Atlantic Coast Cycling Tour - Day 11

Georgetown to Charleston 

I knew today was going to be a long ride, but I had no idea how emotionally taxing today was going to become. 

I took back roads for most the day trying to avoid the Hwy 17 which extended my trip by about 30km at least or more, but I wanted to be safe. I rode about 150km - my longest ever ride. I left at 8:00am and actually really enjoyed the scenic route. I took my first break at about my 112km mark to plug in, recharge, and plan my entry into town. It was here that I discovered the terrible news all Canadians have been dreading to hear - our beloved and iconic rock hero Gord Downie had succumb to his terminal brain cancer and passed away last night. 

It shouldn’t come as a shock, as we all knew this day was coming, but it still seems surreal and even too soon for some strange reason. My entire country is in mourning, as am I. 

For those of you don’t know, Gord Downie is the prolific lead singer of the profoundly Canadian band The Tragically Hip. And for those of you who don’t know, for the last 9 years I also happen to perform in a Tragically Hip tribute band called The Hip Show. So over the years, this band has more or less tattooed themselves on my chest. I have studied, learned, and admired their music intimately.

Embarking on these cycling tours seems a bit odd to most, and even to myself as well at times, but it’s hard to explain what these trips mean to me, in ways that can only be understood by doing it I suppose, but overcoming the emotional highs and lows are a big part of it. Learning of Gords passing came at a time for me when I was already physical and emotionally mostly drained. It was hard to process the news.

I tried to focus on the last 30km stretch into the city which everyone told me was very dangerous.  I google mapped my route, put my iPod on shuffle the entire Tragically Hip catalogue, and rode on. 

10 minutes into my last leg, with the hip on my headphones, google map girl steered me into a quiet residential street, I thought this was odd, and check the map and it was to cut a corner I guess. About 10 houses in, on a residential mailbox was scribed on the side of it “Gordy”. I did a double take, turned around and checked it again. I couldn’t believe it. So I turned my GoPro to film what I was seeing. It beeped a few times so I wasn’t sure it was recording. I tried 2 or 3 times to get my camera working. It beeped 7 times and stopped. My camera died while filming the mailbox. I still have not looked to see if the mailbox was the last thing on my GoPro. 

I carried on my ride through the residential neighborhood as odd as it was, only to discover google maps sent me on this road in error. It’s a dead end cul-de-sac. Weird.