118km
A long day behind bars.
But the first hour-and-a-half were lovely. Chilly and misty, starting at around 5 degrees riding through Quebec’s lake and cottage country on a gravel trail that had prime real estate along the lake shore.
Although we sometimes struggled to see through fogged glasses in those early hours, the trail gave us lots more to look at than yesterday so it was good when the mist cleared and we could actually see around us.
But this northern half of the P’tit Train du Nord doesn’t have too much to boast about. The gravel section early on was pretty good, but the 90km or so of tar were a rather cracked, lumpy, potholey mess. Which makes for very sore butts and shoulders and frustrating riding. Only the first old train station we passed had been converted into a coffee shop but we didn’t go in, thinking we’d stop at a later one. Silly choice. There was no more coffee.
We still had some of the green tunnels of yesterday, particularly for the 15km of the day’s only real climb. Then we also had lots of wetlands with great bird life, and occasional lakes.
Our wildlife count went up with families of deer and a bunch of wild turkeys (birds not drinks) and lots of gorgeous blue jays.
Still, almost 120km is a long way on bikes, particularly when the grade of any downhill is so low (and into a gentle headwind) that you’re still pedalling. So it was two tired bodies that rode into the fairly urban sprawl of Mont Laurier. Dinner was a good walk away, which is a good thing since it was the best imaginable home fried chicken and we ate a LOT.
Today 118km
420m climb
Total 4212km
#transcanadatrail
Trans Canada Epic 