We met up at the house Friday morning for last minute packing and bike checks. Despite midterms and predictions of snow AND rain, we headed out. We decided to take the Petit Train du Nord to St. Agathe de Monts to make up for our late start. The trail was beautiful, but after 30Km it started to get a little boring... too flat! After all, this was supposed to be "a challenging ride through the world's toughest mountains"!!!
After lunch in St. Agathe we left the safe, solid bike path to finally test our legs on some real hills, along Chemin Cote du Lac and Chemin du Lac Manitou. Yeah, this was the stuff! Long uphill battles were waged as we pitted our lowest gears against the pull of gravity, only to careen triumphantly down the other side. The hills were brutal but the scenery was great, and dodging the potholes made the descents even better. A word of caution, though... DON'T TRY THIS ROUTE WITH A 10-SPEED!!! You'll want all the gears you can get, and more.
Halfway to St. Faustine we stopped to break into a barn and fill up on water. Chris claimed the barn belongs to his dad... the three horses inside weren't convinced. We offered them our apples and carrots, but they still weren't impressed. Back to the road!!! Somewhere along this stretch Nick's little bike computer registered his top speed of the trip- 76 Km/h. More than a little crazy, considering the number of holes in the road! We found a 'campsite' just past Lac Carre in a meadow shielded from the road by a screen of trees, and criss-crossed with ATV tracks. Dave and Jordan whipped up copious amounts of dinner, then we all crashed. Stats for the day- 70+ Km traveled, at an average speed of 17Km/h.
The next morning I awoke to a gentle patter on the tent. It's not often that I hope for rain on a cycling trip, but when Jordan pointed out that snow doesn't make any noise as it falls, I was relieved. It had to be rain... The weathermen were wrong! My conviction held until Dave had to ruin it by going outside. A quick glance revealed a depressingly white meadow and some very cold bicycles. Convinced that the snow would stop, we set up a tarp along-side the stream that ran nearby, inhaled hot chocolate and played "the geography game" until we ran out of 'A's. Are Athabasca and Arthabasca really two different places???
When the snow didn't let up, we gave in, packed up, and headed back towards the house. The first 10Km we did our best on the P'tit Train, but 15cm of fresh snow are a lot more exciting on skis than on a loaded bike. Nick began formulating plans to construct a hybrid ski/bike to add to the MOC equipment room.
As soon as we were able, we dodged traffic and wallowed our way through a ditch to ride along the highway, which had a wide, clear, beautiful shoulder. Hallelujah!!!! Our average speed jumped from 6 to 20 Km/h, and we finally had a hope of making it back to the house before nightfall. The rest of the trip was salty, wet, dirty and cold, but the whole group pulled together and kept chugging. It was even kind of fun. Really!!
At Val David I called a halt. Nick and I begged a ride back to the cars from a friend of mine while Dave, Jordan and Chris waited in a cafe with great hot chocolate run by a sweet old couple who weren't quite sure we were sane. We loaded up the cars and headed back to our regularly scheduled lives. In summary, this is an amazing, challenging route, and I can't wait for better weather to give it another go. But next time I'll pack super-light and pay more attention to the weather. If anyone is interested in seeing the maps or route description, drop me a line or catch me at a meeting.
In true cycling tradition, I've awarded jerseys.