On preparations afoot and other matters

Well, I am sort of packed and ready, for a sufficiently large value of packed and ready. There are still two workdays to go and as I need a certain percentage of my biking gear to go to work, it hasn't been packed in my touring panniers bags. Actually, in theory, I could bike to work without rain gear or my tool kit but that would bring Mr. Murphy and his laws into the equation.

As I packed, I was very grateful that I thought to write in my note book what I left in Le Bic with my bike. If I hadn't I would be much more worried than I am right now. When I was staying in Le Bic, it came to my attention that my hosts didn't have any laundry baskets. I therefore bought them three to given them as house presents on my return. In addition, they should make taking my load of clobber on the bus much more manageable.
In other news, I was in North Hatley on the weekend and had the opportunity to take this photograph of someone who was just back from her first vacation in Le Bic. Her first vacation ever for that matter.
I think that no one could believe that my niece is underfed!!! Actually, babies are babies and my mother said that my brother (i.e. my niece's father) was quite chubby at her age. He grew up to be even skinnier than I am.

I was watching Pete Seeger : the Power of Song on DVD last night. The more I learn about the man, the more I am impressed. Of course, the documentary is quite openly the "authorized biography" version of events, given that one of the producers was Toshi Seeger, Pete's wife of over sixty years. Given she has stood by him through thick and thin, it would be very surprising that there would be much harsh criticism of him. In fact, it wouldn't be far from the truth to say that some of the harshest criticism of him comes in the form of saying that she put up with a lot in order to further his ideals. Nonetheless, the documentary was about a very gifted and noble individual, so in many respects there is relatively little to critique. It was, however, notable that there was little about Bob Dylan going electric at the Newport festival.

I now feel obligated to come up with a biking folk song while on the journey.

On distances travelled during part 1.

In re-reading this blog, I noticed that I had neglected to give the distances traveled on the various days. So without further ado, here they are:

Day : Date . Distance / Avg. speed
Day 1: June 14. 109.32 / 20.5
Day 2: June 15. 109.36 / 24.1 (Light load in the Acton Vale challenge)
Day 3: June 16. 125.95 / 19.9
Day 4: June 17. 86.66 / 18.2
Day 5: June 18. n/a Rest day
Day 6: June 19. 90.88 / 19.5
Day 7: June 20. 114.41 / 20.3
Day 8: June 21. 122.77 / 18.5

On another turtle shot for Mark's benefit

I am feeling bored and can't think of anything particularly witty to say. Instead, I will show you another shot of the snapping turtle. Mark, my sister's fiancée, has an interest in turtles.
I didn't intend to upload this next shot but in trying upload the turtle shot, I accidentally did so on the first try, so I decided to leave it in.
This was taken on the first day, on the Route des Champs bike path. The sign was leftover from the days when the bike path was still a railway line. If I am not mistaken, Autoroute 10 (a.k.a. the Eastern Townships' Autoroute) runs next to the power line in the far distance. I was surprised to see that near Marieville, the path was very close to the Autoroute. Since then, I have seen the bike path while on the Autoroute.

On photos from part 1

A CD-ROM with the images I downloaded from my camera in Quebec City to my cousins' computer arrived today. Consequently, it seems time to clutter my blog with some pictures from the first half of the first part of my trip to Newfoundland.
This swing beside the route of the Défi d'Acton Vale was made from some old tires. If you look closely, you will it was made to look like a horse, complete with a saddle and stirrups.
This old hotel(?) caught my attention, particularly with the perspective of the road and railroad going off into the distance.
Here we have the snapping turtle, looking rather fierce.
This is the approximate location where the Victoria Cross was earned in Danville.
This is one of the most tarted up and posh-looking farms I have seen. I can only guess that you would pay a premium to buy a cow from here!
This is the B&B I stayed at in Plessisville just after a thunderstorm had swept through.
This shot shows why fenders are a good thing. That is only a fraction of what would have been on my legs had I not had them.

As I neared the Pont du Québec, I had to cross the Chaudière river, no mean task. I had the safe option of staying beside a busy road or going down a 13% grade on which the Guide de la Route Verte did not recommend the use of trailers. They had a point. Not that the grade would have been a problem but as the park rather discouraged riding down the hill with a series of baffles......it would be hard to navigate on a bike with a trailer.
I crossed the Chaudière on this overly springy suspension bridge.
I had the luck to get another cyclist to take this shot of me about to tackle the Pont du Québec.

On the differences between bikes

I should have written this entry a couple of weeks ago but I haven't been in the writing mood. However, better late than never.

My two bikes have a lot in common by design. They have the same seats and wheels and are both of "ten-speed" type mold. However, beyond this, their specific layouts are actually quite different. Leonardo has a longer frame and wider handlebars than the Castafiore. Furthermore, in touring trim with low-rider bags and a handlebar bag, steering requires greater force and movement than on the Castafiore. The upshot of this is that after a week on Leonardo, I was wondering if there was something wrong with the steering on the Castafiore as it seemed loose and I was wobbling significantly!

On a legend

I saw a living legend today. He's been a legend since before I was born. I have any number of his recordings and recordings he has inspired. And he is still inspiring people.

He is Pete Seeger.

He was performing in a church along with his grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger (who is two years younger than I) and Guy Davis.I was slightly embarrassed by the fact that I was in the younger quarter of the crowd. Despite the fact that it was billed as a family concert, most the crowd were old farts (i.e. my age or older). However, there was a good smattering of children.

As well, the crowd was well trained in being played by Pete. Pete is a master banjo picker but that is not the instrument he is best at. He can play a crowd, leading them through songs, old and new, like no one else I know of. This is partly a consequence of the fact that he largely lost his singing voice about twenty years ago, but also because that is part of his gift. If you listen to the CD of "We shall overcome" his 1963 Carnegie Hall concert, several times in the proceedings you can hear how he is playing the audience as well as his instruments. That was well before his voice went.

Pete has aged well, though it was obvious that he isn't as young as he used to be. However, he seemed younger than his 89 years. His songs (or at least the songs he sang) have also aged well. He, Tao and Guy started out with "The Midnight Special" as well as many other well known "Pete" songs. The three performers were relaxed and obviously in good humour. It was also evident what craftsmen the three of them were in the casual way they discussed amongst themselves what key the next song would be in. I don't think the play list had been worked out in advance, but they all knew or could adapt to one another's choices.

The lead alternated between the three performers allowing them to catch their breath in turn. However, a couple of times, when a song by some else began, there would be a light in Pete's eyes and he would get up from his chair and join in on 5-string banjo or 12-string guitar. His love of music and of playing was so obvious. I almost wish he had sung "How can I keep from singing."

After the show was over, I was walking up to the stage to try to get a "Gravity is a theory" bumper sticker, Tao came out of a side door and headed for the back of the church. I managed to shake his hand and say "Thank you".

On memories from the road

Between losing my camera and other things, I never quite got around to finishing writing my impressions from Phase 1. Leaving Quebec City was interesting as the number of short range recreational riders dropped off dramatically. This was partly due to the rain but also to the more challenging terrain. The few cyclists I saw on the day I left Quebec City were obviously hard-core, long distance types like myself (i.e. loaded with stuff). There was also a guy on a skateboard, with ski poles and a large backpack. One of the poles had a variant Canadian flag on it with the borders in green or blue instead of red. At the youth hostel in Rivière-du-Loup I heard that he had stopped there and that he claimed that his means of transportation was faster that a bike, something I find hard to credit. He was on a trans-Canada trip.

There is a project afoot to build a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal a certain distance downriver from Quebec City. There were a significant number of posters on people's lawns protesting the decision. While I could understand that they were unhappy about the development, I felt that a lot of people who had put the signs up were being somewhat hypocritical. I admit that the region is question is very pretty and that a LNG port would take something away from the charm of the region. But a lot of the charm has already been taken away by some of the protesters. Many of them obviously decided to build a "nice" (i.e. suburban) house in the country and to commute into Quebec City to work. To say that their houses are a blight on the landscape is probably going too far but many of them sure weren't pretty. As well, they are driving their cars quite a distance to get to and from work. Where do they think hydrocarbons come from? One house I rode past had three vehicles in the driveway: 1 Jeep Cherokee, 1 Lexus car and 1 Lexus SUV. Sorry, we aren't talking about farmers here, unless it happens to be weed they are growing. I am not sympathetic to these NIMBY-ites. The St-Lawrence river isn't just a pretty backdrop. From before the start of recorded history in these parts, it has been a (very) efficient highway for all kinds of goods.

Enough ranting, back to fun memories. On the plains of Abraham, I came across an assortment of cannons gathered from various locations in Eastern Canada. The one that interested me the most was an English cannon found near English Bay on Anticosti Island. Many years ago, I spent part of one summer on Anticosti Island. Since then, the place has held an interest to me. If only I could remember where English Bay (or Baie des Anglais) is on the Island.

Near the brewery I visited, I was traveling through some fields next to the sea. There was a movement of something big swimming in a deep drainage ditch next to the road. I stopped and went back to look thinking and hoping it was an eel or a large fish. It was a semi-aquatic mammal. It looked at me and I looked at it. As I crept nearer, it dove down and backwards to disappear out of sight, leaving me with a doubt in my mind as what it was. The possibilities are A. an otter or B. a muskrat. Both species are to be found in the area. An otter would be much more fun to have seen. On the other hand, muskrats are more common and their Wikipedia article does specifically mention their use of drainage ditches. I like to think that the aquabatic way it disappeared means it was an otter.

When I was on the bike path from Richmond to Quebec City, the long straight sections through trees would often times play optical tricks. If we consider this photo for instance:

The gap between the trees in the distance gives the impression that the path goes up a hill as the colour of the gravel merges with the colour of the sky. At other times, there would a whitish house blocking the path that turned out to be the sky framed by overhanging trees.

The youth hostel in Rivière-du-Loup offered supper at a very reasonable rate of $9 for a three-course meal including a glass of wine. The first course was a salad that included a few blueberries. As I was feeling waggish, I picked one up, turned to the twenty-year old Frenchman who was sitting beside me and asked in French if he knew what it was. His first guess was an olive. With a certain relish, I told him that it was a "bleuet" and started a discussion of the differences between Québécois and European French. In Québécois French, a "bleuet" is a blueberry. In Euro-French, a "bleuet" is a species of small blue flower. A blueberry is a North American variety of "myrtille" in Euro-French. Sometimes it is fun to gently tease the French from France.