68.4 miles, 4556 ft of climbing. Whew. It was our first day of serious climbing. The main climb was 3.5 miles and much of that at 13%. But it was a good prep for what’s to come. We’re tired, but it was a glorious ride.
We left Samantha’s (oh yeah, she’s also a classical pianist!) at about 9 am as the rain ended earlier than expected. We had a big day to Grand Vallée and the best part was that was the end of the rain for today and tomorrow.
The first half of the ride was a mix of dense fog and clear skies with sun. We had a tailwind, up until we got to a town and a cove. Getting out of the cove was always into a headwind, but that was much shorter compared to the stretch between towns with that lovely tailwind.
There was a lot of construction on this stretch, it didn’t really slow us down. In fact, the construction at the big climb had blocked the two climbing lanes and we had them all to ourselves, which was good because we needed to snake climb our way up this very steep section. It was definitely a challenge and knowing it was coming didn’t make it any easier. And while it’s been cool in cloudy, by the time we got to this climb was 80° and in full sun. Lots of sweating and maximum heart rates! Add in a second climb after that one and we were wondering if it was ever going to end. It did though, with a great descent into Grande-Vallée Quebec.
We had a beer and hung out at a local park until we figured out where a campground was. We are all set up for tonight and having dinner (and more beer). Hoping for a clear day tomorrow as we should reach Gaspé – with a bit more climbing than today.
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