Knowlton - Glen Sutton ride

A great ride around the roadless Mont Sutton massif

We used yesterday's rain-free day to take Sid on a ride around the beautiful Sutton area.

We started in Knowlton and took the (crappy) Mont Echo road to Sutton, passing straight through and then taking (also crappy) Chemin Scenic Road over to the Mississiquoi river valley, which is one of the most scenic valleys in eastern Canada. Road surface improved here and remained excellent for the rest of the ride. Also, at the top of the Scenic hill climb(s) marks the end of the real climbing.

After enjoying the excellent scenery of the Mississiquoi river valley, it was in to Mansonville and a side trip over to the nearby covered bridge for some excellent and amazing views of the Sutton range, Jay Peak, and many miles south in to Vermont. An excellent detour, and you don't need to go all the way to the covered bridge to enjoy the view.

Then it was back to Mansonville and then through Bolton Pass back to Knowlton.

The low point was a flat and then two more tubes wasted discovering that the valve-hole on the wheel rim has a sharp edge that was cutting the valve-stem when pumping up the tire. It was a year ago that this rear wheel was replaced with a mavic open cd rim that has NEVER stayed aligned, likes to let tires explode off the side of the rim, and now causes spare tubes to be destroyed. This was a Outdoor Gear Canada (OGC)-built wheel that has completely failed to satisfy (translation: complete POS).

But aside from that little flat thing, the ride was excellent, with perfect weather, amazing scenery, and some great road conditions for the second half of the ride. The first half, scenic and mont echo roads left a little something to be desired in the quality asphalt department.

90 kilometres of good times, 1000 metres of climbing, and many many good views. In autumn with fall colours, this would be an amazing ride.