It's Not All About The Bike

Today was a "rest day" for me... no photography required, no driving, and no deadlines. So here's how it went:

I checked out of the Chateau Laurier which was a comfortable hotel for the few days I was there. Nothing exceptional but comfortable. Lugging my stuff the few blocks down to the team hotel where I dropped off one bag at the cargo van and then hopped on a bus to the train station. Most of the teams were on the train but the media had a separate car and I was happy to let them enjoy a day without me in their face.

My temporary mobile office on the train

 It was a few relaxing hours on the train, time I spent reading and thinking and just enjoying being free of responsibility. The train arrived a little after noon just as the rain was beginning to come down and we all hopped onto another bus to the Montreal Delta hotel. Somehow my reservation wasn't in the system so it took a little time to sort out and once that was taken care of I had a few hours to kill until my room was ready. It was still raining but I went for a walk around to see what was in the the area. Nothing really caught my attention so I spent time reading in the lobby while waiting.

When my room was finally ready they let me know they had upgraded me to a bigger room... have a look and see if you think it was worth the wait. I would have loved to have this for the 3 days in Quebec rather than the one night here but I'm happy to have it at all.

HDMI hookup for my computer

Now that's a shower!

And before I forget, this is still a UCI World Tour bike event so I guess it is a little about the bike... I spent some time chatting with a friend from Belgium who Andrea and I first met in 2010 and very much enjoyed his company on and off the bike. I've seen Eric a few times here at the GPCQM races but today I brought along my iPad and fired up FaceTime so Andrea could say hi too. There's a bike story in there, one that includes a volcano :)

I'll leave this entry off with a parting shot and save the rest of the bike shots for tomorrow. So it's a little about the bike after all.

Creative carving