Deer Lake:

August 9, 2016

Some Assembly required....

After our early morning arrival at the hotel at least one of us was not in a hurry to get out of bed in the morning. We planned to spend the entire day in Deer Lake, giving us time to assemble the tandem and then try it out cycling around the small time. After sampling the hotel's breakfast buffet I got to work putting the tandem together.

Unfortunately, a part-assembly in the Chris King headset that I did not know came apart had vibrated apart during the flight and I also did not accurately remember on which side shims belonged on the drivetrain. Consequently, a reassembly which usually takes about one hour stretched to more than four hours. The rides around the town gave me the opportunity to fine tune some front chainring issues.

We encountered two friendly little boys riding on their bicycles in the town center. They were very interested in our tandem and were surprised that anybody would want to come to Newfoundland to cycle, commenting wiht downcast eyes that they felt "disrespected" in Canada. They wanted to ride along with us. We stopped to take their picture in front of these huge leaking water pipes conveying water down the hill from a reservoir down to a hydroelectric plan. When I asked about the waterstreams spurting out of the pipes one of them again lowered his eyes commenting that they just didn't have the money to fix the leaks now. These two had no idea how impressed Rhona and I were to meet two young boys outside riding bicycles who welcomed two adult Americans to their community. Living in West Virginia, we fully understood what it is like to believe your home is "disrespected".

The airport is modern although there are not many flights each day. We saw a lot of new home construction in the area with not a lot of supporting industry. I think the hydroelectric plant was the reason the town was founded. Apparently many residents fly to their jobs in other parts of Canada. In some cases employers pay for their tickets, which might explain why our flights were fully booked to and from Deer Lake.

This being Canada, of course there was a beautiful lake near the town.

Today's ride: 22 miles (35 km)
Total: 22 miles (35 km)

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