DAY EIGHT-75k

Yet another mountain confronted me when I left the motel in Cabano and the first half and hour or so was spent climbing.I was starting to think that I'd never get the hell out of these mountains but thankfully after an hour or so the streams on the side of the road started flowing in the opposite direction which told me that I had indeed crested the range and was now heading to the St Lawrence River valley.The huge tailwind that had sprung up was helping me along to a very easy descent toward Riviere-du-Loop and the point where I was to turn west ,upriver toward Levis.

The entry into Riviere-du-Loop was realy confusing and the distance markers were all over the place.By my reckoning I should have hit the river about an hour earlier but the road just kept on going and going until I found myself actually riding on the expressway which,here in Quebec,we cyclists are not allowed to do.So it seems I had completely missed the turn but at least I was heading in the right direction.

The only problem was that the rain had started to fall again and with that the temperature fell accordingly.I was really starting to get cold and the old legs were again starting to bug me which was becoming quite a concern given that I had to do the double iron in less than a week.I continued though and searched for the exit that would lead me to route 132 west which was the secondary highway that followed the river diectly into Levis.

It soon became apparent that the day wasn't going to get any better and the fog that was now beginning to envelope me didn't make for safe riding conditions and so as I exited the highway at the route 132 exit I stopped at a motel that thankfully just happened to be about 500meters off the highway.I rolled up and checked in for another afternoon of recouperation.It was still early though and as I still had about 8 hours of daylight left I decided to go for a run to test my legs out.

What I found was a really steep hill that leads down to the river plain which looked bleak.cold and windswept.Uninviting to say the least.The river itself looked huge and equally bleak as the surrounding countryside.I didn't fancy the though of swimming in it at the end of the week.I ran for about an hour and felt pretty good as I got back to my hotel room for a nice hot bath where I lay contemplating the rest of my trip.Right now all I wanted to do was get to Levis and be around some old friends.I was getting pretty sick of the cold,rain and wind and staying in these motels was the only saving grace for me.My enthusiasm for this trip was rapidly declining,not because of any hardships on the road but that the original purpose seemed to be a waste of time now.I decided to give myself until my stay in Montreal to decide what to do.That would be about two weeks away so maybe my mood would brighten before then.I hoped so.