This year's trip is to Canada!

[SteveM]

After cross country in 2012, around the Great Lakes with an SS1000 run on day one last year, I'm taking it easy this year and leaving tomorrow for a 6 day trip through eastern Canada. I'm headed north past Montreal to Mont Laurier, then on to Matagami (way the heck up) on day two. A right turn east takes me to Chicotoumi on day 3 and across the Gaspe peninsula on day 4. The finish is a run southeast to St. John, NB and then home on days 5 and 6.

It looks to be a great trip, and I'll make the effort to use what little French I know and my iPad can provide!

[DucDave]

Cool loop. I've done all of it and I'd skip the western (Val D'or) bit and extend the eastern into Nova Scotia/Cape Breton. The ride from the St. Lawrence to Chicoutimi is prettu nice but beyond that (northa and west) it's a pretty dull ride!

But then again, that was years ago and maybe your tastes are different! It's an epic trip. Enjoy!

[SteveM]

Thanks Dave,

I like some isolation and was originally planning to take the James Bay road further North and get to the southern tip of Hudson Bay. As I researched it more, the combination of lengthy gravel roads and distances between services caused me to modify. I was not comfortable that the F6B would fair well on the gravel.

[Imbeek]

Good luck and have fun!

Good chance I may be running some of the same route, solo, a few days behind you...

[Marc R]

Enjoy, looks like a great ride.

Just to help out with some French when ordering lunch: Ou est ma poutine, tabarnak.

[markbvt]

Nice. But FYI, I'm pretty sure that the road you're using to connect from Matagami to Rt 113 is gravel. And while I haven't been up to that part of Quebec myself, a couple of my friends have, and they echo what Dave is saying: that part of the loop is kind of boring.

Here's another suggestion: head up Rt 138 instead past Quebec City to St Urbain and take Rt 381 up to La Baie, head up to Chicoutimi, then down Rt 172 to Tadoussac (even if you stick with your current route, take Rt 381 down from Chicoutimi instead of Rt 170 -- 381 is awesome). Then take Rt 138 up to Baie-Comeau and head up Rt 389 to Manic 5. This is the start of the Trans-Quebec-Labrador road (which turns into the Trans-Labrador Highway); it's a pretty amazing run up to a hydroelectric dam whose scale is difficult to describe, and yes, it's paved all the way there. That part of the ride will be out and back, but it's worth it. Just make sure you top up your tank in Baie-Comeau -- there are no gas stops till you get to Manic 5, around 130 or so miles.

Anyway, after that, head back down to Baie-Comeau and take the ferry across the St Lawrence to Matane, then go around Gaspé. By the way, the road you've chosen to connect from Murdochville to Rt 299 is also gravel. And it's worth taking Rt 299 all the way -- the northern section you're cutting off is great riding. The northeastern section of Rt 132 along the Gaspé coast is good too. My suggestion would be to follow the coastline down to Percé, then turn around and take 198 back up to the northern coastline and 299 across the peninsula to New Richmond.

Have a great trip!

--mark

[SteveM]

Thanks for the tips, I'll do some reprogramming when I get to Mont Laurier tonight.

I knew I would extend the loop around Gaspe, but the quebec hydro visit is worth trying to do.

Avoiding long stretches of gravel is always helpful. I'm sure the bike and I could handle it, but I can't think of a reason I would want to on a loaded F6B!

[SteveM]

Left at 7:00, stop at 9:00 for coffee and again at 11:30 for gas and a snack. Burlington, VT by 11:30 is reasonable time and a single tank!