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| Day 58 - August 24 - Petit Rocher to St. Louis de Kent 118km |
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| Once again, Glenn and I take our time this morning. There's no rush. We even clean our bikes before leaving. Then by the time we get on the road it's looking like a nice day. A fast tailwind is a wonderful welcome to New Brunswick. |
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| Our first break of the day is a short 3km down the road. We stop at Tim Hortons for a bagel and juice. Rupica and Rob are there munching on apple fritters. It's 9:30, a little too early for those. It's fun to sit and read the paper though. I haven't done that in awhile. |
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| Following Highway 134 takes us to our next stop just 20km later. Bathurst is a neat little town. Glenn goes to the bank while I guard the bikes. We don't let them out of our sight. Leaving Glenn's bike alone is like leaving keys in a Ferrari. Not a good idea. |
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| We zip along the highway at a very fast pace all the way to Miramichi. This section has a few gradual hills but it doesn't matter because the tailwind keeps up. We hit speeds of 50kmh on the flats, and I love it. I can't get enough of it. Glenn repeatedly tells me to slow down so I can conserve some energy for later in the day. He's right, I'm not very good at that. |
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| If you're looking for a fabulous meal, I would highly recommend the Saddler's Cafe. They have great salads, sandwiches, chicken burritos and the best chocolate cake I've ever tasted. Now that's saying something. I've tasted a lot of chocolate cake in my 21 years, and this stuff is off the charts. I hear the owner makes it himself. |
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| Chris drops by the cafe and the three of us take off toward St-Louis. This time we're on Highway 11 and we pass some other people in our group as we're moving along at 40kmh in a tight paceline. Glenn is at the front, Chris is in the middle and I'm at the back. It's the perfect day...or so I thought. |
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| Just then I see Chris point to the ground with his left index finger. There is a big block of wood across the road and the guys have swerved around it. I swerve to the left in a desperate attempt to avoid it but I catch the corner with my front tire. I go down hard. My hands are on the drops - the bottom part of the handlebars. As I flip over the bike, the first thing that hits the pavement is my left pinky finger followed by my right elbow, my head and my right knee. After a number of flips and rolls, I finally come to a halt on my back about twenty feet from my bike. I get up immediately and as I stand shaking from the shock of it all I try to figure out what's going on. What happened back there? Am I okay to bike? Can I finish the Tour? All of these questions were going through my head as Spencer digs out his First Aid kit. Glenn starts scrubbing my wounds like you're supposed to when Mel says, "Glenn, don't be so rough. Let me do it." They patch me up as I stand there and let them. I bite the end of my water bottle as they clean my cuts and bandage me up. My left thigh is completely numb. It's bruised, not cut, so it must have slammed against my handlebar stem just as my front wheel collapsed. I am badly road-rashed and everything hurts. They use a tire lever as a splint for my crooked finger and from there they flag down a police car for assistance. If it weren't for my damaged wheel I could have kept going into camp. Very slowly, but I would have arrived nonetheless. |
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| There is no room for my bike in the police car, so I get on the phone and call some friends from home who are on their way up to bike with me for the weekend. I explain to Jim and Luc that I need them to come to Highway 11 outside St. Louis de Kent to pick up my bike. I tell them that Glenn and Chris will be on the side of the road and that I need them to meet me at the Miramichi hospital after that to take me back to the campsite. Meanwhile, the police officers drive me to the hospital and I get my finger x-rayed. Not broken, although I can't bend it. So I go to Subway by the main entrance and get something to eat, thinking that it might help relieve some of the shock. Besides, by the time I get to camp there may not be much food remaining. |
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| Just as I'm finishing up Luc walks in the door and explains that Jim isn't with him because he only had room for two bikes in the van. That means Jim had to get out and bike the rest of the way to camp with Glenn and Chris while Luc continued on to the hospital. I'm so lucky that they were on their way up today. Jim's cell phone saved the day. |
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| Rupica and Glenn help me pitch the tent back at camp. And when people heard I'd be late getting in, they saved some dinner for me. Everyone wants to help out any way they can. That's great, because I really need their help. I can't even walk without feeling pain. Tomorrow I'll have to get a new wheel and do that distance I missed. It's going to be a cold night. This calls for a Gore-tex jacket and a fleece hat. |
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