Going around my place before leaving for that long wasn’t a bad idea. I was able to fill my mind with imagery from my nation before confronting the solitude in the unknown of the American continent. More technically, it was the occasion to train and to test my equipment. A bike is like a pair of shoes: you have to break it when it’s new to make it comfortable. Often, defects show up in the first thousand kilometers. Apparently I wasn’t out of that when my paddle system broke down between Chambord and La Tuque, while my bike meter was showing 970 km. Better to happen here than in the tundra!  Continue reading →