ROULEURS S02 EPS02
text : Rouleurs - photo : Gophrette Power
The Rouleurs don’t just ride... they also have conversations via group texting! That is in large part how this project came about: "Hey guyz, do you want to ride for a week down the East Coast this summer?" The most difficult part proved to be aligning everyone’s schedules. As it turned out, the Vacances de la Construction was the ideal time for the majority in this adventure. Tons of text messages and emails later, Montreal / Portland (Maine) was a go: Three days there and three days back, with one rest day in between (obviously). The group consisted of six cyclists and a support vehicle. And not just any support vehicle but a Grand Design Solitude RV and a technical team you’d expect that comes with it. At a little more than 40 feet long this is all the accommodations we could ask for. It’s one thing to be in the saddle all day, but we expected a minimum of comfort. It also allowed us to ride without our equipment on the bikes, covering longer distances daily without too much strain on the body and mind. The stages ranged from 130km to 187km, with a total of 7316m of ascent… Read the article below for full details.
WITH LOVE FROM... #MTLPRTLNDMTL
This trip would never have been the same without each and every crazy human on this picture, the only one we have of the six of us. It stands to remind me that no matter the destination, no matter what road you are riding on, no matter the conditions, the most important is who you are riding with. What made this trip epic for me is the laughs, the hugs, the miles, and the beers shared with these five amazing individuals. Where to next guys? - Halina Torresan
Freshly paved roads, smiles, laughs, sumptuous landscapes, perfect group osmosis and local beer – something straight out of a post card. With each day came more fatigue and good nutrition was essential to my recovery. However, my epicurean tastes made me pay dearly on day 4. The 2.3 Lbs of Lobster I couldn’t resist the night before seemed like a good idea at the time. At the foot of the White Mountains I had no strength making the first gas station I saw the most welcoming of all of New Hampshire. - Joce Fourmont
Magog to Errol will always stay etched as one my most memorable rides. Coming in one day late the group had already toasted to their first day (Mtl-Magog) while I was itching to get into the mix. The crew arranged of people I knew and others I didn't. That said, I had no doubt we would acquaint quickly and the formation would permit us to ride fast for a long time based on our recon ride. Joce and I go way back... from the days I'd first moved out to Montreal in 2010. Few years later I saw him grow from an erday fix geared commuter to an all out roadie. Finally after way too long; we'd find ourself riding out of the city with fellow Rouleurs, descending some of the most pristine roads in our first mountain stage! ;) I'd realized at that moment; cycling was just an excuse to keep on meeting cool people that have high chance of becoming long time friends. - Martin Rancourt
It was during the final kilometers of the third stage (187.7km - 1445m of ascent), while Fred and I rode the Back Cove Trail which crosses the Tukey Bridge in Portland that I woke from a daze. I was exhausted, empty, totally gassed. I just wanted to get to our Airbnb. I felt like I was dragging the first two stages behind me, two large anvils at the end of two large cables. I could feel them tilling the asphalt as a tractor tills the ground - they weighed a ton. Looking at Fred's enormous calves I could tell he was also carrying two days of fatigue as well as me my cables and anvils. He did it though without a single complaint. Thankfully I thought to grab my Fuji X-T2 as we crossed the 295, otherwise I’d have had no memory of that moment. In short, it was the pain that woke me from my usual drowsiness. I was suffering but I felt alive. - Gophrette Power
As we were about to end our trip and get back into Canada I was feeling a mixture of emotions. I was happy to come home to my fiancé (now wife) my dogs and my own bed; but I was also a little sad that this adventure was about to end. I felt at the top of my game mentally and physically and on that particular day - wasn't remotely tired. We were a well oiled machine exchanging the work load, pulling at the front. Nobody was being left behind. There was no tension between any of us the entire time which was amazing for this type of trip. While all good things must come to an end, I felt that the friendships and camaraderie we built between the six of us was something that can last forever. There's something special about sharing the joy, pain and suffering a ride like this can put you through. Approaching home was also when I realized that this "end" was most likely the beginning of a bunch of other projects and adventures together and I'm ready for it. - Frederic Tremblay
I was the outsider invited by the man behind the camera. I knew no one and I had not been riding much, having had a kid just last winter. I was about to ride more kilometers in a week than I had during the whole first half of the year. I was worried I would regret it, that I would not be able to keep up, of simply not fitting in with the group. Man was I wrong! It soon felt like I was in the umpteenth outing with my local group, perfectly balanced each unique in their own way. As though we were on a family trip, where everything is not always easy but you focus on the good moments to create that perfect memory. - Martin Fourat
