Not Solo

Day 94. Summerside to Charlottetown. 44 miles. 5681 Miles TTD. 1,837 ft elevation. Weather Pleasant.

It’s interesting that in Canada, there are at least three places named Sunnyside and another three named Summerside or Summerland. Undoubtedly named by very hopeful people. In chatting with my barber yesterday, who is from Nigeria, and the checkout man at the grocery store, who was from Saudi Arabia, it’s clear that the names of these places have nothing to do with the realities of the winter chill. My two new “friends” were incredulous about how cold it was in this area this winter.

Leaving Summerside, I retraced some of my path from yesterday on the Confederation Trail. I was headed east towards Charlottetown and would follow the Confederation Trail almost to the door of my motel for the weekend. I had originally hoped to pedal to the start of the family bike ride in Tignish on the far West end of PEI. I couldn’t quite fathom the idea of someone driving my bike to the start. Unfortunately, there’s no church in that direction, so I decided to stay in Charlottetown to attend church and humbled myself by having a vehicle transport me to the start of the Confederation Trail on Monday.

One of the first towns I came to had clearly embraced the idea of a province-wide trail running route near it. In fact, they ran the trail right down the center of part of their town with lovely little shops on either side and no road. I stopped at the bakery for my second breakfast and tried to eat as healthily as possible.

The trail continued through beautiful farmland. Prince Edward Island is known in Canada as the potato capital. I saw plenty of evidence of this, as well as hay and corn. The trail had a perfect surface, and even though I gained 1800 ft of elevation, it was so low-grade that the ups were incredibly comfortable. Of course, it’s possible my legs are a little stronger.

It was a bit strange to realize this was my last day riding alone on this trip. Even as I rode, I received updates on the massive migration of the Gogarty clan from Colorado to PEI. Riding solo has never been a problem and, in fact, is obviously selfishly easier than trying to ride with others. However, when not riding, being alone has become increasingly unfun. Although being solo has made me far more engaging with people I don’t know. A behavior I hope to continue after the ride.

Miraculously, the typical planes, trains, and automobiles saga of our family journeys — this time four different families on three different flights and a grandma from Idaho — resulted in everybody getting to Portland, Maine, or Halifax in a timely manner and subsequently starting the trek in rental cars towards Charlottetown.

On Monday, I will be biking with a crew of over 20 as we start in Tignish, PEI, on a trek across the entire province to Elmira and the end of my journey. It’s a little sad even just to say that, but at the same time, I’m ready to go home.