Craig Norris and I are Best Friends

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Yippie!

Genoux

Hi Team,

I'm encountering some trouble with my knees.
It worries me.

Since I left Saint John NB, I've had this feeling in my right knee like something is about to crunch, for lack of a better term.  Tends to come on about midway through the day, and is worst if I'm trying to stand up and ride (which is sometimes a nice change of pace, or helpful on a small hill). 
It was worst until about Quebec City.  The ride from Quebec to Montreal was a bit better, and the terrain had been getting easier.
My other knee has always maintained a dull ache that i tend to ride through, but its been getting a bit worse lately.

I'm going to see what the ride from Montreal into Ontario is like, after resting for a few days, and hopefully track down a physiotherapist or something in Ontario to see what they say.

The way it is now, I think i would be ok to make it to the rockies, but probably not over them.  Or maybe i could, but I think i'd rather be able to walk afterwards.

Any comments/suggestions/recommendations are welcome.  I've bought a knee brace and some advil.  But I'm not too sure what more i can do.   Leanne introduced me to the possibility of repetitive strain, which makes a lot of sense.  6-10 hours everyday i use the same group of muscles with little chance to work on the muscle groups that support those muscles.

So i'll see what i can do to sort this out.  Just want to keep you updated.

Wahn wohn wohn.

Quebec City

So i slept just outside Levis one evening, rode about 15 kms along a great bike path to the ferry which puts you right in the old port area of Quebec (looking up - UUUUUP!) at the Chateau Frontenac. The picture of Frontenac is as seen from the ferry, which was a very cool perspective, one i hadn't seen before.

I wandered about the old port for a bit, then walked my bike up to the walled city, and got lost about twelve times.  The old city is super cute, i searched for a place for lunch, trying not to hit anything too touristy, then saw l'entrecote saint jean!!!  This is a resto that basically only serves steak frites.   Leanne and I have visited their locations in Montreal and Paris so far, i thought adding QC to the list would be smashing.  It sure was.  Though the beer made me pretty heavy for the rest of the day in the heat.

After that I escaped tourist land and explored the real city a bit, which is also very cool.  Found a pharma-prix, and finally bought a brace for my knee (more to come...)

Then i left QC headed for a campground just outside Ste. Foy.  I was following the bike path.
This is sometimes a good idea.
This is sometimes a VERY BAD IDEA

At some point leaving QC, the bike path thought it would be fun to drive off the edge of the cliff... I encountered a VERY steep drop, complete with cattle gates to make sure cyclists can't go to quickly (kudos to the dude going UP this thing), AND STAIRS.
ON A BIKE PATH.

STAIRS
ON A BIKE PATH.
I take back whatever i said about a free Quebec.

The stairs (three flights!!) had a cute little trough on the side which you could walk you bike down.  All well and good for a bike without 80 lbs of gear on it...
I made it down the first two fine.  Then just as I was pulling my bike off the last one.  The screw holding my front rack onto my bike busted in half.  The bag fell off, the front brake went all wonko, and i lost the magnet attached to the spoke on the tire that tells the bike computer how fast i'm going.

I take back whatever I said about a free Quebec.

Surveying the damage, and the cliff behind me, i decided i would be fine to make it montreal.  I could deal with all this there.  There was no way i was going back up that hill in the heat to find a bike shop.
So i strapped the front bag on top of the bags at the back, stopped using my front brake, and gave up on the computer for a little while.

The day got better after that though.  My campground was pleasant, and i made friends a couple cool German dudes driving from Toronto to Halifax.  They made me a yummy BBQ dinner, we used my phone to get them up to speed on the world cup, and had some good drinks, great conversation, and a bonfire. 

Great end to a mostly good day.

Owning my Odometer

At some point during the past while I reached my 3000th kilometre biked this summer. 
I'll take a moment to catch my breath. And do a little dance.

I think I'm going to start owning what my bike computer says on the odometer function.
Purists will want to subtract 512km from this total: that is the amount of training riding I did on this bike prior to leaving ontario, however that all occurred in the month before i left. 

While it may not represent a precise amount of the trip across Canada, it also includes any running around I've done in towns and cities, back and forths, etc. which i feel skew the results a bit as well.

It also will not include the distance (roughly 260kms) between Quebec City and Montreal.  More to come on that. :(

Riviere du Loup to Quebec City

Sorry for the lack of updates, yes again.
I'm in Montreal, and will attempt a series of updates about the last week, which has been pretty much amazing.  Aside from heatwaves making serious attempts on my life.

The ride from Riviere du Loup, was idyllic.  Flat farmland meets the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, randomly adorned with classic fieldstone farmhouses and artisan shops selling local made spices, soaps, antiques, sculpture, art, or just plain crap.

And everyone has a vegetable garden!!!  And the vegetable gardens are doing VERY well right now.  All of these lush well maintained gardens have me wishing for the chance to grown my own some day (and have the time to weed it meticulously....), and then have big kitchen parties to eat it all up.

I would recommend this stretch to anyone thinking about doing any kind of trip in quebec, cyclists will love it, "la route verte" is great for the entire way, there are constant b+b's, and great shops and cafes and things to see.  Driving would only take about 2 hours not including stops.  There were even several long-distance walkers out and about.

During this stretch, right at the beginning, I also was stopped by my first police car.  Somehow i had gotten onto the autoroute (and gone pretty far too!) without knowing that it is restricted to cyclists.  In my defense, the transcanada here looked exactly as it did in nfld, nova scotia, and new brunswick; no restrictions there.  The transition in riviere du loup from regular road to highway didn't include one of those handy signs saying i shouldn't be there, and i had come a good distance before having a friendly chat with the law about taking a new route.  I'm pretty glad about this too, because its how i found the quebec bike path route (the paved one finally) and started to see more long distance cyslists all over the place.  The drivers in Quebec tend to be ... far less encouraging ... of cyclists, however the presence of such a strong cyclist culture helps to balance that out.

Lunch

Pizza thailandais aux crevettes. Dead Aid. Église des bonseurs. St.
Lawrence River.

Lifes tough.

Stats July 1

Did I mention I'm in Quebec now?

Yay!!

Last night I stayed near Riviere du Loup. 

Today:

Total 79.0
Odo 2958
Avg 15.4
Max 47.8
Time 5:07:24
Start saint antonin (rivière du loup) 1030am
End rivière ouelle (la pocatiere) 430pm

It's Canada Day, and you would have nooooo idea considering where I am (I.e. with many many camping québécois pro-separation...) 

However, if you'll note the photo: SALTED CHEESE!!!!!

Vive la Quebec libre!!