So far all of our bike tours have been ones that we can drive to. So they’ve all been pretty close to the west coast. We’ve talked about going further, like maybe Europe. We even got couplers for both tandems to keep the options open, but the logistics seem like so much work.

Anne found the Véloroute des Bluets, a loop around a lake in Quebec. We decided to go for it. We even invited my sister and husband, Marna and Tom, to join us. And now the time has come. We start our four day tour tomorrow.

It’s already taken a lot of work to get here. We didn’t do nearly enough training, but figuring out flying with the bikes was a task. With the couplers, each frame breaks down into three main pieces. There’s a bunch more disassembly, but we’re able to fit each bike into a pair of standard sized checked bags.

We flew into Montreal yesterday. When the cases arrived in baggage claim, two of the four were partially opened. We don’t know if the TSA inspected and failed to close, or if the latches got bumped just right, or something else. Fortunately nothing was missing, but my front shifter cable got caught in the opening and took some battle damage. We think it’ll be okay though. And if I had to lose one cable, that’s the one I would choose.

Then there’s getting from the airport to the start point. We flew into Montreal yesterday, and had a full sized SUV reserved. There was some snafu so a car wasn’t ready for us. But eventually we got going, with a tight fit. (Everything easily fit in our minivan. Why are huge SUVs actually so small?)

Today we arrived at the start point in Alma, and met up with Marna and Tom. Marna kept Max busy while Anne, Ruth, Tom, and I put together the bikes. It took a couple hours, and we have a little finishing work to do in the morning, but I think we’re in a good place. The biggest issue was with my rear brake. Somehow the mount bent in a bit such that the rotor was rubbing against the brake itself. So we muscled it back. We’ll see tomorrow how well we did.

Marna and Tom drove in from Boston, so they have lighter weight assembly to do.

It’s supposed to rain for most of tomorrow. It will make for an interesting start to the ride. I’m also not quite sure how well all our riding styles will mesh. But we can always just split up and see each other in the evenings.