Arrive. Sunday, July 18th, 2010.
Nous sommes arrivés à Val-d'Or!
We have arrived at Val-d’Or, Quebec! The ProChain team left Cincinnati at 5:00 AM on Saturday July 17th. The Chevy Suburban pulled the team trailer with our bikes and gear and was followed by a Toyota Prius which will be the team car that follows the riders during the races.
We traveled north to Detroit, crossed the border into Windsor Ontario, then continued to North Bay Ontario where we spent Saturday night. We got into North Bay late in the afternoon on July 17th so the boys had time for a 90 minute ride along a road that followed the shore of the North Bay of Lake Nipissing.
We were on the road Sunday July 18th by 9:00 AM. As we traveled further north into Ontario, the familiar roadside plants like Queen Anne’s Lace and Maple trees were gradually replaced by Purple Fireweed, Black Spruce and Aspen trees. Lakes became more common and some of these lakes even had Loons riding on the surface.
We had lunch at the first Subway we found after leaving Ontario and entering western Quebec. Several of the boys talked about how they were glad they were learning a second language as most of us struggled to get our sandwiches made the way we liked them. Signs that had been in English and French in Ontario were now only in French. The changes in vegetation, animal life and language created the exciting feeling of being far from home.
We arrived in Val-d’Or around 3:00 PM and quickly settled in at the high school where the teams sleep and have their meals in the school cafeteria.
The team and the adults sleep on the floor in a classroom in Val-d’Or’s high school. The team is all together in a single classroom.
Below, the chalkboards in the classroom are perfect for making plans and communicating the team schedule. There is plastic on the floor so we can work on the bikes in our room if we need to.
The team trailer is parked in the school parking lot which is down the hall and down a flight of stairs from our classroom. Our bikes and tools are always close by. All of the teams were out unpacking and adjusting bikes Sunday afternoon.
We’re here, set up, and settled in. On Monday July 19th, after the boys had spent their first night sleeping on the floor in our classroom, the boys all felt like they got a good nights sleep. The sleeping pads that the school provided work well. Everyone slept comfortably.
The street sprints that were scheduled for Monday evening have been replaced with a noncompetitive ride around the center of town as a way of kicking off the week-long event and introducing the riders and teams to the public. So the racing won’t begin until Tuesday July 20th. Then, the teams will go 94.6 km from Preissac to Val-d’Or. Today we will ride, work on bikes and make our plans for a successful week of high level racing. We will continue to get acquainted with this beautiful, unfamiliar part of the world.