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).

The rest of the day just seemed really long because of the wind. Fortunately, just before the road went up a really large hill I took an exit to head towards Bellevue and the wind was now at my back. It was also quite nice to find that the campground was significantly outside of Bellevue and I got to stop earlier than expected. I talked with one of the park employees as he came by the site to pickup the garbage and drop off some firewood. The firepit was still smouldering from a previous occupant and simply adding wood on top of it eventually got it going and I had a campfire for a couple hours until the wood ran out.

There were some nice scenic areas along the way today. This included the rest area where I ate lunch overlooking the town of Gambo as well as Terra Nova National Park. The park, like many other national parks, had some steep hills. It is almost as if that is one of the deciding factors in making an area a national park. As I arrived at the campground I noticed road signs showing that the distance to St. John’s should be under 200km now. I knew this was going to be the case but it really shows me that I’m almost done.

Because of the rain I pretty much never stopped for breaks. It just isn’t worth it if I have to stand in the rain. The only real break I took was underneath an overpass where I was able to get off the road and eat lunch. There was nowhere to sit so I just stood next to my bike and used one of my panniers as a table. Once I finished eating I got right back on the bike instead of staying around like I do most days. I had to get moving in order to stay warm.

About 30 minutes outside of Gander a guy in a pickup pulled a series of u-turns to pull up alongside me and offer me a ride. He probably thought I was crazy when I turned him down because I doubt he could have heard my explanation over the sound of the rain and his truck. I didn’t want to spoil this trip by taking a ride when I didn’t need to. Besides, I probably couldn’t have gotten any wetter if I jumped in a pool. My fingers are already completely pruned up as if I had been sitting in a tub all morning. The rain has also caused the leather in my gloves to turn to mush around the seams and start to come apart.

In Gander I checked into an inn which I had looked up in the morning in case the rain didn’t stop so I could get warm and dry. If the sun had come out I might have gone further to get to a campground. I was quite lucky and there was one room still available at the inn. It had two single beds but they were nice enough to charge me the price for a single person in a room with only a single bed. I probably would have been willing to pay the higher price just to avoid having to go back out into the rain. I cooked for myself in my room using my campstove (probably not allowed but I did it anyways) and watched TV all evening. The weather network informed me that I had just biked though a heavy rainfall warning for up to 50mm of rain that would continue until the early morning tomorrow.

I stopped for another break only an hour later because I was feeling sluggish but after that was moving pretty well. I had a few more brief stops but for the most part just kept riding to my destination. Along the way I turned down one campground I saw that had an indoor pool because I felt I hadn’t gone far enough yet. Another one which was about where I expected to stop was no longer actually a campground and I had to go about 10km further to the edge of the city. The campground was on a lake and despite the cold there were actually people out waterskiing.