Wakefield to Ottawa 102k and 1,327m of climbing. Despite being the shortest distance, today’s ride was the toughest because: my shoulder was very painful, there was probably the largest portion of rough tough mountain bike trails and there were some really steep and very long climbs on the rough mtb trails (see the photo with the elevation profile).
Despite my shoulder pain I appreciated riding the tough mtb/hiking trails, the lookout views, the screaming descents the beautiful forests and the large majestic Gatineau River.
I stopped to ask for water at a “mansion” on the Gatineau River and the nice man offered Perrier tonic water.
Coming into Chelsea this pretty woman yelled out from her car “did you sleep at my place last night?”. Well it was my host Genevieve and Pierre coming home from their trip. I offered to buy them some beer but they had to get home for work meetings.
Because last night’s cabin had no electricity my phone, garmin and batteries were all out or running low on power, so I had to stop after about 60k at the Chelsea Pub to recharge my devices. After having a beer and poutine with pulled pork, my devices were charged enough but I had no energy and struggled the rest of the relatively easy ride to Ottawa and my dear friends’ Ricky and Margaret’s home.
To let my shoulder heal a bit I am going to take tomorrow off and get caught up with Ricky and Margaret.
Unfortunately because of my shoulder pain I’ve decided to go “straight” home via the Oak Ridges Moraine Trail and not do the western half of my planned trip. Stayed tuned for another four to five daily trip blogs.
My blogs from this 2,000km bikepacking trip and others are available at:
https://gregbikingwithoutborders.blog/
https://www.facebook.com/GregBikingWithoutBorders
https://instagram.com/gregbikingwithoutborders
http://www.bikeswithoutborders.org/ Please donate. For ~$100 we provide a repaired used bike, lock and helmet to a marginalized person, empowering them with mobility.
Happy Trails!
Greg Andre-Barrett
#BikesWithoutBorders, #AmsterdamBeer, #CyclepathOakville, #HoopdriverBikes,
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