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2018 07-17 > Sainte-Madeleine-Rivière-Madeleine


We decided on an early start and were tempted to make noise as revenge to last night’s partiers.  However, we behaved and left quietly.  Joe and Jeff pushed their bikes up the steep gravel road to the highway but HP road his electric bike.  He looked like a potentate on a sedan chair waiving and smiling at the peasants.  We started without breakfast but hoped to soon find something.  After several climbs we came to a small café that Antoine, the owner was just opening.  In addition to serving coffee, he also roasts it.  We had Brazilian roasted coffee and home made muffins to fuel the miles ahead.  We soon came to a “screaming” downhill with Joe leading the way and HP close behind.  HP and Joe were not sure that Jeff appreciated the fast descent and wondered if the “screaming” came from him or his breaks.  At the bottom, they pried Jeff’s hands from his handlebars and knew where the sound came from.

We cycled along the Seaway for many miles.  It was mostly flat and easy cycling.  It was warm but we had cooling winds out of the north that did not impact our cycling until we turned away from the water and were hit with the wind’s mighty force. 

After cycling with Joe for 16 years, Jeff had a "first" on a medium uphill.  He pasted Joe struggling up the hill.  Jeff was euphoric, Joe dismayed.  Joe claims that he “forgot” that he was in his large chain ring, right.

About half way thru our ride we finally found a restaurant for a real breakfast.  We were frustrated that none of the previous towns had a place to eat.  Now we had 3 restaurants practically next to each other.  Our waiter Kevin was very friendly but could not get orders straight and had to ask 3 times what we wanted, but still got it wrong.  However, he did suggest a few things to see that were not highlighted in the tourist guides.

After our late breakfast, the cycling gods smiled on us. The winds changed and we had a powerful tail wind pushing us at 20 plus mph.  If it wasn’t for the one big hill, we would have arrived at our motel in about an hour’s time.  As it was, we cycled 25 miles in just over an hour.  Jeff said that it was the fastest he ever cycled for so many miles.

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