I’m not saying I was wrong, but …

I think today could be filed into one of two categories – 1. An overdeveloped sense of optimism; 2. A severe miscalculation.

The plan for today was to cycle along Highway 362 from Baie-St-Paul to Saint Siméon. About 77 km. Certainly a manageable distance given what I’ve done so far. Unfortunately, nothing I had done so far could even begin to prepare me for what would lie ahead.

I knew going into this adventure that there were going to be some hilly days – like yesterday for instance. I researched various routes and read other cycling blogs to find out the best way to go where I wanted to go. Well, the key part of that last sentence is the “where I wanted to go” part. You see, in all my research I didn’t find any real reports of cycling from Baie-St-Paul to Tadoussac. Meanwhile, Google Maps always wanted to send me inland away from the coast or along the south shore of the St. Lawrence and then take a ferry across. But I wanted to do the north shore. So clearly the only logical explanation for this lack of information is that this route is in fact “cyclable” and any other reports (or lack thereof) implying the contrary were obviously wrong.

Ahem. Well, remember those hills I climbed yesterday. Those big hills. Those really big hills. Well, it turns out that those hills were just speed bumps compared to the hills of today. It only took about 5 minutes into my ride this morning to realize that I was not going to have a pleasant day. Fortunately, the sun was shining, and the wind was at my back. Sadly, that made little difference to the hills I was facing. Hills that this mere mortal on a fully loaded bike had NO chance to pedal up. And so … I walked. And I walked. And I walked some more. The whole time I was stunned by these hills. These were almost like South Island New Zealand hills – almost. In some places these were 15% hills. And again I walked. There were some places it was a struggle to even push my bike up the hill. It is no longer in question, these hills were not made for self-supported touring cyclists.

Now, in my defence there’s a reason I wanted to travel along Highway 362. It follows closely beside the St. Lawrence and it’s reportedly very scenic. I can confirm both. VERY scenic. The views of the St. Lawrence were spectacular. Even through the fatigue of walking up about half of today’s hills, I really couldn’t regret my decision. Although, while walking up one of today’s many hills I passed a house where there was a small car for sale. I swear I almost bought it!

Shortly after passing through Saint-Irénée there was an alternate road I could’ve taken which would’ve led to the route that Google had recommended for cyclists. I was tempted. But (little known fact alert) I have a bit of a stubborn side to me. I had decided at the start of this trek that I was going to take Highway 362 from Baie-St-Paul to La Malbaie, and while it was thus far the toughest cycling (ie. walking) I’d ever done I was going to see it through to the end – which meant another 13km.

Again, I don’t regret this decision. The final 13km were somewhat easier (talk about things being relative!) and I was actually able to pedal up some of the hills. The descents were generally incredibly steep. My brakes took a beating at times, however, I also managed to keep the bike stable enough for it to approach the 60km/h mark. I believe my stopping distance at that point was about 3.5km.

The ride into La Malbaie was beautiful and by the time I reached town I had pretty much decided that I would call it a day and leave Saint Siméon until tomorrow. It was tempting to carry on as it would only mean going another 33km but based on the hills I’d seen today I figured I’d done enough and I’d settle for another short day and regroup and try again tomorrow.

I found a campsite beside the Highway which will give me easy access to resume my route tomorrow. As for the campsite, it’s definitely my least favourite so far but it’ll do. The people at the entrance gate seemed mildly impressed (or more likely amused) when I used my one French phrase I’d been practicing, “Je voudrais un camping pour la nuit pour moi et mon vélo.” They gave me the thumbs up and opened the gate. The people in the office seemed less impressed with my English speaking ways. C’est la vie.

In summary, I certainly can’t say that I would recommend Highway 362 to cyclists but I would definitely recommend it to those with motorized vehicles – someone should invent a bike with a motor … oh, right. They did. And I even have a license for it. Hmmmmm. Anyway, clearly a lot of motorized vehicles make this trip – especially Miatas. I continue to be impressed with the number of Miatas I’ve seen on this trip. I continue to wave subtly to them all. By the way, it was 14 years ago today that Miata #2 was won.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 49.10km
Time of bike moving (there was a lot of me walking beside it): 3:29:55
Maximum speed: 59.66 km/h
Minimum speed: 1.3 km/h (it was a REALLY big hill)
Average speed: 14.01 km/h

Oh, and this campsite has the slowest WiFi ever! (I know, I know. First world problems)