My partner (Hunter) and I are pretty typical new professionals, enjoying our newfound comfort and leisure time.  We decided to buy bikes last year and it has evolved into a lovely hobby. I bike to work when I find the weather agreeable, and we often go on long weekend rides.After several 2 or 3 day rides with nights spent in hotels we decided to take on something just a little more challenging. The combination of the fact that I had never been to Quebec and the relative accessibility of it made Toronto-Montreal seem like the obvious choice.

Our schedule was dictated by work and volunteer obligations. We decided to take only one work week off because Hunter doesn’t get too much vacation time. This means we are taking the VIA train back to Toronto.

We have plotted out the trip over 5 days, and will spend 2.5 days in Montreal at the end of the journey. We will be staying in hotels/motels along the way. Our hotel in Montreal was listed on the Route Verde website as “bike friendly”. The other ones we picked along the way are hopefully dingy enough that they don’t care.

This isn’t an inexpensive trip, and it wasn’t really meant to be. The trip was funded by a little money we put away each paycheque to help support any travelling we do. Our next journey will dabble in more frugal touring, including camping and cooking.

This is just my stuff, maybe Hunter will type one out too!

• Bike
  • Stock Trek 520 Disk (and stock back-rack)
  • Fenders: SKS Longboard
  • Pedals: Dual sided Shimano
• Lights
  • Back light: Serfas Thunderbolt USB
  • Front light: Serfas USL-5 Raider USB Headlight (mounted to helmet)
  • Misc cheap battery powered lights on my front forks.
• Bags
  • 2x MEC Aqua-Not 18L (rear mounted)
  • MEC World Tour Handlebar Bag
  • Selection of stuff sacs
  • 10L compression sac
  • 35L MEC travel duffel bag, to get my gear on the train
  • Small, stuffable shopping bag to act like my “purse” on the trip
• Clothing
  • On bike
    • 2x bib shorts
    • 3x cycling jerseys, two with short sleeves, one sleeveless
    • Wind-breaker type pants
    • Cycling jacket (not waterproof, fleecy and warm!)
    • Windbreaker
    • Cooling arm sleeves (for UV protection)
    • 3x head tubes
    • 2x sports bras
    • 3x short socks
    • Clippy shoes
  • Off bike
    • Jeans
    • Jorts
    • Utility dress
    • 4x tee shirt
    • 6x underwear
    • bra
    • 3x socks
    • Hoodie
    • Cardigan
    • Umbrella
    • Bathing suit
    • Light flats
• Safety and Hygiene
  • GoGirl
  • Small microfiber personal towel
  • Small first aid kit including:
    • Cohesive gauze 2.5 x 9cm (1)
    • Sterile gauze pads 7.6 x 7.6cm (6)
    • Sterile butterfly closures (4)
    • Fabric bandages 2.5 x 7.6cm (6)
    • Fabric knuckle bandages (2)
    • Povidone-iodine prep pads (2)
    • Antiseptic towelettes (6)
    • Needle (1)
    • Moleskin 5 x 7.6cm (1)
    • Mini strips 0.9 x 3.8cm (5)
    • Combine dressing 12.7 x 22.8cm (1)
    • Triangular bandage (1)
    • Safety pins (2)
    • Tape 1.3 x 2.25cm
    • Latex gloves (1 pair)
  • Toothbrush
  • Toothpaste
  • Divacup
  • Camp Suds(120 mL)
  • Deodorant
  • 100 SPF spray suncreen
  • 50 SPF sport sunscreen
  • Hand Sanitizer (60 mL)
  • Chamois cream (Deez Nuts for Ladies)
• Electronics
  • Smart-phone (for GPS)
  • Back up phone battery
  • Waterproof, shockproof, cheap Nikon digital camera
  • 2x phone charger, so I can also charge my lights and battery pack

We debated bringing nicer clothes so that we would look like regular human beings and could enjoy some of the nicer restaurants in Montreal, but decided it wasn’t worth the weight.

The following are just some random photos of the packing process. As of T-5 days, I have all my clothes packed. The rest will have to be night before, as I use most of my electronics, cosmetics, toiletries on a day-to-day basis.

Tubes for both head and feet.
Top left is underwear in a bag, and right is the previously mentioned off bike outfit in a bag.

Jerseys.

Cats do not help with packing

Most of my “off bike” clothes. I will pack a pair of jeans and a few tee-shirts in a separate bag.

Most of my clothes, on and off bike in their bags.
Clockwise from top: 1 off-bike outfit in a bag (Left this home last minute for space), bike clothes, off-bike clothes for montreal in the compression bag, underwear bag, sock and headtube bag.

Route

Day 1: Almost a perfect day

Saturday August 29, 2015, 149 km (92 miles) – Total so far: 149 km (92 miles)

I’m having so much fun! Really!

We stopped at Balmy Beach to apply sunscreen, although it was (mercifully) overcast the whole day. Then, on to Scarborough. The first little bit of Scarborough is really awful, although the borough is beautiful. Our route had us on Kingston for most of the time. I would not recommend that to someone who is passing through on a visit, as it is terribly boring and not super bike friendly. At 7 in the morning, there was almost no one on the road, but I could see it getting hairy in the later parts of the day. The waterfront trail in Scarborough is really scenic, but just too indirect. There are some lies in the waterfront trail maps (i.e. impassible bits), but I’ll detail those in the routes I upload.

Rouge park is always a welcome sight. The bathrooms there are really clean, and its possible to fill your water bottles easily in the sinks. We saw a few other cyclists, but no one obviously loaded up for a long trip. We chatted with an older couple for a little bit – he was interested in how we attached bags to our bikes and seemed interested in going on some adventures of his own.

Posted via email Sun Aug 30 17:41:01 2015 PDT

What can I say about today? That I’m bad at planning and Mr. Fry saves our lives? Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But today was a mix of super crazy boring and hella thrills.

We started off at 5:30, and rode down to the Tim Horton, which was apparently having some staffing issues. We rode down a pitch black road to the main street. We have lights, but I don’t think I’ve even seen such darkness in my city slicker life. We quickly found another timmies and stocked up on bagels.

Tim’s Take 1: No dice.

Tim’s Take 2: Bagels for everyone.

I dragged Hunter down an isolated road to take a photo of a wastewater plant sign, where we also got eaten by mosquito.

Cobourg is a very beautiful town. There are well preserved historical buildings and a lovely park where we stopped to apply sunscreen. Their Macs doesn’t have a (readily apparent) bathroom.

Cobourg is fancy!

And with that, the rest of our day was foreshadowed. The non ending and unfruitful search for bathrooms. Being reasonably diligent cyclists we pack enough food and water to last the day, but I’m still a little shy about peeing roadside.

The roads were a mixture, like yesterday. Add to the mix “newly resurfaced” gravel roads.

By the time we got to Presqu’ile, we were pretty desperate for a bathroom. Good thing we decided to enter the park and ask, because apart from one we saw about 500 m outside the park, there wasn’t another for 50 km.

Presqu’ile came to the rescue.

We entered the island over the coolest bridge I’ve ever seen. Instead of raising to let boats pass it rotated!

Swirly bridge! The most exciting thing we saw all day. It set the bar high for the rest of the day, which was folly.

The rest of the trip in the area was just mind numbing. It was beautiful, but I just wanted real food and a chance to wash up, so I really couldn’t appreciate it. Bethesda in particular had interesting buildings.

This was supposed to show how hard a climb that was.

Bethesda community hall.

Hunter started a game where he’d see dilapidated barns and say they were asleep. Then as the day went on, he’d accuse them if being lazy.

The sun came out pretty hard as we approached CFB Trenton. The road was that awful concrete that is rock hard, full of patches, and radiating heat. It was also busy. That made an epic downhill a little less enjoyable because I was employing the “brace everything and don’t breathe” method of bike control.

Awesome descents, un-awesome roads.

In making that first decent I saw the bridge we had to take to make it back to the mainland. At first I thought it was one of those bridges that broke in half to let the boats pass. And then I saw cars driving up it. Crap. There was also no shoulder for the first 20 m or so, and it was busy. The way down was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done.

Just before the bridge we saw a sign for a chip truck. It is my general life philosophy to always stop at chip trucks when practical. It was helped that this was the first open restaurant we saw all day. This place was called Mr. Fry and not only was it very cheap, but it was delicious and the owners/staff were super friendly and cheerful. Mr. Fry himself even brought out Hunter’s hamburger. It was only $10, but it was basically the size of his head. We left very full and happy, with only 13 km to go.

Loaded bikes at our mainland oasis.

My Fry! And the Mr. Fry burger! Hunter’s face says it all.

I am fairly certain my fry coma blocked out the last little bit, but I think there were some hills.

Deseronto, I think.

We got to our hotel in Napanee at about 3:30. The Fox Motor Inn is probably the best hotel experience we’ve had so far. The gentleman in the office was very friendly and accommodating with respect to our bikes. The hotel room was super clean, big enough for the bikes.

Hotel room in Napanee, complete with hanging laundry.

After a shower, sink laundry, some more repairs to my @#$%-ing handlebar bag, and a very expensive trip to the Mac’s in town, we settled in for the night.

We covered 144.95 km in just over 9.5 hours (7:45 on bike) and I’m ready to sleep for a while and do it all again tomorrow.

Day 3: Thousand Island Parkway: perfect riding

Monday August 31, 2015, 140 km (87 miles) – Total so far: 433 km (269 miles)

Posted via email Mon Aug 31 17:44:02 2015 PDT

We left the hotel at about 5:30 after an in room breakfast of bag hamburger and protein shakes.

It was dark. Like, really dark. I’m not sure we were expecting. But I think we were expecting that the roads wouldn’t have been under construction and there would be pavement on them, not large gravel. Not fun to navigate in the dark. Single lanes in each direction, no pavement, no shoulder and heavy fog, just as locals were on their way to work. It looked like a horror movie.

I gave Hunter my main front light and looked ahead to what it illuminated to make my riding decisions. It was much like playing DDR: I had to look up to see what I had to do next.

Lennox Generating Station, where the scary highway met the Loyalist Parkway.

Once we had some light and shoulder, the road was amazing. Paved shoulders came and went, but the quality of the pavement was very smooth all day, not the bumpy surface of the last few days.

Once we finally went south enough to hit the water, the view was stunning. It wasn’t good foreshadowing for the rest of the day, although we did get a few more glimpses. We stopped at a park soon after the turnoff and applied sunscreen.

View from the Loyalist Parkway.

The first town we went though was Bath, and it was very pretty, just like many of the towns we have visited so far. What set it apart was the combination gas station/country style/lcbo/beer store, the first of two we saw today. Talk about efficiency!

Bath, Ontario.

Kingston was another gorgeous historical town which was largely downhill, so I didn’t get any photos. I made Hunter stop at the penitentiary, because I knew it would be demolished soon. A shame, but it probably had something to do with the unspeakable horrors committed within.

A view from the Kingston Pen parking lot.

Kingston has a park that has the nicest smelling bathroom I have ever experienced. We stopped for a while and I had the second of my bag burgers.

I eventually replaced this mess of duct tape with a single zip tie.

Prettiest. Bathroom. Ever.

This is the view from the back!

And inside!

Our next stop was Gananoque where we grabbed Subway and Gatorade and found a park to eat it in. After some more sunscreen (we really needed it), we got started again.

I cannot stress how cool the Thousand Island Parkway is. It’s a little hairy crossing the road to get on the separated bike path, but once you got on, it was a dream. The only thing I could have asked for was more bathrooms. It’s not like there was a lot of privacy if you wanted to pee on the side of the road either. Just lots of houses. Rich people houses, full of people who probably don’t want you peeing on their lawn.

Thousand Island Parkway bike path: A little rough, but very welcome. Hours of mindless cycling ahead.

We were finally saved by the Thousand Islands National Park. Their water tasted really weird, but we weren’t going to skimp on drinking on such a hot and sunny day.

He’s on water fill duty at Thousand Island National Park.

When the parkway was intersected with a highway you had to leave the path to go though a stop light, but there was construction which had us waiting in the middle of a hill. What’s with cars completely disobeying those “single file” signs you see at construction sites? “Sure tour bus, you and I can both totally fit though this narrow passage way. That sign was just a suggestion anyhow.” We’ve gone though three so far, and have been passed each time.

Almost as soon as the road ended there was the famous Butternut turn off. When I read about it I wondered how people could be so blind and how so many ended up on the highway. I take that all back. The signs are crazy confusing. Just stay left. Don’t think about it, just do it.

After that there was a fair bit of riding next to the highway sound barrier which can be unsettling. There was some Breaking Bad graffiti. It didn’t instill confidence on this town’s taste in television or drug use.

We plotted a route though a trail which was pretty nice, and finally on road over a highway and then to our hotel which is adequate. I’m getting really good at hotel bathroom laundry.

Mexican food and frozen yogurt for dinner,and we actually get to stay for hotel breakfast tomorrow because we have a shorter day. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s ride, if should be beautiful.

We did 139.91 km in just under 10 hours, with 7:11 on bike.

Day 4: St. Lawrence parks are fabulous

Tuesday September 1, 2015, 103 km (64 miles) – Total so far: 537 km (334 miles)

Posted via email Tue Sep 1 15:04:02 2015 PDT

Hotel room selfie!

We started the day much later than usual because we had such a short ride, which meant we could grab breakfast for free in the hotel. This also meant it was light out when we left.

But of course, it couldn’t be that easy. It was 96% humidity with thick fog making it very hard to see. Visibility was no more than 20 m ahead. I’m glad my bike lights are serious business. Turns out that down town Brockville is really pretty with historical buildings and a lovely boulevard with a fountain. Too bad we could only see a little at a time.

Brockville, Ontario.

The road wasn’t as nice as yesterday, with no or tiny shoulders and rough surfaces, almost entirely highway 2. We did pass some cool industrial facilities which I was able to photograph.

Ominious chemical plant. OoooOoooOOooh, cheeeemmmmmiccaaaaaals.

The only thing notable between Brockville and Cardinal were the 12 pairs of pants I saw on the side of the road.

We stopped really early, in Cardinal, to get some Gatorade and use the bathroom at Mac’s.

Things got a little hairy near the border in Johnstown. Lots of big trucks and traffic.

It’s not a touring journal without a photo that makes the route looks treacherous and cool. I think this manages it.

I really wasn’t feeling it today. What helped me get though was knowing it was almost 30% less than previous days. It was still tough.

This guy also helped my morale.

I basically zoned out until Upper Canada Village where we joined the (confusing to find) waterfront trail stonedust path along the islands. It provided some much needed shade.

This is the waterfront trail in the section just past Upper Canada Village. Highly Recommended.

That met up with the Long Salut Parkway, for 11 km of scenic road. It was freshly paved, great shoulder, and there were lots of services, including camping and even laundry! Unfortunately, it was also right in the sun. This would be a perfect ride as the leaves were changing.

Smooth, sunny riding on the Thousand Island Parkway.

As soon as the parkway was done we mercifully had a separate paved bike path for almost the rest of the ride. Even some in the shade! We got to our hotel just after 1 pm and the Comfort Inn in Cornwall was able to let us in at that time. What a relief!

Bike paths in Cornwall. Rough, but welcome.

We showered, did laundry and the went to Boston Pizza where we managed to rack up an $80 bill, with only one beer. Looking back, it could have been lot worse – we had free breakfast and didn’t stop for lunch – but we need to work on that frugal aspect of touring. We did hit up Metro and hopefully won’t have to stop for food or drink tomorrow.

Our hotel room.

My body is holding up alright. My hands are suffering the worst. It’s hard to close them and they are constantly sore. My seat isn’t holding up perfectly either. Just one more day and my body will get a rest.

We rode 103.31 km in 6 hours, 5:05 on bike.

Day 5: No pain, no gain, right?

Wednesday September 2, 2015, 140 km (87 miles) – Total so far: 677 km (421 miles)

Posted via email Wed Sep 2 18:34:01 2015 PDT

Another hotel selfie!

I wasn’t quite sure that we had bitten off too much before today, but this morning my body was screaming. We ate breakfast at the hotel (microwaved breakfast sausage) and left just after 5:40 am.

Leaving Cornwall was though side streets to a avoid the border, but it was well lit enough to navigate.

I really wanted to sit, but also I didn’t?

We followed highway 2 to South Lancaster where we stopped at McDonalds for a small snack. We started back off the wrong way, but soon turned around and returned to South Service. I usually dislike service roads, but this one was very smooth and not busy, with large paved shoulder.

This picture doesn’t show it, but this was a lovely service road.

So bad at selfies.

Almost immediately after we entered Quebec, there were separated bike lanes. My hands were weak and my quads burning with intermittent sharp, deep pains, so I was very happy to have a mindless ride. Drivers were pretty nice, but I noticed that most cyclists in Quebec didn’t return waves, didn’t signal and didn’t alert when they were passing left. I mean, people don’t do that in Toronto proper either, but somehow I was expecting it here.

Mon Deux! Quebec has amazing cycling infrastructure.

Om nom nom nom.

Au revoir! Many towns had these cute signs as you left.

The towns were beautiful and we felt a little out of place looking so grungy and probably smelling pretty badly. I can’t say enough nice things about the cycling infrastructure. Sometimes it was just sharrows (with a $35 fine for riding two abreast), but there were parks, benches, picnic tables, porta-pottys, etc everywhere. The trails along the canals were particularly well serviced and had excellent signs.

Beautiful bike path along unused canals.

Look at this informative sign!

And this one!

Fun locks in a park.

We entered Dorval around 1:30, but I really needed a sit down. I was having a hard time drinking enough water. My body was basically giving up and it was very humid. But just then the sun came out and I finally needed to put on the sunglasses.

Interesting building as we entered Montreal.

After chatting with a fellow (but not current) cycle tourist for a few minutes, we made our final push. We were treated to some classic Montreal traffic and construction coming into the city. I was utterly blown away by the quality of the cycling lanes in the city and the number of cyclists. I hope Toronto moves forward with more improvements and maybe we’ll see as many people doing their daily commutes.

We ended up at the wrong hotel, because apparently there are 3 Marriott Residence Inns in Montreal. Once at the correct one, check in was easy.

The rest of our trip is entirely unrelated to cycling, so I won’t bore you with that.

Today we rode 140.23 km in about 10 hours with 7:46 on bike. My right hand still won’t close properly, which makes trying to eat, dress, basically do anything super fun. Hopefully that and the weakness in my legs clears up soon!

Taking the Train Home + Lessons learned

Thursday September 3, 2015

I wanted to add just a few comments about taking the train back to Toronto from Montreal.

When I booked the tickets (~$50 ea), I made sure they were for a train that had a baggage car, because you can’t just take your bike on any train. On the day we wanted to go back, that was the 10:10 am train.

I bought a travel duffel bag from MEC and was able to stuff my panniers (empty) and all my things in it, and use a reusable shopping bag to hold my handlebar bag and anything else I wanted for the ride, i.e. food and drink.

What I’m bringing on the train with me. Boyfriend, handlebar bag in shopping bag, and panniers + contents in travel duffel.

Each bike cost $25 to transport. All bags, lights, bottles, etc needed to be removed. There was no charge for the duffel bag. Hunter was able to check his panniers as two small bags at no charge. We left our items at the baggage counter, paid our fee and took our claim tickets.

Once in Toronto we had to grab our bike from the baggage car at track level. The bikes survived fairly well. My front fender broke, but I don’t really blame the train as it suffered a lot of abuse since I got them. They are still serviceable, just not as super long.

We then took the elevator down to baggage claim for the rest of it. We decided to take the TTC home because of a heat warning. That wasn’t really very fun as a Jay’s game had just gotten out.

Overall, I’d say the VIA experience was pleasant. Not as easy as GO, but it makes sense that it wouldn’t be. And it certainly beats riding back.

Lessons learned:

• I can make due with two shorts and two jerseys. They are easy to clean and dry, with one as a backup in case the other is too soggy in the AM. I wore the same shorts and jersey for 4/5 days.
• You don’t need jeans in August.
• One pair of leggings were more than enough
• Gummies are the best biking food
• 140 Km is too much for a day, let alone three in a row.
• You can wear the same off-bike clothes for 5 days in a row, especially if you only wear them for like an hour post shower.
• Tattoos on your shoulder bone hurt.

Ooooops. Sorry mom.