xMas 2007 (Dec 27-31, 2007)

This was the first good xmas week ride in some time. It started xmas day with a ~90 mile ride at camp, with good conditions. The next day it was off to St Raymond for some real riding. I got to the Roquemont after lunch and headed out for some trail research to see how things held up after the rain. The crossing on 23 was still open, it made it through the rain. The larger crossing on 3 was also open, that was surprising, it usually isn't that early. On the way across 3, there was an open water bar, passable on the right. After crossing it, I passed a groomer with 2 18" drainage pipes. By the time I came back they were in and all was fixed. To end the day, i took a trip to the ice hotel, which was still under construction...

Thursday's plan was a solo ride to Lac Edouard. 73 was flat and hard, but not icy. I tried a loop thru Shawinigan, but the trails sucked and 318 was closed, so I returned to 73. The closer to Latuque, the thinner the snow. 355 could have used some more grooming, and since Lac Edouard wasn't passable, the alternate sucked. Plenty of open water bars along the way. Being alone and having seen issues with crossing washouts, I tried a new technique. Instead of easing into the water with the skis, and then gassing thru it [which often causes problems with the skis catching or the downward slope leading to track spin], I figured with my setup, I could stop before the washout, hit the gas to lift the front end, and continue across. It worked great and was very smooth...this technique would be valuable in a few days.

John and the snow arrived Thursday, then Friday we were off to the Holiday Inn. We headed up 23 which was excellent...

then to 368, out past La Baie and back to the HI, 263 miles. The next morning, we got up for a 6:30am breakfast only to find special xmas week hours of 7:30am, so we took off [and from now on, we may give up on package deals, and just get the rooms]. The plan was to head thru the mountains and get to Sacre Couer. The fields around Lac St Jean were just as we'd heard in wind and snow...

484 thru the mountains was poor, but at least open. As we got to Onatchiway, it got worse, but we broke most of it with ~6" of snow, so that softened the ride. The ride to Chappelle was better and quiet for a Saturday, thanks to the snow. The ride to Sacre Couer was fast and we were in early, 211 miles.

Sunday we were headed back to the HI via the Pelchat trail. This was our first time we saw the sun, and 3 to the Pelchat was in great shape, as was the Pelchat, for the start. After 5 miles or so the frech groom stopped at an Auberge. After that is was ok till marker #4, then it turned out to be 10-15" of fresh powder all the way to 252, ~35 miles. I'm not sure why it wasn't open, it was ok in November. It was a lot fun and a good experience...

till this...
This is after crossing, the picture doesn't do justice, john has a video of the crossing. We didn't have gas to turn around, and new there weren't any other serious washouts or problems [in November], so we had to cross. Here we are at the intersection of the Pelchat and 252...

We finished the day riding around the Saganuey, we hit a freshly groomed 482 with some interesting groomer ruts...

At the end of the day, -16c and 290 miles. The ride home was cold and fast, to L'Etape anyway. 83 from the HI was groomed all the way to 23, which had a warm-up shack I didn't recognize...

I wondered why John was in there so long, so I went in. Now I know why...

We tried 369 south from L'Etape, but it sucked, so we took 23 which was marginal. Overall, a good trip, no problems, and probably the earliest you should attempt a river-to-river ride. 1354 miles....and 2200+ miles before January 1. Good thing, because there's a big warmup coming next week...