The Bicycle Adventure Club - Come Ride With Us!

Autumn in the Eastern Townships

September 23rd to September 29th

Ride Director: Elizabeth Buckingham
Ride Co-Director: John Stephenson
Report by: Becky Beagle

We gathered in Sutton, Quebec, Canada on September 23, 2018 for a Bicycle Adventure Club holiday, coming from all parts of North America including Canada, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Washington.

Twenty four cyclists, 14 women and 10 men, gathered for the first happy hour on the porch of the Gite Vert Le Mont B&B. Arriving with a variety of expectations for the trip we soon found ourselves meeting old friends and making new ones. Common threads emerged in the form of shared trips in the past, upcoming trips and in some cases, a near reverence for the writer Louise Penny.

Louise Penny is an acclaimed writer with local roots. Her novels are based on places and people in the area of Sutton. Those on the tour who have read her books, eagerly embraced the landmarks and stories of the work of Louise Penny. Our ride leaders, Elizabeth and John had included cue sheet annotations for Louise Penny points of interest on several routes.

Printed cue sheets were provided as well as electronic versions; these proved most helpful in planning for distance and terrain each day. Elizabeth and John had prepared 11 routes giving plenty of options for the 5 days of riding. All were within the BAC ride designation of 2B (2 = 1500 to 2500 feet of average daily climbing; B = 35 to 50 miles of average daily distance). Our routes were on paved roads though we found the local cyclists do enjoy a wide network of hard packed gravel roads in the area.

The first day of riding was did not disappoint. The start of the day was chilly and sunny, but we warmed quickly and so did the day. Roads were traveled that day by tandems, road bikes, mountain bikes and Bike Fridays. Some who had rented bikes from the Cenitik Bike shop around the corner from the hotel found the rentals with 28 mm tires to be comfortable on roads that were smooth with occasional rough spots.

The next two days gave us rain at times providing opportunities for all cyclists to enjoy activities ranging from a quick bike ride, hiking, napping, working on our trip scavenger hunt, taking a massage at the spa and exploring the shops and eateries within walking distance of our hotel and B&B. Our tour was fixed base meaning that we stayed in Sutton for the entire week.

Many of the riders chose this particular BAC ride as a way to welcome crisp fall days and the start of fall leaves showing their colors. Weather was typical for the area at this time of year with low temperatures in the 40s to 50s and highs from 60s to the low 70s.

Happy hour each evening and shared meals became a time for more stories and planning for the next up ride and meal. As with most cycling groups, much conversation centered on food, the weather, road conditions and quite often, hills climbed and hills avoided.

Those in our group from south of the Canadian border enjoyed conversation about French Canadian culture.

The people of Sutton were friendly, bilingual and helpful with translating menus and shopping. 

Our final day of riding was bright and crisp. Many in our group repeated a ride also popular with the Sutton local cyclists, which took us down to the lovely Vermont roads, covered bridges and back to Sutton.

A very good BAC tour!