3700 kms in 5 days.

[dagibbs]

Things didn't start out too well on Wednesday when I was supposed to head for Bar Harbor, Maine. I got up late (due to being up late the last night for a game) so got a late start, around 12:30pm. I headed out of Ottawa, through a rain front, got about 45 kms, and realized I'd forgotten my passport. Since I was crossing the border 4 times in 5 days, I figured I should have it. So, I waited 8 kms for the next exit, turned around, back through the rain front, got me passport, and turned around and headed out again. At least the rain had stopped by the third time I passed under that cloud front.

I went east across Quebec and the eastern townships, crossing into Maine near the town of Woburn, PQ or Coburn Gore, Maine -- pretty much a nowhere crossing, but I still got a bunch of questions from the American side. The road I took through Ontario, then Quebec was pretty boring but as soon as I hit Maine... whee! Highway 27, then 16, down through that section of Maine are wonderful -- up and down, back and forth, twisty and fun. Some of it was recently re-built, so smooth with very well set-up corners; parts of it were older, and the corners were still fun, but more likely to be off-camber, or changing radius, or a bit too tight/close to each other (read slower), and the road was quite a bit rougher. (Now, I found that, even the rougher sections, were quite a bit smoother than some of the bumpier sections of Nova Scotia.) Part way along this highway, I came around a corner and there was a moose cruising up the other side of the
highway, though going the same direction as me. I slowed way down, moved way over to my side of the highway, then just as I was passing the moose... it accelerated, so I did so as well. A couple minutes down the road, I passed a rig going the other way -- I really hope the moose was off the highway before the truck got there.

Called elizilla from somewhere along the way to let her know I wouldn't be to the motel before 10pm (if neither of us could make it, we needed to warn them) and asked her to tell me room # for when I got there. Called her again from Newport, where I was having dinner, and she'd arrived -- and was about to go grab dinner herself. Finally made it to Bar Harbor, found the hotel, and found the room no problem: it had a bright-yellow VStrom out in front of it, which kind of helped.

We were up early the next day to be in line for the ferry by shortly after 7am, loaded and on our way across by 8am. The crossing went smoothly, and we met a few bikers on the way across -- who we were to encounter a few more times around the roads of Nova Scotia. About a 1/2 hour to clear customs in Canada (and we were just about the last people cleared as (un)luck would have it), then missed turns and heavy traffic getting out of Yarmouth and on our way delayed us a bit, so we took the main highway up towards Peggy's Cove where we were to meet a 2nd Vstromer. We got there about 1/2 an hour late, to find Ryan still waiting. Had dinner there, then headed out across Halifax and Dartmouth, following Ryan who had grown up in Dartmouth and knew the roads, up past a few towns called Mustquodoboit (though, for all the bugs there, maybe they should have been called Mosquito-bit) as it got dark. Ryan was leading through this, and came close to hitting a black bear -- it was night, and he said at first it just looked like a dark spot on the road, but he reacted in time, and was able to slow down and avoid it successfully. On to New Glasgow, where we grabbed a motel for the night, finishing a long day around 10:30pm. Well, we finished riding then, chatted for a while before heading to bed.

Next morning, on the road again, we headed out around Cape George (scenic, and on a recommended route map that Ryan had), where I was leading when I came upon a deer, but I had a fairly good sight line at that point, and had no problem slowing well before I got too close, and it moved off the road. We grabbed some lunch just before the Canso Causeway, then crossed over (a bit windy, though nothing like the crossing back), then a left turn and up the western coast of Cape Breton towards the Cabot Trail. More beautiful roads with nice scenery. Just as we got to the Cabot Trail, the rain that had been threatening for a while actually broke. Ironically, we'd been stopped for a break, looked at the weather, talked about putting rain gear on, but it was so warm we decided not to. 5 minutes on the road, and we're pulled off to get rain gear on. About 20 minutes of thunderstorm downpour, followed by another 40 minutes of tailing-off rain, and it was done. So, we climbed up to the highlands on wet roads, but the views were still nice, and I'd far rather climb steep twisty roads that are wet, than descend them. More beautiful scenery across the highlands, and we stopped at one place -- to remove rain gear and be tourists. Bumped into a biker there that Ryan had previously met at a rally.

About half-way around the Cabot Trail, there's small road leading off to the north, which turns to gravel, before reaching Meat Cove, the northernmost inhabited point in Nova Scotia. Rocky, barren, but beautiful. Yes we rode out it. Then back down the east coast of that section, across a little ferry across St. Ann's Bay (the Englishtown Ferry) then in to Sydney, where we bought a picnic dinner at a store, then went back along our route to where a couple motels had been spotted, and had a picnic in the motel room dinner.

Ryan was proving to be a good traveling companion -- he was friendly, personable, tended to be comfortable with the same sort of stopping frequency and length that elizilla and I were. He road at about the same speed as us, too -- actually for non-technical riding we were all pretty comfortable at the same speed, but through the more technical stuff, Ryan and I were a bit faster than elizilla, though both about the same speed. But, it was not enough difference to be a problem -- just meant that whenever we reached a straight bit, we'd slow way down for a minute or so to let her catch up, then we'd be off again. I did learn/figure out why I was having ongoing problems with my left curves, though, from following Ryan for a bit, then talking about what I'd noticed. So, I'm now working on not turning in too much too early, and taking/holding a wider line through my left curves, and it seems to be working better
for me.

Also, people in Nova Scotia drive slowly -- mostly at or just below the speed limit. But, they're nice and they don't seem to mind passing. There's lots of uphills, with an extra lane for passing, and everyone moves right. Or, occasionally, they'll be a car ahead of us that wants to pass, but the car will move right, let us bikes by (cause we can pass far faster on an uphill) then pull left behind us to pass. And in other places, people will pull right in the lane, or wave us past to show a good passing zone coming up. And, they don't seem to have attitude from being passed -- we passed one older couple in an SUV approaching the Englishtown ferry, maybe 1/2 a km from the ferry. And, they came up behind us at the ferry, and waved elizilla over. Now, in Ontario, that would have been to shout at her for a stupid pass, but in Nova Scotia, it was so they could offer us ferry tickets, so we didn't have to pay (they were locals, and bought them by the book). Just awesome!

So, Friday night, knowing we wanted to make it back to Yarmouth on Saturday (so we wouldn't have to rush for Sunday's ferry), we decided to get an early start by just leaving the curtains open, and making sure there was no visible clock in the room... get up with the light. Well, we were up and around for a bit, when I went out to check the clock on my bike (and to bang on Ryan's door to wake him, too), and it was 6:45am. Atlantic time. We had breakfast when the restaurant opened at 8am, and were on the road by a pretty reasonable 9am. So, we headed south toward the east coast of Cape Breton, then along some wonderful, nearly deserted, minor back-country roads along the coast. It was a bit cool, but mostly ok, until we came over a ridge and started descending towards the Causeway again, when the wind came up and it got COLD. Crossed the causeway, and stopped to put more layers on -- and had some cake. Then highway for a bit, stop and
say good-bye to Ryan in Antigonish, as he branched off for some more fun riding, then meeting a friend for (apparently) an evening of drinking, then across to Truro, and along some more back-country routes through an area with very interesting streams -- ones that clearly flooded pretty thoroughly from the tides in the Bay of Fundy. This was more farm country, rather than the more wilderness/remoteness of much of Cape Breton. From there, along highway and then one back-country route when our time looked ok around Ohio. That road (340) wasn't very interesting -- better than the highway, but not great.

And, another motel in Yarmouth, up the next day for a relaxed morning, coffee, lunch, then onto the ferry. Lots more bikes on the ferry -- turns out there was some big bike thing going on the upcoming week. U.S. customs was not good -- they had 3 lanes open, with 1 guy handling one lane, and one guy handling the other two lanes. He'd alternate one car from each lane. About 45 minutes into the waiting, a 3rd guy walks out and starts handling one of the lanes, and I cleared at that point -- and I was nowhere near the last. (Compare to 30 minutes into Canada, and I was about 4th last.)
It really bugs me, for a couple reasons -- one of which is that we paid $6 US each way for customs handling -- so it wasn't a taxpayer handled thing. And, the guy new when the boat was arriving -- why wasn't he on duty right away? It conflicted with his coffee break? I was also annoyed, because I was hoping to make it to Montreal to visit and eat with concordantnexus, but this delay, combined with the horrible traffic getting out of Bar Harbor, made me just too late to do so.

So, I decided to take a different route home, aiming for Smuggler's Notch (a fun road, that is closed in winter) in Vermont, then north to Montreal and home. But, I made it across Maine (not great roads this time), New Hampshire (decent), and as far as St Johnsbury, where US 2 (which I was riding) hit I91. It was 8:30pm, and I called concordantnexus to say I wouldn't be making it to Montreal in time to visit, and then thought about route. It was mostly dark by that point, and there was no way I'd make it to Smuggler's Notch before dark, and really I didn't want to ride that road in the dark (it is steep, twisty, and narrow, and I've dumped a bike on it before). So at that point, I bailed out, and took the slab up to Montreal, and home, getting home around 1am.

3700 kms and 5 days.

Some roads of note:

Maine 27 to Maine 16 from the Quebec border to N Anson, where they meet US 201A is a wonderful ride: winding, scenic, and a lot of fun.

All the 10x series in Nova Scotia are local slab -- often just two lane, but slab.

Nova Scotia 340 (NS340) from Ohio to Yarmouth is better than 101, but not great.

NS 236 from Truro to Brooklyn is pleasant, with some nice winding bits, but nothing very technical or tight.

NS 245 to Malignant Cove, then NS337 out around Cape George are very nice, with some nice ocean views and some nice winding bits. (Part of the Sunrise trail.)

The Ceilidh trail is a nice ride, too -- NS19 from the Canso Causeway to Margee forks. Nice, winding, some technical bits, some nice views.

The Cabot trail is a beautiful ride, some very tight, technical ascents and descents, some very enjoyable long winding sections, some absolutely stunning views.

The road to Meat Cove, paved section has some nice technical curves and some nice windy bits; the gravel section is also pretty curvy, with some gorgeous views, and the gravel (when we did it) is mostly quite hard-packed with not much nasty loose stuff.

NS 327 south from Sydney starts out reasonably boring, becoming nicely winding by the end. It leads onto sections of the Fleur-de-lis trail that are smaller, unnumbered roads. These were some of the most enjoyable sections of road we rode -- nothing quite as tight as the switchbacks on the ascents/descents of the Cabot Trail, but beautiful series of slow-to-medium speed corners, one trailing into the next, for kilometer after kilometer. Just lovely riding.

NS357 from Musquodoboit to Middle Musquodoboit was a lovely winding route, up a river valley. 224 towards Upper Musquodoboit was also nice, though not quite as nice as the lower section of the valley.