Tag archives for North Sydney

Day 5: North Sydney to Troy

By Chris Published July 21, 2012
Hitting the road

Hitting the road, with GPS units courtesy of GPS Central

The weather finally came through and we had a dynamite day of sunshine! We got up at the crack of dawn to wash the bikes and grab some breakfast before taking care of some unplanned errands. And a huge thanks to Beryl and Sandra for comping our room at the Clansman Hotel in North Sydney!

Clean Bikes

Finally got to wash the bikes… Nice and shiny!

First stop of the day was at Ramsay’s Cycle & Sport to get dad a new gas cap. Somehow he lost it on the first day while filling up at the Esso in St. Mary’s. Luckily they had one in stock, so no more being made sick from the gas fumes for dad.

Second stop was at Future Shop in Sydney to deal with the camera lens that I dropped yesterday. Brent in the camera department was awesome, and set me up with a very nice 55-200mm Nikon lens. It’s going to take some time to get used to the difference between the 18-70mm that I had before, but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it in no time.

Cabot Trail

Oceanside view from the Cabot Trail

We heard so many good things about the Cabot Trail, so we really looked forward to today’s ride along it. I’m happy to say that it lived up to it’s hype, and was a deadly ride. Check out this scenery!

MS Riders on the Cabot Trail

Pops and I with our bikes on the Cabot Trail

The road was twisty, hilly, and when the suggested speed said to go 30, you better be going 20 as there were some insane hairpin turns that caught me by surprise. We rode the trail east to west, and if I ever get to do it again, I’d like to try it out in the other direction as I quite enjoyed what I saw in my mirror. That said, the direction we went was awesome, and the grand finale (pictured below) made my day.

Dad on the Cabot Trail

Dad on the Cabot Trail

My bike on the Cabot Trail

My bike posing all alone on the Cabot Trail

We met some great people along the ride, some that even knew my dad’s old co-workers from Edmonton. Thanks to everyone for the cash donations, taking our cards, and for showing an interest in what we were doing!

Here are today’s points of interest:

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Day 4: Corner Brook to North Sydney

By Chris Published July 20, 2012

This morning we met the Stephanie and Kevin Boland at the Corner Brook A&W for breakfast, and we were also interviewed by local radio about the ride. Hopefully the story gets syndicated across the rock! Regardless, the exposure that we received while in Newfoundland was great! As we were getting ready to leave A&W, one of the patrons asked where I was heading. I told him across Canada, and he responded with, “I know that, I read it in the paper!” Then as we drove down the streets of Corner Brook, a guy in a work truck pulled up to us at a red light and said, “You the buy’s that are riding for MS?”

AWESOME

Stopped for a super windy photo at Table Mountain

Of course it was raining this morning, so we geared up and made our way from Corner Brook down to Channel-Port aux Basques. We must have had a tail wind with us as we rode because I didn’t notice the wind until we stopped to take a picture in front of Table Mountain. Wow was it ever windy!

We also passed the 1000km point of our journey today!

We got to Port aux Basques pretty early, so we stopped off at Tim’s for a quick lunch before boarding the ferry. We ended up having to strap the bikes down on the ferry, which we couldn’t really figure out, but the couple from Halifax and Moncton behind us showed us what we needed to do. Thanks!

Leaving Newfoundland from Port aux Basques for North Sydney

We said goodbye to Newfoundland, and this is possibly the last picture I took with my current camera setup. I dropped the camera on the concrete this morning at the hotel, and now the focus is pretty much shot. The only way I can focus on something is at the minimum focal length, so tomorrow morning I’m going to have to replace the lens. This is an unexpected cost, but thankfully it’s not the camera body itself that is broken.

The ferry was pretty long and tiring, but I managed to catch a few zzz’s. Didn’t see anything interesting out on the water, which wasn’t a bad thing because had we seen some whales or icebergs I would have been chapped that I couldn’t take any pictures of them.

We’re now in North Sydney, having an early night so that tomorrow we can:

  1. Wash the bikes. Dad has been losing it over how dirty they are.
  2. Get a new lens for my camera.
  3. Get a replacement gas cap for dad’s bike as he lost it on day 1.
  4. Ride the snot out of the Cabot Trail!

Here are the points of interest from Today’s ride:

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