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 excited for a bed. And I passed 11,000 kms for the year. Big biking day!

The town of cheticamp was a raging metropolis by comparison to other named locations I’ve been through in the last few days. I didn’t stop anywhere as it was 10 am on Sunday morning, but there were restaurants to choose from. It and the surrounding towns were quaint harbour type towns with the associated small boxy houses and a lot of boats. The beaches weren’t dramatic but were very nice looking, kind of PEI style with grass and soft looking sand.
After this 20ish km part of the ride I cut across the island in a river valley. It was very reasonable country riding, much of it near where I had been a few days prior. There was one smallish mountain in the middle which I barely registered due to the punishment of the day before.

The closer to Sydney I got, the worse the riding got. Particularly when I took a non main highway option Google suggested for 20 km after Baddeck. Half of it was a barely bikable logging road. I am simultaneously amazed and disturbed by what Google knows about routes. Anyway, I got through it after a good amount of yelling off colour words into the nothingness.

And that’s that. It’s done. I’ll spend a little time in Sydney to see what there is to see. Then I’ll visit the one bike shop in town to get a box. Then I have 13 more km to ride tomorrow to get to a different hotel where I will pack up my bike and the gear. That’ll make it exactly 900 kms. Tuesday I’ll get on a plane and be home by mid afternoon.

That seemed really fast despite moving pretty slowly. I get the sense the Cabot trail is something people with motors do in a day or maybe two if they really want to take their time and soak up the sites. But they miss all the fun that way! My idea of fun.
Thanks for tuning in.
The end.
P.S. 100 km a day average is good. I’ve always figured I was overdoing it with crazy long days every day. And I was. Less distance means more opportunity to do things like mid day swims and ice cream lunches 🙂
Beautiful bridge. Once again you’ve had quite the experience. A great accomplishment. Sleep well, I’m sure you’re bone tired. Can’t wait to FaceTime after you get home. Enjoy a relaxing day tomorrow. Love you. Ma
I sent Chelsea and Sandi the link. Chelsea rides so knew they’d both be interested.
👍
Congrats son. What a trip.
Thanks for sharing this incredible journey with us. Maybe one day we can do a bike ride together…..I’d even settle if it was just around the block. Awesome job and cheers to many more cycling adventures ahead.
Chelse
Chelsea. I didn’t even you were reading this! Yes let’s do that sometime.
Bravo! What an incredible journey! Can’t wait to see you at home. Safe travels on the last leg.
I’ll miss reading these updates.
What a great trip ! I can’t wait for the next one 🙂
see you soon
See you soon Joy!
Way to go Chad, thanks for bringing us along for the ride, l
oved every photo!
Thanks for coming along
Congratulations! You’re an excellent writer Chad. It’s been a real treat to follow along. I’m one of those people who did the Cabot Trail powered by a gas engine. I clearly missed a lot. Safe home.
Marie
☺️
It was so fun to get comfortable for the evening after putting Malcolm to bed and to read your updates. I will miss them, but I look forward to the next trip- and potentially riding for a bit of it with you.