day 4

wow... what a long day. when i got up this morning, i was pretty choked to find out that i could barely move my right knee. as you can imagine, i was a little freaked out by what that could mean to the trip if it does slow me down (or even get worse). so i basically just tried to put it out of my mind until it became a real problem. what i thought was funny (later on in the day anyways) was that for all my preparation for this trip, the only thing i didn't properly prepare for was long bike rides. go figure.

so today i got onto the road at about 11:00 am. i was a little slow out of the gates - mainly due to a *really* cozy (and free) shower. about 25 or so kilometers into the ride, i noticed exactly where the pain was coming from. when i would lower my torso closer to the handlebars, my knee would hurt progressively more. seeing as how i'd become accustomed to a more upright position on my mountain bike, i tried simply to sit more upright on my road bike. no pain... woot!

my goal for the day was to hit wentworth ntl. park (some 40km north of where i started). at about 45km, i still hadn't seen a sign for the park. at 50km, i was sure i missed it, but it was such a gorgeous day and i was feeling kind of pumped i figured, "aw, what the heck."

something i should point out though is that a sign saying "welcome to wentworth valley" wasn't really given due appreciation. and it was really at the 50km mark that i hit "the hill". it looked normal enough and like most hills, it's tough to see where the top is if you're looking at it from the bottom. i switched it into my easiest gear and started climbing up at about 14km/h. after a kilometer or two the hill looked the exact same - straight, unwavering... heading towards the sky. not once did this hill get steeper or flatten out. at 4 km into it, i thought i might be able to see the top, but then it could've also been my imagination. at 5 km the hill finally started to top off. whoa. then i guess i did what any other guy would've done in my position: i took a picture, "marked my territory", gave it the bird (with a few choice words), and moved on.

at about 70km, i came across a fairly unpleasant sign - "caution: rough road next 4km". big deal... i get through the 4km of crappy, chunky pavement and i'm ready for some decent road. well, i don't know who they're trying to kid with that sign, but it's 8km. maybe they're trying to play jokes on poor tourists or maybe they're just trying to mask nova scotia's transportation problems, i don't know. but it's 8 km of some of the crappiest road i've seen. so there.

not like i really intended to whine & complain for the entire day's entry, but seeing as how this is *my* journal, i guess i'll just keep doing whatever i damn well please. man, i have to chill.

ok, so at about 90 km the side road i'm on hits a dead end. i'm trying to stay off of the trans-canada highway and so in doing so, my route is fairly convoluted. anyways, i'm out there in my spandex holding maps in both hands and shaking my head when three kids come on over to see what i'm up to. the youngest one just got a new tricycle and was busy trying to show me how he could drive in circles. the second youngest was more or less commenting on how rediculous the youngest one was while the oldest was telling me how he had a mountain bike and that it had shocks on it and my bike didn't. luckily, the boys did help me out by telling me that the small, rocky dirt road that exits from this dead end of pavement actually leads to the hwy 104. very cool.