The Guys – Team Novo Nordisk

“The guys are going to eat a lot.”

“Ok,” Chris and I say.

“I want to make sure my guys have plenty of food and are taken care of.”

“Ok,” we say with a building sense of anxiety.

As the Inn Keepers at Seyon Lodge we have just confirmed a reservation to host thirteen professional cyclist from all over the world for a four night stay at the lodge. Representing Australia, Belgium, Costa Rica and other countries, Team Type 1 is striving to inspire, empower and change diabetes.

Pavel warned us these guys might be a little shocked by this accomadation. First of all, there was dirt. We live up a three mile dirt road. These guys don’t do dirt and to be fair, there is a much higher chance of getting a flat tyre on dirt roads with the skinny road cycling tyres than the wider mountain bike tyres. Second, we don’t have TV or cell service. I thought some of them might have cried when they first found this out. Luckily we do have wi-fi or else I think there might have been some break downs. Third, we have country rooms with shared baths. The team often stays at places like the Marriot and no matter how you look at it, any country inn is going to be different than the Marriot.

When their giant bus, that used to be Jeff Gordon’s tour bus, pulled to a rest in our parking lot releasing the “hsst” noise a line of dazed young men walked off the bus. The driver pulled out their luggage and they followed me up the slope to the lodge pulling their luggage in and out of divets in the gravel. For the first few hours many of the guys looked around in a daze of perplexion and then we served them dinner. We found out that it was one of the member’s birthdays, and with the help of a yellow kazoo, the entire staff sang happy birthday and that broke the ice.

During those four days Chris and I cooked food almost non-stop along with the rest of the staff that would come and go from the lodge for their shifts. I was waking up at 5:30 am and did not leave the kitchen until 9:30 pm some of those days. It was intense but when the bus pulled away there was such an emptiness to the lodge. “They’re gone.” No more bodies strewn about the lodge constantly checking their iphones or asking for the “especial” knife (the bread knife – their coach Pavel was getting them bread from all sorts of bakeries and they loved trying all the different types of bread).

The team only got to stay four nights here, yet as their entourage pulled away it left behind a pile of memories. Pavel wanted to bring the team here to show them Vermont. I know we made an impact on the team, yet their impact was just as great on us. We keep talking about Team Type 1 and how polite they were and the funny occurrences that happened while they were here.  Perhaps the Marriot can offer big screen TV’s and extra large beds, but it doesn’t offer the closeness and personalization that happens when we all sit around and talk in our pajama’s. As Inn Keepers of this unique lodge and park we get to offer people a chance to experience a Vermont they might not otherwise get. People come here for the first time not knowing what to expect. They leave here with a warm embrace and a knowledge that they have discovered another place they can always call a home away from home.