The Big Day

Whitbourne, NL to St. John’s, NL

August 16, 2014

This morning I woke up with the realization that, if all goes well, today would be the last day of my journey to St. John’s. 51 days have passed since I started my leisurely little ride. All things considered, I think things have gone pretty well to this point – even factoring in the occasional mechanical issues. I learned something from them as well. Generally speaking I think I did a decent job of not rushing this trip – this was forced partially by the scheduling of the Bella Desgagnés. I look back and think there were probably some areas I could’ve explored more, while some remained somewhat inaccessible to my road bike.

I had a quiet night hidden behind the Mary Brown’s restaurant and woke to a surprisingly dry tent. Well, on the outside anyway. Condensation had left the inside of the fly in its usual soaked condition. First World problems. I packed up and was pretty much ready to go by 8:00. All that was left to do was to grab some breakfast and find a WiFi connection to post last night’s update. I managed to do both without incident and at 8:50 I was officially on the road to St. John’s.

The winds have changed.

Based on the roadside signs, I was under the impression I was in for a leisurely 70 km day. However, after further review (and some research on Google) it turns out I was in for a slightly less leisurely 87 km day. Either way, it was well within reach.

A quick check of the flags at the Visitor Information Centre showed no movement whatsoever. Could it be that my final day of riding would be without wind? The short answer would be, “No.” The long answer would be, “Nooooooooooooooooo!”

The first 34 km of the ride were not much fun. The hills weren’t too bad – although bigger than expected – but the wind was really unpleasant. And it was a little disheartening to see a racing cyclist go flying by me as I slowly plodded along. I waved to him, but I’m not sure I entirely meant it. Two hours into my ride I stopped for an early lunch and noted that my average speed was a sluggish 17.45 km/h. My goal of reaching St. John’s by 2:00 seemed less likely. However, I pedalled on. I knew I’d get there eventually – even if it was a bit later than I thought.

The road to St. John’s.

Much like yesterday, my ride took a turn for the better at about the halfway point. The highway’s heading turned to northeast and the headwind I’d been facing was now much less of a factor. It was about 12:00 and for the first time today I actually felt like I was making progress. My 2:00 goal was once again within reason.

So close …

The highlight of the ride came when I reached the exit for “St. John’s (Downtown)” (aka. Route 2). Much like seeing the sign for Gros Morne National Park, the sign for downtown brought a big smile to my face. Even though there were still several kilometres to go, I felt like I had made it. A not-so-brief photo stop at the Welcome To St. John’s sign confirmed this even more. I was down to about 6 km to go when I ran into a small issue. It would seem that Route 2 was no longer cyclist (or pedestrian) friendly. After looking at the map for alternate routes I decided the “No Cyclists or Pedestrians Allowed” sign clearly didn’t apply to me, so I pretended I didn’t see it and resumed pedalling. I mean, it was only for 5 km more.

St. John’s

Those 5 km passed without incident. Quite frankly, I’m a little puzzled why bikes are no longer allowed on that section of the road. Sure it was a highway, but there wasn’t much traffic and the shoulder was wider than most stretches along the Trans-Canada.

None of that really mattered as I was now officially downtown. A short scenic ride along Harbour Dr eventually led me to Duckworth Street and my unofficial final destination of Fixed. This turned out to be a little anticlimactic as neither of Dave’s nieces were working at the time. I settled for a piece of chocolate cake and some orange juice before continuing onto my next stop.

Plan B.

A short ride and steep hill later, I was within a block of Jan and Chris’ place (ie. Robyn’s friends) who had generously offered me accommodation. I stopped for my last official meal on the road which consisted of finishing my last Subway sub, a granola bar, and the last of my water. I was almost finished when I was approached by someone. Turns out it was Chris who thought I might have been lost. With the official introductions covered, we walked the final block to their place.

I met Jan and the rest of the family (and pets) and moved my gear inside. With my bike unloaded, I did some much needed laundry, and had an even more needed shower.

Dinner was a BBQ and a fulfilled promise of a St. John’s poutine experience. In my case, I had a Philly Cheesesteak poutine. It was so good. So very good. I think I actually heard my arteries groan – but I figure so long as they’re groaning I’m still alive! To top off the elusive poutine, I had an equally elusive chocolate popsicle. When I had mentioned to Jan that I was more than a little dismayed at the lack of chocolate popsicles in Newfoundland, she indicated that there might be one in the freezer. Despite her concerns that it might not be the freshest popsicle in the world, I assured her it was great. I mean, it’s chocolate and a popsicle. How could it not be great?

The evening ended with watching the ballgame on TV and enjoying a beer with Chris. We concluded that walks are bad, 100 pitch limits are dumb, and long at-bats are good.

I am now settled in my room for the night – my first solo room since Montreal. It’s still a bit hard to believe that I’m actually in St. John’s. For the first time in seven weeks I find myself with nowhere to be. No mountains to climb. No distant cities to which I need to ride. I’ll spend the next day or so exploring St. John’s but I can’t help but wonder, “What now?”