Two Wheels in Transit: Cycling the Gaspe: Wednesday, September 20,2017: The Perfect Ride!

It rained again overnight and a heavy cloud cover greeted us as we hit the road by 7:50. As predicted the clouds moved out and the temperature began to rise.

There are not enough superlatives to describe today's ride, but I will give it a try. I will start by saying that we are doubtful that we have ever had a more perfect ride. To begin, the ride was mostly down hill following the Matapedia River. We were able to listen to the flow of the water or as Sue describes it as "the burbling sound of water flowing over rocks". We stopped at 2 different covered bridges and even rode our bikes through one of them and back across just because we could! The road conditions, for the most part, were good and we were aided by a strong tail wind all day. The sun shone, the temperatures rose to 24 degrees, and we were able to ride in short sleeves for the first time on the entire adventure. The Matapedia Valley showed us her 'blazing' Fall colours, the best colours of the ride. Fantastic!

'A Do Over...With a Different Result! Seven years ago when we rode through this valley I described the route as extremely hilly and a tough ride. It is pretty obvious that as John Montgomery, Olympic Gold Medalist, has been quoted as saying: "It is 90% mental and the rest is in your head." It is hard to believe I missed this beautiful ride last time.

Our ride has come to an end. The final day of each of our adventures always comes with mixed emotions. We are happy that we have been able to successfully complete our journey but at the same time we are sad that it is over.

We have returned to the Resto Motel Le Riverain where we started our ride. Thanks to Madame Collette for keeping our truck safe for the 2 weeks.

Daily Distance = 70.12 glorious kms. Time on the Bikes = 4 hours 5 minutes. Average Speed = 17.34 km. Maximum Speed = 46.24 km. Wildlife Sightings = Cedar Waxwings, Blue Jay, Downey Woodpecker, Red Squirrel, Mergansers, Cormorants.

We are presently on Part 3 of this adventure. A wrap up of the ride will be posted shortly. Stay Tuned!