Thursday August 27 Broad Cove Campground, Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Epic ride today. Saw a number of cyclists out today soaking up some hills, wind and switchbacks. No problems at all with my gears and shifter. After two days of wondering if and when the chain would shift now its smooth shifting without a squeak, click or hesitation. Not so with the front tire - 3rd flat in about 5 days which cannot be attributed to bad roads or bad luck but only a tire which has come to the end of its life. Deposited tire at an emergency hut and put on my emergency spare. Will ride without a spare tire for the next 5 days. Yep only 5 days of riding left. If only I could make a couple dollars doing this then I could do it for ever. Today's ride was all in the park except for a couple villages just outside the boundaries where you can get groceries, B&B's, souvenirs and see a thousand billboards. Found out why they call this the "Highlands" Natl Park. Today had four major climbs from sea level to ~ 400 m at 11%, 13%, 8% and 6% grades. I believe them including the 13%. The wind was very strong today with gusts up to at least 60 km/hr. It was from the NE but with the valleys, open water, highlands, passes and ridges it seemed to come from anywhere and not at all. On the 13% down I had to ride my brakes as hard as I could for most of it. I stopped to let some cars pass and had to drag my foot to come to a complete stop. I think on a perfect day on a road bike without gear you could hit 100 km/hr. Luckily there were few cars around so taking the entire lane was easy to do. The guy at the campground booth says they are adding wider shoulders every time they repave so it will only get better. The park has about 25 trail heads and 50 "look offs" so I spent most of the day taking mini-breaks. No long lunches, on the bike from 8 to 5 pm but only 6 hours pedalling so nearly 3 hours being a tourist - including time at the Scot's tartan shop. Only did 105 kms too!! But the boat tomorrow night is only 130 km away. In the tent now, dark ~8:00 pm. So cool that I wore my jacket all day and my pants tonight. It's trying to rain tonight, tried a few times today and a few times last night, 8C when I got up this morning.

OD 7608.2 km, 6:04:10, 104.93 km, 17.2 ave, 62.9 max