Day 13 & 14- Fredericton, Moncton to PEI

Day 13- Friday, June 29/ 2012

We woke up from our hostel in Fredericton at 6 am. We hit snooze a few times before getting up. Still tired from the 200+ bike ride the day before. Didn't get out of the Fredericton hostel until 9:15 am.

The Friday morning and afternoon bike ride was different from what we had been used to the last few days. It was sunny! The sunny weather also caused us to underestimate the amount of water we needed to carry on our bike ride towards Moncton. We had been used to biking in the rain and not consuming much water.

Just after noon we were biking on the Trans-Canada (number 2) about 90 km from Moncton when we faced a sign that said the next gas station was in 70 km. At that point we were on a roll and didn't want to stop. We all thought that there would be something before the gas station at some point. None of us had enough water to last 70 km. We passed the exit and I recall Tyler at the time saying "This could be the best or worst decision of the trip."

We realized it was a bad decision not to stop when Jordan looked at his blackberry 15 minutes after that exit had passed and realized there really wasn't anything for 70 km. I looked at my water supply and I had about 1 hours worth of water for a 3 hour bike ride. I was in trouble. Tyler and Jordan were in similar situations.

We biked for about 45 minutes and then had lunch under an underpass of the highway. After the lunch break, Tyler took the lead biking. He stopped over a bridge where a fast moving stream was going under. Tyler thought this maybe our best chance at water. Jordan and I- who had the least water- held off on gathering this water because we hoped something would show up. Some sort of house off the highway that we could get water from was what we were hoping for.

The Bauman's to the rescue in New Brunswick!

Just after we started biking- after deciding not to stop for water- a blue van with Ontario license plates pulled in front of Tyler who was in the lead as usually. I was biking behind Tyler. I saw a lady get out of the van that looked familiar. Then I heard Tyler shout something in a happy voice. Turns out the van was carrying Brent and Kathy Bauman plus their three daughters. They reside in Elmira and go to Elmira Mennonite Church- the church I go to. The Bauman's gave us water and saved us from dehydration. We are grateful and lucky that the Bauman's were driving down the highway when we needed water the most.

Another story for the afternoon bike ride was Jordan's sore left knee. His knee had started bugging him near the end of the long 220 km bike ride the previous day that took us to Fredericton. We're not sure exactly what caused the injury, but it may have something to do with a muscle in the quad being tight. The quad muscle group does the most work when you cycle and we've been cycling a lot. Jordan did phone his dad about the injury and his dad said to give it rest and ice it. Rest would not come for Jordan until Canada day (Day 15 in Charlottetown). 

Tenting in a hay field 30 km outside of Moncton. 

We tented over night- about 30 km outside of Moncton- in a hay field near the highway. We bought pasta and tomato sauce at a gas station before arriving at the hay field. Tyler cooked it with our propane stove. This was the first time we had camped in a farmer's field. Before we had had stayed in houses, motels/hostels, or campsites. We had no issues in the evening staying in the farmers field, but we did have to go to bed without a shower and sleep in a tent that smells like three sweaty bikers.It rained over night, but our tent kept the rain out. By morning the rain had stopped.

Distance biked on the day 155 km approx.

Day 14- Saturday, June 30/2012


We woke up to an overcast sky, but the weather cleared up quickly and was hot and dry for the remainder of the day.

The first task of the day was fixing Jordan's back tire. In the previous day I had noticed when biking behind Jordan that his back wheel was wobbling at bit. Jordan took a closer look and realized he had a broken spoke. This is the same thing that happened to me a few days ago when I had my bike fixed in Edmundston. We biked 30 km to Mike's bike shop. We had heard of this place after meeting the owner's sister the previous day when buying pasta at the gas station.

Mike's bike shop provided great service fixing the broken spoke and pumping up our bike tires. Thank you Mike's bike shop!

Kyle after biking on the closed road. Very sandy.

Loading the bikes before shuttling them to PEI.

After the bike shop we biked about 90 km in sunny weather to the Confederation bridge that would take us to PEI. On the way to the bridge we ended on up on a road that was closed. The closed road started off as pavement, but quickly deteriorated into a sandy dirt road. One good thing about our bikes is the Marin Lombard is a cyclocross style of bike that is built to handle tougher terrain. With the Lombards we fished tailed all over the place in the sand due to having lots of weight on the back end of our bikes. At one point I fell, but I fell into sand so I was ok. We creeped our way on the dirt road for 10 km until finally getting to a paved road. After that we stuck to major highways. 


We took a shuttle across the 13 km Confederation bridge because bicycles aren't allowed on the bridge. 


Once in PEI, we had subs and decided to camp at the closest campsite to the bridge. The next day we planned on biking the 60 km to Charlottetown and then rest in the afternoon.


Distanced biked in the day 125 km approx.