2023 Ride Report - North Shore of St. Lawrence

[bigpoppa]

Shane thanks for an amazing trip. You make a really good ride leader and trip planner. I feel bad about making you miss Kegaska, I know you really wanted to see that town. I just really didn't feel good about doing many kms of slick wet gravel in the pouring rain, especially in such a remote place. Highlights of the trip for me were:

-Park de Mauricie - probably the best technical riding road in Canada. Definitely worth going early in the morning, I feel like that road would have been frustrating in the middle of the day when there'd probably be heavy car traffic.
-Hwy 389 - 200+ kms of twisties with almost no intersections/driveways and little traffic.
-Hwy 381 - shorter than 389 but even twistier with more elevation changes and better views. Too bad it's so far away otherwise I'd ride it all the time.

was gonna say...i thought you guys were gonna stay near the st lawrence river...but at that distance...west virginia would be closer...

 

[shanekingsley]

Shane thanks for an amazing trip. You make a really good ride leader and trip planner. I feel bad about making you miss Kegaska, I know you really wanted to see that town. I just really didn't feel good about doing many kms of slick wet gravel in the pouring rain, especially in such a remote place. Highlights of the trip for me were:

-Park de Mauricie - probably the best technical riding road in Canada. Definitely worth going early in the morning, I feel like that road would have been frustrating in the middle of the day when there'd probably be heavy car traffic.
-Hwy 389 - 200+ kms of twisties with almost no intersections/driveways and little traffic.
-Hwy 381 - shorter than 389 but even twistier with more elevation changes and better views. Too bad it's so far away otherwise I'd ride it all the time.

It was really great to have you on this one and I'm glad yougot to ride so many new roads and see some super interesting places.
I have no issues with not seeing Kegaska, since my original goal was to always ride to the end of the paved road and that's exactly what we did. We did so much regardless and this trip far exceeded my hopes for what to see

 

[shanekingsley]

was gonna say...i thought you guys were gonna stay near the st lawrence river...but at that distance...west virginia would be closer...

Well we did ride over 850km of the north shore from around Tadoussac all the way past Natashquan and then back again.
Having ridden all the good stuff in the states, it was nice to ride somewhere different for a change.

 

[shanekingsley]

One thing I needed to do on the way home was make a quick stop in Laval to buy an aftermarket full adjustable shock for my bike. This was a low mileage shock in mint condition and already set up for someone very close to my weight.

So now we had two options, we could stay in the area and ride around for a bit and take 2 days home, or we could take a backroads route through Calabogie and just head home in one day. We chose the latter - to get home in one day - and so the longest riding day of our trip was ahead.

Day 6: https://goo.gl/maps/AzkR75d7wr3nq4iLA



Riding the 155 south of La Tuque again was very nice, because this time there was no rain. It started out cloudy but the roads were dry. We stopped for a couple pics and then didn’t have a lot of spare time, so we just kept moving over to Laval.

It was awesome to ride through Calabogie and a couple things were different. They have freshly paved the section of the 28 west of Denbigh and they also paved most of Glamorgan Road #3, so it's in amazing condition.

Dan and I part ways just before Lake Simcoe since I have to head south to Mississauga. Stopped for a final pic and break at the Kirkfield causeway which is my favourite spot for a final break on any ride:

Got home at 8:30pm and it was awesome to surprise my wife since she thought I was coming home tomorrow
All in all it was around 5600km over 6 days and just an amazing trip to share with Dan.

My French was amazing at getting people to speak English, so I feel ready for le Gaspe!
Au revoir

 

[bigpoppa]

great trip!
Did you find the OEM shock inadequate?

 

[shanekingsley]

great trip!
Did you find the OEM shock inadequate?

Thanks!
Not at all - it felt great and very planted, but I have heard the Wilbers is better.

 

[85K100]

Awesome trip! Thanks for sharing. You rode right through my neck of the woods on the home stretch!

 

[kurtrules]

Wonderful! Your eloquent words and vivid descriptions truly transported me to the destinations you explored. I remember visiting Tadoussac in 2019 with my family and wondering where the 138 road ends. We went only as far as the Marine Environment Discovery Centre.

 

[i-WERKS]

That FZ1 is sexy!! Looks like a great ride

 

[MacDoc]

Great write up Shane ...Parc Mauricie ranks up there with my fav roads ever and good memories of doing it with my son....he of course ran it much faster. I love the whole area.

That looks suspiciously like an old, size large meteor impact ??

 

[voyageur]

Such a wonderful ride report Shane! I'm so glad that you both had a wonderful ride. A little envious that I couldn't do anything remotely as fun as this, this season! Well, there's always next season

Thanks for sharing!

 

[gpfan]

That looks suspiciously like an old, size large meteor impact ??

It is. Manicouagan. Probably the most famous of Quebec's many large impact sites and craters. The island in the middle is the central uplift.

 

[MacDoc]

-Park de Mauricie - probably the best technical riding road in Canada. Definitely worth going early in the morning, I feel like that road would have been frustrating in

I could not agree more. And the real treat ....it is 73 km long. Not sure I saw a single vehicle on our trip that day until the half way point and I certainly did not see much of the kid who was on a much better bike and was a much better rider. He was thrilled.
Made up for the 12 degrees and rain later in the trip.
The boy had a blast ( so did I at a more sedate pace )

Good memories.