July 1, 2008

DAY ONE and TWO-240k

Day One:

So,after what seemed like way too long trying to get my bike ready to leave Halifax I was finally ready to go-six days after arriving.I had originally intended to leave on the Tuesday but what can you do,I had bike trouble.The real pain in the butt came after I had packed everything and was ready to go only to discover that my trailer had a flat tyre.Bloody hell!Not only was it flat,I found that the valve was faulty and I needed a new one.No figgin way,it would have to wait.I stole a little valve cap off an abandoned bike in a alley next to the hostel and stuck it on my valve.It worked,kind-of, I would have to stop every three hours or so to pump it up again.I didn't care, I was leaving and that was it!





It wasn't actually until about two o'clock that afternoon that I managed to head off up the road but I was confident that I could make it to the town of Truro about 100k away by sundown.The first obstacle I had to face was the huge bridge that spans Halifax narrows.Not only did I find myself on the wrong side of the bridge but when I did manage to negotiate the very scary bridge sidewalk I ws met by the traffic Nazi from hell.Apparently I wasn't supposed to ride on that side of the bridge and she was really pissed off.I told her just what I thought her and was then chased down by her and her workmate who would not let me get back on the road.The dicks!!Anyway I busted past them like a fugitive and made my escape up the road that led me to highway 102 north to Truro.The rest of my exit from Halifax went very smoothly and I soon found myself rolling along the highway at a pretty crisp pace thanks to a very strong tailwind.

After passing the airport some thirty kilometers from town I was seeing the best of Nova Scotia.Endless trees covering the earth all the way to the horizon with the occaisional break when I would pass one of the hundreds of lakes in the area.There was nothing difficult about the ride but I suspect that the rolling hills would have been a little more of a challenge if I didn't have the assistance of that killer tailwind.One thing the wind did bring though was a huge storm.I noticed to the west(my left)that the sky was rapidly turning black and before long I heard the first rumblings of thunder in the distance.That would have been okay but when the lighting started I knew I was about due for some nasty weather.As luck would have it,just as the first drops of rain began to fall I spied a brigde at the bottom of the long hill that I was descending.There was a road under the bridge and I figure there must be some way of getting down to it and thus find shelter.As I approached though there was no road but a small rocky track turning sharply downhill from the highway.I thanked my starts for choosing to ride an MTB and barrelled down the track with my trailer bouncing furiously behind me.Thank's also to the fact that I was using semi-slick tyres as well as I don't know how long I would have stayed upright with pure slicks on.The rain hit not long after I found shelter under the highway.It just poured and the lightning was something to behold.I was glad to be hiding like a troll under the bridge as there was no good to be found out there in that weather.

The storm lasted about an hour and I decided to head off again.Unfortunately it semed that I would have to ride down the side road where I had been hiding in order to get back to the highway as the track I had descended was now awash with mud.It didn't matter much though and after a detour of about twenty minutes I was back on my way to Truro.

The rest of the day went well with only one or two hitches.The first was that I learned the hard way that the towns in Nova Scotia are not on the highway and so when I rode into Truro it meant another longish detour through the sleepy little town only to find myself back on the highway a kilometer from where I ad left it.Note to self-do not leave the highway anymore!The second bit of bad luck happened as I s

at at a gas station having some supper before deciding which way I would ride toward New Brunswick.I was happily sitting next to my bike when the young attendant sarted to chat to me about my bike.He seemed really interested in my trip and offered me all kinds of adivce about which highway went where and and the bes places for me to possibly camp oer the next few days.What I didn't know and didn't discover until an hour or so later was that the little bugger stole my flag from my trailer as I rode off.I know it was there when I stopped and I know I didn't it any rough roads for it to be shaken loose but sure enough,as I turned onto a new highway I noticed that it wasn't there anymore.I was to tired to turn back and so dealt with it.It still sucks though!

I rode along for another half hour before deciding to make camp in a nicley ploughed field which seemd totally hidden from the highway and any buildings in the area.It was perfect.I set my tent up on the soft brown dirt and set about re-organising myself for the night.I did find that a bolt had come off one of my pannier-racks and so I fixed it with zip-ties before retiring for the night after a pretty eventfull fist 115k on the road.I was happy to have ridden so far given that I didn't start until 2pm but it would be less than a day before my enthusiasm would be brought back to reality as it was the tailwind and not any fitness that I had found which contributed to the afternoon's high mileage.The next day would be a different story.I settled in and after a quick meal I went to sleep wondering how my new hostel cycling mate,Bruno(pictured)was doing on his treck to Cape Breton a few hundred k's east of me.I wondered how many more trans-continental cyclists I would meet on my trip to Penticton.Time would tell but as theysay every journey begins with the first step-I had just taken mine.

Day Two:

I awoke the next day to find the world around me surrounded in an obscure grey haze.A thick fog had appeared overnight and visibility was down to just a few feet which I was actually glad about as it hid me from the world around,not that there would be too many people around at the ungodly hour of 5am but you never know with farmers.I went for a quick half hour run before packing all my stuff and dragging the bike and trailer back through the trees to the highway.

It had dawned on me that I had taken a wrong turn the night before and was on the wrong highway but luckily the detour was only about 5k and so I back-tracked my way to the correct turn and headed off into the gloom wodering if the fog would ever lift.

For the longest time I rode with little visibility and was thankfull that the highway was quiet.Mid you,the highways here are so well maintained with a really wide shoulder to ride on that I wasn't really worried about being hit by any vehicles at this stage.What did piss me off however,was the dampness that was invading every bit of clothing that I had on. The fog was so thick that I could see water droplets forming on my legs constantly and there was a steady stream flowing from my helmet over my glasses.That made it difficult to dress for.Either I took my raincoat off and got wet but cooled off or kept it on and got soaked from sweat from overheating.The hills that had begun to sping up didn't add any good news to my cause either and I started to struggle through the late morning as the endless rollers combined with the increasing headwind made their presence felt .

The sun did come out eventually but that provided little reliefor me as the comfort of being warm was negated by the huge hills that were in front of me at every turn.It seems that there was a mountain pass that nobody told me about and one that wasn't marked on my map.It was a long slow climb into an ever-increasing wind and it just sucked the life right out of me.I must have looked quite the sight to the passing motorists as I lay on the side of the road having my lunch break.Some stupid tourist in the middle of nowhere eating peanut butter and Nuttella sandwiches getting his head fried in the midday sun.What a sight!

One thing though,I did manage a milestone of sorts when I crossed into New Brunswick late in the afternoon.I had covered around 120k when I figured that I'd had enough and started my search for a camping sight just as I passed the town of Amherst.i did find a great spot off the highway on a little hill surrounded my small trees and shubs that would hide me very nicely.The spot though,did not hide me from the mozzies.Oh my god!I was attacked by swams of them.Even though it was a reall nice evening I couldn't stay outside of my tent for any time as I was under constant attack.It was brutal.No other option but to hunker down inside my tent,conduct an interview with myself(click on the tab below) and then go to sleep happy that even though the weather was making things hard,I had managed to make a fair bit or headway for the day.I just hoped the wind would calm down a bit the following day.








DAY ONE-HALIFAX