In which we ascend 11 hills (2 peaks, 3 hills and 6 undulations in Mongolian terms!)
I hear many of us, like me, had a bad sleep last night worrying about today’s ride. It was girnomous, with several hills, 2 peaks and 6 undulations in Mongolian terminology (actually it would be passes and not peaks in Mongolia).
We were a quiet bunch having breakfast at 8 a.m. when it opened, having already brought down our bags and pumped up tires, greased chains, adjusted seats, etc. We were anxious to get off before the heat hit, though the forecasts ranged from 21-25C for the day with high humidity and cloud cover for most of it. It was 17C when we started but felt warmer, and short sleeves were perfect but the coat was packed for the descents.
at the start of the park
atop French mountain!
early riding
riding along the coast
looking back at the early road and hill # 2
Cape Breton Highlands from the top plateau
entering the park
Henry and Karen early on
at the rest stop atop the first “warmup hill”
There was a pleasant prelude riding to the park, with several undulations then we were into Cape Breton Highlands National Park and the promised three “warmup hills” were before us. First one, not too bad, second one we were warned had a steep gradient – 12-14% – but short so we got up quickly. Henry had changed his chain – he has three gears, and has to stop and manually change them on his Montague bike… the scenery was absolutely gorgeous and the traffic pretty reasonable so we were able to duck over to the viewpoints to see the vistas.
Third warmup hill wasn’t bad either, definitely work but we made short shrift of it then the climb to French Mountain began. 5 km of average grade 8% – we had a water refresher stop at the Pedal and Sea van very early on and bonus date tarts that were great; by then we had gotten into lowest gear and were churning up the slope reasonably well. Definitely hurt, but really pretty so that helped! No shoulders on the road to speak of, but not much traffic in our direction, it seems most cars did the Cabot Trail counter-clockwise.
Once on top we followed a plateau for about 10 km with a bit of up and down; things were shrouded in mist so only glimpses every now and then through the partings. Then the serious descent started, and we donned our jackets. It was pretty steep to begin with; one of the riders with a broken wrist several months ago opted out part way down due to braking difficulties and the van went back to collect her. By halfway down though the way was clearer and the gradients eased a bit so it was a lot of fun flying down – no major corners to deal with and decent runouts. Whee!
Not much to see at the top through the mist…
At the bottom there was a lunch stop at a restaurant called the Rusty Anchor – only a few of us went in, and a bowl of seafood chowder and an iced coffee went down very well before we set out again for the second challenge of the day, North Mountain. There was some up and down for another 10 km or so before the ascent started – it was advertised by the guides to be NOT as bad as the second warmup hill in gradient, and shorter than French Mountain. In actuality, it was an absolute beast. 450 m elev gain in 4 km with some sections up to 16.7%. Unrelentingly up, and in the full sun at this point. I managed most of the way to the 3rd km with my legs complaining bitterly at the start as they’d already done one peak today. At the 14 – 16.7% grade, cursing Coady our guide roundly for false advertising, I got off the bike and walked the bike up a couple of hundred metres, as did several others of our group and another trio also riding it. When it relented to 12% I started again, and ground my way to the top – it was definitely high fives all around from our group members at the top!! There was a false summit and another hill to the actual summit, but that was nothing in comparison…. we had another water replenishment stop at the very top before donning jackets again and riding down – a scary descent at the top with really steep gradients and curves, then again about halfway down it relented and was a lot of fun. I had a tour bus behind me at one point, as I took the road – it was very patient and as soon as it was safe I moved over to the side and it passed me with lots of waves from the occupants. I’m sure the tour commentary went something like “we’re slowing, folks , for one of those crazy cyclists who, can you imagine, actually want to RIDE up the hill and along this road”….
There was another 15 km to the stop for the night at the Markland Resort near Dingwall – the last of the hills on the GPS was done, and some other short punchy hills that didn’t even rate a hill designation. It was lovely to finally see the hotel, and everyone coming in was cheered by those who had already arrived. There is a lovely beach at the bottom which will need to be explored tomorrow.
Jean has a well deserved rest in an Adirondack chair at the resort
Do we get a rest day tomorrow? No, happy hour briefing informed us we have 50+ km and 700+ m elev gain tomorrow, with a hill of 19% …. yikes. I fed my legs well at dinner with halibut and cheesecake and hope they will keep churning tomorrow! There was a live performer in the lounge so we listened and sang along to some, watched some local dancers who spontaneously got up to dance and the concert finished with an audience member singing a Newfoundland song, Salty Joys, with an extremely good voice. It was even de rigeur to clap, stomp, dance AND sing along at this concert. Lots of fun.
Highlight of the day: the coastal scenery with the rolling road below.