Looking for some great rides?

We did over 3000 km of open-road riding (and another 3000 km in the city) in 2007. It was a very good year to be a cyclist in Montreal.

I mapped many of them on Bikely, a wonderful map service for cyclists: it tells you how much climbing there is in the route! Click here to see the Bikely maps that we have created for many of the rides in this list. You'll be glad you did...

Last year the Cycle Fun Montreal gang visited many new ride destinations, and of course rode many of our old favorites (can you say Jay Peak loop?) back in the warm weather season of 2007.

Looking at the list below we can only reach one conclusion: we really rode a lot of exceptionally good bike rides in 2007! There is one person in our group who figures out our ride itineraries and we all owe him a big beer on a hot day.

(drum roll...)

Cycle Fun Montreal presents:

Our best rides of 2007 - now with links to the original post and route maps!

Ormstown- St-Chrysostome - Covey hill - Powerscourt - Trout river - Ridge road - Dewittville 130km - The complete chateauguay valley ride. A beauty. Good views of all sorts of things. Good roads. Many different eco systems. Usually a tailwind for the last 30 kms.(link)

Ormstown - Lyon Mountain USA century ride (160 km/100 miles). Ormstown-franklin-usa border-Lyon mtn village - Lyon Mtn loop-lyon Mtn village-Canadian border-Franklin - Ormstown. Lyon mountain is visible from Mt royal, it's the closest adirondack mountain to the southwest. Excellent climb on second half of riding around lyon mountain. gentle downhills home (mostly!).(link)

Frelighsburg-Joy Hill - Richford/ VT - Montgomery (bot the easy way)-Phillipsburg. Two words: Joy Hill! Climb on backroad between Richford and Montgomery is exceptional. Great view of Pinacle. Veromont guide book included this cross border ride, and said it was best in book, it sure was. Thanks sid! Frelighsburg was cyclist central!(link)

Jay Peak loop from Sutton (chemin scenic both directions). The Famous five-hill Jay ride, one of the great rides of the east. Back side of jay is big climb! Front side is steep hill, descent to Mongomery is wow (with dogs!), all hills are fun and hard. Crossing border at East Richford always special. Food stop before front-side jay climb a long-standing tradition. Winter training pays off here!(link and link and link)

Phillipsburg - Lake Champlain islands – St-Albans bay - Phillipsburg. Park lakeside at Philipsburg, take highway to US border - now you’re on Interstate! Go west, to Islands, and turn south. Follow islands until back on solid land (diversions possible on some islands), on mainland, turn left and head north, passing St-Albans bay. Relax on Philipsburg dock in late day sun with beer. Happiness.(link)

St-Hermenegilde – St-Malo - East Hereford ride. A wild ride, because of some colorful routefinding, heavy rain and massive lightning, awesome scenery, great 10 metre tall lookout tower at St-malo (already at 600 metres elevation!), tres vrai rustique back road, the great Hall river valley, a good ride with interesting route, exciting conditions and bad rear wheel. I Plan to try again in good weather!(link and link)

Northern Lanaudiere final version - quiet roads, good pavement, a dozen hills, 16% climbs, long descents, great scenery, fresh raspberries, villages, a stunning ride and my favorite ride in Quebec. Many repeat visits worked out this final, exceptionally cruel, I mean hilly, version. This version mainly avoids busy roads. St-Jean de Matha, Ste-Emilie de l'Energie and Ste-Beatrix. First visit here was because of Petits Escapades guidebook. Because it looked hilly! Arrive late and enjoy late day sun and sunset lighting, amazing. Don't forget Chemin Ste-Guillaume at end.(link and link and link and link)

Tremblant-Riviere Rouge. Leaving the village of Tremblant is always a good idea, head from tourist office west and turn near Riviere rouge and ride north to village with strange bridge, with dock in middle and great wood sculpture. Cross here and ride south along rouge river, and country side, ride back north along river. Great hills, scenery, and covered bridge and with optional crazy hill at end. This is touches the Pays en Haut area. Optional extension to make Arundel southern turning point. Check the strange train at Arundel post office.(link and link)

Chemin Cyclist St-Donat. Officially named chemin Nordet, this recently all-new highway opened up a road for the first time between St-Donat and Lac Superieur (near Tremblant northside. It is starting to age, but still an amazing (Vermont-like) ride, with two major climbs with sort of a plateau in between. It is just starting to be developed, but for years was empty of icky real estate exploitation. Great wide paved shoulders. Big descents. Extremely popular with cycling clubs and groups of cyclists of all types. Ride from St-Donat to Lac Superieur, lap the lake, have a snack, and ride back.(link)

St-Donat to Chertsey and back. The Rt 125 is the autoroute that wasn't. Double-lane divided highway through very scenic hills. Very good autumn colors ride. A bit busy sometimes. For added flavour, ride the 347 Notre-Dame-de-Merci to St-Come for a trip on the "sineuse 347!"(link)

Ottawa river ride. Hudson-Hawksbury, cross river, east to Oka- a ride on the Oka-Hudson Ferry- and a few km back to Hudson. A good ride, with some great parts. That headwind is a good tailwind when returning east. First part after crossing river follows dirt road which is Route Verte. This avoids busy crappy highway (sorry roadies!). Hudson-oak ferry is amazing. Especially at sunset .(link)

West Quebec flats - Pointe aux cascades-Les Cedres ferry (bike ferry!) st-Timothé - Grande Ile – Hydro Quebec dams - Rigaud (almost) and back. A real scenic tour through west quebec, farm land, little and big rivers. Interesting to cross the St-Laurence at Valleyfield across hydro dams (excellent!). Unusual for me to do a flats ride, and I felt it, normally with hill rides the descents are the recuperation mode, but flats are pedaling all the time - ooooh!(link)

Charlevoix – the circuit of the Grand Prix de Charlevoix road race. I was dreaming for two years to do this ride. This summer I got my chance. From Baie St-Paul, follow the circuit of the grand prix de charlevoix, past st-Hilaron, to Les Eboulements, big descent to Ste-Irenee (18% hill back up), back via st-Hilaron again, and to petit (invisible) village of St-Ours, where the race finishes (and paved roads!), continue with left turn on chemin ste-Catherine to reach the Rt 362 and descend to St-Joseph de la Rive (our motel/auberge)on one of the biggest hills of quebec. Hit over 80 km'h twice on this ride, and didn't speed on last hill. This is number one return ride for next summer. Highlight was lunch rock that held plaque for discovery of crater de charevoix, 165 million years ago a 2 km asteroid hit earth planet, ici! Descents are good, better then good. Bette than great, out of this world!(link)

Sutton-Owls Head-Missisquoi valley ride A bad weather start, the day got better and better. started with big headwinf heading east hrough bolton pass, through knowlton on echo road, up and down, sutton things got better, a million cyclists there, chemin scenic and along mississiquio river valley to mansonville is amazing, short side trip to Mansonville covered bridge brought world class view of Sutton jay range, best view in southern quebec? Then over past owls head, down to the water for a dip of the toe on lac memphremagog, then north and back to east bolton and car. This was a repeat attempt, a week befoe I had forgotten bike lock key (yes I lock my bike inside the car) and had to return home without riding! This madeup for it. An amazing ride.(link)

Ormstown-Powerscourt - the short chateauguay valley ride. The chateauguay river can be rideen in distances as short at 10-20 km and up to 100+ km rides, depending on where you start and where you cross the river and head back. A good reference ride is Ormstown-Huntingdon-Athelstan-Powerscourt (covered bridge). This takes you right to the US border, but avoids big roads (avoid the Rt 138!!! Quet roads, twisty along river, straignt if you come back voam, say tullochgorum rod. An excellent area for road cycling. Maybe they will one day buuold a bike path along the old train tracks>??? It's starte din Ste-martine, now finish it!!!(link)

Prevost (shawbridge-Rawdon-Chertsey-Ste-margeritte An epic ride, with a mising bridge at Chertsey (backtrack city!) Finished after dark (only once this year!). Back roads, steep hills, epic for al lthe wrong reasons, this was a central laurentians ride, and wasn't my favorite for it's quality, but for the adversity I overcame! Much bad asphalt. many steep hills. Everything but bears and wolves. (link and link)

Parc de la mauricie. - Another race ride circuit that I did on a quiet day. After the Defi Velo Mag announced this ride, I went the next week to ride it (I missed the popular ride). 120 km round trip "park entrance to other park entrance and back again." Unbelievable number of hills. It was a late June hot day, with some butt-biting flys! This would be a ride to do in autumn colors season. Very quiet roads (I was there week day) and I have to say 120 km of perfect asphalt. Perfect asphalt. perfect asphalt. My riding time would put me right in the middle of the pack for the defi velo mag ride, which ain't too bad for a 47 year old on a 20 year old racing bike. Excellent post-ride deck behind visitor centre on the mauricie river.(link)

Isle aux Coudres from St-Joseph-de-la-Rive. A quiet family ride, much better than anticipated. Free ferry ride always a bonus, big hill leaving ferry, windy beach lunch at western tip of island, lookout tower worth the $1.00 admission price (totally!) and views of Ste-Joseph de la Rive/Les Eboulements hill is awesome (18% hill) Largely a flat ride, with minor hills on north side of island. Free ferry ride back again for supper. A excellent day for a slower ride (after the grand prix de charlevoix ride I needed a break!).(link)

Ste-Emilie de L'Energie to St-Michel des Saints. One of my final explorations in northern lanaudiere. Ride north from Ste-Emilie, past St-Zenon and to St-Michel des Saints. Middle part around st-Zenon very nice and hilly: paved shoulder, road follows river. Great return ride with descents. Tried to head west to Tremblant park entrance, but flatted. (new tire!) A worthwhile ride. St-Zenon area is good hiking too.(link)

Riding Partners. I’d like to take a moment and thank a few of my riding partners (victims!) particularly Pierre, who has introduced me to so manuy greatrides in Vermont, Mike, Jim, Shelley, maxi, Don, I'd like to also thank anyone who read any of these rides and tried them on their own, I know that there are plenty of people reading the blog, and I get feedbackl sometimes about how great the rides are, so I know it isn't just me who things they are great.

Ste-Anicet - Dundee This ride, in the extreme southwest corner of quebec, is a thin wedge shape bordered by the USA border and the st-Laurence river. The terrain is left over from the last glacier, so there are up and downs, not too long or frequent, but don't be surprised by the fact it's not a flats ride. Starting at riverside st-Anicet, it rides south and west to the US border, then zigs and zags east past some history and even an iroquois settlement, Les Droliers, which isn't a multimedia disneyfied experience in any way. Peaceful roads, farms and forests, and a beach and dock for after-ride relaxation (stretching surely?), this ride exceeded my expectations in every way.(link)

Verchere to St something de Richielieu. Initially a crappy ride, this ride got hugely better when I left the Rt 132 and went cross country to the villaghe of St Roch de richieleu. This village had lots of old, really old, homes, a cable-ferry across the river, a little dock for a riverside lunch. The ride back to verchere was exceptional (ok, for flats...) because it passed many ancient houses, from the pre-conquest era. The town of Vecherres is named aftet the quebec heroine Madeliene de Vercheres, a teenage woman who closed the fort gates and fooled the marauding indians that the fort was full of soldiers and they'd better not attack. It also had a nice riverside park. on the st-laurence. The only downside was that my usual road bike was out of action and I had to ride my urbanified original mtn bike. Oh, and the fact it was a flats ride. I prefer hills!(link)

Beauharnois Canal - South of Valleyfield is the huge Beauharnois canal, where electricity for montreal comes from. Along the sides of the canal on both sides is a bike pah,, The only downside, the only safe river crossing is at beauharnois, not the two valleyfield briges. Aside from that, it's a big riverside bike path, and is away from cars. The valleyfield area is quite rich in bike paths, with rides along the canal, the old abandoned canal soulanges has a bike path, and there are some options on valleyfield island too. It is a good family ride here, bring picnic supplies because there are no deps on the south side, the north side has services, if you enter the town of Valleyfield. Did you know that more material was removed to build this canal than the panama canal? That's what they say.(link)

Well, that's it, many memorable rides, most of them top quality, all of them a great way to spend a sunday afternoon. Note that my usual "crack of noon" departure time isn't recommended!

See you in the spring!

A Montreal Hills Ride

I rode up the hills of Montreal tonight, because...

After many months delay, tonight I got my new rear wheel.

Now my bike is like new again.

Silent, strong, fast.

Hey is that me or the bike?

It's the bike, I was huffing and puffing as I climbed five of Mount Royal's best hills.

First stop was Fernhill, the light appetizer before the big meal of the next climb: Camilien Houde, getting passed by a few guys, then Westmount's Mount Pleasant/Belvedere, then the amazing St-Joseph Oratory new road, after which I did UdeM's Poly Hill, and finally, a repeast climb of the Montreal jewel: the 1.7 km 8& climb Camielien Houde again, this time I did some passing! OK, I got passed too, but I was hitting the hill harder and feeling good.

OK, at the top I wouldn't say I was exactly feeling "good." But what I was feeling would kill most 47 year olds, and that's something I think is good!

I had been avoiding the urban hill because of the bad wheel, now that I am back on them, let me say that many of the roads on and around Mount Royal are complete crap.

Aside from that the uphills are great. Each hill I did tonight was a great hill. Every one. It's great to be back with a bike I can ride hard.

Yeah! New wheels! Woohoo!

The two best westmount climbs:

USA-Canada Cross-Border Monteregie-to-Adirondack Century Ride

ATTENTION - FRANKLIN BORDER CROSSING IS CLOSED
There may be seasonal service.
If it is closed you must use the Covey Hill (located at Havelock) or the Herdman border crossings.

We strongly recommend that you call the numbers below to verify if Franklin crossing is open:

Calls within Canada

Toll-free

• Service in English:
  1 800 461-9999
• Service in French:
  1 800 959-2036

TTY within Canada
For those with hearing or speech impairments

• 1 866 335-3237

Calls outside of Canada
Long distance charges apply

• Service in English:
  • 204-983-3500
  • 506-636-5064
• Service in French:
  • 204-983-3700
  • 506-636-5067

***********************************************************





We ride from Ormstown to (and around) Lyon Mountain in New York State in the United States.


This is the first view of Lyon Mountain as we ride south. You can see this mountain from Mont Royal.


Lyon Mountain in the distance, south of Ellenburg Center, This is our first full view of the mountain we will ride around.


2007's first century ride

I did my planned cross-border Century ride today. From Ormstown (Quebec, Canada) south to (and around) Lyon Mountain (New York USA, in the northern Adirondacks).

Here's the route map:

Easy directions: Ride south, ride around mountain, ride north

Bikely map of the route is here.

This ride wasn't just distance: there is over 3000 feet of climbing.

The basic route of the ride is: leg 1: to ride south to the USA and to the town of Lyon Mountainin the Adirondacks. leg 2: ride counterclockwise completely around the mountain of Lyon Mountain, back to the village of Lyon Mountain. leg 3: Return north to Canada on the same route as leg 1.

At 11:30 am I got on the bike and headed south to Franklin and the border. The road steadily rises and I feel the effects of a week spent on the flats. It climbs further after franklin Centre to the actual border with the United States. The American customs station is named Churubusco, the Canadian one is Franklin.

Once you pass through US Customs, this is what you see: perfect pavement with well-marked paved-shoulders. Perfect for bicycle riding. Cycling heaven. Paradise for two-wheels. You get the picture, if not, here's a picture:


America: new roads, paved shoulders

The ride south through the Adirondack foothills is very beautiful: farms and forest, peaceful quiet roads (a couple of miles on Rt 11 was the extent of busy road). This leg steadily gains altitude to Lyon Mountain village. You'll earn this section, but it's gradual.

I stopped in Ellenburg Center for a snack of banana and chocomilk. There were no outside garbage cans. That's not my bike on the left side!


Today would be a day where "riding on empty" would result in me being eaten by bears, so I fueled up to keep energy levels high. Happily there were no bears.

South from Ellenburg is mixed farmland, then it becomes forested as you pass over a ridge to arrive in Lyon Mountain. Exceptional stage.

We arrive in Lyon Mountain village and turn right by taking the right fork at the Mobil station (direction Stahdish/Clayburg), and this road will keep uphill for a couple of miles to the high-point of this first half of the ride.

Lyon Mountain was a very large iron ore mine in the US before WW2. I noticed the train station being turned into a museum--this is good news.

You can see the giant ore-tailings pile behind the town. It's kinda wierd!

Yard sale, with view.

Just after Lyon Mountain (direction Standish) there is a roadside spring. It's a good place to stop for a brief rest and to refill the on-bike water supplies. The elevation-high-point of the first leg of the ride is just ahead. It wouldn't be unfair to say that you could turn around here and ride home and it would be a heck of a good day ride.


Untested water and well-tested bicycle

Alas, there was no turning back for me. I continued south on the descent past Standish and down to Route 3. This is the first time I ride south on this road, previously I had ridden it north to complete rides that had travelled south from Malone (using rt 99 at duane to rt 3, a wicked road). Standish always had Hitchcockian/Lynchian feel to it, but this sunny day it felt more normal. The road turns left, southward, in Standish. I again wondered if the little backroad to the right was now paved--it's a super-backcountry road, and it entices me... later!

I descended this very quiet road until I hit Route 3. Bingo - this point is the south-direction end point. Actually I would have been happy to stop here for the day. But in fact I was ready (as in, I had no choice) to begin the epic ride back to Canada.

Rt 3 road was busy but had 6-ft wide shoulders. Unfortunately, the quality of the asphalt on these paved shoulders had cracked and decayed, it's wasn't great quality. But it takes me to the road on east side of the montain that I will use to ride back. Chazy Lake Road, it is the other hill of the ride. I have not ridden it before but I know it's formidable!

Villages passed by, there are plenty of convenience stores and restaurants along here if you wanted a lunch stop to break up the two halves of the ride. This is probably a good idea, but I just kept riding. I would stop for snacks in Lyon Mountain village.


Next: 14 miles and 1200 feet climbing: Fun!

At Picketts corner I spotted the little sign for Chazy Lake Road. It passed a wonderful old house and then climbs, climbs some more, and then keeps climbing.

Did I mention that Chazy lake road climbs? This is the looking back after the first mile uphill, Stopping and looking around is a great way to waste time, I mean recover, on a climb. There's lots more hill to come.

Looking south across the Saranac River valley.

Here's looking back at the very top of the final climb of the day, I've reached Chazy Lake, and I am climbing the final, (really steep!) hill before the village of Lyon Mountain.


View of Chazy Lake after 1200 feet vertical gain in 12 miles.

This is at the very top of the climb, in a few hundred feet the ride will start dowhill--all the way home.

The Chazy Lake Road climb starts out at around 800 ft elevation at Picketts corner, and climbs to about 2000 feet elevation just outside Lyon Mountain on the Rt 374--This highest point of the return leg, which I fortunately knew from the week before, was a low point in energy. The one-word expression of sagging energy and morale, "Wouf," pretty much sums it up.

In fact the picture below shows what I was actually seeing as I crested the top of the climb.

"Wouf!"

Was I glad to get to the top of this hill? What was I thinking? Thinking? I wasn' thinking, I had no spare oxygen for thinking, seeing, just holding on to the handlebars and push the pedals around and around... Around and around... It'll be over soon, seconds from now, around, and an around.

I finally reach the top. This is the hardest moment of the day.



It's all downhill from here.

The descent starts and just a few minutes later I arrive and stop in Lyon Mountain village for a premium unleaded chocomilk and some solid food. This was needed!

I went over to the church pond for the the best view of Lyon Mountain on the ride. The rest stop was minimal, I didn't want to let the muscles cool down too much. The view has geese. The road in from Chazy lake (Rt 374) passes from left to right in the forest behind the pond.

Lyon Mountain, with geese

It was now time to head back to Canada and La Belle Province. One good thing about this leg, and it was a very good thing, is that now it was time to boost the average speed of the ride.

Lyon Mountain to Ormstown is downhill. Translation: average speed increases as time passes - thanks to the invisible force of gravity. I got the average speed up to 24.2 by the end of the ride. It was 22.6 leaving Lyon Mountain. With 50 km between here and home, seeing avg speed increase is a good morale booster to see avg speed increase.

By now I had just one objective: Pizza. The ride north was uneventful except for the entertainment of cows, I always talk to the cows, it's an artifact of being raised in the country. Unlike modern industrial food production (i.e. "feedlots") where most of our beef comes from, here were cows in their natural settings. By this I mean forests. Cows in Forests... this is where they were living before domestication.

But I digress. I had to pass the time somehow until I reached my next stop: the Canada Customs at Franklin.

Crossing the border is like stepping into another country. Hey, wait a minute, I am stepping into another country!

One thing that wakes me up now is the quality of the road surface. In the US it is perfect, in Quebec it's... how do we say... "special."


Back in Canada the road here descends into Franklin and it is here where my average speed makes it's leap upwards. There is also a great view of the Monteregie and in the distance, Rigaud, Oka mountain, and Montreal with Mount Royal and the downtown skyscrapers clearly visible. I think we call this "incontournable" in French. I'd call it "million dollar."

Passing through Franklin Centre I zig-zag and take Sharpe road north (Mtee Sharp). I like this road a lot. It is often my last-leg-zip-home road. It descends fun rollers out of Franklin (fun because you hammered out of the village and you carry the speed as you ride long slightly downhill). The road goes past orchards and maple forests into farm land and forest. I love it.

This section keeps the morale up, until I get within 2 miles of Ormstown and have to conclude the day on the busy and no-paved-shoulder Rt 201. Luckily it is only a couple of Kilometres until I take the corner at tullochgorum to finish the last section on Jamestown road, a few hundred feet east of the 201. (Jamestown was originally everything on the south side of the river. The northside was Ormstown.)

As I pass the start of Ormstown at Tullochgorum road I see the odometer show 160 km, the long-awaited 100 mile point of the ride. My first century of the year.

I get home and quickly get out of the cycling clothed into a pair of shorts and collapse (is this the right word? Oh yeah) on the porch.

The ride is over.

Reflecting on the day, there's a few points that should be mentioned or mentioned again.

First, this was a really great ride. The roads are scenic, there is generally good or great quality road surface, and landmarks and route directions are straightforward.

Next, last week's explorations in the area proved useful: I made no wrong turns today, and the route I selected for today was on-the-nose century distance. Ok, that second point was pure luck!

The new road of the ride, the Chazy Lake Road, had some sustained climbing. Wouf.

Stats are
7hr 30min total time
6hr 38min riding time
160.96 km distance (That's 100 american miles)
24.2 km/hr average speed (15.1 mph and better than last week!)
66.8 max speed (I'm waiting for new back wheel before I hammer the descents)
3000+ ft of climbing(1800 ft south direction, 1200 north direction)

Scenery was great: clear skies (partly cloudy) and great views all day. Last week had been foggy and hazy, so the excellent views of today came as a real bonus. I wore my vest that I zipped up on descents.

There were several places to get food on the ride. I did the ride on 2 gatorades, 1.3 camelbak water, 2 packs reeses peanut butter cup, 2 Fairmount power bagels, 2 US chocomilk. Chowed in Ellenburg going south, Lyon Mtn returning north.

I totally forgot to look for the parking for the Lyon Mountain hike. Whoops. I was in a 1200-ft of climbing-induced hypnotic fog on this section.

The distance between Ormstown and the point furthest south is 37 miles "as the crow flies." That's 60 km.



This was an excellent ride. Highly recommended. Do it. Or, if you want, just do a smaller part of it. It's like a pizza, you don't have to eat the whole thing, taking just one slice is good. Mmmm Pizza...


Map with optional routes

Here is the route map with other options indicated. Blue dots, the 100 miles Ormstown-Lyon Mountain ride. I also mark some optional route choices. For a shorter ride, you can interconnect any of the routes I have marked: be creative, explore, and have fun!


Map legend:
Blue: the century ride
red: alternative route back to Canada
left-side Green: more scenic route back in Canada
right side Green: alternative route through adirodack foothills
Purple: optional "exchange Dannemora for Chazy Lake Road section"

Click HERE for the route map on Bikely.

External links:
Here is the Lyon Mountain loop ride part o fthe century, as a 38 mile stand-alone ride, courtesy Lake Champlain Valley Bikeways organization. The ride is called "the climber" and it does the ride reverse direction from how I did it. Link to the ride map (pdf).

Ormstown Quebec to Dannemora NY USA (Adirondack Park)

(Map legend at end of article)

Saturday we rode from Canada south into the USA, into Adirondack park in northeast New York State.

Destination was Dannemora/Chazy lake. The distance was a whopping 92 miles/146 km!

Starting in south-west Quebec in Ormstown, we rode south to Franklin Centre and up the hill to the US Customs.

Once we got cleared through customs we entered the US of A.

I thought we had entered heaven.

The road was new and mirror smooth. There were 2-3 feet wide shoulders to ride on. There was almost no trafffic.

It was Heaven!

It is quite enjoyable to ride perfect pavement.

Riding south, we turned left at Churubusco, followed this road a while and when it turned south, so did we. We soon arrived at Ellenburg Depot (services), then continued south on the same road, which was now named Plank Road. We crossed the "Military Turnpike" - built in case invading Canada ever became necessary (maybe they'd suceed the second time!) . This road took us directly sough and almost all the way to our nest destination at Dannemora.

So we arrived at the turn (T-intersection) for the road to Dannemora. (Left for Dannemora, right for shortcut home bypassing the planned ride-south-around-Chazy-Lake Loop). We headed left to Dannemora. This meant we rode uphill to Dannemora.

Previously hills were sort of gradual and steady. We gained altitude in little bits, there were not too many steep hills.

Not too many steep hills?

Here we discovered the big hill of the ride.

It was long and steep, but not killer steep (It wasn't Lanaudiere!).

At the top as I creasted the top of the hill I noticed a parking lot with a water spring.

Excellent!

I stopped to fill my now-empty gatorade bottle and fill my camelbak. This worked great, I had water all the way home.

On the other side of the hill is an inpressive and long downhill, of over a mile. I coasted to 70 km/h!

At the bottom is Dannemora, where I was supposed to turn south to ride around Chazy Lake. I missed the turn because of some map mislabelling - the map has the name of the road from the south end, not the dannemora north end (the correct instructions are to turn south at Emmons street and continue to Picketts corners, then Chazy Lake road back up to the 374). And in the town there was no direction sign here. Aieee!

As a result I went straight out the other end of town, and in a couple of miles I was seriously thinking that this doesn't feel right.

I stopped and checked the map. In other news, I felt rain drops. There was thunder. 70 km from home. Uh-oh.

All evidence pointed to the best course of action was to U-turn. So I did, and rode back through Dannemora, past it's prison walls, and came back to... THE HILL!

Well, actually I knew the hill was coming so I stopped at the Stewart shop for some trail mix and coffee-milk 50:50 mixture. You can't get this at Tim's, but at serve-yourself places like this it is feasible.

Yay-caffeine!

Now came the hill.

No! Hill!

It was quite a lot more interesting in this direction. (Read: steep)

After a mile of slimbing I was happy to see the top. -- it's over 2000 ft altitude.

Actually The top of this road is at 2050 feet elevation. The ride starts out at around 200 feet. So it's a pretty good ride for climbing!

Today was the first Hot'N-Humid day of the summer, and being quebecois, we are not yet acclimatized to the severe climactic conditions of summer. On the other hand it also means that June is here, and this emans Summer is here. Woohoo!

Continuing back on this road I came to the turnoff where I had come in from Plank Road. Instead of turning north, I continued straight.

This takes me past the north side of Chazy Lake. I had been keeping a few "shorter options" in case, for some reason, I needed to make it a shorter ride. So heading in this direction was actually my original Plan B. We'll chalk uo the Sannemora side trip to "research."

On this section we rode along the north shore of Chazy lake. This was a scenic highlight of the ride. The lake has a beautiful backdrop of Lyon Mountain and other smaller hills rising steeply up in the distance. The road was the Rt 374, it had great 6-foot-wide shoulders. We took it west all the way to the town of Lyon Mountain.

In the past I had always ridden from Lyon Mountain north (last Chateauguay Lakes - the source of the Chateauguay river in Quebec) to the town ot Chateaugay, New York, and home via the Herdman border crossing. But today I wanted to return by Franklin Centre, so in Lyon Mountain I turned just north of the church (stop and look south at the mountain from the church pond) and headed directly homewards.

There's at least three Ellenburgs, so try to pay attention: This road took me north to Ellenburg Center.

The road wound its way through quiet forest-- was a real jewel - I am very happy I discovered it. The road south I had taken earlier, Plank Road," wasn't very scenic. I have an alternative road south just east of Plank Road that I will try laster this year. Stay tuned!

The forest opened up into farm and forest land, cows abounded. I like seeing cows in forests--it's their native habitat.

I reached Ellenburg corners, and I took the wrong road exiting. Again though, I had a bad feeling, and again, some light rain arrived.

Bad feeling = turn around. That was the lesson earlier, could I trust my intuiton?

I could see I was cycling in the direction of into the sun, meaning I was heading west. So I wasn't lost, but I knew I was heading in the wrong direction.

So it was U-turn city again and I was heading a mile or two back to Ellenburg Center. Here I took what was actually the logical road: straight north, and direction-wise, it was the actual continuation the one I had ridden from Lyon Mountain. There was a convenience store here. The last one before Ormstown, still a good hour away. (I presume water is available at the customs)

I was now homeward bound, and the border was getting closer with every turn of the pedals.

Only good times remained. I hoped.

Suddenly I was confronted with an new challenge.

Dogs!

It's been a while since dogs chased me. But this ride had a couple of chasers, and here was one.

I use my patented dog repellent technique: I shout a very, loud and authoritative "GET BACK!" with a sharply raised hand, and maybe a just a bit of swearing.

It usually works, and did again today.

I was soon approaching the Border. Yes! The road northwards trends downhill. The ride started in Ormstown at 75 metres altitude, and the hill in Dannemora was around 600 metres. I had climbed them earlier, and from Churubusco I was descending. Thank gawd!

By now I had done 70 hilly miles, and I was getting tired. Well, my legs were tired, the rest of me was pretty good. But the legs were definitely all used up.

Passing Canada Customs there a fast descent into Franklin, then gentle downhill to Ormstown on Sharp. It was time to work on getting my average speed up to 24 km/h. And to my surprise, it worked. When I had reached Dannemora my avg speed was around 22.3, so the return leg of the ride was significantly faster. OK, just slightly faster!

I hit the T-intersection at Botreaux side road and headed east then north the couple of klicks on 201 to Ormstown. The Rt 201 highway really, really sucks. Lucky I only had to ride it for only 2-3 km. It needs shoulders. Desperately. Actually it needs paved shoulders all the way from Ormstown to St-Antoine. This highlights one of the major differences between riding in the US vs Canada: the quality of the Highway roads. The Rt 138, 201, and 202 all leave something to be desired - a lot os something. Note: most rides can be done on excellent country sideroads, so it's not universal, but the highways in the Chateauguay Valley need big improvements to be bicycle-friendly, and this means paved shoulders.

Arriving home, my legs were pretty much destroyed. Looking at the stats gives some justification. The bike computer says:

• trip distance 146.74 km - 92 miles!
• time total 7 hours
  
• time riding 6 hr 5 min (custom-frame bike makes it almost comfy)
• avg speed 24 km/h ( avg speed is faster because I left the camera at home)
• "calories" 3063
  

Summary

This was a really great ride.

It encompassed riding from the St-Laurence river lowlands, into the Adirondacks foothills, to Chazy Lake and the foot of the the most northern Adirondack mountain of Lyon Mountain. This is the only Dak peak visible from Montreal (from the Westmount summit lookout). From here we ride back via a different, forested and farmland route (sort of Vermont-like).

For a shorter ride, you could start in St-Antoine, Franklin, or Havelock. For this ride I think you should park in Canada and cross the border on bike. It adds travel adventure to enter the USA with just what you carry on the bike. That being said, parking at an Ellenburg or Churubusco would make a much shorter ride, all of it on the amazingly high quality road surface -- at least 90% of the ride's roads are excellent and new condition.

The map below contains the route I did, in green dots.

I include a couple of options for a longer route- these are A) my original "planned" route (red dots), and B) a ride around the south end of Lyon Mountain, back by Standish(Blue dots). Because of the length of the ride, the map scale isn't as detailed as I'd like.

Also note that Dannemora is located at the green arrow, not where the "name" is printed on the map.



**********************************
Here's a digression to another close-to-the-border bike ride.

If you are looking for a really easy and flat ride just across the US border, I suggest you try riding around Isle La Motte in Vermont. Here's the wikipedia entry on this little island in Lake Champlain (link).

It's gotgreat views of the Adirondacks, a Fisk Quarry nature preserve (walk your bike it's only a few hundred feet, and watch for fossils on the ground). There is another natural site where oldest known coral reef on Earth is located. The Ste-Anne outdoor shrine is the site of one of the first religious services in french Canada outside the colonial settlement of Montreal. Possibly the first one ever. It was 1609. There is also a great sculpture of Samuel de Champlain here. It was sculpted by F.L. Weber during Expo 67 at the Vermont Pavillion. Note I didn't say ... sculpted FOR Expo 67. Nosiree, It was sculpted inside the Vermont Pavillion during the Expo. It showed off the famous Vermont Granite.

Park at the beach where this shrine is located. Yes: a beach! A great thing for after-ride refreshment. Start the ride heading south, and after you ride around and up the other side, turn at the gas station/convenience store and cross the little island to return to the parking (which is a bit north of this road).

Here is the link to the Cycle Fun Montreal report from our visit last summer. (link) The island is located on the right side of this map.

100 Km Chateauguay Valley ride

Sunday I went back to the nearby Chateauguay Valley for what I thought would be a relaxing flatland ride after the Laurentian hills of Saturday.

Recovery. Recuperation. I'd just take it easy.

And then the big winds arrived, just as I got the bike ready to ride.

The ride was a shortened version of the complete chateauguay valley loop I did a couple of weeks ago.

I cut out the extreme eastern part of the ride. This means I went east from Ormstown along Tullochgorum road. THis was with the glorious wind.

I took the first road south: Bryson (Brysonville) side road. This goes theough the unique geological area known as "The Rock." It is bedrock that scraped clean at the last ice age. It's still rock!

I toon bryson all the way to St-Antoine Abbé. The longer version I did previously included Aubrey, St-Chrysostome, and Havelock, and the always-fun (colline) Covey hill.

Todays I followed some main road to Franklin. Usually I avoid this stretch of road, but today I had a big ride to do and didn't want to finish after sunset. At Franklin I rode uphill and stopped the "the big view of Montreal." It is excellent, there are two spots on this ride where you must turn around and look at the view behind you. This is one of them.

Shortly after Franklin, I rejoined one of my favorite roads: the first road north of the US-Canada border. The "First Concession."

This road goes west forever. Unfortunately the direction it went in was the direction that the wind was coming from. Winds gusting to 40 Km/h.

This was not good. But it was a beautiful early spring day, warm enough for shorts, and the natural world was coming back to life after winter.

There were great views north towards and across the St-Laurence. I could see Rigaud and Deux Montagnes in the distance.


Eventually I arrived at the Powerscourt covered bridge.

Rest stop!

I always like spending time here at Quebec's oldest covered bridge. Today I enjoyed the view of the high-water Chateauguay river.

Then I continued and eventually reached the intersection with the Rt 138. (link) at Trout River. This is "the other river" of the Chateauguay valley. It is windy and twisty and quite scenic. In spring time it floods.

The Rt 138 starts a mile from this intersection at the Trout River Customs US-Canada border. From here it goes east a long, long way. It ends a thousand miles to the east. Quebec is a big place.

Transport Quebec says it ends 1362 km later in Natashquan (quite a long way past Sept Isles). Transport Quebec also says that I could drive it in 15 hour and 37 minutes. That would be a one tough drive. I drove Sept Isles-Montreal in ten hours once, and that was a challenge.

Anyway, at this point, I changed direction. No longer following the border westward into the wind, now I turned east and rode with the wind on my back.

My cruising speed was frequently over 40, and life was good.

After a short spell on the 138 (new road with good shoulders), turned at the turn for Cazaville.

Here I briefly headed into the wind again. After five minutes I stopped and looked behind. It was my first view of the Adirondacks and it made me gasp... It's a quite good view. This is that other place on the ride to stop and look behind you.

I was close to the corner and soon turned on to the very scenic Ridge Road (i.e. the first road north of the 138).

It has lots of great views of the Adirondack foothills.

Then some minor zigzagging eastwards and I am riding through some protected wetlands.

Finally I reach the Seigneural side road. This is the end of this segment, it's only a couple of legs to go.

After a few little hills in the road I am entering tiny Dewittville - the last village before home.

I crossed the bridge over the chateauguay and I take the Island Road back to Ormstown. The Island Road is a lot smaller than the ex-highway Rt 138A that is normally used for this section. I enjoyed the change. It had some nice views of the Chateauguay.

Piste cyclable St-Donat-Ste-Agathe

Red dots: my GUESS where the new off road trail fromSt-Donat to Ste-Agathe)
Blue dots: Road cycling super-road (St-Donat to Tremblant/Parc entrance)
Green dots: P'tit train de Nord - Ste-Agathe to Tremblant section

I just discovered an off-road bike trail from Sainte-Agathe to Saint-Donat. It's 40 km, and that's a 50 mile round trip. Just the thing to get some real endurance in the mountain bike saddle, without having to go on-road. I am checking this out soon.

Here is the news from the town of Saint-Donat website (link):

Nouveau Sentier l'Inter-Vals

Depuis le 24 juin 2005, la nouvelle piste cyclable pour vélo de montagne reliant Saint-Donat à la Gare du P'tit train du nord sur la Route Verte à Sainte-Agathe est ouverte.

Ce nouveau circuit débute dans le stationnement du Parc des pionniers. Il est d'une longueur totale de 38,7 kilomètres. Les 12 premiers kilomètres nous conduiront à la Base de plein air L'Interval et on comptera 24,3 kilomètres rendu à l'église de Sainte-Lucie. Une carte montrant le tracé et les dénivellations devrait être disponible sous peu.

Here's another link to information about this off road bicycle trail. (link)

This is a nice addition to the on-road and bike path trails.

The tourist information office in St-Donat has a hand-copied map of the route.

This is one more reason why you should come and spend your vacation in Quebec.

In other news I visited the amazing cycling road (the locals call it the "chemin cyclist") from Saint-Donat to Lac Superieur (in the Tremblant area it's called chemin de Nordet) which has 32 of the finest kilometers of road cycling in Quebec. A completely new road that opened in 2003, full wide shoulders and several big mountains climbs. This is one of the best roads in the east for the hill-loving cyclist. It is marked on the map in blue dots.

The third trail on the map is the P'tit train de Nord cycling path that goes from St-Jerome to Mont Laurier. I marked the Ste-Agathe to Tremblant section on the map. This is a pay trail, but quie a trail, some parts are nicer than others, and the northern 100 km are paved.. ooohhh yeah! Scenic-wise I like Ste-Adele to Val David.

New Bike Path for the Mercier Bridge

If you are wondering when the Pont Mercier Bridge is getting a bike path to replace the extremely dangerous sidewalk, it's in the next two years. Major repair work has been announced for the Pont Mercier bridge and a bike path is part of the plan.

Évalués à 100 millions, les travaux devraient se terminer à l'automne 2009. Le tablier du pont et les structures d'acier seront réparés, et une piste cyclable sera ajoutée.

I did not make this up! Click here for the link

This will open the south shore and the Chateauguay valley and the Mohawk city of Kahnawake to the list of possible cycling destinations for montreal cyclists. The Mercier Bridge is located very close to the western side of the Lachine Canal.

This is big news.

Here is video of biking the existing Mercier Bridge unprotected and scary sidewalk.