bramfrank
BramFrank
While the participants are out having their rally and because I am unable to actually participate today owing to personal responsibilities at home, I figured I could start a topic covering yesterday's ride.
I was able to get Tuesday off, which, for most of the participants was the day of the ride through the lower Laurentians to what is probably some of the sweetest riding in the Northeast (and possibly anywhere else).
I had posted earlier that the route, which wasn't cast in stone did not take the entire park in - and Chris/BUGR apparently took my suggestion and adjusted the route to continue to the end of the park, have lunch in the town of Shawinigan and then head back south of the park - a huge improvement in my opinion.
I live in Montreal, which is about 90 minutes' ride from the resort and the plan was for me to meet up with the ride about an hour out of Tremblant, but when I spoke with Chris in the morning he was bemoaning the difficulties involved with getting people organized (likened specifically to "trying to herd cats") and suggested that if I got to the resort by 09:30 I would likely be there before they were ready to leave.
So I and another FJR riding friend left Montréal at about 8 AM and slabbed it north through some rush hour traffic and arrived at the resort at just about 9:00, literally as they were starting to wonder who would be ready first, us or them.
I was honored by Chris' offer that I lead the group, but I tend to ride fast and I am somewhat inconsistent (I ride the limit of the road, so I ride as fast as a curve will take me and faster in the straights). So I deferred and took up with the sweeps in group 3 with FJRGuy and three other veteran riders.
The roads getting to the park were wonderful, in terms of their twists and turns, but a bit rough. Quebec really does need to learn how to build a road properly - and I suppose that the locals simply haven't been voting right in recent years, so there was quite a bit of broken stuff and a lot of bumps etcetera . . . but it really didn't slow us down.
We did need to sit and wait at the various choke points to let the groups ahead make some space so the trusty five members of group 3 could ride at respectable speeds for any length of time.
When we got to the park, some four hours later (GPS says we left the hotel at 09:01 and got there at 13:07) we had to pay admission, which made for a bit of a traffic jam.
After passing through the gates again the group 3 gang held back - and we are glad we did!! Pristine pavement (except for a small section with some dried out tar snakes) and we took those curves just to the point of touchdown.
FJRGuy and I in particular got to being pure hoodlums. To quote FJRGuy when we got to the far end of the park some 55 km and 36 minutes later: "yeeee haa"
Let me reiterate; There are no significant straight sections to the road, but there are no really sharp curves either; An image of the park's route should appear just below this.
Sure, there is great riding through many areas, but for sheer riding pleasure, little, if anything beats a sunny day riding through this particular park. Sweepers everywhere, many with slightly decreasing radius curves rather than ultra-tight corners like you get in places like Deal's Gap - NO long straights at all and great pavement, coupled by very little traffic (on a weekday at least) and little enforcement . . . we were hitting speed in excess of a hundred mph and the curves at a minimum 60+ (converted for American friends).
Enforcement? Yeah, we did encounter a park vehicle headed the other way, but with all of us he couldn't even make a U-Turn, let alone pick any specific bike from the crowd (they all look alike to me).
At the far end of the park it was decided that it was getting to be too late to stop for lunch, because it might delay the return to the resort past the forest rat hour (wouldn't have fazed me - the problem is overstated in this region IMO). So rather than exit the park and eat in Shawinigan, the group would go back through the park and head back using the route as originally planned - obviously extended to make the turn-around point the end, rather than the middle of the park.
My friend decided to head back to Montreal at that point and I decided I would go back with the group, at least as far as Rawdon, which would place me at the closest point to break from the group and head home - I was not planning nor was I originally invited to attend the evening's festivities and besides my kids' luggage had to be packed for IT's departure for camp the next day.
The ride back was interesting because the groups kind of disintegrated. A subset stopped at a point for gas, which turned into the lunch stop at a small roadside 'poutinerie' that sold a variety of stuff, including 'official' poutine (I had a burger and fries, thanks) and from there we all headed back toward the resort with me departing the group a bit ahead of schedule because what began as a glorious sun-filled day was starting to get pretty gray and cool - in fact I got home at about 6:15 pm and perhaps 10 minutes ahead of the rain.
I had a great time and it was more than interesting to put faces to the avatars.
I know that there are photos and video of the day to be posted. Not sure whether the participants would put it in this thread or in another, but that's fine.
I know that I had a great time.
My day's 725 km (~450 miles) ride:
That break in the track to the right of center is where the damned Zumo 660 spontaneously shut itself off - it also managed to start routing strangely (what else is new?) - maybe one day Garmin will make the thing work properly.
I was able to get Tuesday off, which, for most of the participants was the day of the ride through the lower Laurentians to what is probably some of the sweetest riding in the Northeast (and possibly anywhere else).
I had posted earlier that the route, which wasn't cast in stone did not take the entire park in - and Chris/BUGR apparently took my suggestion and adjusted the route to continue to the end of the park, have lunch in the town of Shawinigan and then head back south of the park - a huge improvement in my opinion.
I live in Montreal, which is about 90 minutes' ride from the resort and the plan was for me to meet up with the ride about an hour out of Tremblant, but when I spoke with Chris in the morning he was bemoaning the difficulties involved with getting people organized (likened specifically to "trying to herd cats") and suggested that if I got to the resort by 09:30 I would likely be there before they were ready to leave.
So I and another FJR riding friend left Montréal at about 8 AM and slabbed it north through some rush hour traffic and arrived at the resort at just about 9:00, literally as they were starting to wonder who would be ready first, us or them.
I was honored by Chris' offer that I lead the group, but I tend to ride fast and I am somewhat inconsistent (I ride the limit of the road, so I ride as fast as a curve will take me and faster in the straights). So I deferred and took up with the sweeps in group 3 with FJRGuy and three other veteran riders.
The roads getting to the park were wonderful, in terms of their twists and turns, but a bit rough. Quebec really does need to learn how to build a road properly - and I suppose that the locals simply haven't been voting right in recent years, so there was quite a bit of broken stuff and a lot of bumps etcetera . . . but it really didn't slow us down.
We did need to sit and wait at the various choke points to let the groups ahead make some space so the trusty five members of group 3 could ride at respectable speeds for any length of time.
When we got to the park, some four hours later (GPS says we left the hotel at 09:01 and got there at 13:07) we had to pay admission, which made for a bit of a traffic jam.
After passing through the gates again the group 3 gang held back - and we are glad we did!! Pristine pavement (except for a small section with some dried out tar snakes) and we took those curves just to the point of touchdown.
FJRGuy and I in particular got to being pure hoodlums. To quote FJRGuy when we got to the far end of the park some 55 km and 36 minutes later: "yeeee haa"
Let me reiterate; There are no significant straight sections to the road, but there are no really sharp curves either; An image of the park's route should appear just below this.
Sure, there is great riding through many areas, but for sheer riding pleasure, little, if anything beats a sunny day riding through this particular park. Sweepers everywhere, many with slightly decreasing radius curves rather than ultra-tight corners like you get in places like Deal's Gap - NO long straights at all and great pavement, coupled by very little traffic (on a weekday at least) and little enforcement . . . we were hitting speed in excess of a hundred mph and the curves at a minimum 60+ (converted for American friends).
Enforcement? Yeah, we did encounter a park vehicle headed the other way, but with all of us he couldn't even make a U-Turn, let alone pick any specific bike from the crowd (they all look alike to me).
At the far end of the park it was decided that it was getting to be too late to stop for lunch, because it might delay the return to the resort past the forest rat hour (wouldn't have fazed me - the problem is overstated in this region IMO). So rather than exit the park and eat in Shawinigan, the group would go back through the park and head back using the route as originally planned - obviously extended to make the turn-around point the end, rather than the middle of the park.
My friend decided to head back to Montreal at that point and I decided I would go back with the group, at least as far as Rawdon, which would place me at the closest point to break from the group and head home - I was not planning nor was I originally invited to attend the evening's festivities and besides my kids' luggage had to be packed for IT's departure for camp the next day.
The ride back was interesting because the groups kind of disintegrated. A subset stopped at a point for gas, which turned into the lunch stop at a small roadside 'poutinerie' that sold a variety of stuff, including 'official' poutine (I had a burger and fries, thanks) and from there we all headed back toward the resort with me departing the group a bit ahead of schedule because what began as a glorious sun-filled day was starting to get pretty gray and cool - in fact I got home at about 6:15 pm and perhaps 10 minutes ahead of the rain.
I had a great time and it was more than interesting to put faces to the avatars.
I know that there are photos and video of the day to be posted. Not sure whether the participants would put it in this thread or in another, but that's fine.
I know that I had a great time.
My day's 725 km (~450 miles) ride:
That break in the track to the right of center is where the damned Zumo 660 spontaneously shut itself off - it also managed to start routing strangely (what else is new?) - maybe one day Garmin will make the thing work properly.
Last edited by a moderator:
