A night in Parc Yamaska: A practice run (PART 2)

SLEEPING ARRANGEMENT

Nemo Losi 3 person tent
Believe it or not, we were able to comfortably sleep four people in a three person tent. Instead of placing our four bedrolls parallel to the length of the tent (which wouldn't have worked), we set them up perpendicularly to it. What this did was cover the entire floor with our bedrolls, except for the space below Charlotte's bedroll. She had a three quarter length pad. In this space we kept our handlebar bags which carried our most valuable items. This was one of my concerns, regarding equipment, and whether I had made the right decision by going with a tent of this size. In fact, when I set it up in the living room, last Christmas, and again in late spring (the latter being outside), I had placed the bedrolls parallel to the tent walls and placed Charlotte's pad by our feet. It wasn't until the tent was set up at the campsite, and while Julie was setting up the sleeping positions that I realized that the positioning could be placed differently. What a relief! Kudos to Julie who didn't even think twice about setting up the bedrolls this way, in fact, she didn't know I was concerned about it.

EQUIPMENT OVERVIEW

GSI Outdoors French Press

Another one of our newly purchased items that proved its worth. In my opinion a must have item if you like to have fresh coffee while camping. It’s lightweight, BPA free, and easy to clean. Julie and I love coffee and on previous trips we were never able to make two cups at the same time. All that has changed now.

A HELPING HAND

Water

Leo and Charlotte were the first ones out of the tent this morning. When I crawled out of the tent, I saw Leo and Charlotte sitting quietly on the picnic table. I’m not sure what was going on in their minds, though I knew what I had to do; coffee!

Leo was excited to fill up the water bottle (probably should have filled up the pot instead, hmmmm) and jumped at the chance to ‘lend a hand’.

Breakfast was fast and easy: oatmeal. Since we forgot to bring bowls, we all ate out of the pot. Who can complain when you only have one pot to clean? In the future, this task will assuredly be one that no one will want to do.

As we packed up, and put our gear back in our bags, Charlotte got an early start. She collected a bunch of sticks, that would eventually find their way rubbing up against my rear tire and the occasional spoke, and sat down in the Chariot.

TAKING BREAKS

Sports and massage, Chez Les Ouellet

We backtracked to the park’s welcome center where we stopped to fill up our water and use the bathroom before heading out onto our first and last stretch of paved road. Yesterday, it made me laugh to hear Leo, at age six, talk about longing to bike on roads that were smooth and flat. “Get ready son!” I told him in my best Foghorn Leghorn impersonation.

Along for the ride was Leo’s soccer ball, a size (two) for those of you who know the difference between professional (5) and others. The Jabulani came out whenever we stopped to apply sunscreen, consult nature, or snack. On this particular occasion we were taking shots at Julie, our willing and devoted goalie. On the bright side, she received a massage from our masseuse 'in training'.

About 15 km from home we stopped at Leo’s school mate’s house which butts up to the bicycle trail (route verte). We didn’t stay long, just enough time to eat an ice pop, check out their remodeling project, and let Leo and Charlotte run around. One would think a six year old who had just pedaled 10 km would be tired; no way. For the next twenty minutes we played soccer. And we had to win by two!

STARING OFF INTO THE FUTURE

The last 15 km home

From the time we left the campsite until we reached Chez Alexandre, Leo had been attached to Julie's bike, then detached, attached again, and now he wanted to be detached again. The process of attaching and detaching the bike isn’t a tedious one, although under certain circumstances, such as, being eaten by bugs, in a downpour, alongside a busy highway, etc. it isn't too appealing either. But for now, initiated by Leo, it was perfect. A stretch of paved road, uphill all the way to Waterloo lay ahead. Leo took off with moxie. He spent most of the time ahead of us, turning around from time to time. With each recognition that we were gaining on him, he would get out of his seat and peddle faster. Charlotte fell asleep in the late spring sun soaked afternoon.

REFLECTIONS

Team effort

We knew that this was a practice run for the month long summer trip and so, we weren't expecting an all out "what can I do next to help the team' approach from our kids. And let's not forget, they're six and four. What we did notice though, was an willingness to participate. A curiosity towards new tasks: setting up and taking down the tent, getting water, finding a good spot to put the tent, etc. In time, these tasks will become routine, and we'll approach them one day at a time.

Rhythm

Leo, either rode in front of us or in between. I never rode ahead, being too heavy and all. We're definitely in the 10km/hr (6mph) range which is fine for us. We'll see how this develops over time. Leo and I were the only ones with a bell and we played 'call and response' type games while pedaling. In the next week or so, we'll add a bell for Julie and Charlotte.

TOTAL DISTANCE

                         

Leo:  40 km

Julie/Chris:  60 km

A night in Parc Yamaska: A practice run (PART 1)

I spent the day Friday digging through Rubbermaid storage bins trying to locate our cycling and camping gear. I also assembled and installed my Surley front rack which required a trip to the hardware store. The eyelets in my front fork were rusted and stripped, giving me headaches each time I tried to tighten.

 

I wasn’t alone. Leo was with me and was quick to help out, well… more so in telling me which panniers we should buy next for his bike.

I then attached the Trailgator to Julie's seatpost. It's basically a long steel tube that connects the two bikes. When Leo's bike is attached he's able to either sit on the bike, sit in the Chariot, or walk (hills!).

I then installed the cyclometers, had another beer and then went to bed. There was still a ton of stuff to do and I wasn't too stressed about it. The trip to the park is about twenty km and we weren't planning on leaving before noon, the next day, anyway. Julie was bartending and I didn't expect her home before three.

DAY 1

Late Saturday morning, we finally got around to separating our gear. Julie took the food and kitchen gear, towels, her bedroll, and the tent. I took all our clothes, bedrolls and sleeping bags for Leo, Charlotte and I, the tent poles, and some food. There was still plenty of room to put more stuff.

After lunch, we finally got on the road. We started out with Leo attached to Julie's bike and with me pulling Charlotte (Julie's bike isn't equipped to pull the Chariot). Once we got to the bike path (La Route Verte) we detached Leo from the Trailgator, took the token 'Departure Picture' and began cycling towards Warden. 

Less than five km out of town we faced our first challenge. I joked with Julie, before setting off, about bringing my Brazilian made machete for protection. It would have been perfect here. 

For the next several km, Leo and I rode side by side. We often compared our speeds, shouting out the numbers from the odometer, "13.1, 14.3, 19.4" Then Leo would sprint out ahead, on his 20" wheels, letting me know just how fast he was going. By using the cyclometer, we were able to ask Leo about his speed, in particularly slow cases, and ask him to speed up. Having a number that he could see worked very well. He biked the first 10km to the park entrance, and subsequently to the first down hill. Here he got off his bike and walked down. He's still getting used to the hand brakes which are a bit long for his hands. By adjusting his hand position, he is able to brake with confidence, though the first hill challenged his confidence. The bike trail announced the slope percentage with a pictogram, so Leo was aware that a hill was coming. 

Julie rode just behind Leo until we arrived at the reservoir. Each time we approached a hill, I could see Julie ride up to Leo and coach him up the hill. Watching him get out of the saddle, climbing the packed gravel slope, made me wonder if someday I will be able to keep up. He ripped through this hilly section. By the third hill, he learned to get to the right side of the trail, to avoid a head on collision with other weekend cyclists. 

Approaching the end of day one, we stopped for one last break. I decided to leave Julie and the kids by the water while I paid for our campsite situated on the other side the reservoir, accessible only by bike, canoe or on foot. As I dropped Charlotte off, giving her some cheese and apples, I accidentally ran over her. She scraped up her knee and her glasses flew off her head. At least she has matching knees now. Last week, she fell pretty badly in the Adirondaks, scraping up one of her knees.

 

It was getting late and we had a few more 8% slopes to go up and down, so we hooked Leo up to Julie once again and biked to the campsite.

With two hours of sunlight before dark, we decided to put up the tent and get the fire ready. The park provided firewood in a steel polished bin, which would also serve as a locker for our stuff; protection from critters. Julie got the fire going and Leo and Charlotte sort of helped me with the tent. They pulled the poles out of the bag and straightened them out. Once the tent was set up, the kids jumped in and started to run around, throwing themselves into the walls and hitting each other with the bedrolls. Of course we got involved and eventually resolved to kicking one of them out. Parenting 101: Set up the tent in the backyard first and spend the night in it. More about this issue to come.

Before we left Waterloo, I marinated some chicken and wrapped it in some aluminum foil. I also wrapped up some potatoes and asparagus to be thrown on the grill. Before we went down to the water, we threw the potatoes on the grill. A quick walk through the woods brought us to the water's edge. Here's what we did:

 

Back at the camp, we put on the chicken and turned the potatoes. We also realized that we forgot to bring bowls to eat in, so we just out of the foil.

Here's a two minute video of our weekend.

 

...to be continued.

km/miles for the day:
TOTALS:

DAY 2