Day 46. Day 2 – Cabot Trail…!!! So far so good!

Indian Brook to Ingonish, Nova Scotia

10/2/23. 31 miles. AIS: 10.1 mph. 3:02. Elev. 2057 ft.

Great night’s sleep at our homey house last night. Well rested snd ready for ANOTHER beautiful day! To our surprise and delight it wasn’t really chilly when we departed at 9am. No hats, no gloves. The second jacket and leg warmers came off pretty quickly too.

Traffic was significantly less than yesterday (Sunday). It did pickup by the afternoon but not bad. With the narrow, twisty roads cars get stacked up and then seem to go by us in waves of 4-5 in a row. There were a couple of times when our side of the road was particularly bad asphalt and we had to ride more middle-ish in the lane… especially going downhill where we had some speed. Maybe I’ll try to get a road photo for you at some time when it’s bad and I can safely stop, to explain what bad looks like to me.

Cape Smokey Mountain Climb.

We could see it coming from a few kilometers away. The whitish cliffs stand out from the green mountainside. To the right of the mountain is the Atlantic Ocean. So blue, so calm and so beautiful today.

Andre met up with us shortly before the climb so he gave us good intel on what to expect at the start of the climb. The road descends to the left and at the bottom it takes a hard curve to the right and goes straight up. You can’t really see it coming so he warned us to be ready in a climbing gear! You know how switchbacks always bank steep on the inside curve? This was probably the steepest part of the climb and basically starts at zero percent!

Andre also took our one pannier to the top for us so we were climbing with just a handlebar bag. Very light! So our 6 week conditioning program was good. We both made it to the halfway lookout/rest stop with no problems. We did have some help with a slight tailwind or complete windbreak up that side of the mountain. We took a few minutes to gape at the scenery, eat a cookie, and continue up the other half on the windward of the mountain. We had some wind but the grade wasn’t horribly steep and was consistent the rest of the way up. Climbing up from the south to the north we had a really good shoulder all the way to the top.

I’m pretty sure if I was carrying my panniers I would have had to walk at least halfway up to the lookout point! Anything else I could have done would have been really hard. So happy to have an Andre🤣.

Now for the first big descent. Shortly after the top we lost all the shoulder and the asphalt turned to a crumbly, humpy and split cracks terrible surface. We have ridden this stuff for weeks… Cars can’t drive it very fast either… but trucks don’t seem to mind.

On the ride down, the hillsides all around us were showing more orange and reddish color. Everyday it gets a little stronger. I guess in a week it will be peak color. But just the start of it is beautiful too. At the base of Cape Smokey Mountain there is a full fledged ski area. It has about 3 prominent runs. It also has a gondola so that is a prime summer tourist draw and fall color (next week). $45 senior rate for a trip to the top. I might have taken it if foliage was in full splendor. Anyway, it was fun to check out the little area.

We entered the Cape Breton Highlands National Park just for a few kilometers. Stopped to buy our 2 day park pass and eat a picnic lunch… the usual. The park ranger told us not to feed the wild animals (coyotes) and be aware of the issue. They haven’t had any recent problems anyway. That’s reassuring.

The road surface in the little stretch of the park was really good. It even had a labeled bicycle shoulder. We’ve heard when we get into the main part of the park it will be good road surface too!

A few more small ups and downs through Ingonish Beach, Ingonish Centre and then just Ingonish and we were at our home for the night. I think it was about 2pm when we arrived at our “pod”. It’s a simple structure with just a bed, electric based stove for heat, one little lamp and a couple of chairs. Simple and good. There’s also a shared washroom, showers and kitchen facility at the end of the trail from the 8 or so pods. A couple of young related couples run the pods and a little breakfast/lunch restaurant and arts store. The owner told me they put the pods in about 3 years ago and keep them open all year. People use them during the ski season and also tour Cabot Trail all year!

Because they close the restaurant at 5, we had a really early sandwich type dinner. That’s okay because Jim has been fighting a cold for a couple of days and was starting to feel kind of miserable this afternoon. He took some cold medicine and is currently groaning himself to sleep next to me. Sounds like an earplug night ahead of me. Hope he feels better tomorrow… we’ve got another big climb… longer than today’s..

The things I notice…

Tomorrow…

We have 45 miles and quite a bit of climbing tomorrow. We will have to be diligent and keep moving along. We are expecting a headwind and a little cooler but still good weather. Partly sunny. Looking forward to more spectacular scenery. I’ll do my best to stop for photos when I can… maybe just to breathe.

If I don’t post tomorrow don’t worry… it could most likely be a lack of wifi thing.