For those of you following along at home, it’s been a whole week that I’ve been on the road.  In that time, I’ve ridden 178 miles/~290 kilometers.  I’m making quite a bit of progress down the Southeast Coast of Nova Scotia.

I haven’t added it up with any precision, but a good ballpark elevation gain so far is about 10,000 feet/3,000 meters.  Not bad for an old guy, eh?

Here’s a bit closer look.

I have stayed on roads as close to the shore as I can, which has been both a blessing and a curse.  It’s great that, when those roads are level, they are absolutely flat, running just a bit above the high tide line, and sometimes for quite a ways.  The Nova Scotia coastline is as scenic as it gets, and I have hours every day to enjoy it.  Often these roads have minimal traffic, so I get to see the sights without worrying about getting knocked down by an inattentive driver.

On the minus side, when these local roads are hilly, they aren’t kidding.  When they were laid out, the cuts and fills of modern highway design weren’t in the cards yet, and there has been little effort to bring them up to modern standards.  The pavement is also often rough or otherwise in poor shape.  There are also long stretches without stores or restaurants for food or bathroom breaks.  You just can’t have everything.

I had planned to ride more miles each day.  What’s doing those plans in is my stopping every little bit to take photos.  I just can’t help it.  I’m probably also best off not trying to kill a bunch of miles/km a day at this point.  I am able to easily ride another 10 miles/16 km a day right now, I’m pretty sure.  I’ve not “bonked” yet.  My legs are feeling strong at the end of the day. We’ll see what happens when we pass Yarmouth and start rolling along on more level terrain.

A final word- Strava.  I am going to give up on Strava until I’m back in the ‘States and can turn my cellular data back on.  It has stopped working in the middle of the ride three of the last five days.  RidewithGPS, by contrast, has worked great.