We couldn't have picked a nicer location for our final rest day of the trip. The weather was perfect and the scenery was spectacular! After sleeping in until 10:00AM (!) and enjoying breakfast on a sunny patio (actually every meal here was outdoors!), Ken headed to Cyclo Services in Lower Quebec to have the rear derailleur adjusted on his bike. As he was wheeling it into the service area he noticed the lining of his back tire was showing. So two new tires were in order as well. After over 5,000 km's his old tires didn't owe him anything. In no time Danielle and her staff had everything in tip top condition. Ken found it interesting that the owner, Danielle had to interpret his issues to the mechanic who spoke absolutely no English. Thankfully, nothing seems to have been lost in translation, however, tomorrow we should be able to confirm whether that is the case!
We spent several hours walking around the city, and following an online walking tour. As part of that tour, we enjoyed an informative historical presentation on the history of Quebec City at the Musee du Fort next to the Chateau Frontenac. It helped us to understand the historical significance of this area, particularly the battles between New France and New England. As most of you know, New England was the ultimate victor of those battles, however, the Quebecois retained the right to enforce their civil law, and to retain their language. Photos of our rest day can be found on our Photo Gallery.
Tomorrow we begin the final leg of our tour, so we are focusing on finishing strong. Ken uses the analogy of the Tour de France. As is often the case, this year's winner, Chris Froome had built up a large enough lead before the final day that he only needed to ensure he finished the race to win the crown. After proving to ourselves that we are capable of completing this feat, we now just have to finish it. However, it is our intention to finish strong.
If you haven't had a chance to read the comments from some of the students at El Jordan, please take a minute to visit Day 41 and read through them. They serve as an inspiration for us to finish this ride and we are hopeful that if you haven't had a chance to visit our "Donate" page and give towards this excellent organization, these comments might encourage you to do so...!
Lastly, we have received a question about the state of Cam's right hand which had swollen significantly from insect bites. It took about 5 days for the swelling to subside, but it has now returned to normal. Unfortunately, the numbness that afflicted the pinky and ring fingers of both hands has remained (see Day 16) but has not gotten any worse. He is hopeful that this will return to normal following completion of the ride.
Tomorrow's Destination: Unknown - we want to arrive at Riviere-du-Loup on Wednesday night, and plan to find a hotel somewhere around half way tomorrow, which would be about 100 kms. This varies from our original itinerary which had us riding 140 kms....
Bonne nuit et beaux rêves!
