August 6; 135km; 1189M vertical; rain

Kingfield, Maine to Bangor Maine
It had to happen sooner or later - today we rode the whole day in heavy rain. We started from Kingfield at 10 am in a light rain and before we had gone 5km we were in a downpour. We stopped under trees for breaks during the day and we found a Tim Horton‘s in Skowhegan, Maine for lunch. Getting on our bikes after lunch was a real effort. It’s good we didn’t have any other option. The rain was so bad I didn’t get my camera out once during the day. We had a long day in Maine with constant rain and constant hills, but we had to make it to Bangor. At 6:30 we arrived at the Bangor airport wet, tired and dripping, but somewhat content that we had done 135km in such miserable conditions. We are now on a 4 day hiatus to attend the wedding of my nephew Patrick, so we rented a car and headed back to Montreal. From Bangor it took us 6 ½ hours to drive back to Montreal - maybe we are not so slow on our bikes as we thought.
Top 7 reasons why we enjoy rainy days:

1. No risk of sun stroke
2. Lots of squeaks, clicks, and rattles disappear when you and your bike are waterlogged
3. Save money on sunscreen
4. Hydration is not a problem - just ride with your mouth open
5. Don’t have to stop to take photographs
6. Don’t get sweat rings on your clothes
7. There are no workers present in the construction zones - no risk of double fines for speeding

August 5; 138 km 1392m vertical; cloudy, some sun & cool

Ernie’s Hunting Lodge (Island Brook) to Kingfield (Maine)
Last night Ernie drove us through the woods to show us the shorter way to get back to the main road so this morning we rode a rough trail uphill all the way and saved 8km. Now, it would have been nice if that had been it for riding uphill but, unfortunately, the road through eastern Quebec takes the hills in straight lines with frequent 12% climbs. When we arrived in Woburn we had climbed 875m in only 50km into headwinds and we were working harder than anything we had done in Ontario. I was a stretcher case before I’d even had lunch. TimB is only a shadow of his former self. If he dresses too fast in the morning he will fall straight through his clothes. Five km after Woburn we crossed the U.S. border into Maine and the remaining 85km to Kingfield were a long haul even though the terrain was a lot easier. We are now settled in a hotel with a décor from around 1900 and we dined across the road on scallops in a 3-cheese sauce washed down with iced water interspersed with the occasional local brew. Or was that the other way round???? Can’t remember. Anyway, we both feel we may, after all, live to see another day though we are not sure about the 140km to Bangor. Night night.

August 4; 108 km; 1043M Vertical; overcast and rain

Waterloo to Island Brook
We started out in a steady rain and rode to Magog for a cup of tea at the Eastern Townships School Board (my former employer). We had tea with Nancy B, Allison, Caroline and Kathleen. Nancy even treated us to bananas and muffins. Thank you all. We then continued on our way to Lennoxville and Island Brook. At Island Brook we turned off the road to overnight at Ernie’s hunting and fishing lodge. Ernie was there to hand us a beer the minute we got off our bikes and he was the perfect host tonight We had moose sausage for starters and pasta with moose meat, mushroom and zucchini sauce for the main course. Moose meat has zero cholesterol and along with beer is renown as a health food. Ernie took good care of us. Today was our first full day in the Eastern Townships where we have been going up and down hill all day long. Today we climbed 1043 meters vertical, our best total since BC.

August 3 125km, 350m vertical, dull and rainy

Pointe Claire (Montreal) to Waterloo
So, after 4 days at the Baker ranch servicing the bikes, getting kit washed, being fed properly and generally being pampered by our respective wives we are on the move again. TimB’s local knowledge was invaluable in finding our way along the complicated route that took us along Montreal island, around the city and over the bridges to get off the island and head east for Granby and Waterloo. After about 20km we passed two a man and a youth on bikes who a short while later caught up with us at a red light. They were lost and had no idea where to head for to get off the island. They were father and son and wanted to ride back south to Vermont where dad had left his pickup truck. Dad asked if they could follow us so we led them for the next 30km to the bike route which would take them to Chambly where they would be able to turn south for the US border. It turned out to be a pretty slow business because dad is pulling a loaded trailer and his rear derailleur grip shift is broken so he only has 2 useful gears making him very slow. We lost about an hour with all this but we had to feel sorry for them because they had a much tougher day ahead of them than we did. We can only hope they made it ok.
About 50km further on we caught up with another biker who was carrying an enormous load plus a little girl on a seat in front of the handlebars. It turned out that they were a father and daughter duo and had been on the road for a year. They were riding to raise awareness of the poverty that single parents in Canada are subjected to. There really is no end to the surprising types of people that we find pedalling around this country.