Climb Every Mountain

It is with great confidence that I can confirm that the flat roads that led the way from Toronto through Picton and then Kingston and Smith Falls and again from Smith Falls to Ottawa and on through to Montreal and Quebec are but a distant memory. I hereby declare the province of Quebec to be hilly. Really hilly. Ridiculously hilly. Or as the french would say vallonné. Très vallonné! The french word makes it sound much more pleasant than it really is.

The lack of WiFi (and friends) at the campsite last night had the benefit of forcing me to go to bed at a more reasonable hour than usual. As such I was able to rise fully refreshed (well, as fully refreshed as I can be in the morning) and ready to tackle (or be tackled by) the hills that were awaiting me. I had my stuff packed up and my bike loaded by 7:00. I set out down the road to where I knew there was a Tim Hortons which would allow me to get some breakfast and update my blog – and even officially enter the world of Twitter. With those tasks completed I cycled another 200m to the Subway to grab some lunch for the road – you see, I’m learning! I suspect there won’t be many food options along the road anymore so preparation is a little more important. No more road side poutine. Such sadness.

I was about 10 km into today’s ride when I caught a glimpse of the first hill of the day. All I could do was laugh. I thought back to a conversation I had with Dave on the way into Kingston. We talked about whether a small steep hill is better or worse than a long gradual hill. Well, it turns out this discussion was moot because as far as I can tell Quebec only does long steep hills. And it excels at them. I tried Dave’s suggestion of repeating “Patience” until reaching the top – unfortunately, one can only say that so many times before you start going crazy. Did I mention these were big hills? So, I improvised and started singing “Patience” by Guns N’ Roses. Let me just say the whistling part is particularly tough when you’re out of breath. And still I pedalled on. When I started to forget the words to GNR I even started with the chorus from Climb Every Mountain (I really shouldn’t admit that but I’m sure Mom would approve). For a moment I even thought, “Why are you doing this??” And then I looked further ahead and had my answer.

It didn’t make me forget about the 2 hours of climbing I’d just put in but it did make me realize it was worth it. It may not have been easy but if it was easy everyone would be doing it. The remarkable thing is that the BIG hills are still to come – and the crazy thing about cycling up big hills on a fully loaded bike is that I’m not entirely sure the climb is the toughest part. Okay, maybe it’s the toughest part on the body, but I think the descents are tougher for the bike.

One thing you learn VERY quickly when biking down a really big hill with a really heavy bike is that gravity REALLY likes you. So much so that it has the potential to turn you into an unstoppable object – except that you are very much stoppable and doing so could hurt a LOT. And while that kind of speed sounds great in theory, it’s not so great when the bike picks up enough speed that it starts to shake you into submission. At one point today I think I was a flux capacitor short of going back to 1955. Once I recovered from that, my brakes were put to good use the rest of the way as I struggled to keep the bike at a manageable speed (I really think I’m carrying too much weight but people would likely yell at me if I threw away my food and water).

With my early departure and leisurely pace I reached Baie-St-Paul at around 2:00 and the campground was just on the other side of town. It was actually kind of funny (well, it was to me anyway). I was cycling along 362 and I knew I had about 500 metres to go. I looked ahead and saw yet another hill. Figures. One last hill before the campsite. Well, as luck would have it, the road to the campsite was actually BEFORE the hill on 362. This would be a classic case of “be careful what you wish for”. The road to Auberge Le Balcon Vert shouldn’t be legal. I made it about 50 metres before I realized the futility of attempting to climb this road. There were no signs but I’m guessing it was a 20% grade. Maybe more in some sections. It was a struggle to walk the bike. Fortunately, it was only about 800m to the top. A fitting ending to the day.

Ok, well … that wasn’t REALLY the ending to the day.

I checked into the campground – which is probably the nicest overpriced site I’ve been at – and realized I should probably get some food considering it was still fairly early in the afternoon. Again, I’m learning! The downside to that plan was the monster hill between the campsite and town. I figured with an unloaded bike it would be somewhat manageable (well, maybe not the unpaved section).

I had noticed a Casse-Croûte on the way to the campsite so I figured I could stop in there for, yes, poutine. And I did. I’m beginning to the think poutine is something like Crack. I’m noticing that the prices keep going up, the servings are getting smaller and yet I can’t stop ordering it. For the record, the only reason I’m mentioning any of this is because of the “concern” some people have over my eating habits. So, after finishing the poutine and still being hungry I decided NOT to order more poutine and instead headed out in search of a grocery store. Tomorrow is going to be a long day and food won’t likely be readily available.

My GPS led me to a MAXI (ie. No Frills). Of course, I hadn’t planned on this excursion so I could only buy so much as I didn’t have a good way to transport it on my bike. I stocked up on peanut butter, beef jerky, trail mix, apples, banana chips (although, I will likely eat those tonight) and a Caramilk bar (which is LONG gone). Hopefully that will get me through tomorrow’s climbs.

Today’s totals:

Distance travelled: 70.22 km
Time on Bike (actually moving): 4:18:17
Maximum speed: 51.70 km/h
Average speed: 16.31 km/h