Day 76 Epilog

The TDC 2022 cyclists assembled at Signal Hill in St. John's Newfoundland for a last group photo.  21 riders began the tour and 18 finished.  Riders were in a congratulatory mood.  The most distant point of land in the background is Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America.

 

 

In the back row: Bruce, Peter, Brad, Jane, Julie, Simon, Jessie, Guy, Julian, Rob, Louis and Jim

In the front row: Don, Eric, Bill, Laura, Roger and Mariah

For many of the cyclists, riding across Canada was a many year or even decades long dream.  The happiness in their faces registers the accomplishment of that dream.

We were so very fortunate to have our British cycling guides, Julie and Simon, included in the tour.  They were so extremely helpful to the success of the endeavor.  Julie helped us stay on course by programming the Ride with GPS files of the daily routes and where necessary helping to load the files on Garmin devices.  Simon helped many a rider with bicycle maintenance issues, helping them get necessary maintenance done, while avoiding the costs of unnecessary repairs.  The Brit pair would go out of their way to assist both TDC cyclists and other cyclists in the campground with issues.  Their skill at interfacing with TDC management smoothed out wrinkles that could have developed into chasms.  

We thank Julie and Simon for going above and beyond, even so far as entertaining us at the final banquet with a poem and a mystifying card trick, and for assembling and presenting some interesting statistics for the tour.

On a personal note, I left more than my share of weight in Canada, dropping over 2 pounds in each of the 10 provinces. 

I haven't been so trim since graduation from the USAF Academy.  I am sure that I can now easily fit into the uniform that I wore then, and still have now, after retiring from the Air Force  in 1992.  Perhaps riding centuries was a contributing factor.  Canadians counted 160 km as a century ride.  As an American, we count Imperial Centuries of 100 miles or more.  Several Canadians thought it humorous after a ride of say 95 miles, when immediately after reaching camp I would leave and ride the additional miles to complete an Imperial Century.  That way I was able to complete a total of 13 centuries on tour.  Several more were there for the taking early in the tour, but at that stage of conditioning all I wanted to do was get to camp and collapse.  The conditioning built up during the tour made it easier in later stages of the tour to complete the feat. I'm sure that we all felt stronger and able to ride longer as our conditioning improved, provided that we had been able to eat enough protein to strengthen our muscles.  We all took pride in our physical transformations.

PS - X-rays after returning home confirmed that I did fracture my wrist on the fall on the ride to Quebec City.  The call from the hospital of Université Laval that I received during the day riding away from Quebec City and asking me to return to the hospital to put a cast on my wrist was accurate.  At the time I wasn’t sure, since my wrist just felt like it was sprained.  The triquetral bone, one of eight carpal bones between the hand bones and the arm bones, fractured and is healing well.  Since that bone is in the region where Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can occur, I plan to use a wrap or brace on the wrist as needed for 6 to 8 weeks following the injury that happened 3 weeks ago to allow it to heal properly.  Restrictions from my doctor are to avoid actions that cause wrist pain.  Luckily for me that does not include bicycling.  I am sooo happy to have been able to complete the tour!

Day 75 Exploring St. John's NL Last day before returning to Tennessee

 

 

Unwinding in St. John's for a day before I am homeward bound!

 

Breakfast at Tim Horton's.  Socks sold at his restaurants support camps he has established for Canadian youth from low income families.  I tried to purchase some for souvenirs, but they were out of stock at this restaurant. I searched several other Tim's restaurants, and eventually found some.

Proceeds from the sale of these socks depicting camp activities help fund the camps.  

The women cyclists in our tour supported the cause by buying socks to wear on the final day of the tour.

Tim Horton's restaurants are busy all the time.  They offer very good value, and in a way, they demonstrate Canadians' love for their hockey hero as well as the game itself.  For breakfast, the Farmers Wrap included eggs, sausage, veggies, hash browns and a large coffee for $6.72 American.  Couldn't leave without a double double coffee!

 

 

Their drive-up, as you can see, compares to Chic-fil-a in the US and is always busy.

Newfy people are very nice.  Outside of St. John's, delivery of a food order at a fast food restaurant was delivered with the greeting  "Luv"  or something  similar, as one often hears in England.  

 

 

St. John''s is known for its colorfully painted buildings like this one.

 

And a colorful Victorian home.

 

Most of the action in the city happens just north of the Harbor in the area around Water Street.  Atop the Newfoundland War Memorial stands Victory holding the Torch of Freedom with her sword at the ready.

 

 

 

 

 

This display outlined the symbolism depicted in the memorial, and you can view the entire memorial in its photograph.

 

 

 

 

 

The display below explained the significance of the Narrows in protecting the harbor.  It played a major role in protection of shipping and naval forces during WWII.

 

 

 

 

The Narrows today with Cabot Tower at the summit of Signal Hill in the upper left corner.

 

 

 This statue proclaims St. John's as the culture capital of Canada.

This statue pays tribute to the Newfoundland Dog.  Children can touch or even climb onto the statue. 

 

"The Newfoundland is a large working dog. They can be black, brown, grey, or white. However, in the Dominion of Newfoundland, before it became part of the confederation of Canada, only black and Landseer (white-and-black) colo
red dogs were considered to be proper members of the breed.^[2] They were originally bred and used as working dogs for fishermen in Newfoundland.^[3][4] Newfoundlands are known for their giant size, intelligence, tremendous strength, calm disposition, love of children and loyalty. They excel at water rescue/lifesaving because of their muscular build, thick double coat, webbed paws, and swimming abilities.^{"   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundland_dog}

 

 

 

 

 

 

^{The statue does not do justice to the heavy, thick coat of the Newfoundland.  Here is a photograph that presents a better idea of the fabled coat.}

 

                                                             

 

What is not to love about the personality of the Labrador Retriever, bred from the Newfoundland dog?  The Labrador is a favorite in Tennessee, and this particular fellow is guarding my bike.

 

   

This display imparts information about the Labrador Retriever.

 

 

 

 

An active morning of sightseeing by bicycle worked up an appetite for Mary Brown's Chicken and Taters.  The chicken chain is based out of St. John's and a local arena bears Mary Brown's name, so she must be pretty good at preparing and selling Canadian chicken and potatoes.  Perhaps some of the potato farms on Prince Edward Island are part of her enterprise.

 

I live reasonably close to Nashville, and it took Mary Brown to teach me that a "Nashville Chicken Sandwich"  features sauce that is sweet, smoky, and spicy.  In short, the Nashville Chicken Sandwich has it all!  

 

 

 

Today I had planned to go to Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America, but I changed my plans when I was told that it was the wrong season to see the Puffins there.  I have always been fascinated by Puffins, perhaps because they abound in my ancestral home of Norway.  (Did you know that their beaks become colorful only during the mating season???)  These little Puffins, who resided in a gift shop had to suffice, but they seemed to have dressed up during the mating season.

 

This piece from  the Heritage Shop in St. John's featuring Labradorite, is a gift for the lovely lady at home who as authored the blog with me.

 

"Labradorite is a member of the Feldspar family and is treasured for its remarkable play of color, known as labradorescence. The stone, usually gray-green, dark gray, black, or grayish-white, is composed of aggregate layers that refract light as iridescent flashes of peacock blue, gold, pale green, or coppery red. The predominant blue varies within the light, displaying hues from deepest blue to various shades of pale, almost blue-green."

"This crystal was first discovered in Labrador, Canada, by Moravian missionaries in 1770 who named it for the area. It is, however, referenced in legends by older Inuit tribes, and was known to be in use by the Red Paint People of Maine for over a thousand years. It became a popular gem in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries."  https://www.crystalvaults.com/crystal-encyclopedia/labradorite/

 

 

 

I am now on a plane headed for Tennessee.  It has been a marvelous journey that none of those who experienced it will forget.  That's all folks!  Thank you for joining me on this odyssey.  I hope you enjoyed the ride!

 

                                                                               Jim

Day 74 Clarke's Beach to St. John's, New Foundland and Labrador

 51.3 miles, 3,710 ft ascent, over 5,000 miles on the tour!

 

Our last ride together as a tour.   Weather radar at 07:15 looked ominous, and I donned my rain equipment down to plastic foot bags.  The prediction of wind and rain for the entire day, which would have made it hard to ride together to Signal Hill in St. John's.   Thankfully the forecasters missed this one, and we rode dry all day.  We were blessed, in addition, to have a warm day, as it can snow in St. John's in early September. 

Conception Bay by our campground.  We spent the morning riding around this bay.

 

Foul weather was a favorite for water fowl like these ducks.

 

 

Like similar areas of NL, people live all around the bay.  This is an inlet off of Conception Bay.

We noted this picturesque river near the top of a plateau above Conception Bay.  It resembled the old Coors logo, but is far, far from "pure Rocky Mountain spring water ".

We celebrated the transcontinental cycling ritual. This guy dipped his front wheel into the Atlantic, following the ritual dip of the rear wheel in the Pacific last June at Vancouver Island, and traversing 5,000+ miles across the continent to arrive here 74 days later with a fractured, but healing wrist and quite a few pounds lighter.  

 

Riders met up, of course, at a Tim Horton's, about 6 miles from Signal Hill in St. John's, our final destination and climb of the tour.  

 

 

From there we rode en masse.  We stopped at Mile 0, the terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway.  We had ridden segments of it from Victoria, British Columbia to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

 

 

We paused at the Terry Fox Memorial near Mile 0.  You may remember I posted another memorial to Terry Fox earlier in this journey. Terry started running at St. John's in his running of daily marathons going west on a path similar to our cycling route.  He made it to a point north of Lake Superior, before re-occurrance of the cancer that took his leg forced him to stop his running effort.

 

Following our stop at the Terry Fox Memorial, we began our final climb of the tour up Signal Hill to the Cabot Tower.  The grade for the climb averages 7% grade, but there are much steeper (13-14% as measured by Brad) sections. Although our cyclists had some prior trepidation about rumors of the climb, it was easily assaulted by everyone.  

 

History of Signal Hill:  Due to the strategic placement of Signal Hill overlooking the Narrows, the only entrance to the harbor, fortifications date back to the mid 17th century.  The final battle of the Seven Years' War in North America was fought in 1762 at Signal Hill when the French surrendered St. John's to a British force.  The British commander renamed wat was then know as "The Lookout", Signal Hill, because of the signalling that took place upon its summit from its flag mast.  During the 19th century Signal Hill was manned specifically during the Napoleonic Wars and the American Civil War.  (Wow!  Canada was worried about being attacked during the American Civil War!)  Construction of Cabot Tower atop the hill began in 1897, to commemorate both Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's landfall, which took place in 1497.  Our crew remembered John Cabot most vividly during the days riding the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia.

 

Another interesting tidbit on Signal Hill:  On December 12, 1901, the first transatlantic wireless transmission was received by Guglielmo Marconi at a facility on Signal Hill.  The transmission, in Morse code, originated from his Poldhu Wireless Station, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom.  

St. John's Harbor as seen during our ascent and from the top of Signal Hill.

Cabot Tower atop Signal Hill.

Congratulations to one another and photos at the top were an emotional experience with our cycling friends who had been together sharing for the last ten weeks.  The finale was a nice downhill off of signal Hill and on to a pub for a brew.  It's hard to believe that this adventure is completed.  Photos of some of the crew follow.

 

 

The oldest and the youngest riders of the tour, myself and Julian.  Julian is a graduate student at the University of Toronto, Canada's most prestigious university, from which he attained his undergraduate degree. 

 

 

Galley Crew 1 including the two British cycling guides, Simon, "Ace" (left) and Julie, along with yours truly and Julian.  Simon and Julie, being the fastest riders, always got to camp and started cooking preparations first.  One fine day, however, in Quebec, I was able to ride in a pace line with them for 94 miles to camp.  They were kind to let me keep up for that long.

 

Our tandem riders, Roger and Laura.  I very much enjoyed their company on the road.  Roger told me that on an extremely difficult climb where they couldn't make it all the way to the top, he had trouble getting unclipped from his pedals fast enough and they would fall over.  On the 13-14% grade of the Cabot Trail that lasted nearly a mile, Roger made the decision to stop and walk the tandem, but on the final climb up Signal Hill with its shorter 13-14% sections, Roger and Laura made it to the summit riding all the way.  Good on Roger and Laura!

 

Note on the location of this photo:  The furthest point behind Roger, pointing toward his head, is Cape Spear.  Cape Spear has the distinction of being the easternmost point in North America.  It is, believe it or not, closer to Africa than Florida is!  (Check it on a globe.  Florida is closer to the equator, and therefore a longer distance from Africa.)

 

 

Obligatory bike lift at St. John's Harbor before on to the pub for a brew!

 

Once ensconced in the Holiday Inn, our final stop before disbursing to our various homes, we celebrated with a victory dinner.

 

After our celebratory dinner, Julian, our youngest rider, recited by memory the names of each of our daily stopping points, over 60 of them,  from Victoria to St. Johns in chronological order.  Julian, born in Indiana, is a very intelligent and delightful Canadian citizen now.  He is probably the only rider who gained weight during the tour, adding 5 pounds of solid muscle.

This cake provided dessert for our victory dinner.

 

 

 

My roommate, Guy with the English pronunciation, not the French, at the hotel and heading to the airport to fly home.  He was loaded with his bike in a box, a backpack, and an oversized bag of bike gear and foul weather clothing.  Note the big smile of victory, having conquered Canada by bicycle.

 

 

 

 

I'm heading home Sunday, so I have one more day in St. John's before I depart for Tennessee.  I had thought I would travel to Cape Spear before leaving, but the Puffins which I wanted to see, are no longer there after July.    Instead I will explore St. John's tomorrow.  Come along, if you like!

Day 73 Argentia, to Clarke's Beach, Newfoundland and Labrador

 58.6 miles   2,800 ft ascent.

 

Today we entered our 10th Canadian province, Newfoundland.  We had to set our clocks ahead 1/2 hour, since Newfoundland and Labrador (official name for the province) is half a time zone ahead of the Atlantic Time Zone.

"Newfoundland and Labrador (/njuːfənˈlænd  ...  læbrəˈdɔːr/; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. It is made up of the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of 405,212 square kilometers (156,500 sq mi). The province's population is expected to be 521,758 in 2021.^[7] The island of Newfoundland (and its neighboring smaller islands) is home to around 94 percent of the province's population, with more than half residing in the Avalon Peninsula."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundland_and_Labrador

 

I drew a quick breath when I noticed the name of the bar on the ferry.  No drinks for me, thank you.

 

 

View from the ferry port in Argentia.  I thought that Newfoundland was flat.  Perhaps I was misinformed?

Looking out into the Atlantic from the docked ferry.  The seas are calm, and to my knowledge, only two cyclists took dramamine for seasickness.

 

 

 

 

An official welcome from our hosts.  The flag on the left is the Newfoundland Labrador flag, the one in the middle is the flag of Canada, and the flag on the right is the Union Jack of Great Britain.  We had not seen the Union Jack flown with a provincial flag in other provinces.  Perhaps in NL it is flown because NL is the closest province to the United Kingdom. 

 

 

These islands were located in a fjord that extended inland for 10 miles.

 

 

 

 

I thought we had another chance for a bull moose sighting in the marshy area, but no joy!   The sign indicated there were 660 collisions with moose last year, I presumed in this province.  That is about 2 each day, but we haven't seen a single moose.

 

 

 

We were keeping watch at lakes also, but still frustrated at seeing no moose.

 

 

 

 

Another charming harbor town.

 

 

 

We had a great day riding after disembarking the overnight ferry from Nova Scotia.  Temperatures were in the 70s and low 80sF.   In Newfoundland the wind blows long and strong.  A tailwind prevailed today for the most part, but we did have a headwind in two segments, and some strong crosswinds at times.  I was blown from the shoulder into the roadway with one gust, but thankfully, no vehicles were in the vicinity near me at the time.  Eric had the same experience.  We have both lost weight during the tour, so the wind has a greater advantage over us now.

 

Today we reached our tenth and last Canadian province, and tomorrow is the last official day of the Tour du Canada.  I hope you will stay with us to the very end.