The Uncontrollable Urge to Overtake

Travelling with a bicycle is necessarily associated with spending a good portion of the time on the road. I will not go as far as stating that from early morning since I’m not what you would call an early bird, until late evening since I prefer to find a spot to sleep while there is still daylight so I’m able to see where I’ll sleep. Nevertheless a good portion of the day I do spend on the road. And on the road I’m not alone. True, sometimes I do get company from animals (mostly as road kill, but there are exemptions), but company (uninvited) of living creatures normally comes in a shape of drivers. Drivers of cars, buses, trucks and all that comes in between. So far I came across Canadian, US, Mexican and Guatemalan drivers.
Generally I could say there is no really substantial difference between them. All of them generally sit behind the wheel of means of transportation of their choice wanting to go from point A to point B alive and kicking. The trick is in the details.
One of the main difference is in the type of transportation they are driving. Truck drivers are professionals. They do know how to handle their machine whether that might be the latest technical wonder or a bunch of metal held together by the stickiness of the black exhaust fumes. They will try to avoid me by as much as they can. Just the sheer size of their vehicle gives them a great chance of survival in a potential head on collision when overtaking me on a blind curve.
The next category are the bus drivers. Here I must add that there weren’t as many in the north (probably because a greater number of people has their own car or two) as they are here in the south. Here they come in all shapes, sizes and ages. From modern, huge Mercedes to mini bus which is just another word for a van. What their drivers have in common is that they are in a rush to get to their destination while at the same time they must frequently stop for passengers to get on and off. Not sure about what is the psychological factor in these drivers, but they seem to be just too eager to whoosh pass by me at a distance I would definitely not call a safe one. Maybe the trick is in the fact that they generally strive to drive by/stop as close as they can to a waiting passenger/person so that this person does not have to cover a large distance to the bus. Hence this person gets to the bus faster and the bus can move on faster and all together make it faster to their goal. It’s just that I’m not waiting for the bus and so there is no need for them to come so close. Who knows?!
The last category I’m going to mention are cars of different sizes (I will not drag this for more than necessary and go into different subcategories based on the car size) and their drivers. These are obviously the most numerous and diverse. From the kind that will, when they catch up with me, slow down and if this is just before a blind curve, wait for an opportunity to safely pass me by. To the kind that will; without reducing their speed, go and overtake me on a blind curve or will on a narrow two lane go and overtake a car that is overtaking me.
Just to make it clear in all three groups there are exceptions. Well, to be more precise, this is valid for the first two groups since, as I have already stated, car drivers are diverse.
Just to point out, once in Mexico I had to go off of the road since I was not sure that the truck driver will stop without hitting me first. He was being overtaken by another truck that might have gone 5 km/h faster than the first one and all this on a narrow two lane road. Or there were occasions when a bus driver, contrary to all my expectations, slowed down before a blind curve and then slowly trailed behind me until he was able to safely overtake me. And yes, this has happened to me also here in Guatemala.
There is one interesting human attribute common to most of these drivers. A substantial number of them feel the urge to overtake me as fast as they can. And the further south I go, the more I get the feeling this urge is reaching the level where they cannot control it. When they catch up with me, they rush past by me. If there is a chance to use the other lane, they will, to different extent, use it. But sometimes there is no such option or they simply cannot be bothered to do it. And it is in these cases when I become really frightened.
Thou to some extent I have managed to adapt. It’s not exactly that I do not get scared when these crazy drivers whoosh by. The difference is that I only get really frightened when they rush by well under half a meter away from me. And as I have said, the further south I am there is more and more of these drivers who’s urge to overtake is uncontrollable. The fact that the further south I go the narrower the roads are, does not really help.

With a Smile on my face, until next time!
Simon

Used to be a school bus – now it’s a “chicken bus”

El unico fruto del amor es la bananaaaaa!

Tuk-tuk consultations

Bus stop

Back seat

Taking a nap

A day that started rainy and ended sunny

I woke up in a tent on a grassy edge of a parking lot behind the town hall. The construction workers that are repairing the street in town have already went to work (I know this because of all the beeping of the machinery driving in reverse). As I’m sort of short with water I have to give up on my morning coffee with my breakfast. But it does not matter since I will surely find a café where I will be able to spend the last of Canadian dollars. Today it will be decided if I will be allowed into the US or not. This question has been bothering me since my arrival at the Boston airport where the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer has frightened me saying that it is possible that since I’m unemployed and living off my savings, these savings might not be sufficient to let me into the US for a longer period of time.

So I have packed up my camp, ate my breakfast and loaded up Lou. As I was just about to finish, it started to rain. Wonderful, just what I needed as a morale booster. But the weather is something that we cannot control. So I set off in search of my morning coffee. A café that I have somehow missed yesterday evening is actually just 50m away.

I enter, take a seat and a man brings me a menu for breakfast. “I’ll have just some coffee!” I say and I get it. We start a conversation about who I am, where I come from and what am I doing here. Answering these question, the man says “Wait, I’ll bring you something for the trip!” About 10 minutes later a he comes back with a full plate of food. A breakfast, typical North American with eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast. Pleasantly surprised a dig in even if I’m not that hungry. But you never know on a bicycle what’s in store for you and besides I burn so many calories. Since it continues to rain outside I stay at the café for about 3 hours and when it looks like there might be a break between downpours I start to set off. Just before I leave the owner and the cook additionally boost my morale by saying that the border check might be stricter than usual since a few days ago two convicts have escaped from a prison about 50km from the borer and they are still looking for them. Well isn’t that just great.

So I set off in a drizzle and head for another encounter with American border officials. The border is only about 5 km away and I have no idea when they passed by. Canadian side is only a ramp that gets lifted as I approach but then a sign “All vehicles must stop in 200 feet!” Definitely approaching the American side. I stop at the stop sign and wait for green light. This stop I use to remove all the unnecessary equipment on me (helmet, cycling gloves) and wipe off my glasses. From the border post a woman in uniform comes out and kindly asks “Have you been waiting long?” “No, not at all!” I reply and cycle towards here. Fairly quickly we realize I’m a bit of a special case so she tells me to park my bicycle and step inside. There are more CBP officers there. Another woman takes over my case and the interrogation begins and a more official and intimidating way. Where are you from, what’s your name, how old are you, where are you going, how much money you have, do I know anyone in US,… This goes on for a while before she starts to check my data in the computer. At that moment another officer starts a conversation in a more friendly tone. But I do notice that he is actually indirectly asking me the same things as the woman before him did. So they are checking if my answers were something I have learned by heart or are they really the facts since I can repeat them through a conversation. Fine by me.

The woman turn back towards me and say that everything is OK and that I will be allowed to enter. But I should pay attention not to overstay my visa. “But how long can I stay?” “6 months from the day you have entered the country in Boston.” “How come? The officer in Boston said he gives me 3 days. In addition to that he also writes it down in my passport next to the stamp.” “Well it has been entered into the system that you have 6 months and I cannot change this.” There is nothing left for me but to agree with here and happily go out to take my bicycle. Immediately I notice that they have checked my bags as well since not all is the way I have left it. But that fine. I firmly attached what needs to be reattached and with a Smile on my face I cycle on. Apparently all the worries and insecurities of the past month were completely unnecessary.

About 3 km (OK, I’m in US now, so 2 miles) further down the road the sun emerges from behind the clouds. And it follows me until the evening which I send with my couchsurfing host John and his lovely family.

Welcome to the US!

Cycling into city

Last post regarding Canada. Currently I’m in the USA, but more on this topic in my next post.

This time around a bit about cycling into cities in Canada. I have visited 3 bigger cities in Canada, Halifax, Quebec City and Montreal. Same order of appearance when it comes to size.

Halifax will only be briefly mentioned since it was already mentioned in my first post from the road and since I was there under the pressure of the lost luggage and in anticipation of the first spins of the pedals. Actually I did not cycle into the city. So much about Halifax

Quebec City is one of the oldest in North America and if we are to believe the description in Lonely Planet it is the only fortified city north of Mexico City. It was fought over by the French and the English up until the mid 18^th century. And this history forms today’s character of the city. Old city centre is still surrounded by city walls and the narrow streets are packed with tourists that find this type of a city foreign. And there lots of tourists.

Coming into the city I took a ferry from the neighbouring Levis and in search of a city map I headed towards tourist information centre. In advance I have memorized a rough, according to the map the easiest way. Well, once I wrote down the name of the street to take it should have been clear to me that this is not going to be easy. You do not need to speak French to realize that a street called “Cote de la Montaigne” has to do something with an uphill. And yes, it does. So Simon dismounted from Lou and pushed all of his more than 50kg uphill.

Accross the river

Most photographed hotel in the world

Cote de la Montagne

City gate

Quebec City Street 1

Quebec City Street 2

A house in Quebec City

Quebec City Fresco

Finding a way into the city is always easier than finding your way out and managing to end up on the road that you want. But somehow I managed to do that as well. Next big city was Montreal. Through warm showers I found a host that kindly accepted my request. But I needed to come there. From Quebec to Montreal there is more than 250 km so I have spent a night in Trois-Rivieres. And in the morning headed into what turned out to be 149 km long stage. To keep me company I hade fairly strong head wind most of the time and a grey, heavy sky above me. And as a “reward” I got a downpour. The more I tried to reach Montreal before nightfall, the more it was becoming obvious that this is not going to happen. Wind has slowed me down for at least 2 hours and the rain did not help to boost my morale. But there was some sun in the evening. But I still did not manage to reach my goal of the day. I finally arrived at 21:30 and Jean-Francois, my host for the next few days, met me on the street. The deal was that I stay at his place for 3 nights, crashing on the living room floor which for me personally is just fine. But sometimes after the struggles of the day in the evening Life greets you with an unexpected reward. Jean-Francois told me that he had to leave the city on business and that yes, I can stay at his place. The whole apartment just for me. And yes, there is cold beer in the fridge. I have finished off the evening with a cold one and a cigarette on a balcony overlooking a park.

Struggles of the day were behind me and far away. Life is beautiful.

Montreal Street 1

Montreal Street 2

Montreal Street 3

Montreal squirrel

Cycling is popular in Montreal

So is locking your bicycle

The Balcony

SimonOnTour F1 style – Montreal

Contributions

Some of you might have noticed that there is a new option on the right side of this blog (for those who have not, it might be good time to see your optometrist) called “Contributions”. Why so? Well, let’s make a short explanation.

At the moment I’m in Montreal, Canada and after more than three weeks in Canada I’m realising that it is an expensive country. Here are some examples. Half a kilo of bread (OK, toast) costs 2-2,5 EUR. If I decide to have a yoghurt for breakfast, half a kilo of it costs between 2,5 and 3 EUR. And since I’m a cyclist, I eat a lot, so I have to “spice-up” the yoghurt with some cereals. They cost about 3 EUR for 400g. I have switched to milk instead of yoghurt (half a litre costs 1,5 EUR). Since I like coffee which also warms me up on a cold, rainy day, I stop in a fast food restaurant from time to time. The brew they serve there costs between 1 and 2 EUR. If the day is hot, it can happen that I crave for a cold drink (2,5 EUR). On exceptional occasions I might opt for a beer which you can get in a shop for 2,5 EUR. If you go into a pub, then Happy hours price is 3,5 EUR and 6 EUR at not so Happy hours.

Accommodations are a different story. I have stayed at official campsites twice so far (and hopefully this no. will not dramatically increase). Once it was 20 EUR and the second time 23 EUR (where there was an additional 0,7 EUR for a shower – as a matter of principle I did not take it). The stupid part of it all is that a dorm bed in a hostel costs about the same. With the addition that you do not have to set up the roof over your head. Lately I’m opting for warm showers and couchsurfing. Less expensive and as a bonus you get to meet the locals which is always fun.

Looking at it all, it is not hard to spend 35 EUR a day without too much of commodities. At the moment I’m managing to spend under 25 EUR/day and I sincerely hope that the further down south I go, the further down this number will go as well.

When I was explaining this to my friend Brane, he said that these kind of prices will only be an extra motivation for me to set up the contribution option. I had this in mind from when I went on this trip, it’s just that I haven’t really make it a reality. And why contributions? Well, I know there are some of you who read this blog. And, without too much modesty, I can imagine that you like my writting. That you want this adventure of mine to continue so that I can offer you more stories from the road and with them enable you to partake on this adventure. Maybe you would only like that I go for a cold one once in a while. Well all this is connected with my financial abilities and enabling the contributions will increase my financial abilities and at the same time offer you to share this aspect of the adventure as well 🙂

As a reward for making it through this text, I would just like to let you know that I have added some new photos.

Thousand

First thousand done!

Thousand

Yes, I can change focus on my camera

Sitting in a pub in Quebec City and reflecting on the first thousand.

Biere a Quebec

A lot has happened on this first thousand. Already on the first day it became obvious that is going to be different than the first time. Previously I was really lucky with the weather. It’s not that this time around I’m not lucky, just not as lucky as the first time.

I had rain and head wind, sun and tail wind. It was cold (well relatively for May/June) and warm (no, hot it was not, not yet). I have camped in the company of bloodsuckers and without them. Camping was done in rain and in sun. Legs were excited about pedalling but also tired and heavy. Mentally I was high and also not so excited.

But I have a feeling that the legs got accustomed (lacking real hills but all in due time) and my ass is not complaining.

Anyhow, considering all, things are going according to the plan. Unexpectedly and in the right direction!

French

For the past few days (almost a week) I’m wandering around the French speaking part of Canada. Before arrival I knew that Quebec is a French speaking part but now I have found out that also northern parts of New Brunswick speaks French. New Brunswick is the only Canadian province that is bilingual. Quebec is not. They speak French here.
My initial contact with a French speaking part in Edmundston went fine. They understand English as well, so no problem. I have had some years of French and I can say that I can communicate in it, but the local accent is something completely new to me.
Upon leaving Edmundston and venturing further in the depts of mysteries of French speaking Canada I started to realize English won’t do much good to me here. Being on a bicycle you go to places where there aren’t many foreign tourists and you meet people that mostly do not leave these places. And here they speak French. So I was forced to browse through my memory and with a great deal of effort I started to learn the local accent (to at least understand what are they saying to me). With every passing day and intensive practice my confidence grew. I actualy understand what they are saying to me. And sensible answers always come to my questions.
And then came a cold shower (literally and metaphoricaly). Yesterday I was in a company of rain all day long. Three times it has really poured down so that I was soaking wet. And since it is still cold out here, I was also cold. As a light at the end of the tunnel, a McDonald’s sign appeared in front of me. Great, there is warmth and they sell a cheap brew they call coffee. I go there, park Lou as much as I can under the roof and follow the warmth. I stand in line and when my turn comes a nice young lady greets me. Saying back hello, I order coffee with milk. Politely she ask me back something completely incomprehensable. I smile and say »Oui«. That is all I’m having. But she doesn’t bulge. She asks the same again (probably the same since I did not understand a word). Now I try different tactics – yes, it’s for here. A slightly angry look comes my way – again wrong answer – she rolls here eyes and gose to make my order. It is obvious that I have fucked up and that I don’t master the local accent as much as I thought I do.
Oh yes, later I come to a conclusion that she was probably asking me what kind of milk would I like (0,5% or 2% milk fat). What an idiot!

 

About Roads and Wildlife in Canada

The title seems as something that at first sight does not have much in common. And that is probably the case, but today these two topics were the only thing that went through my mind. It’s a way of filling in the long hours from sunrise to sunset.

Roads

Canadian roads are generally empty and well maintained. But there are exemptions. Today was a day of exemptions. Beautiful new road all of a sudden transforms into something that has been fixed at least 10 times. And there are still holes in it. Holes the size of a small lake. And when you find yourself on such a road, it’s going to hurt. Half a day I spent slaloming in search of a line that had the least holes and bumps. Luckily the Canadian roads are generally empty 🙂

Otherwise these roads are driven by well-behaved drivers. Most of them. And most of them are courteous of bicyclist and extremely patient. Rarely did it happen that the car would go pass me at a distance of less than a meter. If possible they would take the opposite lane. Someone I have met (if reading this, please excuse me for not remembering who this was) mentioned to me that this is probably because it’s just too much of a hassle to run over someone. Works for me!

As for patience let me just say this. If the car cannot pass you by at a distance of more than a meter they simply slow down and wait for space or that they can see the oncoming traffic (i.e. on a corner). It is quite possible that in this time a queue forms behind them. But nobody honks their horns, nobody is nervous. Pretty much a new experience for me.

Wildlife

And now about the other subject of the title. Wildlife. Yes, Canada has abundant and diverse wildlife. Most of it I have not yet meet and some of them I do not even want to like bears, coyotes, enraged moose, etc. Yesterday a deer jumped across the road in front of me. And there were plenty of birds that I saw, including a hummingbird. But the animals that most define my last days, some of you might have already guessed, are the little black devils aka. The black flies. They are everywhere and they suck blood. The other day I had decided to pitch my tent close to a lake (well not at the water’s edge but you get the picture). And they surrounded me so that I had given up on a hot dinner and just quickly closed myself in the tent. And that was not all, they got help from the mosquitoes. The little time I spent outside my tent this evening and the next morning, the black flies and the mosquitoes had a competition which species will drink more of my blood. This was a quantitative aspect of the competition. Then they decided to have a qualitative or stylish aspect as well. Which species will more often get me in a position when I cannot defend myself (e.g. when putting my bags on a bike or folding away my tent when both of my hands are occupied). It’s then when they find the most impossible on my body and start to feast.

No idea about which species has won, but I know the fighting was ferocious and I get to bare the results.

First Days of Canada

First days of Canada started with mixed emotions. The warm welcome by Jenna and Dale from warmshowers managed to partially compensate the bad feeling of being at the beginning of my cycling tour without the essential element – bicycle. The Swiss or the Brits somehow managed to lose Lou and all my luggage. So the first day found me strolling around Halifax still tired from the journey trying to get the feel of the new country and also arranging via internet all the necessary to get my luggage back. It came on the next day, Wednesday, when in the middle of the cold, rainy day I got a phone call from Air Canada notifying me that my luggage will be delivered to me at my local address. The reunion with Lou was an amazing moment even thou Lou showed that they did not take care of him the way they should. Nevertheless there were no major injuries sustained.

For motivation and relaxation I allowed myself another day in Halifax and Jenna and Dale were supportive of this idea. After a whole day of wandering around and arranging some minor things before departure, Jenna and Dale prepared a proper, home-made barbecue.

Friday, departure day, was rainy and cold. I was not so keen on going out but on the other hand, I wanted to start pedalling. All the rain gear on I went on the road. Kilometres flew past slowly while I was getting wetter and colder. At the end of the day that was the condition I was in when I had arrived to the campsite where I had pitched my tent. As I did not buy any petrol for my stove, I had to deal with a cold dinner. Luckily for the nice neighbours that had provided me with some hot water for a coffee.

I had decided that I would take the first few days easy to allow my body to adapt to the new reality of life. And also because on the second day in the afternoon the pain started to grow in my left knee. All this considered I managed to do 300 km in 5 days over the rolling hills of Nova Scotia.

Based on Jenna’s and Dale’s recommendation I took a more southern route that initially took me along the coastline and then across the interior accompanied by swarms of little black flies that surround you immediately once you stop or you are turning the pedals at less than 13 km/h (in a country with lots of uphills that is not so rare) and then they start to bite and drink your blood. Nasty!
The route took me then to Digby where I caught the ferry to cross the Bay of Fundy into Saint John, New Brunswick.

Wednesday morning in Saint John was foggy which apparently is not such a rare event around here. Soon I was in a proper pedal turning rhythm and as the road turned towards the sea, through the mist and the salty sea air that you can taste in your mouth, the sun started to show and it stayed with me through the whole day. Today’s goal was to reach Oak Bay near St Stephen where I was to meet and stay at Dave with whom I got in contact with through a high school schoolmate Dominik or better said his blog.
About 30km before the finish I get in touch with Dave who gives me additional motivation to reach his place today – there is a cold beer in the fridge.
For the first time on this tour I managed to do a 100 in a day. As a reward I get a cold beer and this view.

Short update

As I’m aware that you are all interested, just letting you know that Lou and I have been reunited. He was a little scared, little bruised and in more pieces than I have left him, but he arrived.

Today we are off!