Day 5 - Huntingdon Loop

52.8 km - Total so far 369.2 km - https://ridewithgps.com/trips/9797592

Petite Aventure 2016 - Journée 2

This morning we were the first team to leave the Tent Village. As members of the first team, we go directly to assign posts and wait to be relieved by members of the second team. Helene and I were assigned to cover off the two railroad crossings in the town of Huntingdon. Railroad crossings are a concern because they are slippery and difficult to negotiate on a bicycle with 20 in wheels.

Team Number 2 ready for action

The weather conditions were difficult with high winds, colder than usual and overcast. It took a while for the participants to leave the comfort of the tented village and only approximately 1,000 of the 1,700 made it out. The winds were from the west at 30 km/h gusting to 50. It was a challenging ride with those winds but a lot of fun when going uphill with a 50 km/h tail wind pushing you.

This is what happens when you don`t use your bicycle

In Ste Anicet waiting for the lunch crowd of 1,000 starved cyclists

Church in Ste Anicet, QC

Helene and I both got back pretty early and got to enjoy some of the perks available when you finish early. We got free nuts from Caisse Desjardins, we completed ballots for a draw giving away cycling jersey and shorts and posed for a picture with our friend Nicolas, another encadreur.

A mighty fine trio of Encadreur(e)!

We are going to: spend a bit of time tidying up the tent as this morning we had a very early start and also prepare for our short 10 minutes presentation this evening.

Cyclists arriving at the tent village

Our tent is too the right of our bicycle 

Enjoying a chat with our Encadreur(e)! friends. L to R Jean-René,
Hélène, moi, Nicolas, Michel and Louis. Absent (taking picture) Jean Pierre

We forgot to mention that riding to La Petite Aventure caused us a small logistical problem. Normally, we can store any excess items in our VW bus but not this time. 

When we mentionned our problem, Jean-René (pictured above holding a bag of chips) was quick to offer us the back of his vehicle to store our two trailers and extra panniers. Being on the sweep team, we got back to Ormstown much later and never got a chance to thank him for his kind gesture. We will get a chance to do that on `Le Grand Tour`in August 2016.