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P’tit Train du Nord – Ride Report
Before I start here is a little blurb on exactly what and where the trail is, quoted from its website: “The longest linear park in Canada is located right in the heart of the Laurentian region. Following the line of the old railway built in the early 20th century, “Le P’tit Train du Nord” Linear Park offers 230 kilometres of trails running through incredibly beautiful landscapes, alongside rivers and lakes.” http://www.laurentians.com/parclineaire/
An overview (find more details in my ‘logistics’ below): I spent most of the week before my trip watching the weather and gathering my wet-weather gear – it was supposed to rain a bit on both days. The morning of my start, we got on the road at 6:30 from Montreal (it was raining) – we made it to Mont-Laurier by app. 10:30am, the north point of the trail. As we approached the start point, the clouds cleared and sunny skies appeared. Hallelujah! Still chilly, though. Kicked myself that I had left my bike tool in my gym bag (for tightening my bike shoes) - but there was a Dollarama close to my starting point, picked one up there). I set off heading north to south on the trail, a dedicated asphalt trail for most of the day. Amazing fall colour views along the way. I stopped for lunch in Nomingue, app. 55 kilometres into the ride. Ate my packed lunch (a homemade couscous salad) on a picnic table, but I got cold fast and ate fast. I mixed up my second litre of Gatorade from the powder that I brought with me, went to the washroom, and got back on the road. The one thing about cycling in the cold is that you realize you can never stop for long, you get a chill. Along the way I snacked on apples, Cliff Shot Blocks and an energy bar. As you will see in another posting ‘if a cyclist falls in the woods...’ my inexperience with my new cycling shoes provided me with technicolour legs by the end of my trip, but that is another story. Let’s keep it happy.
I reached my half-way point, Mont-Tremblant, by app. 4:00pm. My nutritionist advised me to have chocolate milk as my recovery drink, gladly drank that. My husband and son were at the trail to greet me (that is where the cell phone came in handy), and they brought me to our hotel. He was thrilled to bits that the hotel had surprised us with an upgrade to a suite (with a fireplace and a beautiful view of the mountain). We went downstairs for a soak in the outdoor hot tub, and went to supper. It was the first time I had visited the Mont Tremblant ski village since it had been developed. I had always heard it was a bit of a ‘Canada-land’, a bit of a fantasy village. However, it was quite nice and we had a good time. And lots of my kind of shopping – Burton, Columbia, Roots, Helly Hansen. The next morning, we used the complimentary passes from the hotel for the ski gondola to go up to the top of the mountain – gorgeous views of fall colours – and saw that the sommet had a sprinkling of first snow. We had a big breakfast at Catherine’s Creperie and I got on the road by 11:00am. The second day ride did not feel as hard as the first (even though at that stage it was compacted dirt trail, not asphalt), and I had more of an ascent to deal with. Once at that sommet, it was mostly downhill from there to the finish at St. Jérome. I was pretty lucky – I felt drops of rain just as I finished. I arrived at app. 4:25pm.
Clothing was something I was very concerned about when I was preparing. This is what finally worked out for me (and I did not end up needing to wear the waterproof jacket or pants that I had bought). I will mention brand names because personally I like getting recommendations, so I will pass it on in turn: on top, wore three layers – Polartech turtleneck from Mountain Equipment Coop (incredibly comfortable, just bought it, want another one); Louis Garneau thermal zipped jersey with side pockets for easy acess to cell phone and camera; topped by a Louis Garneau Stratos jacket. Down below: Sugoi pedal pushers, with Kona wool socks, Sidi mountain shoes covered by MEC shoe covers (water-proofing that I did not end up needing, but they did keep my feet warmer). On the hands, Descente Cold-Out gloves, very comfortable, and my hands did not get cold. I ended up taking off the jacket pretty soon into my riding. I saw some people out there fully decked out for rain, some with shorts, some who even wore a balaclava (with shorts – odd combination).
Logistics for those interested in doing this trail in the future:
1. Best to start from north to south – Mont-Laurier to St. Jérome. The wind often blows out of the north west in the fall, you have a better chance of the wind being at your back. Also, the ascent on the second day coming from the north is more steep but over more quickly than the longer ascent approaching from the south.
2. The trail is very well supported – water stops, picnic tables, look out points, washrooms in interpretation centres, outhouses in the woods, distance markers, lots of signs.
3. In the depths of fall, there will be lots of fallen leaves in certain places sheltered from the wind – which can conceal what can sometimes be a bumpy asphalt surface closer to Mont Laurier. Did not tend to be as thick on the second day – strange, there were fewer leaves on the trees as I headed south.
4. The trail crosses roads in various places, some more travelled than others. Always treat them cautiously, stop and look both ways – Quebecers are not well-known for treating crosswalks with respect, and there are some places where there are sharp corners where a car could surprise you.
5. We treated this trail as a two day journey – start at one end, overnight in Mont Tremblant, which has lots of good hotels and restaurants, and finish the next day. Others wishing to be more casual will divide it up into three or four days. And for those into camping, there are sites along the way.
6. Lunch stops: between Mont-Laurier and Mont-Tremblant, a good place to stop is Nominigue – there are picnic tables, a place to fill water bottles, and washrooms. There are also fast food or better restaurants for those who wish to stop longer (my husband had the slowest fast food he ever had in Nominigue –took about one and half hours from start to finish, when he did his tour in early September in warmer weather. I cut my lunch time a lot by packing my own lunch). Between Mont-Tremblant and St-Jérome, the good place to stop for lunch is Val David, same support as in Nominigue, with lots of nice cafés and beautiful scenery, etc. Personally I don’t wish to go into cafés, etc. for lunch – I cool down too much, I prefer to spend more time riding.
7. It is a linear trail – you will need support to drop you off on one end, pick you up on the other end. During the summer, there are organized tours which will transport luggage, bikes, etc. And shuttles available to transport bikes outside of tours, I believe, never tried it myself. If you are really interested in doing distance, do the entire thing, then double back. I certainly would not call my riding hard-core, starting at 11:00am and finishing around 4:00pm. I didn’t rush the journey – took lots of photos, and enjoyed the ride. When I read about people doing centuries and double centuries (in miles), there are probably people who could do the 200 km in one day, better done during the summer when the daylight is longer.
8. It was a bit unnerving to see the black bear warnings along the way, warning one to carry a whistle. My husband, who grew up in Quebec, tells me that black bears do not normally attack humans, and during the fall are normally pretty full and looking for a place to hibernate. I am not the expert on this. However, I will say that those warning signs probably made my second day’s ride go even faster. There appeared to be plenty of locals taking casual strolls and they did not look terribly worried. I saw no bears – what I did see was a deer quickly pouncing across the trail, a wild pheasant, a beaver dam built very close to the trail, and lots of chipmunks.
9. If you plan on starting early/finishing late, make sure you have a light on your bike.
10. Have a bell on your bike – I used mine plenty in places closer to villages, where locals go for walks on the trail. Don’t count on your voice to carry very well if there is a wind.
11. Type of bikes - most were on hybrids, like myself, but you will see road bikes out there with cyclists in full racing gear.
12. More info? Go to http://www.laurentians.com/parclineaire/ (you will see that it says 230 km of trail – but 200 is Mont-Laurier, the sign for km 0 is Saint Jerome (I don’t know much about the 30 km that extends beyond Saint Jerome or whether it is dedicated trail OR sides of roads....)
This was a great experience and I hope to find more trails like this one. Any recommendations are thoroughly welcome. And I am open for questions, anyone who wants to hear more about my trip. If you have trails to suggest, I would love to hear it.
I will attach a photo - boy, I hope this works - never did it before...Attachment 10239
