Quebec living: 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.