We decided to get an earlier start today since we had a 35 minute drive to Saint-Agathe-des-Monts, the turnaround point on our ride two days ago. We actually drove away a few minutes before the aspirational leaving time.
It wasnt raining when we left, and the forecast was only 30% chance of rain, however, as we drove north we started to see water on the windshield. Everything was still wet from yesterday’s rain so we were hoping it was just road spray.
Unfortunately, it was spitting as we unloaded the bikes, and neither of us packed rain gear today. We had been too optimistic, but, there was nothing for it, but to continue. We weren’t going to miss another day of riding in this beautiful area.
We had about 3km of paved trail and then it turned to a fine grit again. It is harder to ride on, but still reasonably smooth.
There were lots of beautiful vistas, more than are often found on rail trails.
Much of the trail from Saint-Agathe-des-Monts to Saint-Jovite was within hearing of the highway and sometimes within sight of it. It wasn’t as pretty as the ride from Prévost to Saint-Agathe-des-Monts, but still enjoyable.
We passed some logging and extracting businesses and had to be careful of driveways through this area.
The Saint-Faustin-Lac-Carré station had bathrooms, but nothing else was open in the station house. There was a nice park with some outdoor art, and a café by the trail. We were getting cold and damp, but were not ready for a stop yet given the day’s distance. The trail became asphalt here.
We entered Mont-Tremblant National Park long before getting to Mont-Tremblant, the town, and the ski village.
When we arrived at Saint-Jovite we both had painfully cold hands and feet. We found a cafe, 83 Nord, named for the distance on the P’Tit Train du Nord from Saint-Jerome. We ordered hot chocolate and pain du chocolat. It was delicious. We spend quite awhile getting warm before carrying on. At that point we decided if we didn’t manage to stay warm we would turn around at the end of the paved section 8 km further on.
Most of the road crossings were level with the path but there were a few tunnels along the way.
We ran into a closed section with a marked and somewhat protected detour.
We were very excited to spot Mont-Tremblant. This was the village, not the ski hill and village. We had decided we would stop at that point as we were cold and hungry and the next section seemed to be on the road.
There was an art gallery in the station and the employee was very friendly. He advised us of a forest route to the ski village that is paved, and also told us there is a free bus that can take two bikes on the front that runs from the ski village to Saint-Jovert. With that in mind we decided to continue on.
The path through the woods was hilly and indirect, but beautiful, and intersected with many mountain biking trails.
I think we are getting close!
The man in the information booth was quite useless in helping us decide where to eat. We had to walk our bikes in the village. We found a microbrewery called La Diable where we warmed up again and ate fish and chips. The waitress helped us determine the schedule for the bus and directed us to the bus stop.
One of Cindy’s cycling goals this year was to take a bike/bus trip, so she was able to do that, and we were able to cut out the ride back to Saint-Jovite.
It was only about 20 minutes back to 83 Nord. The sun finally appeared while we were on the bus.
We saw more beautiful scenery. Sometimes one sees different things on the same route, but in the opposite direction.
There were many beautiful homes along the way, as well.
There were some sections completely covered in wet leaves from yesterday’s rain. Most of the colour from the leaves is gone, but there is still plenty of subtle colour.
And, we are back. Cindy declared herself tired, but happy, but then changed it to tired and relieved. It was a wonderful experience, but sometimes it is just as good to be done when the conditions are somewhat adverse.
We had simple dinner of leftover bean salsa, avocado, omelette and hot tea, followed by Bailey’s. The ride was 89km with almost 500m of climbing.
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