Scout Vélotour 2007

I got an early start so I would be in Antigonish before 9 am.  I had a radio interview with Radio-Canada in Montréal at that time.  There was a clear sky and the sun coming up over the hills was really pretty, and helped distract me from the confused wind that seemed to blow in all directions for a while just after starting.Once in Antigonish, I stopped at Sobey’s and stocked up on food.  I felt a bit like a rubbie pushing my shopping cart around the shopping centre while I was looking for a payphone in a quiet area.  The clerk at the Claymore Inn was most helpful, and the interview went well.Riding the

in NS is not as good as in NB: the shoulders are mostly good but get very narrow during passing lanes (as in ON), so I found I had to stake my ground, and encourage people to move over when passing.  Drivers were generally pretty good but drivers of RV’s and those hauling big trailers needed some encouragement to move over early enough to allow me to see who was behind them.Crossing the Canso Causeway was an experience I don’t care to repeat: There are *no* shoulders so a cyclist must use real caution.  A number of drivers who didn’t appreciate having to wait to pass me decided they would impress me by flooring it when they had a chance to pass.  I kept myself calm by thinking that the amount of energy they were consuming for that 50 m stretch was probably equal to all the energy I consumed to pedal the last 10 km.Hoping for a bit of rain to cool things off.At the Visitor Centre in Port Hastings, It was fun to meet Ken and Corinne from
Calgary.  Ken was an avid cyclist till a heart attack a few years ago, so an RV is now the mode of transport.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 13th, 2007 at 12:28 am and is filed under Scout Vélotour 2007. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.