Lake Champlain

So the Ride to Conquer Cancer is over, but the riding is not! Before the training began I was undoubtedly a fair weather cyclist, who only really went on a bike ride if there was a nice tea shop or pub lunch as a reward at the end of the ride. Now, however, I think I have changed as a cyclist (I wear cleats for goodness sake!)

So, we will be continuing our riding adventures and occasionally if we go somewhere interesting I will be posting about them on this blog. The first post "Ride" cycle was planned for two weeks after the "Ride" weekend. Our plan to cycle to the United States, across the border, down to Lake Champlain and stay in a gorgeous 26 room hotel on the lake with a gourmet restaurant (so I haven’t changed that much!)

The trouble with the plan was the weather forecast – Storm warnings, plus heat and humidity warnings. We were well past the point where we could cancel the hotel without 100% penalty, so we were committed (or maybe we should have been committed)

Friday morning (day off work) and a very early start for us, on the road at 6am! As we leave the house and look North we see that the sky is dark and forbidding, fortunately we are heading South! The image of the fierce black clouds just behind us spurs us on, and we cycle almost non-stop until we get the border around 11am!

It was a very small border crossing, but it still takes us 30 minutes to get through. Despite having been told an ESTA would be sufficient, we still needed to go inside the border office and get Green Cards. We didn’t mind, there was air con in the office and we had been seriously fried in the morning. Just past the border crossing is a small town called Rouses Point, and we find a traditional American diner for our lunch.

Unknown to us, as we are enjoying lunch, the weather is changing outside. The temperature has ratcheted up to 33 deg and the head wind is now around 25 miles per hour. The cycling is tough, and it’s a welcome sight to see the sign for North Hero Island

The wind is so strong that at times it feels like you aren’t making any progress, we stopped by a windmill to take this video clip to show just how strong the wind was.

The next 25km were some of the toughest I have ever cycled. We had to stop every 3-4 km just to regroup and get ready for the next stage. We even had a rest just 2km short of the hotel. Finally, we make it, to the North Hero House Hotel, which was absolutely delightful and right on the edge of the water.

As I get changed for dinner that evening (into my one and only non-cycling outfit) I notice some nasty blotches on my leg. It’s either heat rash, an insect feasting on my legs, or the start of some dreadful plague that will eventually wipe out all of humanity.

But, I’ll worry about that tomorrow, it’s time for the gourmet restaurant! The meals are lovely, and I have lobster, Stuart has crispy fried tofu galette and we both have the strawberry rhubarb crumble, a very Canadian dessert!

 I’m not sure why I haven’t lost any weight since undertaking my cycle training. Perhaps I have taken the carbo loading too seriously; I am after all, cycle ready every day!

During the meal, the storm that had been behind us all day finally hits, and it’s a pretty mega storm, it wipes out the electricity in thousands of homes in Quebec. I’m not entirely sure what we would have done if we had been caught in the storm, but we weren’t and we are in a lovely hotel, so all is well.

The next morning, my legs have noticeably calmed down, so mankind is safe for now, and we have a very lazy morning sitting on the deck trying to decide whether to do absolutely nothing or not.

Eventually, we’ve had enough lazing around the hotel

And we decide to do a short cycle to Grand Island.

It’s a very pretty little island, but we didn’t happen across any tea rooms or cafes, although we did manage to get water in the little library.

Although Stuart may be old enough to belong in this store

He’s still young enough to enjoy life!

On the return leg of the journey we particularly like the name of this building

 

 

 

 

It’s only been a 40km ride today, but after yesterday’s epic 115km that’s more than enough.

And we get to relax at the end of the day and watch the boats bobbing about on the lake.

Sunday morning and it’s time to cycle back home. Frustratingly the wind has changed direction and we have another head wind for the return journey. Fortunately, not as strong this time. Cycling back is not half as much fun, when you know that you are returning to the Sunday evening blues, rather than heading to a charming little hotel for a lovely weekend away!

Apart from the head wind, it’s a beautiful day. I think I finally earn my nom de web (msphotocyclist) when I manage to take this photo of Stuart up ahead, whilst still riding.

I loved the combination of all the bold colours in this shot and had to quickly get my camera out my back pocket and take the shot without falling off!

On the return journey we have a pitstop at Tim Hortons (sorry Canada I don’t like their coffee), but I felt I had earned a Boston Crème Donut. (total kms this weekend 270, surely I burn this donut off? erm and the other one on the journey down!)

Finally, to return to Montreal Island we use the ice bridge (built to protect Champlain bridge from the ice floes in winter).

 

 

  It’s a car free bridge, so a nice safe passage back onto the Island and home after a fabulous weekend away!