Montreal to Glen Sutton, Day 64, Sunday 21st June 2015
By Mel
A travelling day. As we left Montreal and headed for the start of our Cycling tour in Glen Sutton – South Eastern Quebec almost to the US border.
As we settle in to our own, and each others routines, we learn stuff about travelling well together. I am inclined to leave things a bit too much to chance where Chris likes to be well planned and in plenty of time. So – we agreed to leave early enough to get to the shuttle bus and then to the airport to pick up our ride to Glen Sutton in plenty of time.
We did – arrived at 1.30pm for our 3pm pick up. Before doing anything else we scouted out the meeting spot – fairly small airport so easy to spot. Funny thing but our host was there waiting at the spot already. Seems Joy also likes to be well planned and early!!
Off we went for lunch while we waited for our fellow travellers to fly in from Chicago.
Hattie and Fred finally arrived after a flight delay. On the 2 hour trip to Glen Sutton discovered they too were relative cycle novices – that alleviated some of my concern.
We arrived and were shown to our home for the next week at the the Outdoor Lodge in the small village of Glen Sutton. So gorgeous I figured a possibility was to stay in and forget the cycling! Our room was beautiful on the second floor of the main house above the dining and lounge rooms.
Dinner and lively conversation introduced us to all the participants – felt comfortable and enjoyable. During dinner Ginette (one of the woman who made our week exceptional) came over and asked which one of us was the Australian, adding they had not had Australians on the trip before. At the other table Chris could be heard in lively and loud conversation which made it easy to point out the other Australian.
Our room, the food, the wonderful hosts Stephen and Joy, the surrounds – everything was beyond expectation.
After dinner as we would most nights we gathered in the large lounge surrounded by windows, filled with comfy chairs. Tonight it was to hear about the week, bikes, routes etc from Stephen – Joy and Stephen have been running the tours for 23years!!!
I learned about – cadence – aim for about 1 second steady pace.
– beginners gear changing – change gears just before you need it.
These 2 hints helped me build skills and confidence as the week went by. I went to bed feeling more at ease about the coming days on a bike.
