| Hull/Gatineau, Qu�bec September 19, 2005 |
| 103.09km 3:52:25 26.6km/h Max = 59.5km/h |
| Sunny, a few clouds 20C Light tailwind Mostly flat and slightly downhill! |
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| Previous day |
| An easy day to finish off with - wind at my back! By far the easist day of pedalling I had. Felt like I could have done 200km easily. To keep it more 'real' I added a 2.5km, rough gravel detour towards Luskville Falls to see if I could see any evidence of rock climbing. I hiked into the hills about half a km and found a few bolted routes. Would be nice to head back sometime. I also took the short way from Chemin de la Montagne to rue de la Normandie, which was my other way to 'keep it real' due to the steepish climb up Chemin Notch in Gatineau Park. With the sun out today the views were great. The dam/river at Portage du Fort was very pretty (the bridge goes over 2 islands and the river below is rocky with lots of trees) - much more than when I crossed it with David under thick clouds 2 years ago. The first glimpse of the Gatineau Hills was also quite stunning. The 'mountains' leap out from behind a hill as you ride towards Shaweville. The steepness and height of the hills set beside the flat, Ottawa Valley is remarkable. As I went along Promenade de la Gatineau in the Park, I saw Lac Pink in summer for the first time. It's turquoise-green in colour this time of year, so it really jumps out at you! Riding on the Promenade was a treat - these are the roads in the park that aren't plowed in the winter, so the pavement remains in great shape - superb for road bikes or rollerblades, etc... All-in-all, a short little trip that got harder in the middle (rain and a lot of steep little climbs) and easier at the end, with lots of downhill and light tailwinds. It was good to be out on my own, but I certanly missed having David around. Much less fun, though more relaxing and less complicated. The rain didn't really have a chance to get me own, since I knew I'd only be on the road for 6 days. Not enough time to get truly miserable. I guess that's the thing about a one-week trip: you're never more than 3 days from the fresh start or the glorious finish. It happens very quickly and then it's all over, and you realize that you're unemployed! Right. I'll think about that later. |
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| Lookout over Pink Lake, Gatineau Park, Qu�bec. The lake is, in fact, never pink!! If you ever have the chance to visit this park, I highly recommend it! Road biking, mountain biking, rollerblading, rollerskiing, snowboarding, downhill and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, swimming, equestrian, hiking, jogging, paddling...... |
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