A Long Short Day

Today was the first of a few short riding days I have planned between here and Natashquan. I’ve had other short days before but they just sort of happened. Today’s was planned. Just to clarify, the plan was a 54 km ride to Godbout. Additionally though, I planned on mixing in a hike or two along the way. I may need to adjust future similar plans.

What I learned today is that both my body and my brain have trouble adjusting to different activities over a short period of time. I seem to function better when I focus on one activity – hard to be believe that I was once told “You seem to be unable to sit an concentrate on a task for more than ten minutes at a time”. But I digress.

But let’s back up to the start of the day. Last night’s campsite (Camping Boréal), despite its remote location and AWFUL access road, was a nice site. Once again I considered staying there another night but decided to stick with my “short day” plan.

The Sahara called,
it wants its sand back.

I woke up to a beautiful sunny day and as a result took my time packing up my gear. And I didn’t take for granted the fact that I was packing up a dry tent. I finally had everything ready to go by 10:30. As suspected the AWFUL access road to the campsite was not paved overnight and so the first 3km of my day was more than a little unpleasant. I can’t be sure but they might have come in and added some sand during the night. Seriously, how much sand and rocks do you need on a road. I get it that these roads aren’t being made for fully loaded bicycles but for the life of me I can’t figure out why there is SO MUCH loose sand and rocks on these “roads”. Sorry, end of rant (for now).

I finally reached the Highway 138 junction and was able to start riding properly again. Up a huge hill. But I’ll take that over that gravel any day.

My first planned stop was to be about 10km down the road where I would embark on a 10km hike (round trip) to Point-St-Pancrace. To put it mildly, this did not go as planned. I found a place to stash my bike and embarked on one of the many trails in the area. Despite following (or at least I thought I was following) the signs for Point-St-Pancrace, I somehow ended up doing a different loop and never actually found it. I was more than a little disappointed but after hiking for 90 minutes I needed to get back on the bike.

Well, it seems that 90 minutes of hiking puts the legs and brain into a certain state of mind (or leg as the case may be). Either way, when I got back on the bike I just really felt like I was struggling. I couldn’t get into a rhythm and I felt painfully aware of each and every revolution my pedals were making. And I was only 15km into the ride. This was new but I pedalled on. I mean, what choice did I have?

A few kilometres later I came across an alternate scenic view – to perhaps make up for missing Point-St-Pancrace – so I stopped. I’m not entirely sure if was stopping for the view or stopping as excuse to, well … stop. Either way, I was stopped. I wandered up to the observation area and took a few obligatory photos. Whatever my reason for stopping, the view was definitely spectacular. With my photo quota filled for this location I got back on the bike. I was about 15km to Franquelin where I told myself I could stop for lunch.

Fine dining.

When I reached Franquelin I quickly became aware that there would be no poutine for lunch today. I’m not sure if there were stores and restaurants hidden off the highway, but the only thing along 138 was a gas station. And a picnic table. I opted for the latter. It was actually pretty nice – maybe I was just glad to be stopped. Fortunately I still had some peanut butter and jam and some tortilla wraps. Add in some Gatorade and I had myself a feast.

I was probably there for about 30 minutes before I decided it was time to face the remaining 27 kilometres to Godbout. I was doing a little better getting into a rhythm but then the turning point came. I was coming down a rather sizeable hill when a sign indicated a sharp turn and a tunnel ahead. Based on my experience in B.C., I was not looking forward to this tunnel. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t really enjoy riding my bike through tunnels. My car loves tunnels. My bike, not so much.

I checked my mirror as I approached the tunnel. With no immediate traffic approaching from behind I made my move and started pedalling like a mad man to get to the other side. As per usual, there was one large truck in the oncoming lane which of course honked his horn. For what it’s worth, please don’t honk your horn at cyclists in a tunnel. Even if it’s just to be supportive. The echo is deafening. Anyway, the hill I was on continued beyond the tunnel and before I knew it I was cruising along at about 50 km/h. My brain and legs were revived and things were good again.

The rest of the ride to Godbout went smoothly until I reached the campsite road. I guess it was somewhat fitting that my ride would end the way it began – on an excessively sandy dirt road. In case you’ve forgotten, now would be a good time to go back and re-read my rant on such roads – it still applies.

But now I’m all setup at the campsite. For supper, I made some more pasta – I really wanted some poutine but there’s nothing around here. I think I’m going into withdrawal. It’s a windy night and the temperature had dipped down to about 15 degrees – BRRRR! (like my eating habits, my mother also gave me her low-tolerance for the cold). I’m hoping I can get WiFi access from here but I’m skeptical.

I think my lesson for today is to ride first, and do activities second. Because clearly going back and forth between cycling and activities didn’t really work today. But still a good day.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 56.49km
Distance hiked: About 10km
Time on bike: 3:26:02
Average speed: 16.42 km/h (wow, that’s slow!)