Our Last Day of the tour! Our 56th day of biking. The emotions that are rolling around are threatening to overwhelm. We woke up at our usual time. I had slept a lot better on the cushions than I had been on my dying mattress. We all got dressed in our yellow kits and ate breakfast. It was a 'eat what's left' breakfast. We prayed the Lord's Prayer as we have every morning for the last 64 days. All morning I was walking around taking pictures with a lot of the people that I have gotten to know over the past 9 weeks. They have become a second family, and I will miss them. It was very cold this morning, possibly one of our coldest mornings on the tour. We loaded the gear truck. There were more bags than usual because everyone had filled their second duffle and there were heavier bags than usual. Bags like the Betty bag went in the bottom (named that way because it's notorious for being the heaviest bag and belongs to Betty!). We got on the road around 7:30, the usual time for us for the last couple of weeks. It was very cold for the first couple of hours. I wished i had worn more layers. Last night Jim B had asked me if I knew which wY we were turning out of the parking lot. Sometimes, we have had to go down into camp only to have to climb back up the same hill we had gone down. With Jim's hand on my arm we went to ask Ed. I told Ed that Jim wanted to know which way we had to go, Jim denied that and said that I was the one who wanted to know! Ed gave us his usual smile and said we turn right. Whew! That means we get to go downhill not uphill. The road was a lot of up and down today. No hills higher than 50m, but that also means not much recovery in between hills. When we reached the second rest stop it had just started to warm up. The rest stop was at the Faith community CRC. They thought we'd be coming close to 11 or lunch so they had soup and buns prepared for us. It was just after 9 am.... but it was so cold that we welcomed the soup with huge smiles. We passed a few people who lingered at that rest stop. We just ate and continued. We ended up going through a small mountainous area, on a quiet road. I was biking just ahead of Sara and when I looked in my rear view mirror, I had to look twice. Sara wasn't the only one back there.m; biking single file was a peloton of close to 20 cyclists. It was really cool so I crossed the road to get a picture, abandoning my spot at the front of this line. It just so happened that the gear trucks had come up behind the peloton. The road was too windy for the trucks to pass so they had to drive behind them for a bit. I hopped back on my bike and pedalled hard to catch up. I was going over 30km/h. I got close and then the trucks passed the peloton and I was able to catch up to Sara who had dropped a little behind. We biked hard to try to join the peloton but they were going really fast. Eventually they disappeared ahead. The scenery on this road was beautiful. We tried to get enough speed on the downhills to go up the next uphill. Sometimes it worked sometimes we still had to struggle up. We were riding through Mosquito bite Valley (otherwise known as Musquodoboit valley). Sara decided that someone with bad spelling named this Valley and they had meant to call it Mosquito Bite. We had some good laughs. After a while I started to become very weary of all the hills. I preferred yesterday's big uphill with a big downhill rather than all these little hills that never ended. We made it to km 113 which was where we had our first staging area to gather everyone before riding to the beach. We had ice cream and chocolate milk while waiting. It was after 2 before almost everyone was in and they sent us on to the next and final staging area at km 118. This was about 3 km from the beach but we had already been teased with glimpses. I couldn't contain my smile (not that I ever can)at my first glimpse of the ocean. What a rush of emotions. I teared up a few times. Biking into the final staging area we were welcomed in with Carrie and others ringing Cow bells as we rolled to a stop. We then waited for everyone to gather. We decided that Jim B, the 81 year old who biked every km across Canada, but had almost always been the last one into camp, should lead us to the beach, so he could get first choice as to where to put his tent. When everyone arrived, we had Billy on his motorcycle at the front, followed by a RCMP car with lights followed by Jim B, Mit, Gary, Jim H (those that were usually at the back) and then the rest of the cyclists, followed by the support vehicles and then an RCMP car with lights flashing bringing up the rear. We rode 2 abreast as a group, as one, the final 3 km to the Lawrencetown Provincisl Beach. When the beach was in sight, I couldn't contain my emotions and had tears falling down my face. What an emotional high. I wish I could of seen Jim Bs face as he entered the parking lot. Written on the road was ROUTE COMPLETE!!!! There were a lot of people gathered to meet us, cheering us on!!!! Sara's friend Melinda was there to meet us (she had ridden the train across Canada). As a group We gathered for a final Lord's Prayer and then made our way over the boardwalk to the beach. I took my shoes off and we all lined up and then on the count of 3 we rolled our front tires into the Atlantic Ocean. Wow! As a group Sea to Sea has raised over $1.6 million to help combat the cycle of poverty. Praise God! We had our pictures and Sara and I each took one of us lifting our bikes (I took my bike bag off so it would be lighter and nothing would fall out. Most people have aluminum bikes that are very light but Sara and i have steel touring bikes that are heavier. After a lot of hugs and pictures we headed off the beach back to the parking lot. They began unloading the gear truck so people who were leaving from the beach could get their things and box up their bikes. The original plan had been for those going to the airport hotel to box our bikes there, but they had the bike boxes at the beach and the shuttles weren't leaving for a while. Sara and I with the help of Melinda grabbed a bike box and began taking apart our bikes. We had to remove the handlebars, pedals, seat, fenders, rear rack, and front tire.Mit helped me a lot. Then we had a problem, we couldn't fit the frame, the handlebar and the wheels all in the box. Several guys came over to help, but we couldn't get it in. Then the notice that Betty and her RV (which was our ride to the hotel) were going to leave. We put our half packed boxes into the gear truck and got in the RV. Deanna, Bonita, Sara, Melinda, Jim B and I were driven by Betty B to the Quality Inn. We were also going to store Ashley's bike in our hotel room because she wasn't coming to that hotel until the tomorrow. We got our room and then went to wait for the gear truck. Once it had parked we unloaded it, which took a little bit of maneuvering (it was packed full). Sara managed to figure out how to get our bikes to fit and we taped the boxes up. We brought them to our room. We then showered, without a lineup and in hot water (it was great!!!). We had dinner at the Bistro in the hotel. This was around 8pm. Everything had taken a lot of time and we were very hungry. We overwhelmed the restaurant with all the Sea to Sea cyclists. Sea to Sea had gotten us a group discount rate at this hotel, that's why so many of us were there. We all hugged and chatted. Sara and Melinda caught up with each other as well. I had seen that the hotel had a hot tub and I was really excited to have a soak. Unfortunately, it was out of order. I was slightly disappointed, but we dipped our feet in the pool which was nice. We said goodbye to Melinda who had an early morning flight (she stayed in the hotel overnight), and went to bed in a soft, comfortable, warm Queen sized bed. It had been a great day, but very overwhelming.
123km
5h 43
21.5km/h
934m elevation
WE ARE DONE!!!!!!!
Fun fact I had no flat tires while biking!!!!
I did have 2 pinch flats when putting a new tire on in replace of an old one in Granum. Thankful to God for this blessing. He and I had many conversations praying for protection over the riders, and their bikes and their tires. On the entire trip, our tour had about 200 flats, which I'm told is a pretty good number.