Biking 150k through the Quebec countryside

Ever since I read about the P’tit Train du Nord(“small train of the north”), I decided this is a trip to do no matter what. This is a former train track that was converted to a biking path after the train was decommissioned. Imaging all the picturesque scenery you saw on train rides, now bikable at your leisure.

This was also the first time I would ever experience a temperate fall season, as I had only ever lived in a tropical climate (India) before then. Tropical foilage is usually only green and then dry nothingness. However in temperate climates there are more distinct changes - green, (yellow, red, orange), then white. So I decided to do this trip in the fall.

My other goal with this trip was to probe my physical limits. Although my previous personal record was only 50km, I was determined to explore how much further I could push. Life is short, and failing to do hard things once in a while will only keep you from discovering what you might be capabale of. The P’tit Train du Nord runs from Saint-Jérôme to Mt. Laurier for 234km, with Mt. Trembalnt in the middle. My initial plan was to take a train to Saint-Jérôme and do the 90km route to Mt. Tremblant. At this point I also asked around if anyone else was interested in such an adventure and luckily I found Loic and Kaixieng from the lab! I owe a lot to them for pushing me. Loic suggested we should start from Montreal and do the whole 150km, and I somehow agreed.

I started out with the (unrealistic) goal of capturing all the scenery with my camera, but by sunset I was fully focused on getting to my destination. We left at 8.30AM and I reached at 11.30PM. Everyone’s legs start paining after around 70km, and what matterns after that is your brain more than muscles. You just keep on pedaling and eating and drinking. As long as you are filling up, muscle pain is just an excuse. Of course I took breaks when I was feeling really tired. Google maps misled me to some golf course with a dead end, so had to backtrack and bike on the shoulder of the highway for a bit. This was the only “scary” experience I had since my tail lamp stopped working and I had to swap it with my front lamp. Cycling through the forest in the darkness was a strangely calming experience. I also had a full moon but even without that you would be surpised how much your night vision adjusts once you’ve been in darkness for 30 minutes.

stubborness, stamina, pushed a lot