Val-David to Saint-Jérôme

When DW and I first learned about the Petit Train du Nord cycle trail, I have to admit I found it a bit daunting. Two hundred kilometres through the Laurentian Mountains sounded challenging.

But then I remembered that I've pedalled 177 kms in one day. Twice. On a ride that involved some challenging hills.

Because the Petit Train du Nord trail followed an old railway line, there would be no challenging hills. Gradients would be gentle and there would be no sharp turns.

When we saw our first YouTube video of the trail, I told DW that we should do it sometime, before we get too old. That was about two years ago.

And when we learned that our friends, Wendy and Peter, were considering the route, we decided we'd go together. We couldn't have had better companions on the way.

Val-David from above our inn.

We started our final day with a walk to Le Général Café, where we had lunched the other day. It was one of the few places, nearby, that was open for breakfast. Not surprising, we ran into the three women from Maryland, who were on our shuttlebus to Mont Laurier. We had seen them at every leg along the way—at rest stops and restaurants—and this would be our last time seeing them.

After breakfast, we returned to our inn, Hébergement Les Passionnés (where we still hadn't seen our hosts), to finish packing and suit up whilst Peter took an online meeting. It would be our latest departure, around 10:30, but we only had about 40 kms to cover, and it was mostly downhill, so we had all the time in the world.

We made our first stop in Mont-Rolland, where we caught up with the couple from Ottawa, who we've also seen throughout the trip. We chatted a bit, refilled our water bottles, and I took a few minutes to get my drone in the air whilst DW and Wendy used the facilities.

Mont-Rolland.

Near kilometre 37, along the route, the paved path turns to stone dust, and it slowed me down a bit. The weight on the back of my bike made the tire sink a bit further into the crushed gravel, plus I had to be extra cautious while rolling downhill. It took me longer to stop with the extra weight, and I didn't want to have to brake hard on a loose surface.

The stone dust path lasted until we were a few kilometres outside of Saint-Jérôme.

There was a sizeable detour in Lesage, where we had to travel along part of the highway and cut through a suburban community, but the way was well-marked and we had no problem getting back to the trail, though we did more climbing and added five more kilometres to the overall journey.

I had only one scare on this ride and that came with fewer than 10 kms to go. A large portion of this leg follows the Rivière du Nord, a winding river that seemed to follow us from around Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts and continued south of Saint-Jérôme.

At one point, there was a stop and nature trail, and the river met some rapids. I decided to stop to get some drone footage, thinking it would be the last chance I'd have to get aerial footage before we reached the finish line, when I intended to have the drone follow us through the arch.

I should really wear my reading glasses when I fly the drone. With my phone connected to the controller, I was just looking for the satellite indicator to change from red, to amber, to white, which would tell me that I had a strong connection to the drone. The battery indicator was amber but the drone itself indicated, with green lights, that it had at least 25 percent power, so I took off.

I got some good footage of the drone looking northward, with the Petit Train du Nord trail to its right. But almost right away, the controller told me that the drone battery was getting low and I should land.

If I did nothing in the next five seconds, the drone would automatically return to its launch point.

I pressed the override button, thinking I had at least another minute to bring the drone back, so I turned it to face the other way, where the rapids were strongest. As the drone pivoted, my controller let out a dual warning tone, and the drone began to lose altitude.

And it was in the middle of the river.

Last shot before the drone tried to land.

I pushed forward on one joystick to gain altitude and back on the other stick to back the drone up. While it had been hovering, the wind had moved the drone further upstream and I lost sight of it. The loss of power was making the drone lose altitude again and I kept pushing the sticks to keep it up and moving toward shore, even though I didn't know exactly where it was.

And the breeze was blowing away from me, keeping me from hearing the drone.

Looking at my viewscreen on the controller, I could see that the drone was over the bike path, so I stopped pulling back. I didn't want it to go into trees. And the altitude controller was no longer responding. My baby was going to land no matter what I did.

Once on the ground, I could see that the camera was facing the area where I was standing and I could tell where it was. I looked up the path, from where we had come, and saw an object to the right side of the path.

I don't like to run but if a cyclist came along, they might not see the drone until it was too late. The colour of the drone almost matched the colour of the stone dust. So I ran to get to it before it got run over.

Note to self: always start with a fresh battery when flying over water.

I wasn't sure if I got the footage that I wanted, but DW and our friends had already been waiting long enough. We were close to the finish line and we wanted to keep going.

When we reached Saint-Jérôme, it must have been lunch hour for the local schools. There were so many students—most, in uniforms—on the path that we had to slow down. Several times, I called out, "a votre gauche," before passing on their left.

For the most part, the kids seemed used to cyclist on this path, and kept to their right as they moved.

As we approached the finish line, I told everybody that I'd like to get one last drone shot, and that would be the last 100 metres, with the drone following us. DW and Wendy would lead the pack and Peter would trail behind me to make sure the drone stayed with us.

The end is in sight.

It was a quick goodbye. Wendy and Peter had an appointment in Montreal and wanted to get cleaned up before they left. So we said our goodbyes and packed up our car.

Wendy said I should make a video about how we packed up our Niro for this trip. We were able to fit four panniers, my other two packs, our helmets, cycling shoes, and a bag with a fresh change of clothes in the trunk. In the back seat, we stored both bikes.

I placed a tarp over the back seat to protect it. I removed both wheels from my bike and placed the frame, upside-down, on the tarp. We removed the front tire for DW's bike and placed it across the floor, with the front forks turned so that we could close the doors. The three loose tires fit in the space between our bikes.

Easy-peasy.

We ran into the Ottawa couple, who had parked near us. We invited them to join us for lunch but they were set on heading home before they were too tired.

When we first arrived in Saint-Jérôme, we looked for a place to have dinner. In my search, I found that one of my favourite Montreal breweries—nay, my favourite brewery in Quebec—had opened another location across from the parking lot for the Petit Train du Nord.

I suggested it but DW said that maybe we should save it, for when we finished our ride. It would be our reward for having completed the trail. I couldn't agree more.

DW had a cider, I had a Kölsch, and we split a cheeseburger and poutine. It was a nice reward, indeed.

I couldn't believe how good I felt at the end of the ride. I wasn't tired or sore, though I'm sure I developed callouses on my butt. I knew that eating a full meal with a pint of beer would make me sleepy, so sharing was the best way to go.

By dinnertime, we were home, unpacked, bikes hanging off the ceiling in our garage, clothes in the laundry, and us in our pajamas. We watched a movie that the other Ottawa couple had recommended and then we went to bed.

Our adventure was over but was one we'd never forget. We shared this experience with wonderful friends. We made new friends along the way. We had perfect weather. We stayed in great places and enjoyed some delicious food.

Would we do this again? Well, no. Been there, done that. But we might consider a day trip, where we start in Saint-Jérôme and ride to Piedmont. There was a highly recommended café that we wanted to visit but it was closed on Tuesday, as we cycled past.

We could go on a day when it was open, but it's a long way to go for coffee and pastries, so there'd have to be another reason to go.

But one thing is for certain: our days of long rides is far from over.