Greetings from a crappy motel in Sydney NS. I figured I may as well go out with a bang. No, I didn’t pop a tire. I rode a century. A good old fashioned imperial one – 166 kms / 103 miles. It took 11 hours and I’m beat. But also now clean and shaved and…
Day 8 – Meat Cove to Cheticamp
After 30 years of living in Canada, I saw my first moose today! Does that mean I can now move somewhere without winter? The night before last there was a crazy thunderstorm in the middle of the night. The rain woke me up and the lightening lit up my tent like daytime. When I got…
Day 7 – Ingonish Beach to Meat Cove
I am at the edge of the world. It’s a tough place to cycle to. I spent half the day in granny gear. If this trip ended today I’d be satisfied. I got exactly the rugged, dramatic and rocky coastline views I was hoping for. And for a quick minute, it looked like it might…
Day 6 – Englishtown to Ingonish Beach
Answer me this: when motorists smile at a cyclist riding up a really big hill, what the hell does the smile mean? It can’t mean ‘I’m so happy for you’ because that would be weird. I don’t think it means ‘you signed up for this, dumbass’ because there appears to be kindness in the eyes….
Day 5 – Whycocomagh to Englishtown
You know those workers who hold up stop signs for road construction on highways? On a bike trip you actually get to speak to them. This morning my red bearded, sign holding friend (of course he had a red beard, I’m in Nova Scotia!) filled me in on all the details about my ride that…
Day 4 – Port Hood to Whycocomagh
This morning, the cashier at the local grocery shop said ‘what a beautiful day to ride a bike’, and she wasn’t kidding. Rain!? No, not really. My day started by being within 20 feet of a bald eagle. As I was packing up, this huge bird just took off. And I mean huge. What a…
Day 3 – ‘Nish to Port Hood
Hello from Cape Breton! As I write, there is a live fiddler playing somewhere in the background. I am being completely serious, there’s a concert within a few hundred meters of me. On a bike trip, problems tend to be immediate and tangible. About 5 kms into today’s ride my chain fell off the ring….
Day 2 – New Glasgow to Antigonish
I kicked my own ass a few times today. I’ll get to that in a minute. First, though, I realized that I forgot the customary starting odometer reading yesterday so here it is. Yes, on August 12th I reached 10,000 kms in 2021, and half of that has been doing volunteer food deliveries. Therefore, I’ll…
Day 1 – Brudenell to Pictou
I love traveling by bike. I hate transporting a bike by plane though. Like really hate it. As I cursed the cruel universe while I unpacked my bike for inspection at the airport, the random guy behind me in line reminded me the the ride will be worth it. He’s probably right, but I continued…
A week away – Cabot Trail
This is a test of my new system. In a week I will be starting a ride from Montague, PEI to Sydney, Nova Scotia with a loop around the Cabot Trail. If someone would like to try leaving a comment, that would be peachy. Stay tuned!