It was great to meet all of you guys and great ride too. Ride home was kind of boring little rain and showers and boring hwy. But we're home now dry and happy. Just watched Moto GP . I hope you guys have safe journey home and see you next year.

The ride images have been posted on Picasa here:



I found it very interesting on the Cabot Trail: Cars, trucks, travel trailers and motor homes all move aside and let bikes go through when it's fairly safe to do so. Many drivers signal you to pass. Very friendly of them.

But the slowest part of the ride is invariably when cruisers are in the lead. They never move over for anyone and go so slow it's ridiculous and dangerous.

There was a particularly nice twisty downhill stretch which would easily be taken at 80kmh or slightly less, to be really safe, but the cruisers were idling down at 20 to 30, and the camper, 4 cars and I stuck behind were fairly frustrated.

You should have smelled the brakes on that descent... We all did eventually get by but how ridiculous is that?

I'm so glad everyone enjoyed themselves this weekend! It was a real treat to have you all here. The roads are really something special and they're all the more enjoyable just before tourist season opens up.

Very happy that the weather turned out reasonably well too. Blue sky on Saturday was a nice surprise after the ominous morning. Joanna and I went to Louisbourg today and ended up riding back in the rain for about 3 hours. Nothing too serious, but it does make things a bit uncomfortable. Still, we were smiling when we got home so that's saying something!

Mike and Stephanie, thanks for the pics. Great you saw a moose... I've been around the Cabot Trail several times now and still haven't seen one in the wild. Very lucky, and I'm more than a little jealous.

Ride safely, everyone. Thanks again for making it a great weekend. I'm looking forward to next year's Cabot Trail ride already!

Mark,

Thanks for organizing the weekend. I had a great time and met a lot of fantastic people.

I made it to Montreal, so just over 1300 km (i think). A thunderstorm is forcing me to stay the night here and take an easy ride home tomorrow morning. It rained solid from Fredericton to Quebec City, but the pace was brisk so I made good time.

Hope to see everyone again. If anyone is in the Toronto area, drop me a line.

Ehren

Hey Markus and the rest of the gang, sorry I missed the ride, I got home about three on Sat and just didn't have it in me to jump on the horse and join you (22 hours on the road). I'm glad to read the threads and that everyone had a good time, just let me know the next time you guys get together for a ride I'll be around until the 1 of Aug.

Bill

Ehren - Good to hear you made it as far as Montreal. You nearly qualified for a soggy Ironbutt! Hope the rest of your ride home today is a bit drier. Thanks again for coming all this way and it'll be great to see you again. I'm in Toronto often for work so we'll try to hook up for a beer in August if the timing works.

Hey Bill! Welcome home. Sorry to say you missed a very fun weekend but don't worry. we'll get another group ride organized in the next week or two. Maybe a longer version of last year's ride that ended early in Eastern Passage? If we start earlier in the day we can get the whole loop in before sundown.

By the way, thanks very much for the med kit. Happy to report we didn't need it.

Hey folks

Glad to hear the weekend was a good one. Like I said in Truro, I did what I could to keep the rain away for the weekend.

I'll second the motion for a group ride in the weeks ahead. Time to stretch the legs of the SS!

Come to think of it, I think I'll post for a ride tomorrow!

Alan

Dude!!
Spoiler Alert!

(I hadn't watched the race yet!)

I'm sorry guys.

Well this has been a great day - the weather has been co-operative and the people we've met in our stops have been wonderful. We're now in Levis, QC, and will have a short day tomorrow to get home.

I ran out of gas on the 1150 on the TCH, but managed to keep going after I tipped the bike over to get all the fuel into the pump side.

I made it into a little gas station/corner store some distance off the TCH, where we stopped for a quick cup of coffee. The man at the cash asked Stephanie where we were headed and when she said Ottawa, he gave her a hand written note with directions to the TCH so we wouldn't have to backtrack. How thoughtful!

Then I was looking around for some baked goods for a quick snack when one of the ladies in the booth next to us offered us some freshly baked banana/nut muffins she just happened to have with her.

What a treat! Really restores your faith in humanity after spending a night in Moncton, at the mercy of the worst side of life.

We'd done 600kms that day and some bozo told his 5 young kids to go out and play in the hall so his hotel room would be quiet. 10:30 at night and they're slamming doors and playing tag. He didn't appreciate my request that they be quiet...

We've made it home. We've had two days of dry riding, the ride through New Brunswick was foggy to start but got drier and hotter the further inland we got. We spent the night at Levis (southeast of Quebec City) and today we rode with just our leathers on (no fleece!) through lots of traffic to get home. There is no good way to get past Montreal....

The day we spent riding the Cabot trail is probably the best day of riding I've ever had, there was little traffic and it turned into a beautiful day after lunch. The road is smooth, and the hills and corners are outstanding. Wow....

I also must add that Newfoundland is an incredible place to visit. I will return next year for another taste of that amazing landscape. The Gros Morne park is incredible. The roads are mostly in excellent condition and the hills are massive. I'll ask Mike_D to post the links to some of his photos taken in Newfoundland. I've never seen anything like it before. And the people are wonderful there. We had a fabulous time. And, btw, the food is great, we had some fantastic salmon, trout, halibut and ocean perch. I can't wait to go back.

ETA: Here are the links:









Stephanie

Hi Stephanie,

Just got back from doing the Trail in mid June and had a spectacular day.
We've done every route around/through Montreal and the one that works best for us is - cross over to Quebec at Hawkesbury, take 148 to 50 to 15 South to 640 to Repentigny to 40 to Trois Rivieres, Quebec City and then over the the bridge. Its more mileage than going via the US but it's faster.
See you at Calabogie.
Cheers,
Dave (22)

One of Mike_D's moose photos from the Cabot Trail is the 'lead photo' in the CBC news website photo album:



and



And he's got two shots in the album itself. His 20 minutes of 'fame'!

Stephanie