tmacphail.ca

Today is going to be my last day because I am within striking distance of St. John’s. Both of riding and of this blog. I got on the road earlier than I have been lately just so I could finish even sooner. Unfortunatelly it is still windy but the road does eventually curve to the north east so that the wind becomes a tailwind.

A fast tailwind would seem like a great way to finish the ride but fate didn’t allow it to be. After 3 months of riding, my lack of major bike problems has caught up with me. My gamble a week ago of not replacing my rear wheel in Corner Brook was almost, but not quite, successful. With about 50km to go I heard another spoke break. I didn’t notice any increase in the warping of my tire and just put some tape on the spoke to hold it in place. But another 30km later and things suddenly became even worse. The crack worsened causing a spoke to come seperated from the rim and the tire was now warped enough that it rubbed against the fender each time around. I wasn’t about to let this stop me so close to the finish so I kept going at a limping pace compared to what I should have been doing. The bike was wobbling all over the place now. Once I got within the city limits and took an exit into the edge of town I decided my mission was accomplished.

The university library which I needed to get to for internet access was still almost 10km away so I called a cab. I would have rather made it all the way to the harbour but I accepted the fact that my bike was almost unrideable and I was technically in St. John’s so calling the cab was no longer cheating myself. After checking my e-mail I was able to get the phone number of the person with whom I would stay for the next four days. It turned out to actually be quite close to the university so I tried riding that final bit but my bike wouldn’t have it. Another spoke or two probably broke and they started getting tangled and twisted all over the place so I decided it would be easier to walk the rest of the way.

I’m done! Over 9000km (counting the earlier stage starting from Victoria) and nearly 400 hours of biking spread over 3 months and I have successfully biked across Canada. I’ve seen every province (some more than others), met lots of great people, gone through dozens of national parks and historic sites, camped in the middle of nowhere, swam in 3 of the 5 great lakes, and so much more. For the next 4 days I will now relax in St. John’s, walk around the city, and maybe rent a car to visit some things further away like Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America (I would have biked there tomorrow if the wheel hadn’t given up on me).