these days Scott works for border patrol and he has lots of great exciting stories about rounding up large numbers of people sneaking across. Some crazy stuff too. It was great to finally see him and meet his family. His wife Jen had a hearty delicious meal ready when I arrived. Her strawberry spinach salad was so good that I ate salad, on a bike tour! And creme brulee for dessert, yum!
I took a rest day at Paul Smith and went to a couple classes with Addie. They made some good food in her chefs class but one dish in particular was exceptional, some sort of lamb with prunes and apricots. We chilled that evening and I ate a lot of free food from the caf, and Clare gave me some really good cookies from her baking class for my ride to Montreal.
The ride to Montreal featured sunny skies, flat roads, and some tailwind sections. At the border I stopped and waited at the window for a bit an no one seemed to be there. So I knocked on the window and within five seconds the guy was there, he must have been sleeping. Crossing the Saint Lawrence river to get into the city was a challenge. Instead of looking for a bridge that allowed bicycles (which it turned out would have taken a LONG time) I just went for it over the devided 4 lane highway bridge with no shoulder that i was at. Once i was up the bridge I was into some traffic and doing 30+mph with the aid of a tailwind and the draft from passing trucks. I got off it as fast as I could, what a rush!
Once I made it to downtown I found the Holiday inn that my highschool Jazz band stayed at for a competition back in 95 when i was a seinor. It was exactly 15 years ago to the week, during april vacation. It was of particular significance because I flushed a sea crab down the toilet which clogged it and ultimately got out highschool banned from that particular hotel. I had to stay for the night. My name was not listed as banned, they gave me a room, and even took my picture in the lobby with my bike.....sweet.
Keith (chef from Rochester) told me to eat at a restaraunt called the Au Pied de Cochon so the reception guy called them up and made a reservation for me. And it was great. I got the steak tare tare and sat at the bar where i could watch the cooks. They were flying, making so much food that i wanted to try but could not fit in me. The tare tare with fries left me stuffed.
The next morning the weather was great so i got the hotels breafast buffet, bought some groceries, and boogied. Eventually, it took a while to get out of the suburbs with my limited map of the area. Asking directions a few times got me onto a great bike path to Chambrey (i think) and then onto the flat roads to Newport VT. One guy even rode with me a while to show me the way out. It got a bit hilly as I approached Newport VT where there is a town called Bolton (in Quebec).
Data is coming in from the powertap again which is registering about 80% of the time. Good enough to get samples while riding and i'm able to calculate the missing kjs. here's the last two days
day 14 103 miles in 6:24
day 15 101 miles in 6:45 at 167avwatts, 4190kj
my plan for the rest of the trip is to ride to Milan QC to see the Milanaise flour mill who makes most of the flour we use at orchard hill. Edit: scratch that, just got a call from Sophie at Milanaise and they are in Montreal for a trade show (i was just there), mill closed this week, logistics! I missed cannondale factory too! So perhaps i'll go back into canada for a bit then head south to the white mountains and west into central and southern VT before returning home. I hope the weather is good, its been great most of the way!
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