Was stuck in Moncton waiting for my bike to get fixed, but at least could ride with the bike shop loaner! Not enjoying the flat windy rides. You just never get a break of any sort, the wind is 75% in your face. Then just one big driving day to zoom back to Montreal to meet friends for a long-scheduled ride! Hard to plan with people but worth it.

When you see a big lake, you plan a route around it. That’s how it works.

Corvette meet at the Wal-Mart parking that morning.

Lake starts near this little swampy creek. Need more creek pics in life.

Crossing said creek that connect Indian lake and Maquapit lake.

When I say about a place that there's nothing to see, I mean it looks like this. Little plan homes with a yard and no view of anything in particular.

Grand Lake. It's grand, I'll give it that much. Googlemaps calls it "Foshay Lake" and "Grand Lake" at the same time. Huh.

Big lake like that, can't forget to surround it with cottages.

Has a few nice beaches and boat ramps. MEH

These are great. New Brunswick candy company, basically tastes like a nougat-only Snickers.

It was New Brunswick day, celebrating the province entering the confederation. Yeah just an excuse for more days off.

Still windy.

Coming back along the highway you see a bunch of nice little meadows.

Hadn't seen any of these Monarch butterflies in a while. They've become rare.

Supposed New Brunswick specialty: Garlic fingers, with Donair sauce.

Just a pizza crust with cheese and garlic flavoring. Can't go wrong with that. Then you dip it in this "Donair sauce"...

This sauce is sweetened condensed milk, white vinegar and garlic powder. Tastes like garlic buttercream frosting... Not my first choice of a bread dip sauce...

Thought I’d be getting my bike back that day so just waited around most of the day, then did this somewhat short ride after waiting out the rain as it was getting late in the day. Ended up not getting the bike back that day so… much sad.

You can rent these little beachfront cottages and chill on your private little beach.

Have a BBQ, swim, get taken out to sea by the current. Whatever you want.

Lot of pretty colorful homes with the nautical themes and those lighthouse lamps.

The star marks the "Acadian Route" which is a long scenic road loop along the coasts in the province.

Started nothing these after coming back from Newfoundland since everyone there had them. Protects your trash from animals. Precious, precious trash.

You think the car is older then its driver or no?

This guy with an improvised tractor museum on his yard.

Bridge over Cocagne Harbour. Always people fishing on these.

Makes sense with the price of fish. Catch a fish an hour and you're beating minimum wage now.

Lighthouse shed.

Those things in the background are mussel farms, I believe.

Sometimes the most interesting things are not nature. Nature can get repetitive...

Waited for my bike all day. Didn’t ride. Was just at this terrible Tim Hortons with bad Wi-Fi. NOT MUCH WAS DONE.

Decided to just plan an all-day type thing in case my bike would still not be ready. Originally a 165km ride that I cut short due to a phone call from the shop saying they had my bike. Woo. The wind was also absolutely brutal. The only section of tailwind I got is that big long straight stretch you see there. Just going 45-50kph with no effort there, then other 120km just never-ending crosswinds and headwinds. Ouch.

Starting at the Lobster in Shediac. As popular as ever. Wish I was mayor of a town, I know where the budget would go.

Just all sorts of people climbing all over it day-in, day-out.

Not the world's largest, but a nice one. Lenny's Takeout, still in Shediac.

A little further there's a touristy harbor ( with entry fee ) that is quite nice.

Big lighthouse and whatnot, for photos.

People fishing, as usual.

Bunch of lobster traps, sadly empty.

There's a coyote statue there with an actual fur tail that blows in the wind.

As always, restaurants on the pier. It's nice to eat by the sea.

Nice sandy beach along that northern shore. Can't tell if this is high or low tide.

Pretty original lawn ornament here. How do people come up with this stuff?

I believe it's called Parlee beach here? Decently busy. Smart decision given the blowdryer weather that week. Why bike.

Some sort of minion/hockey crossover.

An abandoned project on someone's yard. At least put a tarp on it or something, sir.

Huge potato next to this distillery. Everyone thought it was a peanut. Now I want peanut liquor...

Road that goes to the PEI bridge. So close, so close Bikes are not allowed on it though, you have to take a boat shuttle of some sort.

Endangered plastic owl.

There's many of these grassy bogs/creaks in the region. Wonder if the tides affect these as you can see partly exposed banks there

Town with a funny name... all I could think of for an hour after was this:

More smelly wetlants. That low tide smell really takes some of the charm out of the ocean.

Don't forget the collapsed shack of the day!

Then back to the lobster! Notice the flags, once again showcasing that sweet wind blasting your face.

That evening I decided to go for a New Brunswick "specialty" which is called a "Donair". It's basically a greek gyro...

But the bread is a folded pan pizza and they put that sweet condensed milk sauce on there too. God damn delicious.

The delays from fixing the bike meant I had to skip a few planned rides and shorten this one. Had to drive over 7 hours after this…

World's Biggest Axe. It's huge and pretty popular. 40mins from Fredericton, NB.

My bluetooth remote for the phone is wonky as hell so it makes terrible pictures since I never know when it's actually going off.

Guys, guys, you don't need a reason to build a giant axe in your town. I accept all large structures.

Bit of a foggy morning.

Well there you go, that's the biggest Maple Leaf in the world. I missed it while passing by the first time. Scammed.

Cool busted up damn on the way back to town.

Big lake in Nakawick near the axe. Firmly out of Ocean country and back into Lake n' Farms country.

yes

On the drive to MTL you pass by fry capital of the world. ( citation needed )

Had to stop at Potato World when I saw the signs on the highway. It's a museum. About potatoes.

Have to say it was a little disaapointing. If there's ever a place to build a 10 story high potato, it's here.

Back in Montreal trying to jam rides with old friends! This is one of the classic big weekend loops, the entire point of which being to take a short ferry ride. You take what you can get in Montreal…

Lachine Canal with a "Bateau Mouche" which takes tourists up and down to view old buildings. I assume.

Ferry ramp

The river. Not many pictures during group rides.

Mat BR, local climbing legend.

Pete, famous runner, dad and Simpsons enjoyer.

My chain was skipping hard the entire time on the long boat ride. My cassette and big chainring were completely worn out, which changing the chain for a new one makes much worse because the old chain stretches and adapts to the worm components.

So that meant more bike repairs in Montreal and no big ring longer rides. Just enjoyed a little rest during one more super hot day.

I think sleeping for 2 weeks in the heat really made me more heat resistant because I didn’t notice anything particular while everyone else was dying.

Closed off street on Mont-Royal, infested with tourists and suspiciously hot women.

If you come to Montreal you have to try Schwartz's smoked meat sandwiches. There's always a line, but...

They just make the best smoked meat. USA style BBQ brisket is garbage compared to this. Just too good.

Pidgeon trying to bum my sandwich.

There was some kind of pride parade going on while I was waiting for my sandwich.

Yes

Huh okay that's a little weird guys maybe.

Montreal is also home to the biggest orange. Sort of. It's some sort of fast food. Bleh

You'll also find the somewhat hyped St-Viateur bagels. They're AIGHT I guess but nothing that would blow your mind.

Another week over 20 hours, despite the delays and repairs. Good work me. As always it was awesome to hang out with everyone, though I had “just” seen them last month.
One more week of socializing around Montreal and Ottawa and then just turbo speed back to the Rockies, before snow threatens to ruin my life!
Fuck, thinking about snow in August already… Canada.

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Touring Canada Week 12 - Back to Montreal