Posted by Nadine & Mark in If you haven’t read Day 1 of Nadine & Mark’s New Brunswick Cycling Adventure, please do.
Horror stories by the campfire – bike tour edition
As we sat by the campfire at the end of the first day, Len (an area native) described a hill we’d be climbing as a “Wall.†Now, Len’s a pretty quiet guy, a natural climber by shape and size. So, for Len to even comment on the up and coming terrain left me and others wondering what was in store for us the next day.
I must have been eager to tackle the hills (or jolted out of sleep from a nightmare) because I was up at the crack of dawn. According to Mark, five o’clock is not a socially acceptable time to get up and start tearing down the tent – especially when a group of twenty-four share about six campsites.
Our Nomadic Village
The Day or Look Ma, more hills!!
Start: St-Martins, New Brunswick
End: Fundy National Park, New Brunswick
Distance: 108 kms
Weather: Cloudy and cool, another perfect day.
The Wall vs The Athena
(Athena = Female Cyclist , >165lbs)
We eventually got everything packed up – it must have been close to nine before we were able to set off. The route was fairly straightforward with only a few turns – this always take a bit of stress off. No one likes to be ‘the one’ who got lost.
I’ve also come to the conclusion that I need about fifteen kilometers to warm up and come to grips with the fact that I will be spending a significant portion of the day on my bike. Unfortunately, the Wall made it’s appearance at the ten km mark – hiding innocently around a bend and a bunch of trees. Surely, no sane human would build a road there! Len had not done this thing justice – I didn’t realize I’d be climbing to the sky at a ninety degree angle (not that bad, but CLOSE!)
The hill was every bit as brutal as it looked – making every other hill I’ve climbed in my life pale in comparison, mere bumps. I managed to climb about an eight of it before declaring it the winner. Pride aside, I got off the bike and walked it. Most of us did. The handful that made it suffered all the way up. My hat goes off to them, one day, once the memory fades, I’d love to try it again. *coughs*
I had been looking forward to the ride into Fundy National Park since the day we signed up for the tour – it’s one of my favorite parks in Canada. You can get a close up view of the highest tides in the world, the hiking trails are quite impressive, and it houses some really good hills (the highest was a 365-meter climb (about 1200ft)). Well, I hadn’t really been looking forward to the hills. After a bit of research, the hills are part of the Caledonia Highlands and Kent Hills. I don’t know how they rate in terms of cat 4 or 3, if at all, but in my books they’re going down as absolutely nasty. I just checked with Mark, he agrees. Did the hill training help? Absolutely. Could I have done more training? Absolutely!
We ended the day with a four km downhill section – steep with lots of twists and turns. Which was quite the reward after a 30+km string of rolling hills. The roads were a bit wet from a recent shower and the brakes weren’t as responsive as I would have wanted them to be. All went well. Ed and Denise (on the tandem) hit 80+km/hr! YIKES!
View from the top (at least someone out there had the sense to take this picture! We even stopped here and said “wowâ€â€¦but no picture.)
With clouds looming overhead, we decide to walk to the town of Alma (maybe a kilometer away) for a group dinner. That night…it rained. And rained. And rained some more. And…well, I’m sure you get the idea.
A note before ending this one. Hills have always been a challenge for me (mentally) and with hitting a long string of them at the end of a day, I think I managed fairly well. It wasn’t always pretty. There were some ugly moments when I wondered what I had gotten myself into. It’s amazing the amounts of emotions you can experience over the course of a day – especially the days that are just a little above you’re skill level, whether it be hills, distance or both. For me, this isn’t just about riding a bike, it’s about living healthier, learning what my weaknesses are and to help me establish goals for the next year. These tours are my measuring stick (reward?) while trying to become an ex-Athena, but realizing it’s going to take time.
Just gotta keep riding!
