tmacphail.ca

I noticed this morning that my rear rim is cracked. It had started wobbling yesterday and I thought it was just a loose spoke until I examined it this morning. This likely happened because I changed my brake pads a little too late thinking they still had some time left and wore the rim out. It is still ridable and I assume I’ll be able to make it far enough to get a new wheel somewhere.

There was a long gradual climb up Cape Smokey which ended with a great view along the coast seeing the road curve steeply back down the cliffs. Like many of the hills on the cabot trail I think I’ve been fortunate in that they each look like the climb in the opposite direction would have been harder. After descending from the cape the road became much less hilly for quite a while.

I left the cabot trail later in the afternoon to take a tiny cable ferry across St. Anne’s bay as a shortcut towards the highway. A couple more large hills along the highway were between me and the ferry at North Sydney but I made it without any trouble. I asked at the visitors center about bike shops but they said the closest was at Sydney. This is unfortunatelly too far away to bike to before the shops would be closed for the day and I wasn’t willing to waste a day riding out there and back tomorrow to get a new wheel. Instead I would just have to risk another two days to get to Corner Brook.

I ate dinner and bought some groceries before going to the ferry terminal to book passage on the 2am ferry to Port aux Basques. I am taking that one so that I will get in the next morning and be able to spend a full day biking. I tried sleeping at the ferry terminal with little success. I may have nodded off a couple times but never for very long.