Sad to leave Montreal

This morning started where last night left off. After my first night’s sleep on a real bed in over a week it was time to move on – but not before orange juice and crepes for breakfast. The generosity continues.

By 9:00am, the bike was loaded once again, I said goodbye to my new Montreal friends and I was off to my next destination – which was still to be determined. Trois-Rivieres is about 150 km from Montreal so certainly doable in a day, but I suspected I’d stop somewhere before that. I mean, it’s not like I’m in a hurry.

As with most big cities, getting out of Montreal was a bit slow with all the traffic lights along the way but I think I still managed to get 50 km in by noon. I didn’t really have directions – or a map – for most of the day. I tried to connect to the free WiFi at Tim Hortons as I was leaving Montreal but I couldn’t get a signal. A few kilometres later I tried to connect at McDonald’s but again was denied. So, I just pedalled on – I figured so long as I stayed on 138 I would be headed in the right direction. Originally, I was going to follow Chemin du Roy which coincided with 138 at times. However, it also zigzagged through it on more than a few occasions so I just stayed on 138 to try to limit an extra kilometres.

Despite riding on the highway for most of the day, the ride was good. Most of the time there was more than ample shoulders to ride on – and for those sections with no shoulders, well … I just kept a closer watch for vehicles.

Did I mention that I had another poutine today? My body may love the carbs, but I’m guessing it’s not doing my arteries any good!

100 km into the ride I still wasn’t sure how far I was going to go or where I would be staying. According to my GPS there didn’t appear to be any campgrounds nearby so I had pretty much made up my mind that tonight would be my official night of “wild camping”. Well, that changed when I arrived in Louiseville, where there happens to be a Tim Hortons with functioning WiFi. A quick Google search revealed a campground about 10 km from the aforementioned Tim’s location. Clearly Louiseville was where I was meant to spend the night. Ok, I don’t really believe that but it made me smile when I looked across the street from Tim’s to see a long line of Miatas parked side by side – almost smiling back at me. Despite being on my bike, I waved to every one of them (subtly of course).

Anyway, on the way to the campsite I crossed paths with another touring cyclist and was once again able to split the costs of the site. This other cyclist (Jacob) started his trek in Tofino, BC and is doing the full Canada crossing. Puts my little trek into perspective! He’s also ending in St. John’s however he’s taking the New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia route from Quebec City. As far as I can tell, no one thinks cycling the north shore of the St. Lawrence is a good idea! I guess that’s why I’m going to try it.

Distance Travelled: 117.29 km
Time on bike (actually moving): 5:40:51
Average speed: 20.63 km/h