Torbay and Flatrock

Marinoni at Flatrock

Today was overcast and cool (about 7 C) but by noon the winds were down to 15 kmh from WSW, so Lewellyn and I decided to hit the road. Lew took a quick glance at the Environment Canada website and, as usual, summed everything up with superb accuracy, predicting we'd have three hours riding before the rain came on. We kept the pace easy but still managed to take in Portugal Cove, Torbay and Flatrock. The distance was 63 kilometers and the average speed 23.2 kmh (see the detailed map at the end of this post). We stopped in Flatrock to take these photos:

Looking southeast from The Grotto

Lewellyn

This is the man who keeps me honest on the bike. He's got over ten years on me, and used to have just as many kilometers per hour! But I think I`ve managed to bridge the gap over the past few years.

A View of Flatrock Harbour

Marinoni by the Sea

The Pope and Marinoni

My Marinoni felt an irresistible pull as we passed Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in Flatrock. I attribute this to her partly Italian heritage; no way she was going to just breeze by the memorial to Pope John Paul II and his blessing of the fishing fleet here on September 12th, 1984. Certainly I had nothing to do with it - I irreverently spent that day on my bike too! Back then it was a cheap Canadian made Peugeot though. It came from Bill`s Cycle Shop at the top of Long`s Hill, a St. John`s institution which now is no more. Incidentally, does anyone remember anything about Pike`s bicycle shop? I recall going in there and drooling over the bikes when my family first moved into town in the early seventies. Was it on Springdale street?

Here`s the map of today`s route. It`s not exactly flat, but the climbs are short. We took the Back Road out of  Flatrock, which is a little easier than continuing straight up to the highway. There`s a short steep pitch between Windsor Lake and Bauline Line too. The only real difficulty here is planning your exit from the city. I don't recommend it but today I rode through the intersection of Portugal Cove Road and Newfoundland Drive. The hill on the north side of Torbay has little paved shoulder and the vehicles always seem to take it at very high speed. Click on the little blue bicycle dot in the map to see a big version of this.

Bike route 1878044 - powered by Bikemap