Day 64 - Sunday, September 3/ 06
THE FINALE - Clarenville to St. John's, 185 km.
Amount cycled 114 km.
Slept so, so. There wasn't any noise, but I just think the realization that the end was at hand..the emotion, thinking of saying good bye to this group and the excitement of finishing this journey and to know I cycled Canada, well..wow!
We had a communion service last night, which was nice, but before that we had a little ceremony where Bruce spoke and later he and George handed out certificates.....and we all went up to receive them, just like excited school kids. We were later than usual to settle in for bed. Even though we were allowed to sleep in til 6:30, most were up early. We were seeking out our special friends for hugs and exchanging momentos, addresses. I got a bit teary knowing that I would most likely not see many of these people again. We packed up, loaded gear and the most amazing thing was that God provided a wonderfully sunny and warm day for us to finish. We had a bus take us about 110 km out, closer to St. John's as we were expected to reach Signal Hill by 3. That made for an enjoyable riding day.
The road was good, scenery unreal....so rugged and rustic. The sunny day certainly enhanced everything! I rode with different cyclists, and spent some time alone, reflecting. Linda Lloyd had joined the group at the Irving stop and it was nice to see her smiling face again. I am sure she was relieved to see her daughters, Merim, Adrienne, and Robyn! After our lunch I cycled with Mary for a bit, then eventually drafted behind Sidney for a few km before reaching the meeting spot. We had a police escort for the final 14 km leading into town. I was so impressed with the beauty of St. John's when it came into view. It was difficult to take it all in as we were concentrating on cycling in the large pack through the city....to Signal Hill. We started up and began to climb, and climb, and climb. I thought I was going to lose a lung! And at one point I thought that I might have to dismount BUT I struggled on....I think this was the toughest hill of the journey!! Mainly because there were so many people at the top waiting and you wanted to ride up in style....I can honestly say it wasn't stylish as we huffed and puffed BUT WE MADE IT! What a marvellous feeling; the people cheering and clapping and there were Don and Joyce with the biggest grins and hugs!! It was amazing. Many tears of happiness to have achieved our goal.
The view from Signal Hill absolutely AMAZING! WOW! We had about 20 minutes before we had to head down to The Salvation Army Temple where we had dinner and would be staying overnight. We were cycling to Salvation Army Citadel for our closing service, which was held outside. The band was playing and we all cycled in together. It was a nice service...Sharon and Warren spoke. Lorne Pritcher, a director with the CBS for Newfoundland led us. He did a great job arranging our stay and stops through the province.
We cycled back to The Temple, unloaded our gear, and set up our room with Joyce and Don. We did take a drive downtown and walked and stopped on George St. before heading to bed.
I rode around the parking lot twice to have my odometer turn 7,300!!
Amount cycled 114 km.
Slept so, so. There wasn't any noise, but I just think the realization that the end was at hand..the emotion, thinking of saying good bye to this group and the excitement of finishing this journey and to know I cycled Canada, well..wow!
We had a communion service last night, which was nice, but before that we had a little ceremony where Bruce spoke and later he and George handed out certificates.....and we all went up to receive them, just like excited school kids. We were later than usual to settle in for bed. Even though we were allowed to sleep in til 6:30, most were up early. We were seeking out our special friends for hugs and exchanging momentos, addresses. I got a bit teary knowing that I would most likely not see many of these people again. We packed up, loaded gear and the most amazing thing was that God provided a wonderfully sunny and warm day for us to finish. We had a bus take us about 110 km out, closer to St. John's as we were expected to reach Signal Hill by 3. That made for an enjoyable riding day.
The road was good, scenery unreal....so rugged and rustic. The sunny day certainly enhanced everything! I rode with different cyclists, and spent some time alone, reflecting. Linda Lloyd had joined the group at the Irving stop and it was nice to see her smiling face again. I am sure she was relieved to see her daughters, Merim, Adrienne, and Robyn! After our lunch I cycled with Mary for a bit, then eventually drafted behind Sidney for a few km before reaching the meeting spot. We had a police escort for the final 14 km leading into town. I was so impressed with the beauty of St. John's when it came into view. It was difficult to take it all in as we were concentrating on cycling in the large pack through the city....to Signal Hill. We started up and began to climb, and climb, and climb. I thought I was going to lose a lung! And at one point I thought that I might have to dismount BUT I struggled on....I think this was the toughest hill of the journey!! Mainly because there were so many people at the top waiting and you wanted to ride up in style....I can honestly say it wasn't stylish as we huffed and puffed BUT WE MADE IT! What a marvellous feeling; the people cheering and clapping and there were Don and Joyce with the biggest grins and hugs!! It was amazing. Many tears of happiness to have achieved our goal.
The view from Signal Hill absolutely AMAZING! WOW! We had about 20 minutes before we had to head down to The Salvation Army Temple where we had dinner and would be staying overnight. We were cycling to Salvation Army Citadel for our closing service, which was held outside. The band was playing and we all cycled in together. It was a nice service...Sharon and Warren spoke. Lorne Pritcher, a director with the CBS for Newfoundland led us. He did a great job arranging our stay and stops through the province.
We cycled back to The Temple, unloaded our gear, and set up our room with Joyce and Don. We did take a drive downtown and walked and stopped on George St. before heading to bed.
I rode around the parking lot twice to have my odometer turn 7,300!!
posted by Unknown at 9:20 AM
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