My NoVM Birthday tour!

[uralrob]

 Yeah, we were  shown the Brit way by TowerMan last year. Totally corrupted now. 

  Rob.

[TowerMan]

Originally Posted by uralrob

Yeah, we were  shown the Brit way by TowerMan last year. Totally corrupted now.  :003:Rob.

and I was supprised how easy they were corrupted

[Gustavo]

I was not corrupted.  Every time I tried to eat ice cream on the previous IVM, some guy showed up and ate it all before I could even get to it...   

 

Gustavo

[Shandy]

Great ride report so far, looking forward to the rest!

PS you can never go far wrong with a bit of ice cream on any bike trip 

[Ibraz]

Thank you all for your interest!

I saying "F*** it" and going on a bike tour apparently doesn't make the things you have to do at home disapear, so it's been pretty busy here in the last two weeks.

Let's go for the first leg of the trip! 


So As I said, once the things that needed to be sorted on the bike were done and luggage prepared, it was just a matter of get on the bike and go.

On a side note, I have to say that the camera that was going to go with me on the trip ended up being lent to a friend, so the pictures on this RR are all coming from my phone.
I did bring two other cameras but will have the pictures only in a few weeks.



Sunday night, the bike is loaded and ready to go!! The goal for the first day is set: Go on a bike ride and see how I feel (brain doesn't like brightness, noise and movement these days).



So Route 138 it is! The first leg of the trip has only one purpose: get out of town! So 100km of a pretty but almost straight ride later it's time to stop, eat something and start thinking about the route.

Happy rider with a full belly!



Happy Versys with a full load of luggage (note the white lotion tube clipped on the drybag, Watkins DEET insect repellent, it will be needed a LOT during the first part of the trip)



First impressions are good, the bike handles great, and the new bridgestone T31 just beg for some cornering action, let's make them happy!
The new helmet is comfortable, silent and having music while on the road changes the whole feeling of the ride.
A bit of blues, a bit of ZZtop, a bit of silly 90's pop and the ride is transformed!

It was now decision making time. There was information on the side of the road warning travellers that the ferry between Baie St Catherine and Tadoussac was interrupted.
I learned at the restaurant that a sad thing happened, A RV driver discovered on the downhill road leading to the ferry that his brakes stopped working... The poor guy used the horn all the way to the bottom of the hill to try and warn people. He arrived at the bottom at full speed as the ferry was leaving and the ramp was going up. went on the ramp that was at a 45 degree incline, jumped and crashed on the ferry deck.

Fortunately he didn't make a carnage as he landed at the very end of the deck but still lost his life.

The alternative to the Tadoussac Ferry would be riding north for two hours, cross the bridge in Saguenay then ride south for two hours the other side of the Saguenay river. Great roads, but I wanted to be close to water for this ride so decision was made to ride to St Simeon via the twisty Rte 362 and 138 that gets windier and see what happens.

St Simeon is a departure port for the St Simeon to Rivière-du-loup ferry that would allow me to continue East on the south shore of St Laurence if the Tadoussac Ferry was really out of order.

Took the picture on the first post just before La Malbaie, What an enjoyable road! good pavement, Incredible views of the river, cows, horses and small houses.

Past La Malbaie I stop to check out some campsites that would be my plan B if the ferry plan doesn't work.


At the St Simeon ferry dock, I learn that a police car was blocking 138 the road a few minutes before but isn't anymore.
The ferry to Rivière-du-loup is approaching, it leaves in 40 minutes, so I decide to take a chance and ride east to see if I can cross the Saguenay river.

Sunny and blue skies for miles!



Almost dumped the bike trying to back up from this spot.


Shadows are getting longer, it's time to either cross to Tadoussac or find a place to sleep.


Growing bug accumulation from the past two rides...



Someone tells me at the campground that one of the two ferrys is back on duty at Tadoussac, there's a long line to get on it but it works, so I decide to continue east and see what happens.

The little 650 engine definitely is a great little mill, it was now spinning a bit faster than before as I switched from metric to imperial speed units

There was a LONG line to get on the ferry. A lot of 18 wheelers taking a lot of space on the boat. I started talking with a local that was on a longer ride than expected due to the accident.



We got eaten by mosquitos for 30 minutes, Then went 200m, then eaten by mosquitos for 30 minutes... After three cycles, I decided that I was on a bike and I should fit between cars or in any corner spot on the deck so basically just went to the front of the line 1km down the hill (lane splitting is illegal here).

Victory!!





Rode 22km at night to Les Bergeronnes and got a room in a B&B, but not after a nice poutine, a beer, and a cheesecake! I didn't expect to have to use my AUX lights so soon into the trip but they proved usefull on this road section that was full of curves, road works and gravel.

Heated grips were needed too as it was now around 12C but they didn't seem to work properly. I know they have a tendency to get hot only if the engine spins at 4500 rpm or faster but even riding in fourth gear at 7000rpm no heat was generated... Weird...

The cake was so good I decided to get a portion for the following day and strapped it to the rear rack (that is soon going to be a habit on this trip).




The first day of this trip has been better than expected but the real trip starts here.

Time to sleep.

Tomorrow we do an emergency repair, get help from a gang member, do silly things in places bikes are not supposed to go and take two naps in weird places!

[uralrob]

 Great to see you on the road again, and good pics from your phone. Some of them were very familiar.

 Too bad you got delayed by the Saguenay ferry accident. The pictures on line were pretty horrific.

 That 'sunny and blue skies' loop through Persil has to be one of the most scenic along the whole north shore. But no pic of the donkey farm?  .

 I'd hoped to get up there with Gustavo, but we ran out of time.

 Much looking forward to your next installment.

 Rob.

 

[Shandy]

Great ride report so far! 

Scenery is beautiful, some really good pictures.

I love the 'cake rack' idea  and like the little teaser you've written at the end, really looking forward to the next installment 

[Ibraz]

@Uralrob: Your knowledge of the place is impressive! Port-Au-Persil is a pretty place indeed, I saw houses for vacation rent along the coast, I may go back on a more comfortable trip (as in in a car)  Sadly I didn't do the whole loop, but I don't regret it as 362 and 138 are always along the coast and I had a (easily affected by road signs) plan for the day.

Good to know that the pictures are good, it's been a year since I've used a normal screen, mine all have some sort of color alteration that makes them dark and removes a maximum of blue light (works well to keep colleagues from taking my desk when I'm away BTW)

@Shandy: Thank you for your comment! I think that the cake rack officiallized my canadian citizenship for good (even if it's been years since the ceremony) explanatory picture in the nezt post.

Day 2:

Start at Les Bergeronnes.

Woke up at 8am, far earlier than I had planned to the day before, the host at the B&B had an apointment at 9:30 and I had to leave before that.
The host didn't have a licence so I needed to withdraw cash to pay for the night. 50$ will prove to be the third less expensive night of this trip and one of the most comfortable too.

So after a short breakfast, I took the bike to go to the bank. Turning felt weird, bike pulling in the direction of the turn. The bank was closed. The ATM nearby out of order, so I had to cross town to the gas station to get monies. When did I feel a similar handling again on two wheels? OOOOOH!! On a fat bike riding on the street with very low pressure in the tires!
Check the bike and sure enough, my rear tire was as flat as the pankake I had for breakfast! Only 400km on that rear tire, what a shame!

Found the nail, put a plug in, used two 25g CO2 cartridges to bring it to 25psi and she was ready to go to the fuel station to get more air. Almost forgot to take the cake out of the fridge, THAT would have been bad!

Light and flat.


Repaired and ready to go!


En route to the gas station to get air, I spotted a house with a HUGE garage attached and a Harley with open panniers in front. Stopped, asked the guy if he had a compressor and with his help the rear tire was back to its normal 40psi (lower when not loaded). As I was talking to him my eyes got caught by a Hell's Angels sticker on his bike... Wealthy guy, two big harleys... I complimented him on his bike and went on my way.

The whole purpose of this trip was to ride on a particular spot. Last year, before my concussion, I had planned to put knobby tires on the V and ride 400km from Quebec to La Tuque then 150km of gravel to Wemotaci then to the famous Casey air strip. An abandoned infrastructure of the past wide and long enough to land a 747.
My condition isn't the best to tackle long gravel roads, so I went for the easier option... Went down the hill towards the river, then checked out the rope that was blocking access (10cm from the ground in the middle, I just went over it with the bike) checked the sky for air traffic then...


Yes, this one is going on my wall 

The other end of the air strip:



It was a bit sandy and I had my first experience of voluntary wheelspin of the trip that would lead to many others!



Ok, enough playing, let's go back on the road!

Oh look! there's a small harbor at the bottom of the hill!
The north coast is incredible in this regard, every little village, every little town has a harbor or a coast with views like this:



But soon the plague of the trip was to hit again... A hydration pack is a nice thing to have on a road trip, but MAN it leads you to stop a lot to empty your bladder and do silly things like..



I can see no reason why my faux IVM couldn't be enjoyed with ice cream too!

Stopped in a Ford dealership to check my tire pressure and check the plug on the tire, everything looked good so I continued.



The plan now was to get close to Baie Comeau and try to take the ferry to cross to the Gaspé peninsula the day after. It's an old boat, it's made to do 5 minutes crossings on the Saguenay river not 2 hour crossings on the St Laurence... They cancel the crossing if there's any wind, so I have to get lucky.

En route to Baie Comeau, in Forestville, I saw a sign indicating an intersection and 84km on route 385 to Bersimis 1 and 2 (names with numbers usually mean that hydro Quebec built huge dams somewhere in the forest), so what does a lone rider do in such a situation? turn left and explore!
So after some waiting for roadworks (mosquitos are now REALLY hungry and seem bigger than before, you better get a walk and get far from that hot bike when you stop!) I had to stop again for sanitary reasons, what a shame!







385 has to be one of the best riding roads in Canada, 84km of almost non continuous 55, 65 and 75 advised speed turns. Yes, over here we have advised speeds on signs before " tight turns " this country is one of the homes of huge cars, live axles and leaf spring suspension after all. On a bike hey usually mean "enter at 15kmh shy of double the advised speed then pin it when you see the exit". Good for keeping rear tires round and smiles on my face!



Another sigh! Bersimis-2 turn left! Then be faced with a barrier and another sigh saying "authorized personnel only"... The gate is open tho... Oh hell just go!
after 1km on a gravel road, I see a bit of the dam and two workers. "The sign said I have to be authorized, do you authorize me?" 
They didn't seem to really care, so there you go:



The Versys handles OK on this loose gravel with chunky bits but despite having fitted crash bars and a fender extender, I regret not having a radiator guard so I take it slow. No cell reception and absolutely no parts for the bike in a 5 hour radius.

At the end of the road at Labrieville camp, there's a small shop selling insect repellent, beer and leaf springs,  indication of the purpose of this road. it's made to get things done and for workers only. It is the only place open to the public on the road (there are fishing camps but I don't really consider that open as you have to have a permit, a reservation etc..).

I'm tired, sleepy and have trouble staying focussed.
Buy water.
Tell the lady at the counter that i'd take a nap if I could and BOOM!



There are so few clients that she has a little room with a couch, a TV a dining table and two reclining couches. Put earplugs back in ears, put phone on charge (spice girls tunes really make for a funny ride) and woke up refreshed after two hours of great sleep while the lady was watching TV.



Sometimes you just have to ask.

Huge installations next to the end of the road (bike parked at the "store")

Note that at this time the cake is eaten, but I still pack my trash!

Went back to Forestville after that where the workers at the airport didn't allow me to go on the runway... But said that if I came back in the middle of the day when there's fewer planes they could let me if I didn't take more than 5 minutes (I'll remember that for the next trip!).

I was hungry by then. If you ever go to Forestville, you HAVE to order a "club breakfast", that thing was delicious!.
This one is tilted and blurry, I was REALLY hungry!


Now refuelled, I hit 138 again heading to Baie Comeau.

Uneventfull ride apart from the grat scenery and some looooong curves. The bike switched to MPH again!

30 min from Baie Comeau I was tired again so I turned right at a random intersection and it didn't disapoint.





Almost spent the night there but it was getting cold, windy, and the forecast is predicting rain so I made a few calls and found a room in a hotel in Baie Comeau instead.

10PM. It was a long day on the road, the bike is parked between an ashtray and a trash can, but I have a clean bed in a warm room.



Tomorrow we get a surprise call from a friend, ride a road that shouldn't exist, almost dump the bike twice and get some gravel and dust in the air!

[uralrob]

 Great reading, Ibraz. You really catch the feel of the big country, mosquitos and all.
And  to you for going on detours like 385. As you say, you never know what you'll find, and you're a long way from help or parts.
 I came south from La Tuque a couple of years ago. Some lovely stretches along the St. Maurice river as well as some good fast sweepers  .

 There was a ferry running from Forestville to Rimouski, a fast cat. Not sure if it's still operating.

 Looking forward to your next installment.

 Rob.

[Gustavo]

Still looking like a great adventure, good thing that plug is holding. 

So, how fast will a Versys go down that abandoned runway?            

Gustavo