45 km, 2.25 hrs

We rode from New Glasgow to Susan’s farm near Scotsburn – home of the Scotsburn Dairy, well-known throughout the Maritimes, and close to our hearts as makers of yummy ice cream.

On our way through Cape Breton and Nova Scotia, we saw signs everywhere saying “Vote Mitch”. Over the past few days we have been wondering “who is Mitch and why would we vote for him?”.  We saw another sign, and Scott said “Perhaps Mitch is on Canadian Idol?”  This was confirmed shortly thereafter by another sign:  “Vote Mitch for Canadian Idol!”  Mitch MacDonald is from Nova Scotia (Cape Breton?) and is now in the Canadian Idol finals, so there’s lots of excitement in the papers.

It was another wet day, and we got soaked on the ride up to Pictou.  Rain gear keeps us from getting soaked, but we’re still damp throughout.  The rain is forecast to continue for the next week, and we are feeling tired. Becky cannot imagine getting back on the bike at this point.

We called Susan shortly before Scotsburn, and discovered that she and Onika were stranded at the farm.  Their car was at the Scotsburn garage after a repair, but they had no easy way to get out to pick it up.  We offered to pick it up on the way by, which worked out very well.  It felt good to be the rescuer rather than the rescue for once.

Becky loaded her bike and all the bags into the car, but we couldn’t fit both bikes, so Scott got to ride the last 14 km with no bags.  It’s amazing how much more responsive the bike is without 90 pounds (40 kg) of gear on it!  It was refreshing (and a bit surprising) to be able to climb hills at 30 kph.  Maybe our legs are getting stronger after all… The shocks were tuned for more weight, which made the bike a bit more jittery when riding over bumps.

Becky managed to get the car unloaded before the rain started again, but Scott managed to get soaked, since he’d taken off his rain gear in Scotsburn.  A nice warm cup of tea with Susan and her daughter Onika made everything right again though.