Monday August 6th
Map my ride route details here
I got up pretty early to do me business and start organizing. Around that time I heard a few rumblings upstairs and knew that Mylene would be up. While her boyfriend and her are getting ready for a work day I am riding my bicycles across the country. I was in slow motion a bit but eventually got the bike all packed up, water ready with electrolite tablets deployed and me dressed with bike shorts and butt cream. We took some pictures but not with my camera so I will have to get those later.
The morning air was quite a contrast from normal since it was cooler with not as much humidity as the previous days. Mylene street was called Rue du Sanctuaire because it was on the same road as the Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap which had a huge Basilica that was built in 1964 on the same grounds as a church that was built in 1720. I tend not to take photos or even bothering to stop to look at churches because there are large ones in every single town in Quebec and most look somewhat similar and some are not that old. This one structurally stood out from the rest which made it worth a visit and it is geared as a tourist attraction with a little office and maps of the grounds.
I took the 138 highway which was close to the church and made my way along the smooth bike shoulders of Quebec. There were lots of trees and the weather though nice and sunny not too hot yet. The road is lined with houses and farms which are all well kept and many are large estate like homes which have long driveways lined with trees leading up to a large house. The grounds are usually pretty immaculate so there is a little money out here of course.
Mylene had given me a kind of meat pie for my lunch which I ate over two lunch breaks. This saved me time, money and for a cold pie it was pretty good an very filling. All along the road you hit little small towns which wrap around the snaking highway. No matter the size of the two there is always a massive church strategically placed so one entering the town could not miss its grandieur. Closer to Quebec city there are little hills but nothing longer than 200 meters in length and this was a semi short day so there wasn’t too much concern of burning out.
About 30 kilometers out of Quebec city the 138 highway detoured and lead to the freeway which I couldn’t ride on nor did I want to. I was kind of at a dead end and turned around to find a road along the river I could take in. Just as I started a young man was heading straight into the dead end at full tilt. There was a gravel path there but the GPS showed it ended shortly after. I flagged him down and I guess he was more or less just out for a bike ride and didn’t know if the gravel path went anywhere. I told him where I was going and he decided to show me where to go since he lived in the area. His name was Jerome and we talked about my journey and Quebec politics. This was unavoidable because on every second sign post since I entered the province there is some smiling face waiting to eat your tax dollars. Anyway he didn’t like the current party in power because he said they were corrupt. We rode for 5 or 6 kilometers before coming to the bottom of a large hill. The reason for the dead ends is because the rail tracks cut a diagonal line along a steep ridge line that crosses over the St. Lawrence, who knew?
The climb was a bitch, seriously it was a good 10% grade or maybe just felt that way. The bike route was well marked which I easily followed part way into the city before contact Ken Tracy, my buddy from work. He grew up just outside Quebec City which is where I was going to stay tonight. He was in town with his wife Angela whom I also work with and son Emile. They were in the downtown site seeing so I went to meet them in town.
I stayed on the bike route for a quite a while be turning onto Boulevard Laurier which is a pretty busy street that turns into Rue Saint Louis which literally brings you right into the core of the old city by the Chateau Frontenac. Ken was waiting there with his family along with his older brother Dick Tracy (yes really) and sister Ethel Tracy and baby daughter Megane. We were all hungry so we went for a burger and being in the heart of touristville it was $11 for the burger alone! It didn’t matter and after cleaning up in the restuarant washroom we went and put my bike in their van while we walked around the city.
We walked around the core than eventually landed in the Plains of Abraham where Ken and I re-enacted one of the many battles. The French won this time so we headed back to Ken’s parents Jean-Claude and Marie Tracy’s home in Saint Anselme. I stayed up talking for a while but eventually fatigue got the better of me and I had to go to bed.