June 15th: The Atlantic!
Two months and fifteen day later I have my first view of the Atlantic Ocean, well ok it’s just the Bay of Fundy but I think it counts.
Interestingly, today also marks one of the easiest days of riding I have had on the tour. I was feeling so good yesterday (despite all the near disasters) I ended up going much further than I had planned leaving me only fifty km to make it in to St. John today. The weather was fair but cool, so once again I was in no rush to get going to beat the midday heat. After sleeping in a surprisingly long time and then lounging around a bit in the morning it was well after ten by the time I put foot to pedal and got on my way.
After yesterdays excitement I am pleased to report today was just another ride through the country. Although my hand is still sore after it’s debut as an emergency break yesterday, I am otherwise in good shape.
The road was not without it’s charms today though. One section in particular, where road crews had decided to leave a 2 km stretch of rough gravel for the weekend, gave me a bit of excitement. In fact the road was so rough it claimed the latest sacrifice in payment for my trip across the country. One of my water bottle holders paid the ultimate price and gave in to the endless abuse I have been putting it through; snapping cleanly in half with a final crack, it ended its long service to me in resounding fashion.
I almost feel guilty having such a short day. I is hard being so close to the end and waiting around for ferries and presentations. Looking at my schedule there is only nine days of actual biking left to get me to St. John’s, but days off waiting for ferries stretches that out to twelve days of travel. I can’t stop myself from looking towards the end at this point; it is so close it pretty much takes up my every thought.
Tomorrow is presentation day and then we wait for the ferry to Nova Scotia. The next time I am on my bike I will be in a new province and on my way to Halifax!
Activity tip: Heart rate monitoring is a great way to keep track of your workouts and how hard you are working. You can find many affordable monitors on the market and most come with easy to follow guidelines, or there are quite a few very good heart rate programs available on the Internet. Just keep in mind that your heart rate is affected by anything from temperature to dehydration, so find programs that give you a target range rather than set numbers.
Sincerely,
Tyler