In an effort (unsuccessful) to stem the tide of weight gain over here, I`ve been on the bike a couple of times since finishing my journey. Today I planned an 80 km hilly ride to Percé, a tourist town along the coast which is famous for its `pierced rock`(Rocher Percé). Here is my first sighting of it from 30 km out.

The ride was great, along a fast road with very wide shoulders. It was also an excellent workout, continuing the steep trend of the hills from the north shore.

Yes, that`s 17%. I didn`t climb it, but I did reach 83 kph on the descent. I`m still baffled by the gradients of the climbs here, especially since I`m from here and should have known better. I suppose I wasn`t looking at them from a cyclist`s perspective before. Every hill I hit in the `Percé Hills` was over 10%. An excellent fartlek.

The ride turned out to be even harder than it could have been because I was supposed to meet my family there at noon. I hate being late, so I hammered it over those hills, hitting that descent sign going into town at 11:59.

Here are a couple more of the rock. I’d be interested to know if any of you have ever seen this thing because it’s pretty famous in Canada. I haven’t met too many outside, though, who knew it existed.

After some fish ‘n chips without the chips, I walked along the wharf and encountered this odd sign. You just don’t see the word ‘eviscerate’ enough these days.

Finally, a bird for Tootlepedal. I’ve seen more exotic ones since coming back to Canada, but this is the first was who sat still long enough for a portrait.

Going for lunch of a club sandwich with ‘the best fries in Gaspé’ today, so you might see me on the bike more before very long.