Eastern Townships 2013: What worked, what didn't?

It's been four months now since we completed our tour, giving me enough distance to evaluate what worked and what didn't on the trip. This trip was our longest so far, both in terms of time and distance.

What worked

REI Half Dome Plus, keeping us dry and protected from skunks...

• The route: Both the parts of the ride on the Route Verte and on regular highways was great. Yes, we were often cursing the Route Verte planners for the gratuitous hills, but it was nice to have a mostly car-free route through beautiful scenery. And once we left the Route Verte the highways were empty and the few cars we encountered polite. I can recall only one short stretch near an autoroute interchange where we felt uncomfortable.
• Penny stove: My ultralight DIY penny stove performed well initially. Unfortunately, I lost my special penny early on. It's special because the alloy pennies are made from has changed over the years and to regulate the stoves air flow the penny has to be from a certain era. For the rest of the trip I ran the stove with a more recent, lighter penny and that resulted in a larger and less efficient flame. Note to self: bring spare special pennies.
• Distance and speed: We started out with a rough plan and made adjustments along the way. As a result, we usually rode between 80 and 100 kilometers a day. This was neither easy-peasy nor overly brutal for either of us. Sometimes the lack of appropriate accommodations forced us to go further than we would've liked, but we compensated for that by taking it easy the day after. Me carrying most of our stuff helped equalize things between the two of us.
• Gear: Except for the things mentioned below we seemed to be carrying the perfect amount of stuff. We used everything we brought at least once and we also weren't missing anything except for a can opener.

What mostly worked

Wolfgang, the Cross-Check, fully loaded

• Sleeping bag: I brought my 900g summer sleeping bag instead of the heavier three-season one. I knew that this was a bit of a gamble, as I sleep very cold and at the end of August there's a good chance of chilly nights. On the first night, which also turned out to be the coldest, we left one door of the fly open, resulting in me getting pretty cold, despite wearing all the clothes I brought. So for future tours with the chance of temperatures below, say +5°C I should bring the warmer sleeping bag.
• Our bikes: Both my Cross-Check and the Biketopus's Fuji performed almost flawlessly. No flat tires, no mechanical problems other than having to adjust the angle of the Fuji's shifters to make them easier to shift and adjusting the Cross-Check's rear derailer once. On the Cross-Check, however, I frequently had to deal with shimmy. During previous tours I was able to fix it by shifting the front-back weight balance or adjusting the headset, but this time that didn't help. Fortunately, the shimmy was of the tame kind: it started at relatively low speeds but then stayed constant, meaning that the bike never felt out of control. Interestingly, the rougher the road the less shimmy I encountered—probably the random vibrations from a rough road damp the oscillation pattern.
• Gearing: If you've read the tour report you'll have noticed that steep hills were a recurring issue throughout much of the ride. I had kind of forgotten that I was running only a 1:1 gear as my lowest option and this was definitely borderline. I only had to dismount once but it would've been nice to have a cassette with a cog larger than a 26t... On the other end of the spectrum, I only used the large chain ring once! Because of my heavy load every little downhill lead to rapid acceleration, making it unnecessary to pedal. So having an ultra-compact double crank in combination with a wide-range cassette—maybe 46/30 with 12–34—would have been perfect.
• Riding for seven days: This was our longest tour so far and we both like it. It takes a few days to get into the rhythm of touring and on a shorter tour by that point you're already almost done. Because of the sleeping problems mentioned below I must admit that by day six I was ready to be back home in my own bed, though. So seven days seems like a good length.
• Warmshowers: In the end, we only stayed with one Warmshowers host—and had a great experience! In general had a good response rate this time. We felt a bit bad for canceling on two people relatively late, as we realized their homes would be either too far or too close to make for a day's ride.

What didn't work

• Both of us didn't sleep all that well in general. I had problems getting comfortable on my Thermarest Prolite. It kept losing air over night at a slow rate and so by morning my back was lying on whatever was beneath our tent. Both the Biketopus and I also suffered from the quality of our pillows. The Biketopus had sewn nice little pillowcases which we then stuffed with spare clothes. This worked better than just stuffing the clothes right under our heads, as we had done on previous trips, but still it wasn't that great. For the next trip we're going to try some proper camping pillows.

Eastern Townships 2013, Day 6: Frelighsburg to Yamaska River National Park

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I woke up early to a sunny but misty morning. As it wasn't yet quite a safe time to wake up the biketopus, I spent some time making a fire and watching hectic campground staff cleaning everything thrice in preparation for an upcoming inspection that morning.

Over breakfast, we discussed the plan for rest of our trip. It was clear that we were too far behind schedule to do the original route, especially since our legs were still feeling tired. We had offers from two different Warmshowers hosts but one would have been too close, the other too far away. In the end we settled on riding north to Yamaska National Park near Granby today and then have a long but flat day back to Montreal the day after.

After a few flat kilometers back into Frelighsburg, we were served a mean hill for breakfast. According to the sign on top, it was a 10 per cent grade, but compared to what we had done on previous days it didn't feel too deadly.

The mountains of the Eastern Township were still visible in the distance but our route significantly flattened into gently rolling hills.

In Dunham we rode past this lovely looking microbrewery/brewpub. Unfortunately, they were closed and at any rate it still would have been a little early for beer.

Instead of beer, we had bread and pastries from a local bakery next door as a second breakfast. I also picked up a paper map and further refined the remaining route to Granby, trying to stay away from busy roads as much as possible.

That plan worked out very well and for the rest of day we would encounter only few cars on these pretty country roads.

Past Cowansville, we turned east for a bit, following one arm of the Yamaska River (somewhat confusingly, the river consists of several tributaries, all having Yamaska in their name). At the turn-off I had spotted a sign for two covered bridges and I thought they would probably make for a good lunch stop. We were riding along for a bit and I was afraid we might have missed the bridge, but finally we saw the sign and shortly thereafter the bridge, Pont Balthazar. Now I must say that I don't quite understand the North American obsession with covered bridges, but this one's location was stunningly beautiful, right over some rocky rapids.

When looking for that perfect lunch spot, I noticed what looked like a turtle in the water below. It was so big, however, that I first couldn't believe it. To a German, turtles are things that live in zoos or on the Galapagos Island, and even while living in the US I had only ever seen modestly sized ones. This one, in contrast was about 40 cm, lazily lying in the water between two rocks.

What more can you ask for for a lunch break -- covered bridge, lovely scenery, amazing wildlife.

Our route continued on tranquil roads before finally we had completed our loop and met up with the Route Verte where we had been riding on our second day.

After passing through Granby again, this time we kept left and headed towards the National Park. Whereas Mont Orford National Park fit the stereotype of a place of untouched nature very well, the park in Yamaska featured landscape clearly shaped by humans. The Yamaska River (yet another tributary) is dammed to form a large freshwater reservoir, surrounded by the park.

When entering the park, we saw signs that there currently was a blue-green algae bloom in the reservoir. No swimming for us -- or anyone else. As a consequence, the park was pretty empty. Instead of taking one of the cyclist camping sites we were assigned a regular spot in the woods. Before the sun set we took the opportunity for a short hike through the forest. As we walking along on a narrow trail,  I suddenly spotted a porcupine sitting in a tree. Mr. (or Mrs.?) Porcupine and I were equally startled for a moment -- seeing a porcupine in the wild was another first for me -- and the biketopus was startled by me making a jump to the side and being like "Whoa! Porcupine!"

Unfortunately, we weren't quite done yet with our wildlife encounters for the day. After dinner, I took a trip to the bathrooms to clean our dishes and do laundry. The biketopus stayed at our campsite and had an unwanted visitor -- a skunk! We had seen them before but this particular one was clearly more curious than afraid of humans and decided sniff the biketopus's toe. Understandably, she was not too thrilled about that! Fortunately, it all ended well, even though the skunk returned later at night, while we were sleeping in the tent to check out my bike shoes under the tent's fly. Well, what can you say: they're black and white and they sure did smell!

< back to day 5 forward to day 7 >

Eastern Townships 2013, Day 5: Mansonville to Frelighsburg

< back to day 4 > forward to day 6

Jacques and Allison's hospitality continued the next morning: after waking up we were greeted with a chai latte, yogurt with berries and other breakfast goodies.

Breakfast was great, our legs weren't. Yesterday's 95 km and the hills had taken their toll and it was obvious that today would have to be a short day. Our camping guide showed a promising looking campground in Frelighsburg, about 45km from our current location. Jacques told us that Frelighsburg was a very nice little town, and so we said goodbye to our hosts and headed off into the cloudy day.

The first 15 kilometers along the Missisquoi River were fortunately flat, but we could still hear our legs complaining.

Once again, we had the roads mostly to ourselves and could mentally prepare for the upcoming climb up Route Scenic.

On our club's 300 km brevets, Route Scenic is the one big climb. At that point, you've already ridden 160 km and so I wasn't quite sure how bad that hill really was. Well, it was a tough climb because it was long, but it was less steep than what we had encountered on previous days. We made a quick stop to check out the Chapelle Sainte-Agnès, a pseudo-romanesque chapel built by a rich Montreal antique dealer to complement her vineyard.

The humidity was once again pretty high, and combined with the sweat we were pretty drenched by the time we reached the top of the climb.

The descent into Abercorn was fun, as usual, even though I slowed down a bit more than usual because of the wet roads. In Abercorn we encountered this old schoolhouse that had been completely yarn bombed -- "knit graffiti welcome"

Other than that, there wasn't anything in Abercorn and we continued west, now again in unknown territory. Of course, there was more climbing, making the biketopus severely unhappy. Bravely, she ascended the first couple of climbs, but at the bottom of YAFH (yet another f****** hill) we had to stop and only after a force-fed Clif Bar and lots of encouragement could we continue
.

Fortunately, the steep and hard climbs gradually gave way to more manageable rollers. The whole time we were never more than a few kilometers away from the US border, probably contributing to the emptiness of the landscape.

Just before reaching Frelighsburg, we encountered the best downhill so far: dead straight, no intersections, cars, or driveways, and smooth pavement. I bombed down there at a top speed of 75 km/h, and even the usually timid biketopus enjoyed herself at her personal woo-hoo speed.

Frelighsburg was just as picturesque as promised. We stopped at Aux 2 Clochers, a restaurant with a great porch above the Rivière-aux-Brochets.

Aux 2 Clochers

After our late lunch, we walked across the street to a schoolhouse-turned-tourist office/gallery before leaving town again towards our campground.

Local artists on display

Le Grammar School, in the typical Frelighsburg red brick

The campground was about 5km outside of town, only a few hundred meters from the border crossing into Vermont. Camping Écologique was the best campground of the trip: our site was under large trees, right next to a gurgling creek -- pretty much the only sound to be heard there. A bonus feature were the two cute kittens that were hanging out in the common area. One of them followed us all the way to the campsite before jumping on the ATV of the a staff member to be taken back.

It wasn't that cold...

Having a beer while sitting on a rock in a creek -- what could be better?

The lazier of the two kitties

After setting up our tent, I quickly rode back into town to buy groceries for the evening. On the way I spotted this guy on the shoulder of the road:

It wasn't quite obvious in which direction he was headed and so I didn't carry him across the road. Fortunately, by the time I came back he was no longer there.

This wasn't the last wildlife of the day: While we were sitting next to the firepit, dusk slowly surrounding us, I suddenly spotted a skunk! This visitor wasn't exactly welcome and our knowledge of what to do in case of skunk encounter was spotty. I made hissing noises towards it but that scared the biketopus more than the skunk... Fortunately, the skunk seemed to be more interested in insects than us and continued on its way. Quickly we consulted teh Google for skunk advice and were relieved to read that them spraying humans is actually not that common.

Nonetheless, after dinner and spotting the skunk in the distance a couple more time we made sure to hang up all our food and other smelly items. As we didn't have anything to hang up the trash, I decided to walk to the trash containers near the campground exit. At this point it was pretty dark and misty. I was happy to have arrived at the container without any further wildlife encounters -- or so I thought. Just as I was about to throw the trash bag into the container, my headlamp reflected back from the eyes of three raccoons who were sitting right in the container, giving me a "What do you want here? This is our trash" look. Well, I decided to just hang my bag on the fence around the containers and quickly retreated to our tent.


> forward to day 6

Eastern Townships 2013, Day 4: Lennoxville to Mansonville

< back to day 3 > forward to day 5
Until now, the weather on our ride had been perfect: sunny but not too hot during, and cool but not cold during the nights. During the night at our motel, however, we could hear the first rain, and when dragged ourselves out of bed it was very gray outside. It wasn't exactly raining, but the air was oversaturated with water, leaving fine drops on our skin and clothing on the way to breakfast. Lennoxville not only sports a fine brewpub, but also a great coffee roaster. We had spotted the place the previous night and already decided that it looked like a perfect place to have breakfast.

The barrista was very nice and started geeking out with me about cold brew coffee, but he also seemed slightly overcaffeinated and totally forgot the biketopus's cream cheese bagel. The bagel and our drinks were very tasty, however, and we would definitely go there again.While having our breakfast we figured out our plan for the day. We decided to follow the Route Verte back to Magog and then either call a potential warmshowers -- a couchsurfing for cyclists network -- host in Mansonville or find a campground somewhere near Magog.

The weather forecast predicted showers throughout the day and possibly heavy thunderstorms in the late afternoon. For now, it was merely grey and humid. Out of Lennoxville the Route Verte follows the Massawippi River on what appears to be a rail trail. For the first time, we were slightly chilly in shorts and short sleeve jerseys -- but not cold enough to actually add another layer. The trail was almost completely empty, but after switching to the road near North Hatley we encountered two fully loaded cyclists. This was a rare occurrence, as the vast majority of cyclists we had encountered on our trip so far had either been people on day trips or maybe credit card tourers.

North Hatley is located on the northern end of Lake Massawippi. Whereas our route so far had been as flat as is typical for a rail trail, the road out of Hatley was the first of many mean hills still to come today. First on highway 108, then on a short, steep and wholly unnecessary section of trail, and then on a muddy dirt road we climbed from lake level up the surrounding hills. The dirt road was closed due to construction but we fortunately could get through. The landscape was a mix of forests and a bit of agriculture, and we didn't encounter many cars or people. We descended on a dead straight dirt road with just the right gradient to go fast but not too fast.

After crossing the highway we were on a trail again, traversing a dense forest before ending up at a municipal park. There was a mismatch between where my GPS wanted us to go and where the Route Verte signs pointed to, and after a short Clif Bar break we decided to go with the signs. This turned out to be the right decision and soon after we were back at where the two routes into Sherbrooke split.

The way back to Magog was uneventful except for some mosquito attacks when we were trying to take a nature break in the forest. We followed the same way as yesterday but took a shortcut on the main road into Magog to avoid some Route Verte stupidities. Just in time for lunch we were back at Marché Vegetarien. The promenade on the lake today was much emptier than yesterday. We finally had to put on our rain jackets to protect us from the cold wind blowing over the lake. It was still unclear what the day's final destination should be. It was well past noon and to Mansonville it still would be a long and hilly way. Calling Jacques, our potential host, settled the matter: we would stay with him tonight. He was very friendly on the phone and promised us a bed, dinner, and beer -- "that's the Eastern Townships way." To my question if there were many hills between Magog and Mansonville he just laughed out loud...

And yes, there were more than enough hills. Right after turning off the Route Verte, a big hill appeared in front of us and for the rest of the day the elevation profile looked like a sawblade. For the first time on our tour we were no longer following a bike route but rode on gorgeous country roads. To me this is the best kind of riding. Traffic was minimal and it was finally dry enough for me to pull out my camera.

We were now headed straight south towards the Vermont border, following the western shoreline of Lac-Memphremagog.

Other than cows, small family cemeteries, and a beautiful landscape, there isn't much.

The sky looked as if it was about to start raining any minute, but amazingly the weather held up all the way to Mansonville.

At 5pm we quickly called Jacques to let him know that we were getting close. To our delight, he told us that from here on it was only more climb and then all the way downhill into Mansonville.

Mansonville is a cute little town that I had ridden through previously on my 300km brevets. We had been warmshowers members for a while now and hosted several bike tourists in Montreal, but this was the first time that we ourselves stayed with someone from warmshowers. Jacques and his wife Allison were great hosts! They provided great food, beer, a cute dog, and excellent conversation. Jacques, amongst other things, works as a guide for a bike touring company and had just gotten back from a ride in the Lower Saint Lawrence region.

Shortly after dinner, we exhaustedly and happily passed out in our comfy bed. This had been the hardest day of the tour!

> forward to day 5