Our tour has begun.

We had quite a bit left to do this morning before we could leave. I went for a grocery and ATM run. We packed up the bike cases, which the inn we’re staying at the beginning and end were kind enough to store for us (I’m always uneasy leaving anything that looks like it might be valuable in sight in a car, especially for days). We packed up the panniers. We packed up ourselves, geared up for a rainy day.

We also needed to do test rides on the bikes, to make sure everything was assembled and adjusted correctly. My rear brake was rubbing again. We made it happy, then added Ruth and it rubbed again. After a bunch of fiddling, with Tom’s help, we figured out the wheel needed to be seated more carefully to avoid misaligning it. The skewer also needed to be made tighter than usual so it didn’t have room to flex with the extra weight of a stoker.

Finally, Tom gave me a ride to park the car, then took me back and picked up Marna. They headed back to park their car. They put their bikes together in the lot while we rode the bikes to meet them.

We rode through town and then along a path. We had a choice between a bike ferry or a bridge. Ferry, of course. So we went down that way, past some gates, only to find that yesterday was the last day of the ferry season. Back we went, to the bridge.

We stopped for lunch at a park. The inn provided a generous breakfast basket, with yogurt and apples and croissant sandwiches. We were able to save enough for lunch, along with some snacks otherwise procured. While we were getting ready to go, a guy in a car asked Tom some questions. Tom impressed us by conversing with him in French. He was asking about our trip. As we left he took pictures or maybe video.

We stopped for ice cream in Saint-cœur-de-marie. On the way out of town we came to a one-way construction section. Tom again spoke to the flagger, and we determined we could go ahead of the group. Fortunately it was pretty short and mostly downhill.

Before long we made it into the Parc national de la Pointe-Taillon, for a stretch through a forest and bog on a fine gravel trail. There was a longer loop, but we decided to keep it simple, plus there was a warning about unstable ground. Along the way we saw a pair of cranes.

Eventually we made it out of the park. The road switched back to pavement. There was a large uphill marked for the Blueberry Trail. But that was for tomorrow, today we’d go the other way down to the B&B.

But then Anne realized the roads had changed. We needed to go up that hill after all. Up we went to the intersection, and then up that hill. I pushed Ruth to the limit, but we made it up. Anne and Max worked hard, too, but ended up walking the last bit. But they really weren’t much slower.

The actual driveway to the B&B was a little treacherous with loose gravel down to the lake. I’ll probably walk it tomorrow. The proprietor greeted us, then was kind enough to drive Anne and Max to pick up dinner and help her pick some local treats. We ended up with meat pie combos, plus hot dogs and grilled cheese for the kids. For dessert we had blueberry pie (good), sugar pie (.. less good), and chocolate covered blueberries (very good). We hung out by the fire for a while and roasted marshmallows. We were tired, but it was a very lovely evening.

Marna and Tom ended up getting a different hotel down the road. Tomorrow they have a pretty long day, since they’re staying even further down. So they’re going to do their own thing. We probably won’t see them until the next day.

Altogether it was a successful day. We’re feeling the lack of training, but both kids are doing great and keeping a good attitude. Ruth is an excellent partner, though we’re still working out some of the finer details. Max and Anne seem to be doing well, too.

Tomorrow will be a challenge. It’s the longest ride of the tour. It’s supposed to be flat, which is nominally easier. But I find flat sometimes harder, since there’s less of a progression. Plus, we’ll probably be sore from today. Hopefully a good night’s sleep will help with that.

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.