A wonderful ride today. 77.3 miles and 1631 ft of climbing, but we averaged almost 1.5 mph faster than we have been doing thanks to a strong tailwind most of the way between Joe’s house in La Pocatiere to Alex’s & Gabrielle’s house in Trois Pistoles.
We said goodbye to Joe around 8 and got on the road. We skipped a few Route Vert deviations that would have added a lot of miles on gravel roads, and neither John nor I wanted to tackle gravel in addition to the long enough day already. The weather was clear and sunny and my, that tailwind. A few times we turned around to face the wind and realized it might be a harder road back if the winds keep up through August.
We stopped for another IGA lunch and a bar in Trois Pistoles that Dana would have loved. Locals, some drunk, one behind the bar, also drunk, handing out fireball shots to everyone (we declined). There was only one person who spoke any English in the bar and he helped with our order but we still ended up with non-alcoholic beer (which was pretty good, actually).
We met Gabrielle on her bike right outside of their house as she was leaving to pick up her daughter. We waited for their return and then met their daughter Madeline. I headed to the showers and John followed next. Alex came home soon after and we had dinner and exchanged stories of touring. They had toured Japan (loved) and Vietnam (not as loved) towing Madeline on an extender bike. They really liked Japan and said the touring was great and the people super polite. They didn’t like Vietnam as much as Japan, and fate intervened in March 2020 with the pandemic. They thought about staying and waiting it out, but decided to return and skip Cambodia and Laos.
After dinner, Alex invited John and I to go along to play pickup softball. Yeah, you’re thinking what I was thinking: This can only end in a trip to the ER. A little bit a rain kept the attendance down and only Alex and John-Phillipe showed up. I pitched batting practice for them and John shagged balls in right and center fields. The most amazing thing, even though I did fall once back-peddling in my Tevas, we walked away unhurt. I let you know what aches tomorrow brings.
As mentioned in one of the pic captions, the terrain really changed today from flat and rolly to flat with some moderate sized hills, some pretty steep. Planning a shorter ride tomorrow to Rimouski on what’s supposed to be a nice day, but perhaps with a headwind. Off to bed and another warm showers good night’s sleep.
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