Day 53- Keep Your Hands on the Plow

Today was absolute madness. Im not even sure if it really happened, or if it was just a fever dream brought on by sun exposure.

It started off innocently enough, biking along in the morning air against an unfortunate headwind. I knew I had a really long 180 KM day ahead of me if I wanted to make it to Levis so that I could ferry across to Old Quebec City, which I longed to revisit, so I was concerned by how much the wind was slowing me down. I continued trduging along. I had now begun to run parallel to the St. Lawrence, and the scenery was quite beautiful, so I was happy enough despite the wind. A quick lunch at a look off point, and I was into the afternoon half.

It was getting hot out again, and I was rapidly wearing out, so I was unsure if I would make it to Levis. And then it happened. I hit a mandatory detour that took me WAY off the direct track. I became more and more angry as more and more distance was added onto my already long day as I was forced to tangent way out into the countryside. By the time I was back on the highway, at least 20 KM had been added, and I was furious and exhausted. I still had over 70 KM left to go, and I was feelingg mentally and physically defeated. The only thing that kept me going was stubborn determination to keep true to my goal. This final leg blurred into a delerium of exhaustion and negative emotion.

I did however discover the magic properties of oranges. At one point I stopped, shakey and weak, and wolfed down two oranges with quivering hands, and very rapidly the shaking stopped and I felt a lot better. I was very impressed by the noticable effect.

I somehow dragged myself into the beautiful city of Levis, and followed the picturesque trail system along the water to the old downtown; Quebec city visable on the opposite shore. I remembered much of this area from another of dad's races years ago, and I had loved this area then as I do now. Once downtown, I struggled to find a place to stay. I laboured up and down the giant winding hills of the scenic downtown, hopping from motel to B&B to hostel, but to no avail; no one was home. It was late, I was past my limit, and my phone which was my guide was nearly dead, so I was becoming desperate. Finally, I headed off further into the newer section of town, and found a chain hotel to stay at, where I paid a king's ransom for the night. It was cool and comfortable, and I was almost about to blackout. Not long later I was fast asleep.

Today was well over 200 KM, and very frustrating to boot; not a fun day.