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Launaudiere Quebec hill ride
I visited the region of Quebec north east of Montreal, Quebec called
Lanaudiere again on Saturday. I explored some other roads to avoid some of the less nice eastern section along busy road and a section of hilly dirt road. It worked great because this was the best ride yet: more and bigger hills, and more great scenery. Starting in Saint Jean de Matha (parking at the Halte/Musee Louis Cyr across from the church), we cross the 131 and take the road to Saint Gabriel, but don't turn off so this road loops back to the rt 131 just north of town. It is a nice warm up and has some good hills, starting at the 4:00 minutes into the ride! Then we take rt 131 north a few miles on good paved shoulders to Rang St Catherine, which takes us to Rang des Seigneurs which is both hilly and has, once one reaches the top, a multi-million dollar view! There's a parking and a lookout there for checking it out. When starting this climb, you can stop for raspberries at a raspberry farm. THe climb is very steep and long, and the pavement is a bit worn out, but it was easily manageable to avoid the bad spots. This is called steering. Once down the hill you arrive in Saint Emilie de L'Energie, arriving by the road beside the church. I again went over to the tourist office (expo moulin) for a break on the boardwalk beside the mill pond/little lake. Leaving the town I took the long climb of chemin de feuille d'erables (turn at the bottom of the big hill going west from town). This hill seemed just as steep as always, but not nearly as long as before. The descent on the other side was again amazing! I turned at chemin de Belle Montagne (nice mountain road) at depanneur Lau-Dan, and rode as far as the bridge across the L'Assomption river (where the road turns towards St-Beatrix), where I U-turned and rode back the same way. I didn't feel like riding all the way to Saint Beatrix and back. In this section of Belle Montagne you are riding in a high valley, and is totally scenic. Then it was back on the road at the depanneur Lau-Dan again and down to the Rt 131 a few short Km from the starting and ending point in Saint Jean de Matha. Before I got to the village I decided to check out the road to the entrance to the (regional) Parc des Chutes (three entrances: the Saint Jean de Matha one I was riding, and also at Saint Melanie and Saint Beatrix) which has paths along the l'Assomption river and has some waterfalls. I rode down the hill (steep!) to the entrance and discovered it is open 9 am to 8 pm and is $6.00 to enter. I'll be back some hot day when I get an earlier start to explore it. My trips to Lanaudiere this year have all been crack of noon, so there's not much time left at the end of the day to explore. Then it was back up the hill and back to the car and hit the road back home. It takes about one hour 15 minutes to drive here. It's not far at all. I think this is an area totally worth visiting for any intermediate or expert hill-and-scenery-loving cyclist. ( montreal quebec velo bicycle bike ride trail touring ) |
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Launaudiere Quebec hill ride
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