Day 57 Trois Rivieres to Quebec City, QC

 39.6 miles, 294 ft ascent, journey cut short by wreck in pace line

 

Today we were supposed to pedal to Quebec City.  Officially, Quebec City is simply "Quebec" to the natives, and the province is "le Quebec".  Another peculiarity is that there are no provincial parks in Quebec, as in other provinces, because the people here consider le Quebec to be a nation unto itself.  Thus, all parks are national parks here.

We rode into a 10-12 mph headwind, and all of us need the approaching rest day in Quebec. The headwind, and good reason for a paceline, was evidenced by these flags.  The flag of Quebec with four fleur-de-lis waves in the center.  Notice it flies higher than the flag of Canada, because folks here consider Quebec its own nation.

 

I was riding in a 7 person paceline, when the person in front of me hit the rear wheel of the bicycle in front and went down.  About 18 inches behind the person who fell, I went down, landing on my own  front wheel which took most of the impact and broke a spoke.  We replaced the broken spoke with a fiber spoke, but the wheel still spun with a lot of wobble.  In addition, my rear tire got slashed.  I have a spare tire with me, and I plan to swap it out for the damaged one, which has almost 4,000 miles on it anyway.  My left wrist was sprained to some degree.  Rather than try to finish the ride into Quebec City, I called AAA to use the roadside assistance insurance that I purchased for the tour and covers bicycles.  The CAA (Canadian Automobile Association) transported me and my broken bicycle to Quebec City, where, thankfully, we have a rest day tomorrow.  

I thought it best to have the wrist medically examined.  After x-rays and 5.5 hours of waiting, a doctor confirmed that I had no broken bones, despite the bruising and swelling.  It should take 3-5 days for the sprain to clear, then I am back in business.  We have a tough day's ride 10 days from now on Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia.  In the meantime, I am hoping for no flat tires or further bike problems which could be tricky to repair with a wonky wrist.  I am thankful that my injuries were relatively minor, considering what could have happened in a seven person paceline.

The remainder of today's post documents for you the part of the journey before the accident.

This is the St. Maurice River in the area where it splits into three channels, just before entering the St. Lawrence.

In Quebec Province, KFC is called PFK, or Poulet Frit Kentucky, ie Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Ironically, in France, it is still known as KFC.

Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap in Trois Rivieres, QC.  This cathedral attracts Catholic pilgrims from around the world.

The St. Lawrence, as seen from ville along the bicycle route.

That is all I was able to capture today before the unfortunate end of our paceline and my ride.  Thankfully, I have tomorrow to seek the proper treatment for my bike, now that I have received treatment for my own injury.  Visit again to see my experiences in Quebec City.