Just Ask

Day 81. The Sabbath was restful, and gratefully, it had lots of rain. It was the best day of the week for me to see rain. That allowed me to wake up to a lovely, clear sky today.

Day 82. Woodstock to Fredericton. 61 mi. 5,063 MI TTD. 3,293 ft elevation. The weather was cool with a good tailwind.

Riding through New Brunswick is getting a little bit like riding through Quebec. In other words, repetitively pleasant and beautiful.

This morning, I pedaled, or coasted, down to the St. John River and then climbed out of the valley for what seemed like a very long time. Once I was up out of the valley, I was greeted by rolling, lush green hills. Of course, those hills were broken up by lovely little towns and pleasant farms. Apparently, despite my taking an easier route and not being in the mountains for over a month now, my legs can still handle hills.

I did have a powerful tailwind, so, feeling like Lance Armstrong, I flew across several miles, even with a fair number of hills. Eventually, my route took me up to a ski area, and although there were only hills back there, the climb up to the ski area was substantial. The ski area is called Crabbe Mountain. It has a vertical drop of 853 ft, according to Google, the highest in the Maritimes. That’s probably why there was a pretty good climb up to it. The only person that I know who may have skied here is my nephew Josh.

After dropping off the mountain and connecting back with the highway, I rode the shoulder but only briefly. I then turned onto another wonderful trail with no traffic. It was dirt, but with a good grade and easy riding through the woods. This eventually brought me back to my favorite river, the St. John, which I paralleled for another 10 mi.

Not to be outdone by Quebec, about 10 miles out of Fredericton, the trail was paved. It was a very pleasant ride into the town of Fredericton, which sits along the St. John River. Upon entering the town, I found the bike shop I’m using for repairs. It turns out that Savage Cycles, the bike shop, is the oldest bicycle shop in the country. The guys were great and gave me some good help and advice for the route ahead. I’ll be offline for a couple of days while I take a break.

Oh, and what’s with the title of this blog? On Saturday, when I checked into my hotel and they put me on the third floor, I thought to myself, do these two kids at the front desk care if I put a bike in the room? I very bravely asked them, and they said they didn’t mind. I rolled my bike to the elevator and took it to my room—no drama.

Then today in Fredericton at the hotel, when I was placed on the 4th floor—a bit nicer hotel, by the way—I thought I was going to try it again, and lo and behold, they didn’t care. I now realize that I probably could have put my bike in the elevator about 70 times instead of struggling to drag it up the stairs. Apparently, you can teach an old dog new tricks, but they are generally slow learners.