Day 55: Repentigny, Quebec, Canada

Day 55: Repentigny, Quebec, Canada

August 6, 2016

Miles: 25, plus 10 riding through town

Average Speed: 12.5 mph
 
Berthierville, Quebec to Repentigny, Quebec

Late last night, we checked the weather forecast because there was a storm coming to town.  Weather.com stated rain through the night stopping in the morning with heavy, SW winds in the afternoon starting at noon (13-15mph).  One other forecast that Steve read last night said up to 20-25 mph gusts could be possible.  We had 25 miles to ride today heading SW, so we decided to leave early before the heavy winds started. Now given our past habits, this goal on the surface would seem ambitious.

Well, this morning we rose early about 7:00a.  Good start right?  We ate the continential breakfast that was offered at the hotel (fair).  We were on our bikes by 9:30a and rolling into Repentigny at 11:30a averaging 12.5 mph.  We did good!

During our ride to Repentigny today and thereafter, we discussed wind force verses mountain climbing on our bikes. Even though we did a lot of climbing early on, it seems the wind of late has been the most challenging.  The wind yesterday (15 mph) and the day before (13 mph), and all those other days, is what has made this tour challenging.  Most of the days riding West along the Saint Lawrence River had us riding into a headwind at various mph winds.  Unlike last year, it was the steep and long climbs that were most challenging and not the wind, setting Kansas aside.  So I decided to do a little research about the difficulty, in terms of effort, for facing strong winds verses facing difficult climbs.  Basically a lot to think about such as:

·           Wind Resitance

·           Rolling Resistance

·           Gravity Force

·           Drag on Front Wheel

·           Drag on Rear Wheel

·           Weight of Rider, Bike and Bags

So I went to a few blogs that actually did a calculation and this is what I have read … climbing a 6% grade hill is roughly equivalent to riding into a 15mph headwind.  Now this would be for a day rider with a light bike and not carrying large paniers or any real weight other than their own.  For us, this rule of thumb calculation is a low estimate given the weight we are carrying (bikes, body, bags).  I estimate this to be 8% to 15 mph for tour riders like us.  Just a wild guess really!

To drive home this point, not that you need more details, but yesterday’s ride for instance, which was a day with a 15 mph headwind, was like riding up Monarch’s Pass, the talliest climb we did last year with Jen and Ben.  For those of you who do not remember the specifics about Monarch’s Pass in Colorado, it is a high mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains with a 11,312 elevation and an 7% grade steepness. If I remember correctly, it was about 10 to 12 miles and it took us approximately 4 hours to climb. Yesterday's ride took us about 4 hours to ride.  This makes sense to me, but I have to admit my creative license is at work here.

We had a lot of time to kill today given our early arrival into Repentigny.  Sorry to bore you with all of this, but when you ride for hours and hours, day after day, you can become consumed by this kind of stuff!

Breakfast, and yes those are video poker machines back there!

Riding along the river was beautiful today!

We checked into our hotel as soon as we arrived.  Luckily our room was available, and to our surprise it was a 60s theme room.  And what you cannot see in any of these pictures is that the ceiling above the bed has a mirror.

Hot red, heart shaped, hot tub!

Another angle

Mirrors everywhere

I needed time away from all those mirrors.  I'm just not that vain!

The motel is right on the Saint Lawrence River

Not really sure what Steve is pointing to

We left to get some lunch.  On our way, we stopped at a farm stand.  We bought the most delicious peaches.

We ate four of them before leaving the stand

Peach face

So we are at Tim Horton's killing time and enjoying a game of cribbage, shortly after, we leave to find a restaurant to have dinner; we leave the restaurant and while on my bike my phone rings.  It is random call from a Repentigny number so I think 'how did someone already get my number.'  We were on our bikes, so I didn't pick it up. About an hour later I saw that I had missed a phone message waiting from that Repentigny number so I checked it. It was Brian and Michelle calling from, what else, a Tim Horton's somewhere in Repentigny tryng to find us.  They didn't have cell service, so they called from a Tim Horton's.  They also sent me a facebook message, but I didn't see it in time.  Sadly, we missed their call and facebook message. We are scheduled to meet them in Montreal tomorrow and to spend the next two days thereafter in North Hero, so I'm assuming they decided to come a day early and perhaps surprise us and have dinner tonight.  That just stinks!  We missed them!  We are sitting here in our hotel room now, waiting for them to contact us and feeling terrible that we missed them. Now I know eventually they will be somewhere with WIFI and get all my messages and read this blog.  If I had only picked up the phone. I mean really, they could be right here in this very motel with a big red heart tub too. Where are you guys?!

At Tim's - score is now 4 to 4.

Lonely dinner without Michelle and Brian.  Well not that lonely!

Dinner good, not great or even very good.

We plan to leave for Montreal (25 miles) early tomorrow to avoid the rain and heavy winds forecasted in the afternoon. Then we will finally see our friends!  Can't wait!