Another great day for ESSB riders in Gaspesie today.

 

Our riders were strong and fast despite some sore buns from the previous day.

Our only real setback was 1 flat suffered by Guy, in the final few kilometers of the ride.

 

We set out from Auberge du Marchand in Maria this morning.

Breakfast was the usual feast provided by our ‘Cookie’ Glenn Hayes.  Lots of energy in the form of pancakes, fresh fruit and yogurt.

 

Hydration was key today.  The sky was perfect and the sun seared our skin all day.  I think we used as much sunscreen as water over the course of the day..  We beat dehydration, but we could not beat the sun burns.  We’ll have some tender riders tomorrow.

 

Our 1st stop of the day was in Gesgapegiag with encouragement from friends and family of Keishawn and Jewel.  We saw the Waplkoni Mobile vehicle on site and look forward to their amazing video productions in the area.  Check out their amazing work here…

http://www.wapikoni.ca/home

 

Our next rest stop was at St Jules Church in Cascapedia. We rode next to the Cascapedia River Fishing Museum.  The wall of fame was covered with plaques to honor the largest catches in the history of the Cascapedia River.  Hockey legend Bobby Orr even has his name enshrined there for a catch he made in 1999.  You can read more here…

http://www.cascapedia.org/famous/index.htm

 

Our next stop was New Richmond High School where we were greeted by Teacher Brian Hodge.  Mr. Hodge, what are you doing at school on a Sunday?  He’s just a hard-working guy!

 

Next, we popped into a Historical Settlement in New Richmond with and auction-house for Antiques.  Historical dwellings from the area have been moved into this area, to recreate a settlement from years gone by.  Ray was our amazing livestock animator, giving us all lessons in farming and sharing farms animal facts.

 

We rode-on before stopping at Taylor’s Point for lunch. Self-serve sub sandwiches again today, and just as good as yesterday’s.  No Volleyball injuries today, and we even had a visit from Evergreen Teacher Elodie Cyr.  She stopped by to encourage her student Kimberly on the ride.  Thanks for the support, Ms. Cyr.  We appreciate it.

 

The highlight of the day had to be swimming at the mouth of Petite Cascapedia River in New Richmond.  The train bridge served as a diving platform for Joe, Keishawn, Brayden, and Ray.  The tarzan rope was fun too, and a cute black lab served as the lifeguard for our ESSB Fit and Grit-ers.

 

Our next stop in Caplan allowed us to pose with a wooden statue of a young girl enjoying a book with her eyes closed.  We imagined that she was enjoying some positive thinking with us. We’ll need to research this further to get the full story behind this.  Ray our self-appointed tour guide, explained the quits on the fences in the area.  They were done by the Cercle de Fermiere Quilting Guild.  Really neat stuff.

 

We ended an amazing day with a huge spaghetti dinner, a soothing camp-fire, and some funny stories.  Jasmine entertained us with a spectacular version of the Jason Mraz song, “I’m yours”.  It was so good, we insisted that she perform it twice.

 

Today’s stats:

Total time in the saddle: 3 hrs and 35 mins

Top speed: 59 Km/hr

Total elevation climbed: 630 meters

1 flat (Guy Gallibois)

Many sunburns

 

See you all tomorrow 🙂