I rode from Burlington VT crosswise to the trip pictured here on to Perce in the Gaspe. On a Schwinn Sport Tourer. Wild country and never ending hills. Hit 60 MPH on a downhill grade. It was actually hard to find decent food 15 years ago as the area has a weak economy. It was not easy to thrive on poutine ande when we found good food we really hit it. Found fresh bread in a box by the highway, paid and ate two loaves! That aside, a great trip although the roads are narrow ribbons of pavement and when a tractor trialer honks, you had better head for the bushes. I used really low gears, probaby a 26-32 as I find that tendinitus on tours is bad news. We made about 100 miles per day, staying in motels.
Joe Bender-Zanoni
Whitneyville, CT
Hi --
Got back last week from a long on-topic bike ride and finally annotated & organized a few pictures.
( http://www.flickr.com/
Spent a week riding my Raleigh Grand Prix north of Quebec and from about Trois Rivieres back to New Hampshire. It's a stock 1974, Gazelle built, with the steel rims, Normandy hubs, Weinmann center-pulls, Stronglight cranks & derailleurs, and a Pletscher rack. I added a period Pletshcer front rack for this trip. I also modified the cogs, with spare Maillard gears, to 14-16-18-24-32. With a 52/42 standard chainring, I really needed that 32 a bunch of places.
Great ride, and the bike performed really well. Had more than one bike shop owner look at the bike ... look at me ... look at the bike, raise an eyebrow ... look at me. And then there'd be a low whistle, a soft "wow", "you're nuts", or "you're really riding that?" (no - it's strapped to my back while I ride this carbon cannondale thingy. sigh. I suppressed the temptation to say that out loud.)
Thanks again to Mark at Tri-City Bikes, Rochester, NH, for a quick spoke & wheel fix.
Bob Hillery, Stratham, New Hampshire, US (then did Mt Agamenticus, Maine, hill repeats on the Raleigh yesterday ... "strong like fox, smart like bull"(?))