Riding Across Eastern Canada – 12 Days on 2 Wheels

[peterbaron]

Day 3, Wednesday - Riviere du Loup, QC - Grand Falls, NB - Gaspe Peninsula and Chandler, QC, 580 kms

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Rivi%C3%A...FQAw%3D%3D

After a quick breakfast, we rode to Grand Falls, where we stopped to enjoy the beautiful scenery.









...
When I walked up to my CB, I noticed a wire sticking out of the rear Metzeler tire... and naturally, I wasn't thrilled about it.
Django hit the nail on the head right away... a tire with a tread pattern that doesn't cover the entire surface might perform well today, but tomorrow the situation could look completely different, and that’s exactly what happened, even though I’d checked it twice before setting off. I’ll never buy a tire like that again... and certainly not a Metzeler for the CB1100, becouse is too soft.



We still have about 3500 planned km or more to go, and now there’s a tire problem, and on top of that where to buy one and where to get it fitted??
...
Finally, after a couple of coffee breaks and meal, we arrived at the beautiful Gaspé Peninsula...












....

As we rode on, we noticed that the weather forecast for tomorrow didn't look promising!
We eventually stopped at the Chandler Motel QC and asked about a motorcycle shop, where a kind older lady helped us find a motorcycle mechanic to replace a damaged rear tire.
Without her help, I don’t know how we would have made it home.

Day 4, Thursday - Chandler, QC to Matane, QC, about 500 km

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Chandler,...FQAw%3D%3D

After a tasty breakfast at a motel restaurant....



....I rode my bike to a nearby motorcycle shop to get a tire, but they didn't have one in stock.
I was told to go a bit further to a Kawasaki dealer; I found a new tire there, though by the look of it, I estimated it was 20 years old (it had been sitting in the dark basement and was in perfect condition), but they refused to mount it because they didn't have the time....I ran my hand and fingernail over the tire, hand and fingernail clean, and I took it without even checking the date of manufacture, I had no choice.
I sent the tire back to the first shop, where they mounted it for me within an hour and a half. I also had a nice chat with their mechanic who mounted my tire.
Only then did I check the date of manufacture: 1704...  
The total cost came to around 400 Canadian dollars.




Sourcing and mounting the tire took us nearly five hours.
We checked the weather forecast again, the outlook for the late afternoon and the next two days was poor, with fog, rain, and temperatures around +9°C moving in.

Riding with Django is pleasure, until the winding roads begin... he is simply a master at tackling hairpin bends, curves, and U-turns on narrow routes; I just can't keep up with him, I was always left behind! 

We had already toured most of the picturesque Gaspé Peninsula when rain and fog suddenly set in, turning the remaining couple of hundred km into an unpleasant ride.
We eventually found a comfortable motel in Matane, QC; there, over pizza for dinner, we decided to alter our Gaspé trip plans and head straight home, a journey of about 1,300 km that would take two days to complete.
The next day will be even worse....

[pdedse]

Very cool to see the routes on the maps / photos of places that I had imagined riging this time last year.

[Cormanus]

Day 2, Tuesday - Brampton, ON to Riviere du Loup, QC

There is not really much to report about 1050 km hwy sprint to Riviere du Lup, Que.

That's a helluva day's ride. Well done.

The Gaspé Peninsula looks beautiful.