A More Elaborate Conclusion Entry

Well it has been over a week since Tyler and I have returned to our respective bases in Calgary and Brampton so I guess it’s about time for a more complete conclusionary entry. To start I will recall how Newfoundland was won.

Newfoundland as you can tell from the trip statistics is bigger then you might think and it took as 8 days of biking to complete. Deer Lake to St. Johns was the most challenging as it was five days of relentless cycling of between 120 and 135 kms. The first four days were overcast with a serious headwind and a seemingly never-ending chain of hills. Occasionally there was a downpour but generally it was just drizzling. We had some nice camping along the route. We stayed in the first National Park of our trip I believe- Terra Nova- which improved the somewhat drab scenery but at the cost of some serious hills. Along the way we ran in Brian and Pat again for probably the fifth time, Greg from Montreal who was in the same shuttle bus over Confederation Bridge as us and for the fist time Mike and Mary from Victoria- you can read their blog here.

Our last night on the road we stayed at a campsite 5 kms out of Arnolds Cove where there is a giant refinery briefly making me think of Sarnia, Ontario. We were ready for a big push the next day got up uncharactictally early- around 615 am. We got off to a good start even though the conditions- hills, headwind, and overcast weather- continued unabated. The only other minor problem was that Tyler had a bottle of hot sauce explode in his pannier after it hit a rock in the shoulder- messy but non-threatening. Then, 35 kilometres into these conditions we started going east rather then south and that seemed to change everything. All of a sudden we had a tailwind, and the weather improved dramatically. The hills (perhaps because of tailwind) because less and less signifigant. It was a wonderful to cycle with such ease at the end to our journey across Canada. 100 kms later, I was almost euphoric at the sight of St. Johns and its harbour from the last hill on Highway 2. Tyler called his friend from there and I called my Mom because she wanted me to call her before I reached the city- which puzzled me at the time. I told her that we would be at Mile 0 in about 15 minutes. 10 minutes later after cycling by the incupicious sign we had arrived. Then my brothers sauntered out from behind a bush which was a huge and most welcome surprise.


We found time later that afternoon to dip our wheels in Quidi Vidi Harbour which was our official end to the journey. That night we partied and got screeched in at famous (or infamous) George Street. My brothers and I spent a couple days in St. Johns enjoying its sights and strange weather. The highlight was when then rented bikes and came with me to Signal Hill (which overlooks St. Johns and was the site of the first transatlantic radio transmission) and Cape Spear which is the easternmost point in North America. There were quite a number of hills on the way to Cape Spear which were the hardest on Rhys with his fully tricked out mountain bike but it was a very worthwhile trip.

I’m going to write another entry concerning the whole journey later and another entry will be an equipment review. And a huge thank you the large number of people who hosted us and met up with us along. And same goes to everyone who read our blog and encouraged us. And to special thanks to Rich and Simon who traveled with us for about a week apiece.