Friday 16 September 2011

Dorky Movies

Yes, I took some videos along the way! I hope you get a laugh out of these, because I find them pretty hilarious, given my camera shyness and lack of intelligent commentary.

Leaving Home


The BC Summits

Allison Pass


Sunday Summit


Paulson Summit


Vermillion Pass

Animals

A bear!


A coyote!


Some horses

Others
Now, I normally don't rely on GPS navigation, but in skeptical optimism, I hoped it would find me a quieter route into Halifax. That didn't work.

Thursday 8 September 2011

Fun with Numbers

Here's a breakdown on the stats for those who are curious. First, the round trip stats, then a breakdown of the cycling stats between Delta, BC and St. John's, NL:


Round Trip (includes days spent spinning circles in the city after reaching St. John's)
Total distance: 8331 km
Number of days: 91 days
Dates of travel: June 3, 2011 - September 1, 2011

Non-cycling Transportation Events (NTEs):
Ferry rides: 3
Hitch-hikes: 1 (add roughly 40 km, if you like)
Taxi rides: 1 (to the airport)
Airplane flights: 1

Mechanical Incidents:
Flat tires: 5 (all on the rear tire)
Scrapped tires: 2
Broken spokes: 1
Worn pedals: 1 pair
Broken pedals: 1 (the clip broke around the same time it wore out!)
Worn brake pads: 1 pair (replaced in Cranbrook!)

Food:
Number of meals paid for by absolute strangers: 3
Estimated number of calories burned on the bike: 300,000 cal
Weight lost: 0 lbs

At Night:
Stealth camping: 16
Free camping: 13
Hostel: 5
Campgrounds: 13
Couchsurfing: 7
Warmshowers: 11
Friend or Contact's home: 24
Ferry: 1


Cycling from City of Delta to City of St. John's 
Total distance: 8257 km
Number of days: 86 days (64 full days, 5 half days, 17 rest days)
Dates of travel: June 3, 2011 - August 27, 2011 (equivalently: 2036 hours)

Longest day: 207 km
Shortest (full) day: 49 km

Number of days cycling the Trans-Canada: 24.5 days (Banff to Calgary, and Regina to Ottawa)

Average distance per full day on the bicycle: 119 km (and for the stats hats: a standard deviation of 29 km)
Estimated time on the bicycle: 425 hours (equivalently: 18 days non-stop... hmm, that doesn't sound so hard!)

Equivalent speed across the country: 4.1 km/h (boy, that's pretty slow, but... insomnia, anyone?!)

Estimated number of wheel rotations: 4.23 million
Estimated number of crank-arm rotations: 1.8 million


City of St. John's to City of Vancouver (just for fun)
Assumed cruising speed: 900 km/h
Total flight time: 7 hours, 33 minutes (roughly a day's work on the bicycle)
Inferred distance: 6800 km

Out and About in St. John's

Distance travelled over last 5 days: 74 km
Total distance: 8331 km

The shortcut from Colinet to St. John's put me ahead of my flight to Vancouver by a few days. I had some great hosts in the area - Chad and Sarah - who I met through warmshowers, and they were patient enough to keep me around for the length of my stay in St. John's. Predictably, the days were spent on sightseeing and packing preparations, but somewhat less predictably, the evenings were enjoyed around games of Settlers of Catan and Settlers of America! Oh, that and cheese fondue.

What is there to see and do in and around St. John's? Quite a lot, actually!

I took a short bike ride out to Cape Spear - the most easterly point in Canada. As I approached the Cape, I could see the fog rolling in from the south. In the next hour, the cape would slowly be engulfed in fog!

Approaching Cape Spear

On the cape are two lighthouses. The first is an original from 1836, the second is a modern replacement from 1955. The old lighthouse underwent many technological changes as new and better methods were developed for projecting the candlelight. It also underwent expansions to accommodate the family tending to the operation and maintenance of the lighthouse. Recently, it has been restored to its original size.

The new lighthouse. Notice the high-pressure ridge in the background keeping the fog at bay!
The old lighthouse
 

Cape Spear was a strategic point during the Second World War, thus a barracks and gun battery were constructed to defend the area. An underground tunnel - which you can still walk through to this day - linked them together.

The battery and tunnel
 A quick walk and I reached the lookout on the most easterly point in Canada!



I'm not great in front of a camera... hopefully this clip isn't too creepy sounding! :)


St. John's is famous for its colourful houses, and I found them everywhere! Maybe it's some kind of municipal bylaw not to paint houses in earth tones...


You can listen to local music! (Chad makes a cameo midway through)

 

...or you can relax and watch ships go in and out of the harbour



In addition to all the tourist sights in and around St. John's, there is also the Newfoundland culinary experience. My first stop was at Ches's Fish & Chips, to get some authentic, fresh, Atlantic cod.  Newfoundlanders have a lot more than just fish and chips, however, and it doesn't make it off the island... I can't say for sure whether that's good or bad news for the taste! (I didn't get to try it all)

At the urging of my dad, I took the opportunity to enjoy a plate of cod tongues with Chad and Sarah. It sounded gross, and the reaction I got from locals when I told them I was going to try cod tongues didn't exactly get me all excited! But to be honest, after trying them, they didn't taste like anything at all... mostly just a chewy, mushy deep-fried-something taste.





I also had fish and brewis, which was fine, but pretty bland tasting. I couldn't figure out how to compliment it... tartar sauce? Ketchup? Molasses? Pepper? Hot sauce?! Too bad they didn't have hot sauce, that might have worked, actually!

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Halifax to St. John's

Distance travelled over last 8 days: 732 km
Total distance: 8257 km

Halifax would be the last major stop on my way to St. John's, Newfoundland. I had important business to do while I was in town, like booking a flight home, getting a mechanical check on the bike, and purchasing camping supplies (such as stove fuel).

I left Halifax on Sunday afternoon, after an enjoyable morning with the saints in the city. My route took me along the eastern shore of Nova Scotia. This was a scenic and fairly quiet ride (traffic-wise), past many coves and sheltered lengths of coastline. The next evening, I ventured inland somewhat, in favour of a more direct route towards Cape Breton. It had been a pleasant and sunny day, but a strong wind had been crossing my path most of the day - at times I had a helping tailwind, which was nice. The wind didn't appear to be letting up by the evening, and it was bringing in some threatening cloud-cover. In the small community of Giants Lake, I met JD and Ann. I was looking for a place to pitch my tent, as usual, and they were both interested in helping me pick out the best spot on their large, undulating property. My suspicions about the weather were right: JD said the overnight forecast was for 15-25 mm of rainfall, and sustained high winds. After about 10 minutes of surveying the land with the weather in consideration, Ann suggested that I might sleep in their camper for the night! What an unexpected, and pleasant surprise! Of course, that was an offer I could not refuse.

Before I left on this journey, Dad had told me about how friendly the east coast was. Now I was humbly benefitting from it first-hand! I spent some time with JD and Ann around their kitchen table, talking about my travels and our families. Ann packed me up some fresh homegrown beans, carrots and plums - very tasty! Thinking back, I grin at the way Ann, in particular, sorely lamented when I insisted that nothing more could fit in my bags!

It turned out to be a very good thing I had the shelter of the camper for the night. The storm came on with a sudden start, catching JD with an onslaught of rain as we talked at the camper door. Our conversation suddenly terminated, he hurried for the house, and I shut the camper up for the night! The winds rolled in wild and strong. It may have been my imagination, but I think I could almost sense them rocking the camper in the night.

In the morning, I woke to find the storm had passed, and the weather was calm again. JD and Ann greeted me as we all made preparations to hit the road early in the morning. Thank you, JD and Ann, for a really enjoyable time and some great memories!

Do I look excited to be sleeping in a camper?

The strong coastal wind was still blowing as I traced a route along the coast of mainland Nova Scotia towards Cape Breton. There is only one crossing onto the island of Cape Breton, which forced me into a switchback situation: I cycled into a stiff wind for 20 kilometers, crossed the land bridge, and then cycled with the wind for a little while. Like the days before, the ride passed by many coves and small communities. The most spectacular of all was Pirate Cove. I spent my last night in Nova Scotia free-camping at Leo's place in Grande Anse.

Pirate Cove (panorama)
A bridge and canal structure complete the north end of the land bridge to Cape Breton
The next morning was on the cold side. It may have just been the shadows from the trees, or the fact that my sleeping pad had a leak and went flat overnight, but at any rate, the coffee Leo made helped warm me up and get me on my way. I had a ferry to catch, after all!

I cycled along highway 4, which follows the south side of the Bras d'Or Lake. This was not a simple ride - steep and hilly roads linked cove to cove.  As I approached the largest of the climbs, near Irish Cove, I was greeted by a big highway construction project. Traffic was reduced to single-lane alternating, with a pace car at the front. The hill went on for a couple of kilometers, and I rested at the top to take some pictures of the lake.

This looks like a nice place to live
Cameras don't do hills justice. This one in particular!
A view of Bras d'Or Lake from the top of the hill

In the Cape Breton area, the city limit signs are in English and Gaelic. Kind of neat, although I think it's more of a tourism ploy than anything practical.

Looking back: Irish Cove sign also in Gaelic
I got to the ferry in North Sydney in good time - early enough to make a good dinner at a park, relax, and then find the showers in the ferry terminal. Boarding time for our ship, the Atlantic Vision, wasn't until 10:30 pm, so I also took time to plan my route on the free Newfoundland maps in the lobby.

The Atlantic Vision docked early in the day
There were a good 10 or so cyclists catching the same overnight ferry to Argentia; None of them very social outside their own groups, however. Most chosen to pay for a cabin on board the ship. I, on the other hand, went for the more economical couch-crashing adventure. I started out the evening in the theatre, but quickly found that sleeping in the chairs was difficult and awkward at best. So, at about 1:30 in the morning, I went up a deck to the panoramic lounge and viewing area, where I found a couch to spread out on... much better! If only I had taken my sweater or sleeping bag to keep warm!  It was a slightly uncomfortable and noisy night, so I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. On top of that, I forced myself to wake up at 5:45 am to watch the sunrise. The ferry was sailing directly into it, which was pretty cool.

The lounge area
Sunrise over the helm
Later in the morning, I went for the breakfast buffet. It turns out it would be all the food I would need for the day. I spent several hours dining on scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, roast beef and fruit platters.  I also got a dose of news media - including coverage about hurricane Irene, which was projected to influence areas as far north as Newfoundland and Labrador. "This", I thought "could be a game changer."

In the afternoon, we started to sail past the coastline of Newfoundland. I haven't seen anything quite like it before. The landscape and vegetation are uniquely different to the rest of my journey in its entirety.

No, it's not Ogopogo. It's Newfoundland!
When I landed in Newfoundland at 3 pm, however, I suddenly found I was going to be in for one of the most challenging rides of the entire trip. Packed down with enough food for 5 days, as there wouldn't be a grocery store in sight, I set sights on highway 100 south, and into a strong 20 km/h wind. I hopped from cove to cove, taking on brutally steep slopes of 10% to 14%.  I could only manage 35 km before sundown, having conquered 7 or 8 of the monster hills.

Factor in the headwind and the weighty load, and I think this is the hardest 35 km I've ever done
Difficult though it may have been, this was easily the most spectacular stretch of coastline of my entire trip, and the setting sun put a beautiful red glow and dramatic shadows onto the rocky cliffscape.  I camped out for the night in Gooseberry Cove, on a stretch of beach next to the ocean.

A lone tree by the ocean
The best vantage points are from atop the hills that separate the coves
The sun sets for another night, and I'm exhausted!
Top notch camping spot
The next day, I got the weather forecast from the locals - afternoon rain for today's ride, and high winds (75 km/h) the day after next, on account of hurricane Irene. Fortunately for me, I only had to pedal another 20 km into the wind and over the hills before I reached St. Bride's and changed course. After that slow stretch south, my pace picked up immediately, and after going north up the other side of the peninsula, I found that I had covered nearly 100 km by 2 pm. Regrettably, the late morning rain had caught me as forecasted, pelting into my face on the fast stretches, and generally working its way into my body.

Looking back towards Branch, NL, just before the rain started
I got to Colinet chilled and wet, but I met Joe, who kindly welcomed me into his home.  I was able to shower and dry up, put together some dinner, and rest for the evening in a spare bedroom! Thanks Joe, for your friendly hospitality. By this time, I had changed my cycling plans; With a flight to catch out of St. John's on September 1, I wanted to make sure I'd be there in time. Based on the ridiculous hills of the first peninsula, and the uncertain weather implications of hurricane Irene, I decided I couldn't afford to cycle along the second peninsula and through Trepassey on such a tight schedule. The weather or terrain could easily slow me down, or force me to take a rest day, and then I would miss my flight.

So, from Colinet, I took the shortcut into St. John's. This would be my last day of cycle touring across Canada! Happily, it was sunny and pleasant outside. I reach the city early in the day, and it was an ideal time to do as much sightseeing as possible.



First, I cycled through the downtown area to make my way over to the Battery, a community that sits on the cliffs that give way to St. John's harbour. After a bit of exploring in the neighbourhood, I took a trail eastward, which passes by the narrows to the harbour and heads for the Atlantic ocean.

A street in the Battery
The Narrows to St. John's harbour
The Battery
Taking a seat in front of the narrows
Looking back towards the harbour and the trail along the rocks
I also made my way up to the very summit of the cliff - to Signal Hill. This was an important strategic location for communication and defense for centuries.

Cabot Tower atop Signal Hill

Which way to...?
Vancouver, only 8257 km away... oh wait - I took the long way!