Hi Everyone,

Today was a rough day.  Several Canadians have mentioned to me the 
hills of Quebec when I told them where I was going.  Well, today I 
found the hills.

It all started with a bike path along the river leaving Sherbrooke.  
Then the bike path went away from the river and onto a regular road 
that led into several hills.  I get up to 12% on a hill. Then I went
 down to another river and the trail went on the road.  No problem.  
A road next tom river means fairly flat road.  Then the road turns 
into dirt.  Then back to a bike path along a paved road and then the
 "fun" started.

The Route Verte trail becomes a dirt trail and then it goes down and
 up. Hey this is a mountain bike trail!  Then it becomes more even 
and then more ups and downs.  Then it goes along a freeway and should
 be more even, but freeways are made more even by taking dirt from the 
tops of hills and filling in the gullies.  A bike path along a freeway
 goes the way the original terrain was.  Lots of ups and downs.

I get to a town and hey, all I have done is 30 km.  I'll never get to
 Victoriaville at this rate!  Then it is more bike path along a freeway
 and I get to Richmond which has a hotel and I can call it quits for the
 day, but there seems to be a wino sitting in the doorsteps of the hotel 
so maybe not this hotel.  There is no other hotel.  Then I take a good
 look at the map and Hwy 116 goes from the town to Victorville.  
Yesterday I took Hwy 112 and it was much better than the bike trail 
so I decided to take the highway.

The highway starts with a long, straight uphill to the top of a ridge.
 Well, the map shows a valley so I must be climbing to the top of a
 ridge and there will be a valley on the other side.  Besides, the
 bike trail is probably much worse.  I get to the top of the ridge 
and I see a big valley.  I get a great downhill and get to Danville 
and a tourist information office.  The young lady tries to talk me 
into taking the bike trail that just happens to be just behind the
 office but it isn't paved so I don't trust it and besides, the 
highway is fairly gentle and smooth and has a great shoulder.  
So I continue on the highway.

I finally get to Victoriaville and the shoulder disappears at the
 city limits.  With all the traffic lights, traffic gets bunched 
up and a shoulder is more needed than ever.  I stay at the first 
motel that I see and it is a Route Verte certified hotel and it 
doesn't offer any more than other motels than I have stayed in. 
 They do have a place to work on bikes and some supplies but I 
carry that stuff with me.


The Statistics:  68.66 miles and 2025 feet of climb.  15% max 
uphill and 14% max downhill.


There were times that I was thinking about cutting short the 
trip because I could never get the whole trip done in time if
 every day is like this.  But Hwy 116 saved everything.


Steve in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada
  

Sent from my iPad