Trois Pistoles to St. Damase, 134km: Up and Up and Soaring

I cycled with Mary and Louise today and we just motored along, it was fantastic. The wind was in our back, the sun was shining, and the view was amazing :)

The directions continued to take us along Route 132 following the St. Lawrence River. At kilometer 38 we took a side road through the village of Bic which was a really cute village.

While we were cycling through Rimouski I stopped on the bridge over the St. Lawrence and at that moment I thought we were at the Gulf of the St. Lawrence because it was so expansive. I got really excited because we would be cycling next to the ocean very shortly. However, later that day I found out we were still not at the Gulf and it hit me once again, the St. Lawrence is one ridiculously massive river. 

 After Rimouski we stopped and sat at a picnic area along the river for lunch just outside St. Luce. Clarke and Becky passed us while we were eating lunch which surprised us because we had served breakfast that morning, so we thought we were one of the last riders of the group. It felt good to not be at the back of the pack as it did not happen often :)

 Before we reached Route 297, which would take us to St. Damase where our campsite was located, we had an awesome stretch of flat road with the wind in our backs. We just gunned it, it was awesome, my legs were pumping and it felt great.

On our directions sheet we were informed that there were three climbs before reaching St. Damase because we were ascending the spine of the Gaspé Peninsula, which is the north end of the Appalachian Mountains. These climbs were short, but they were definitely steep. As I was approaching each climb I was mentally preparing myself. Mary, Louise and I were counting each hill and when we reached the top of hill three we took a break to regain our breath and rejoice in completing all the climbs. However, we were met with a little surprise because as we descended the hill and went around a corner we were met with another massive hill. Apparently we did not count the correct steep hills as one of the previous hills we considered steep was not regarded as steep under Bud standards. Nonetheless, we trucked up it and made it to camp exhausted but in good spirits :)