Wind, Rain, Hills and Traffic Cameras

While I’m on the road I’m frequently pondering what to include (and exclude) from my daily updates. After about 45km of today’s ride into a strong headwind I was reasonably confident my update would look something like this:

Pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal drink pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal drink pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal…

This would need to be repeated for about seven hours. However, as I’ve learned time and time again, the way a day begins isn’t always the way it ends. That would apply to today. But again, I’m getting ahead of myself. Back to the beginning of the day.

My wild camping experience behind the Deer Lake Visitor Information Centre was a complete success. I remember hearing the late plane go over but just barely (I mean I just barely heard it, not that the plane just barely made it over). When morning came I woke to what I expected to wake to – clouds and strong north-east winds. Since I would be heading north-east today I knew I was in for a tough day. Spoiler Alert: I was right.

I didn’t leave as early as originally planned as I thought I would stick around to see if I could get a great shot of a plane going over my tent. Unfortunately, the only plane that came in was on a slightly different pattern from last night so there would be no great shot. And now I was a bit behind schedule. Oh well, at least I had wind and hills to keep me company.

I had a couple of options as to how far I would go today. Sheppardville was 92km away and was my safety-net destination if the winds became unruly. After that was Springdale – 125km away. Actually, I wouldn’t actually go to Springdale as it was 15km off the highway, but I figured I could find somewhere to set up my tent in the general vicinity.

I was on the road by 9:15 and the ride was everything I thought it would be. Actually, it was worse. The winds were strong and right in my face the entire way. Oh, and there were hills. Lots of hills. Not as big as yesterday but that’s where the wind balanced things out. Sheppardville seemed more and more likely as my destination du jour. But 45km into the ride the day took an unexpected turn.

I stopped in at roadside restaurant and as I was pulling in I noticed another fully loaded bicycle. Shortly thereafter I met Allan. He was on the final leg of his big cross-country ride from Vancouver. We discussed our bikes, our trips, the harshness of today’s ride (he also started in Deer Lake), and our destination for the day. He was planning on going further than me today, to a campsite a little beyond South Brook. This presented an opportunity to split the cost of a campsite so I now had a third option for my day’s destination.

Having already eaten, Allan hit the road while I stayed behind to get some lunch at the restaurant. Sadly, there were no tables available and since waiting for food is pretty low on my list of things to do I bought some beef jerky, refilled my water bottles and resumed my battle with the hills and wind.

I crossed paths with Allan a couple times along the way before stopping at the next restaurant along the highway – about 50km from the previous one. It was another harsh 50km. It also happened to be Sheppardville, my first possible place to stop. When I arrived, I really didn’t know if I was hot or cold. My inside layer was soaked from sweat, which of course made things chilly when I stopped moving. The rest of my clothes were soaked from the rain. By this time I was pretty hungry so passing on food was not an option this time around. Fortunately, this stop wasn’t busy when I got there. The burger and fries didn’t last long.

With fuel in the tank I could now set my sights on more interesting endeavours. I was now only 20km from the Springdale area and research showed that the Trans-Canada Highway has a traffic camera set up near Springdale. This seemed like an opportunity not to be missed. Side note, a similar opportunity existed in Tadoussac as well but I wasn’t aware of it until it was too late. So, I now had some added motivation to get me through the rest of the day.

After a few texts to my friend Jeff in Toronto, the plan was set in motion. I estimated it would take a little over an hour to get to the traffic camera. Jeff would monitor said camera and grab a photo as I went through. Considering the silliness of the idea, it was a lot of fun and it kept my mind occupied as I pedalled. I sent progress updates as I neared the site. The tension was building. There was some confusion as to the actual location of the camera which briefly made me wonder if I had passed it. Turns out I hadn’t gone far enough. A few minutes later, there it was. The traffic camera. A text from Toronto confirmed that I was being broadcast for all to see.

Of course, by now it was nearing 8:00 and I still wasn’t sure where I would be spending the night. My initial plan was another Visitor Centre that I just passed. However, I opted to carry on to see if I could find the campground Allan had mentioned. Given how soaked I was, I thought a real campground might be a good idea tonight.

The next 45 minutes were probably not the smartest cycling I’ve done on this trip – although the easiest of the day. It was getting dark, I had no lights on my bike, and it was raining so my glasses were doing an excellent job of obscuring every aspect of sight. And yet I continued. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit relieved when I finally arrived at the campground. I was a little less than impressed when the woman at the gate said I wouldn’t be allowed to split a site with Allan (who arrived a little earlier). At this point I decided that mild begging was my best option – I mean, really. Two sites for two cyclists? She of course was merely following management’s rules and fortunately logic won out and I was allowed to enter.

So, I’m now sitting in my tent at Kona Beach Campground, trying to get this typed up before my battery dies as I have yet to find a place to charge my electronics. Although, it may not be urgent as I don’t think there is WiFi here.

Anyway, today turned out nothing like I expected. The ride was very harsh until the final 20km. I was soaked, chilled, and wind beaten for much of the day. But the whole traffic camera experience, and meeting another cyclist turned the day around and I’d say it was a pretty great day. Can’t say I expected that after the first 45km!

Today’s Totals:
Distance travelled: 136.20km
Time on bike: 7:29:14
Maximum speed: 50.58 km/h
Average speed: 18.18 km/h