Day 57: Trois-Pistoles to Rimouski

June 30, 2025

Day 57: Trois-Pistoles to Rimouski

Yesterday morning, I had a cup of tea before saying goodbye to Iléana. There was a light rain in the beginning of my ride, then it stopped after a while.

I passed by more farmlands as I rode on the shoulder of Route 132. At times, the shoulder had so many potholes that I had to slow down to avoid them. I started to see more hills, too. I even cycled up a couple of them.

On the way into Rimouski, there was a bike path then a bike trail. When I was getting close to downtown Rimouski a man named Guston saw me looking at my phone and asked me if I was lost. I was just looking for a place to eat. We ended up chatting for a bit.

Guston is a runner and likes to run marathons. He informed me about the terrain in Gaspesie. There will be more hills coming up. Guston also told me the places where I can see whales. I was very appreciative of this information.

After meeting Guston, I ate a chicken burger meal at A&W Canada. I didn’t know A&W has fast food restaurants so I wanted to try. It’s like any other fast food places.

I was early to arrive at my Warmshowers host’s place so I cycled through downtown then to Beauséjour Park. There were some interesting sculptures at the park. I ended up relaxing on the bench for a bit before arriving at my Warmshowers host’s house at 2:45 PM after riding a total of 43.3 miles.

I met my hosts Pat and her husband, Hilderic. They are both retired software engineers. This made them my kind of people times three since they are cyclists, hosts, and programmers. Even though they are retired, they are busy with their hobbies, such as astronomy, playing musical instruments, making cool gadgets with Arduino and Raspberry Pi, etc. I had so much in common with them since I like to do all the above when I was at home.

After drinking some tea and resting, I had to change the oil on my bike’s rear hub since my bike runs on a gearbox. I have to change the oil every 5000 KM (3107 miles) and it’s now due. The process took about 30 minutes or so. Hilderic mixed some sawdust with the old oil so the oil got absorbed and ready to be disposed.

I took a shower afterward, but Pat was allergic to the soap I used so I took another shower using an unscented soap. I should have known about the scent of my soap since Pat had warned me about her allergy and told me not to wear sunblock, deodorants, bug spray, etc.

We had dinner around 8 PM. Hilderic made Shepherd’s Pie, string beans, rice, and salad. We also had ice cream for dessert. The meal was delicious!

After helping to clean the dishes, I soon went to bed. This morning, I woke up around 6:30 AM. Pat told me last night that breakfast will be around 8 AM. Today, I have about 50 miles to ride to my next Warmshowers host’s place at Saint-Ulric.