Here's the actual route taken:
Gear:
Clothing:
Two pairs of cycling shorts
White cycling jersey
Cycling shoes
Two pairs of smart wool cycling socks
One pair of smart wool hiking socks for sleeping and cold days
Fleece hat for sleeping and cold days
One pair of cycling gloves
One pair of wool cycling tights
Water resistant cold weather cycling jacket
Cotton t-shirt
Helmet
Night Gear:
Four wrist/leg band reflectors
BLT front and rear doppler lights (very bright and run on household batteries)
Reflective patches included on my bags and clothing
Sleeping Gear:
Black diamond light-sabre bivy
Silk sleeping bad liner
Emergency bivy sack
(slept in tights, hiking socks, t-shirt, jersey, jacket, shorts, hat, sometimes shoes)
Entertainment/Electronics:
Casio Exilim camera
Sandisk Sansa mp3 player with arm band
Two spare camera batteries
Several spare AA and AAA batteries for mp3 player and lights
Spare SD card
Personal Care:
Travel size (compact) toothbrush
Very small tube of toothpaste
One small razor (stepped on it outside Yarmouth by accident and left half of it behind)
Emptied small tube of toothpaste filled with shampoo (all purpose soap)
Emptied lip balm container filled with sunscreen
Quick dry towel (about 8"x8")
Three bug repelling wipes
Several magnesium pills (for sore muscles)
Tools and Repair:
Multi-tool
Two spare lightweight tubes
Tube patch kit
Frame pump attached to my chainstay
Two tire boots
Needle and thread
Spare cleats
Food and Drink:
Several Cliff bars
Several packages of Emergen-C
Six water purification tablets
(most food and drink bought along the way)
Identification ect:
Driver's license
Birth Certificate
Travel insurance card
Debit card
Visa card
Canadian and American calling cards
Homemade maps
Storage:
Jandd Mountain Wedge saddle bag
Jandd bento-box style bag (sits behind the steer tube and hold camera, money, other often used things)
Bivy and poles stuffed into bivy pole bag and strapped to top tube
Two water bottles
Jersey pockets for food and change
Musett bag for carrying things like a meal to a campsite or whatever
So I had fourteen days off work beginning August 17th but after staying up late preparing the night before I woke up very tired and still not feeling fully prepared, so I decided to wait until the next day. While sleeping in late I got a call from my friend Adrian who I hadn't seen in some time, he wanted to know if I wanted to go out for a ride. I told him about my trip and invited him to come part way. I stayed at his place that night so we could leave very early the next morning.
Day 1: Haifax to Digby (240km)
We left at about 7:00 Atlantic time on August 18th and as soon as we walked out the door it began to poor. Adrian rides a big mountain bike with slicks and panniers, it weighed a lot more and is older so it wasn't in as good of repair, so we took a slower pace than I'm used to. I didn't mind, it was probably good to start with a good warm up. The rain made the ride very cold at times and about halfway there Adrian's bike caused him enough problems that he decided to turn back and get a drive home. I pressed on and got to my sister's house in Digby by 7 or 8:00pm. I was able to get a good rest, good food, get my clothes washed and dried, and hang out with my sister and her husband at their new place.
A good NS road after the rain let up (with hills up ahead)
Day 2: Digby to Yarmouth (and Yarmouth to Portland, ME by ferry) (115km)
I had to be to Yarmouth by 3:00pm Atlantic to catch the Cat ferry which I had booked ahead of time, I meant to leave earlier but I didn't get out until 10:00 but I got there by 2:00pm anyhow. The ferry ride was comfortable (except walking around the hard wood floors in my bike shoes while the ship swayed back and fourth). I didn't get into Portland and through customs until about 11:00pm Atlantic (10:00pm Eastern). I stayed at the Inn at St. John's which was very comfortable and not very expensive.
View from the rear of the Cat FerryDay 3 and 4: Portland into the Adirondacks (527km)
I had a good continental breakfast and took off from the Inn at about 9:00 Eastern. I got a little lost getting out of Portland but soon got back on track again. I first got acquainted with the roads though rural US and was very impressed, the roads were for the most part clean and smooth and had shoulders wide enough to drive a bus through. In NS I never ride on the shoulder as if there even is one, it's usually less than a foot wide and covered with debris so it took a little time to get used to but I've never felt so safe on the road. I reached Plymouth NH by about 5:00pm Eastern and decided to stop off at a local health food store, Peppercorn's, for supper. The people there were extremely nice and had really good food and one of the staff members told me she was planning a road trip to NS. I then stopped by Rhino Bike Works to get my bike looked at quickly, all I really needed was a little chain oil. They were also very helpful. I pressed on towards Vermont and for one of the first times left hwy 25 for a shortcut on some back roads. The road I took was pretty much uphill the entire way and at one point stopped for a rest. While resting a nice gentleman stopped to make sure if I was ok, he told me the shortcut I was taking was probably not a good one and could end up a gravel or even blocked road. I took his advice and turned around for hwy 25 again with little direction through Vermont. At about 10pm I reached the colonial town of Fairlee just over the border of Vermont and decided it was time to find a place to camp. I cycled around the town and the most suitable place I could find was a golf course and thought it probably wouldn't be a good idea to set up my bivy in case I had to move quickly, so I got into my silk liner and then into my emergency bivy sack. As the night went on it got colder and colder and after getting somewhere around two hours sleep I decided it would be safer to get back on my bike to keep myself warm rather than staying awake burning energy keeping off the cold and risking hypothermia.
Wide clean shoulders
New Hampshire State Line
More awesome road
This store sold more than sandwiches they had pizza tooI got back on the bike at about 3am and headed westward, not exactly sure where I was going. I moved along fairly slowly and still very cold. By about 5am I reached the town of Orange and stopped at a gas station that had some good food, coffee, and maps for sale. When I took off the sun was just beginning to rise and I past a scene of rolling hills with low lying mists that look like it was straight off the cover of a fantasy novel. I tried snapping a few pictures but soon after my camera turned off and refused to turn back on again or even retract its shudder. That made for the ed of all pictures along my journey, not that I had taken many anyhow. Neither New Hampshire nor Vermont were as hilly as expected, the few hills there were were very steep but very fulfilling to climb, and the twisting roads made the descents a lot of fun. Had a couple of cookies and drink from a couple of young girls running a lemonade stand. I reached the edge of Vermont by early afternoon where I waited to cross Lake Champlain on the second ferry of my journey, on the ferry I got a little cleaned up and had a little chat with a little boy that couldn't figure out me why I didn't take a bus or plane to Toronto. In Essex NY I stopped to eat at a nice restaurant and got directions to Elizabethtown so I could get back on my original map. On the way there I was descending nicely down a hill when I noticed the hill had a 90 degree turn at the very end. I didn't make the turn and flipped into the ditch, but apart from a few scrapes and a bit of dizziness I was fine, and my bike only suffered from a bit of ripped bar tape. So I pressed on. Once I got back on the highway there were once again wide shoulders and the hills really started. At one point I thought I was on a flat and started to panic thinking there was something wrong with my bike or me but after getting off I realized I'd been on a slight uphill for several kilometers and it continued on for several more. It all payed off when I reached the top and had one steep hill to descend reaching nearly 80km/h. There was another big hill into Lake Placid where I stopped off at a local trail and bike shop to get some advice about the road ahead and pick up a map of the area. On their advice I decided to complete the major hills of the trip that day by getting to at least Tupper Lake. In Tupper Lake I got a large sub for supper and started looking for a place to set up camp, I must have passed by the site mentioned to me by the guys at the bike shop and found it difficult to find a good place. At one point I stopped to look at my map when I young man in a pickup asked if I needed directions. He pointed across the road and told me that the building there was an old pump house which is rarely used and no one would bother me all night. It turned out to be perfect, well lit enough to set up my bivy and good grass to make for a comfortable night.
The last few pictures taken:
Day 5 (and four hours): Adirondacks to Toronto (470km)
I got in my bivy by about 11:00pm and got going the next morning by about 7am. I had camped somewhere between Tupper Lake and Cranberry Lake. When I reached Cranberry Lake some locals told me the road ahead was under construction and may have sections of gravel, I had been panning on taking a shortcut around that section anyhow and they told me it was a good one. I reached Watertown by the afternoon and was not impressed by the city, it was very run down and the very first person I saw was a young man holding a golf club, he didn't look like much of a golfer. I decided to get out without stopping. Highway 12E was a pretty terrible road to ride, narrow and in disrepair, it only got a little better as I approached Cape Vincent. In Cape Vincent I waited for a few minutes to get on the ferry to Wolfe Island ON CANADA! The cost was 2$ and was a very short ride. Wolfe Island was about 10km long and was able to catch the ferry to Kingston at 4:00pm. This was a free ride but longer and I got to get cleaned up pretty well and get changed in the restroom. I was standing behind Bruce Cockburn on most of the ride (I didn't talk to him, I don't really like his music so it would be a bit [even more] awkward). Got a bit lost trying to get out of Kingston but when I did I stopped at a gas station for some food and started talking to the man behind the counter, we estimated the distance to Toronto from there to be somewhere around 250kms, it was about 6:00 at the time but I decided I was going to try to press on through the night as long as I could. I increased the amount of coffee I was drinking and lasted until somewhere around Brighton where I decided I should take a nap. I stopped at a grocery store which has closed for the night and got in my silk liner on the lawn for about an hour long nap. I continued on to somewhere around Port Hope where I had about a half hour nap directly on the grass of another store which was closed for the night. At one point the sky began to flash and I thought I might be hallucinating but soon I realized it was lightning but there was no thunder or rain. The sun came up when I was just outside of Oshawa and became the most difficult part of the ride. My knees began to really hurt and traffic became heavier and heavier and I got into more populated areas and closer to rush hour, drivers pass very close and I was too tired to try to keep up or figure out a better riding position. I reached my friend Victoria's flat by 10:00am Thursday morning making my ride 5 days 4 hours in total and 1350kms. Also the ride from Portland Maine to Toronto was approximately 1000kms and about 73 hours which is under the 1000km brevet time limit of 75 hours which I wasn't trying for but am glad I accomplished.
Stay in Toronto: 9 days
When I got into Toronto I was extremely tired, hungry, and dirty. It was difficult to figure out what I should take care of first so I ended up ordering an extra large pizza which I ate in the bath until I fell asleep. I woke up completely shriveled, cleaned up a bit more, and ate the rest of the pizza. I found some jeans and a pair of sandals in the house the fit me and later went downtown and bought some new clothes. From then on I went out almost every night, ate lots great fatty/sugary food during the day (including one day where I spent several hours going from bakery to bakery eating a new pastry at each one), and I hardly rode my bike at all. From the time I left Halifax until the time I returned I actually gained five pounds. I saw some great bands (and a few lousy ones) and met some great people. I decided to fly home and found a flight for about 185$ but otherwise spent whatever I felt like. When I did get home I found an unexpected cheque in the mail for a job that just ended for about 340$ that covered a lot of my costs.
Costs (travel out):
Ferry to Portland $127.67 + Ferry to Essex NY $4.72 + Ferry to Wolfe Island $2.10 = $134.49
Accommodations: Inn at St. John in Portland $103.91
Food and Drink (plus calling card and unaccounted for): $108
Parts and Repair: New rear light $18.78 + approx. cost of wear (tires and bar tape) $43 = $61.78
Total: Approximately $408.18 or about 24 cents per km ($0.40 USD per mile)
That's about all I can think about now, probably more than you wanted to know but that's the nature of a blog isn't it?
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