Monday - our last Monday of the tour! It was a bit of a sad thought, but to be honest, I think we're all getting ready for the tour to come to an end so we can go back home to our families, friends, and lives. This tour has become our lives for the last 8 weeks and I think we're starting to miss normalcy a bit. That, and showering alone, not using public washrooms, and no longer sleeping in tents :).
Well, the ride was 120km for the day to take us from Montreal, crossing the border, and heading into the state of NY. It was a great Monday! Our group biked together, had great conversations, and enjoyed the time we had this week. We really tried to savour the time we had left. Then we ran into a very large patch of gravel. When I say large patch, I mean a stretch of it over 2 miles long. On a road bike, these sorts of areas are to be avoided at all costs, but there was no avoiding this one.
It wasn't too terrible. There were a few scary patches of deep gravel that made our tires slip a bit, but we were doing okay. That was, until Laura got a flat. In our group, flats are rare and only 1 person in our group carries a pump. This person is Matt. Normally a flat wouldn't be an issue, but in this case Matt was a good mile ahead of us when Laura got the flat, and so we had to walk for over 20 minutes until we reached him. It was relaxing, but it did take up a bit of time..
Eventually we got to the border and after a stop at the Duty Free and illegally re-entering Canada to find a washroom, we were the last of the Sea to Sea riders to enter the USA. We were all surprised at how friendly the border patrol was! I thought that sort of reception only happened at Canadian borders! Of course, we had to take a picture at the NY state sign!
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. The group got some ice-cream at a rest stop while I looked for a washroom, and after 2 large climbs we were in camp. Showers, dipping my feet into the pool, and laundry took the remainder of the afternoon. Following an amazing chili dinner, can you guess what I did? That's right, Gregg. I blogged :)
Today (Tuesday) was an early start day. I had kind of become a bit tired of leaving camp at 8am (several hours after many people leave) and getting into camp last, so I talked to the group and we agreed to leave by 7. Aside from arriving late, we knew that today would be tough. Almost 7000ft of climbing and 130km, I didn't want to be on the road in the heat of the day. Laura was in charge of the wake-up call, and we got up, cleaned up, ate up, and were ready to go. Matt was still in his tent, despite the wake-up calls, so he was left to bike with another group.
The first site we ran into exiting camp was the Au Sable Chasm. Here is the view from the bridge we biked over.
The river along the road was also beautiful.
Beginning in the earlier morning was also great because there was no wind! But the view going down the road was pretty with all of the trees lining the way.
We passed several lakes. I believe this one was called Champlain.
And saw the mountains in the distance, just beyond the beautiful fields :)
There were so many hills today, and they were exhausting for me at times. Zach kept things interesting for the ride and kept me paying attention so I didn't bonk or go crazy.
Along the ride we ended up picking up Betty Bandstra, and passing by Betty Adams! It was a Betty day :) Here is Betty Adams with her pomp-pomps she always has flying off the back of her bike. Isn't she adorable? She just turned 65 last week and bikes like a champ.
Another lake view just before getting into camp!
So remember that one time in my blog where I said the words "I love climbing!"?? Well.. I may have to take those back after today. Several hills were well over 12% grade and stretched out over long distances, and one hill was actually 16%. I have never worked so hard to pedal at 8km/h...
The 7000ft over 130km in the blazing heat was hard to handle. Also, our SAG stops were spaced out more than normal because one of the vehicles got lost, and so we essentially skipped a SAG on the hardest day since the desert. So after today, can I say that I still love climbing? ... I'm not sure. Right now I want to say no, though.
Anyways, sitting at the pub at our campground, blogging away. It's about time for dinner, so I'll say adios for now. Until tomorrow!
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