"Today we rode a new network for us, Empire 47. This is 1 of the 4 destination parks in the Quebec City area which many of us have seen pop up on social media. To put it bluntly, this is why we've seen fewer and fewer Quebec license plates in Vermont. These trails are top notch, A-plus, 4-stars, and so on. Whatever you want to call it, they're all that. Before we even finished up the day I announced I would be coming back here again, soon."
Canadian Road Show '25 - Day 4: Vallee Bras-du-Nord Shannahan
"Nine years ago we made a trip to Quebec City as a part-mountain bike, part-tourist trip with the Utahs. We rode both parts of the Vallee Bras-du-Nord network and had a great time in the city in between. That trip, we really enjoyed the Shannahan Sector and I vowed to some day come back and ride the north loop, which was closed back then. Much to my dismay, this trip would end with the same result. Nine years later and the north loop was closed again. But that did not make the trip worthless."
"Then there was rain. We've traditionally had great weather for all of our Vermont trips through the years. Now & again we might get a wet morning, or even a washout once in a blue moon. By and large, rain rarely plays a factor in the ride plans. Today, rain played a huge factor and we kept the bikes on the shelf and went into the city for a walking tour and lunch, then a general meandering around Quebec City proper."
Canadian Road Show '25 - Day 6: Sentiers du Moulin
"Today I will make a strong statement and perhaps one day I will go back on this. But I think I may have a new favorite trail system right here in Quebec, called Sentiers du Moulin. Of the 4 Crown Jewels of the Quebec City area, this was by far my favorite. I will admit that Empire 47 being over half closed probably makes this an unfair statement. But today, I’ll stand by it. Sentiers du Moulin is probably the best mountain bike network east of the Mississippi."
Like, holy shit this park was awesome. You should go. Now. Today.
Canadian Road Show '25 - Day 7: Vallee Bras-du-Nord St. Raymond
"Today, day 7 of our trip, marks the transition from phase 1 to phase 2, as Alex & Mark hit the road and we do 1 more destination ride before it’s time to wrap up Quebec tomorrow morning. On the plate today will be the south part of Vallee Bras-du-Nord, the St. Raymond sector. This will wrap up a solid week of biking and put an end to the first half of the Canadian Road Show. And by “half” I mean 41% done."
Canadian Road Show '25 - Day 8: Quebec to Tremblant
"Today the main exercise is to wake up in one town and go to bed in another. In between, we’ll clean up & check out of the Quebec City AirBnb, drive across the province, have lunch with D’s family, then go for a walk around Tremblant in the afternoon. Then we wrap the day up with one of Oma’s signature dinners, which will be the first of many."
Canadian Road Show '25 - Day 9: Mountain Biking Tremblant
"Day 9 of our trip is the next-to-last free day of our vacation. We’ll be working next week from Tremblant but before we get to that, we bid farewell to Adri & Oli, do some yard work, then hit up the Tremblant trails for another day of mountain biking on some trails we’ve ridden a bunch and still don’t know how to put together properly."
Yeah, I'm catching up. This is from yesterday. Tomorrow our Road Show gets boring.
Also to Steve, the Sentiers du Moulin org added my post to their story, so it must have looked ok. To quote Shrinking, eat a dick, Pam.
Canadian Road Show '25 - Day 10: More Tremblant Biking
"Today marks the end of vacation and the mental transition into remote work, which will be our life for the next week. We don’t have much planned today, other than a bike ride on the same trails we rode yesterday. Zac will be showing up tonight with his friend Jeff, and they will have Bear in tow. Then we’ll eat dinner and wrap up the vacation part of the trip."
