The trail from Rigaud to st Eugene is being paved... Two weeks ago i was there talking to the Rigaud town workers who where paving with a new type of special recycled pavement. They paved a small strip and will see how it lasts during the winter, Then will be paving all the way to St Eugene.
OMG! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. The way you ignored the loud protest on Parliament Hill as you celebrated your achievement completely exhausted, priceless. Love the content!
Hey Man That's a favourite trip Ottawa - Montreal. I've done it many times, always in the other direction as you are going, but I've always loved it. I have gone through St. Eustache a couple times. I camped at a bike store on the lawn. Really nice people. I like the north shore of the Ottawa River. Many road ends that are good for camping right on the river banks. Ottawa understands all things bicycling, so you'll be in good shape there any time on a bike. Thanks for the entertainment !
I did Ottawa to Rigaud (Well, Voyageur Provincial Park) and then back a few days later. It was a lot of fun and beautiful but very flat. I sugar bonked on the way back and had to lay on the ground for 20 minutes to recoup energy, then ride 20 minutes, repeat x4. Eventually I got to a small town and bought a ton of junk at the convenience store
I did that 42 years ago (with my sister), but it took us 2 days, and we spent the night at my uncle's place in Rigaud. Unfortunately I played video games all night, and the next day woke up late and we got to Ottawa at midnight. The trail didn't exist, we took the road along the river. Funny thing, our first day along the shore of the West Island was also very windy.
I can't imagine how different it would have been to do the trip 42 years ago. A great adventure to take part in with your sister. Thanks for sharing this memory!
congrats, my girlfriend and i have a tandem bicycle, the further we have gone is a back and forth trip to Venise-en-Québec with a total of 117km in one day, but knowing that we can go to Ottawa on a bicycle is great especially with the bike trails network from St-Eugène, that will be a project for 2025 , thank you for sharing !
Congrats for this landmark ride and new personal distance record. And thanks for recording and sharing it. On your bike going to Ottawa you overcame construction, wind, poor pavement, the abandoned trail between Rigaud and St-Eugène, a dip in energy, and overall soreness. But it was the drive back to Montreal that was more challenging. You did have two spare tires, just not the right size LOL. Well done. Log live the craziness!
Congratulations, you deserve to feel proud of such an accomplishment. I have driven from Ontreal to Ottawa often and it was enjoyableto see the area again. The furthest I have cycled in a day wasjust over 100K, that was in Ireland on my way from Galway Bay to Dublin back in 1972.
Ireland is a phenomenal country, I cycled around Inis Mor about 15 years ago and I'd love to return for a proper bike tour one day. Thanks for watching!
Congrats! I live in Ottawa and have always wanted to try this route in reverse. Incidentally, I know exactly where you were located when you found the groundhog, that guy is always there haha.
Did this ride back in 2021 in the opposite direction mostly following regional highways, and I gotta say... the views on the P-R Trail look way way better LOL Definitely going to try this when I can get my hands on a gravel bike sometime. Thanks for documenting your journey :)
Hi Dan, very fantastic to find a countryside road. I watch many videos from Europe where they had this kind of road a lot. I just find this one near here. It will be fun if we had more instead of the car risky road in Quebec. Félicitations !!!
Merci, Marc! I also did a portion of the trail from Cantic to Norton Creek in the south of Quebec earlier in the year, it's quite similar to the trail in this video, and I'd recommend it too if you haven't been before. It would be great if there were more nearby trails like this.
That’s a bucket list ride for me. I live in Ottawa so it was fun to see what you enjoyed on the way in. If you’re ever looking for info on cycling around Ottawa, let me know!
Great video 😁👍 Reminds me of one of my early bike tours. Google maps sending me down a track that got progressively worse, and eventually dwindled down too nothing. Needing breakfast and arriving in a town too early, and on a sunday! Lots of lessons learned. Big congratulations on 200kms too 👏😎
You're a beast! I'd definitely break it up into 2 days. I live in Ottawa so I'd be going the opposite direction. I surely would have expected a flat tire on the bicycle. . and not on the car. Most Montrealers don't really like the vibe of Ottawa!
I’ve done this route many times both ways, when I go to Montreal from Ottawa for short holidays. One way to cut the distance, which I usually do on the return trip, is to take the EXO train to Vaudreuil and start off from there. It shaves off about 50 km. One nice stop along the way is Beau’s brewery in Vankleek Hill - beer has electrolytes, doesn’t it? 😅
I was so close to Beau's Brewery too - I added it to my google maps list if iI'm ever in the area again. And yes, good idea to cut the distance and start from Vaudreuil!
i'm from ottawa and have been thinking of doing the same thing in reverse! I don't quite have 200km in me, i was considering taking the EXO train from Vaudreuil to shorten that distance.
I live in Ottawa and i always assumed that you would just have to ride in the shoulder of the highway to get to Montreal. The trail looks like a wonderful little adventure, but it'll be a while before I'm in good enough shape to give it a try.
Hey Dan. I live just outside of Ottawa and would love to try the exact same route, except in reverse. Is there a way I can access your route map? Thanks!!!
that route is very wind-dependant...you're going east to west against the direction of the prevailing wind..I tried it in the 1980s but ran into a very strong headwind and had to abandon near Alfred, Ontario...Next time I'll go the other direction. The Rigaud-Ottawa rail trail didn't exist in the 80s then and we used route 17...not impressed by the condition of the trail in Quebec but the Ontario section looks good..Congrats on your personal best
If I didn’t see the “Except for Rigaud”; I would not have considered watching your video. Those trails west of Rigaud; I regret to tell you; those are snowmobiles and ATV trails. Otherwise; I would have done some biking in that area. I’ve lived on the border town of Pointe-Fortune. Congratulations on your 200km objective on a bike. What you should have done; starting from Montreal; was head north into Laval: follow the numbered bike trail into the town of Deux-Montagnes (two mountains); and take the path to Oka; drive through the reservation; on a road with a wide shoulder; along the Ottawa River; and keep going to Gatineau. That network is 100% paved. You could cross the Ottawa River via ferry or bridge; the only significant town between Montreal and Ottawa is Hawkesbury ON. The scenery was better on the Quebec side. I feel your pain on the bad rural Quebec roads
Thank you for watching! I'd been aware for years about the rail trail, but Google Maps was really my main source to figure out the best route. The toughest choice was deciding between Laval > Oka > Hudson or Sainte-Anne > Vaudreuil > Hudson; I chose the latter. Once I got to Rigaud and realized the trail was too overgrown I had to do some rush googling for info, but it didn't take long to find that St-Eugène was my best bet. Hope you manage to do either the bike or canoe trip one day.
Good job, on rides like this the wind realllly matters. 90% of the time winds are coming from the west round here so if you get a still day you'll save just an inssaaane amount of watts on a distance like that.
So when i was supposed to do my ride to Ottawa i was thinking of taking my domane sl6 but after watching the video im taking my checkpoint. So i remember when i took my 292 km ride i had a lot of food on me. I mean a lot of food
The 'trail' from Rigaud to the Ontario border is crazy bad. I got off it and opted for the Haut-de-la-Chute road as soon as I could. I don't know why there's no upkeep on it.
So many people do exactly as you did -- try and start the Prescott Russell trail in Rigaud, and then back track -- despite it being clearly indicated not to walk or ride on that old CN track. I think the problem is that it is somehow shown on-line as connecting to PR trail, because the old rail line is there. I'm glad you showed this. Looks like a great route and I want to try it next summer. Do you think it is possible to ride that trail with slick road tires or will it be too slippery?
Yeah, I used Google Maps to plan the route, it shows that the trail is accessible by bike from Rigaud. Clearly it's not, but I didn't figure that out until too late. I've not had any experience riding on gravel with slick road tires, but my feeling is that it'd be possible, the trail is well-maintained and the gravel is pretty tightly packed. Thicker tires / a gravel bike would be an advantage though.
Congratulations! You are ready to join your local randonneuring club. I’m 69 and did two 200km rides this summer for the first time. Thinking of trying to do 300 next year. You didnt mention anything about major climbs. How many feet of climbing did you do over the 200k?
I've never heard of this concept of randonneuring before - I'm going to look deeper into this, thanks! It was a mostly flat ride, 686 metres (2250 feet) climb across the whole 200km. Looking over the route, the biggest climb was about 40 metres across 10km heading west from St-Eugène, not even noticeable. Good luck next year with the 300.
Ha! Actually I must say I had a really good breakfast at Chez 4's, but I'm certainly not in a hurry to pass through Rigaud again. I'm still sour about the overgrown trail.
With Quebec’s developing country infrastructure, your bike stood no chance of getting you comfortably to your destination. A fat bike would have done the job
Ahaha, a few years ago I crossed into NY and over to Vermont with a friend before heading back up to spend the night at Venise-en-Québec. The difference in road quality from one side of the border to the other was astonishing.
The trail from Rigaud to st Eugene is being paved... Two weeks ago i was there talking to the Rigaud
town workers who where paving with a new type of special recycled pavement. They paved a small strip and will see how it lasts during the winter, Then will be paving all the way to St Eugene.
OMG! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. The way you ignored the loud protest on Parliament Hill as you celebrated your achievement completely exhausted, priceless. Love the content!
love the energy you give off, beautiful ride ❤
As an Ottawan, I quite enjoyed this, new sub
Hey Man
That's a favourite trip
Ottawa - Montreal. I've done it many times, always in the other direction as you are going, but I've always loved it. I have gone through St. Eustache a couple times. I camped at a bike store on the lawn. Really nice people.
I like the north shore of the Ottawa River. Many road ends that are good for camping right on the river banks.
Ottawa understands all things bicycling, so you'll be in good shape there any time on a bike.
Thanks for the entertainment !
I did Ottawa to Rigaud (Well, Voyageur Provincial Park) and then back a few days later. It was a lot of fun and beautiful but very flat. I sugar bonked on the way back and had to lay on the ground for 20 minutes to recoup energy, then ride 20 minutes, repeat x4. Eventually I got to a small town and bought a ton of junk at the convenience store
That's insane, hats off.
I did that 42 years ago (with my sister), but it took us 2 days, and we spent the night at my uncle's place in Rigaud. Unfortunately I played video games all night, and the next day woke up late and we got to Ottawa at midnight. The trail didn't exist, we took the road along the river. Funny thing, our first day along the shore of the West Island was also very windy.
I can't imagine how different it would have been to do the trip 42 years ago. A great adventure to take part in with your sister. Thanks for sharing this memory!
congrats, my girlfriend and i have a tandem bicycle, the further we have gone is a back and forth trip to Venise-en-Québec with a total of 117km in one day, but knowing that we can go to Ottawa on a bicycle is great especially with the bike trails network from St-Eugène, that will be a project for 2025 , thank you for sharing !
So glad my feed suggested this to me
Congrats for this landmark ride and new personal distance record. And thanks for recording and sharing it. On your bike going to Ottawa you overcame construction, wind, poor pavement, the abandoned trail between Rigaud and St-Eugène, a dip in energy, and overall soreness. But it was the drive back to Montreal that was more challenging. You did have two spare tires, just not the right size LOL. Well done. Log live the craziness!
once again a treat to watch thanks to your charming narration, thank you for posting!
Another amazing video!
Incredible ride and distance! I would love to hike this over a week or two.
what an incredible trip!! the scenery was so beautiful! I'm amazed at what you do!! :)
Thank you Kelly-Marie! Hope all is well with you
Congratulations, you deserve to feel proud of such an accomplishment. I have driven from Ontreal to Ottawa often and it was enjoyableto see the area again. The furthest I have cycled in a day wasjust over 100K, that was in Ireland on my way from Galway Bay to Dublin back in 1972.
Ireland is a phenomenal country, I cycled around Inis Mor about 15 years ago and I'd love to return for a proper bike tour one day. Thanks for watching!
Amazing! Congrats.
When I was a kid a used to ride my bike from deux montagnes to Outremont
I walked Montreal to Ottawa in April or May, 2003, 8 days, 25 km/day. Someone described me in a major newspaper, but I never found it.
You’re a legend, what a trip
200+ km mostly on gravel with headwinds. That's more like 300 km on pavement in ideal conditions. Well done.
Congrats! I live in Ottawa and have always wanted to try this route in reverse. Incidentally, I know exactly where you were located when you found the groundhog, that guy is always there haha.
Did this ride back in 2021 in the opposite direction mostly following regional highways, and I gotta say... the views on the P-R Trail look way way better LOL
Definitely going to try this when I can get my hands on a gravel bike sometime. Thanks for documenting your journey :)
Congratulations on the trip. One hour on a bike is all I can do before my ass hurts too much to continue.
Sweet ride! 🙂
Hi Dan, very fantastic to find a countryside road. I watch many videos from Europe where they had this kind of road a lot. I just find this one near here. It will be fun if we had more instead of the car risky road in Quebec. Félicitations !!!
Merci, Marc! I also did a portion of the trail from Cantic to Norton Creek in the south of Quebec earlier in the year, it's quite similar to the trail in this video, and I'd recommend it too if you haven't been before. It would be great if there were more nearby trails like this.
What a ride! Great video!
That’s a bucket list ride for me. I live in Ottawa so it was fun to see what you enjoyed on the way in. If you’re ever looking for info on cycling around Ottawa, let me know!
LOL Ive always had an inside joke with my family that implies that Rigaud is such a nowhere place. What a coincidence!
The RBO Audio sketch?
The Legend is back baby!
Let's GOOO!
woot
woot
Great video 😁👍 Reminds me of one of my early bike tours.
Google maps sending me down a track that got progressively worse, and eventually dwindled down too nothing.
Needing breakfast and arriving in a town too early, and on a sunday!
Lots of lessons learned.
Big congratulations on 200kms too 👏😎
Aw, too bad for the tire incident. That was terrible. But otherwise, high five for another awesome adventure. You're always fun to watch.
Super-impressed. I know the Prescott-Russell rail trail so well, and the routes through Ottawa. Really cool to see you stretching it.
p.s. St.Albert Cheese is a regular stop on my local bike rides.
It was my second time there, their vintage cheddar is so damn good. Thanks for watching!
You're a beast! I'd definitely break it up into 2 days. I live in Ottawa so I'd be going the opposite direction. I surely would have expected a flat tire on the bicycle. . and not on the car. Most Montrealers don't really like the vibe of Ottawa!
Thank You because of your great video I know what kind of touring bike I am going to get
Cheers Philip! Mine's a Marin Nicasio 2 and I absolutely recommend it. Good luck with your purchase.
love it!
I’ve done this route many times both ways, when I go to Montreal from Ottawa for short holidays. One way to cut the distance, which I usually do on the return trip, is to take the EXO train to Vaudreuil and start off from there. It shaves off about 50 km. One nice stop along the way is Beau’s brewery in Vankleek Hill - beer has electrolytes, doesn’t it? 😅
I was so close to Beau's Brewery too - I added it to my google maps list if iI'm ever in the area again. And yes, good idea to cut the distance and start from Vaudreuil!
Nice. I bike from mtl to ottawa and back last aug 26. 430km total. You took the same route as me.🫡🫡🫡
Oh yeah, I've also stopped often in Plantagenet !
Well done!
man I've been wanting to do this ride for so long! thanks for the tips. So next trip Montreal - Quebec ?
How good is cycling. Love it man
It's so great, isn't it Mark? I'm sad though cause the winter is days away and the bike will soon be retired for the year
Mazel Tov!
I am so impressed I subscribed.🙂👍
I did Montreal-Ottawa-Montreal in a day this yearm my biggest achievement in anything, ever!
i'm from ottawa and have been thinking of doing the same thing in reverse! I don't quite have 200km in me, i was considering taking the EXO train from Vaudreuil to shorten that distance.
I live in Ottawa and i always assumed that you would just have to ride in the shoulder of the highway to get to Montreal. The trail looks like a wonderful little adventure, but it'll be a while before I'm in good enough shape to give it a try.
Hey Dan. I live just outside of Ottawa and would love to try the exact same route, except in reverse. Is there a way I can access your route map? Thanks!!!
Hey Steve, yes of course, you can see the route here on Strava www.strava.com/activities/12115058968 Enjoy the ride!
that route is very wind-dependant...you're going east to west against the direction of the prevailing wind..I tried it in the 1980s but ran into a very strong headwind and had to abandon near Alfred, Ontario...Next time I'll go the other direction. The Rigaud-Ottawa rail trail didn't exist in the 80s then and we used route 17...not impressed by the condition of the trail in Quebec but the Ontario section looks good..Congrats on your personal best
i did montreal to qc on a fixie lol maybe this could a nicer one to try ..
woah, i wanna do this when the REM opens.
If I didn’t see the “Except for Rigaud”; I would not have considered watching your video. Those trails west of Rigaud; I regret to tell you; those are snowmobiles and ATV trails. Otherwise; I would have done some biking in that area.
I’ve lived on the border town of Pointe-Fortune.
Congratulations on your 200km objective on a bike.
What you should have done; starting from Montreal; was head north into Laval: follow the numbered bike trail into the town of Deux-Montagnes (two mountains); and take the path to Oka; drive through the reservation; on a road with a wide shoulder; along the Ottawa River; and keep going to Gatineau. That network is 100% paved. You could cross the Ottawa River via ferry or bridge; the only significant town between Montreal and Ottawa is Hawkesbury ON.
The scenery was better on the Quebec side.
I feel your pain on the bad rural Quebec roads
Love your videos. Always wanted to try this myself by bike or canoe. How did you get the info to help plan out your route?
Thank you for watching! I'd been aware for years about the rail trail, but Google Maps was really my main source to figure out the best route. The toughest choice was deciding between Laval > Oka > Hudson or Sainte-Anne > Vaudreuil > Hudson; I chose the latter. Once I got to Rigaud and realized the trail was too overgrown I had to do some rush googling for info, but it didn't take long to find that St-Eugène was my best bet. Hope you manage to do either the bike or canoe trip one day.
Good job, on rides like this the wind realllly matters. 90% of the time winds are coming from the west round here so if you get a still day you'll save just an inssaaane amount of watts on a distance like that.
Thank you! You're not wrong, the wind can be a game-changer. Thankfully it backed off after the sun came out.
So when i was supposed to do my ride to Ottawa i was thinking of taking my domane sl6 but after watching the video im taking my checkpoint. So i remember when i took my 292 km ride i had a lot of food on me. I mean a lot of food
Btw when I do my trip to Ottawa next year , I'm riding back home by bike
Misstype! I meant "driven from Montreal to Ottawa".
Montréal-quebec next time ?
The 'trail' from Rigaud to the Ontario border is crazy bad. I got off it and opted for the Haut-de-la-Chute road as soon as I could. I don't know why there's no upkeep on it.
So many people do exactly as you did -- try and start the Prescott Russell trail in Rigaud, and then back track -- despite it being clearly indicated not to walk or ride on that old CN track. I think the problem is that it is somehow shown on-line as connecting to PR trail, because the old rail line is there. I'm glad you showed this. Looks like a great route and I want to try it next summer. Do you think it is possible to ride that trail with slick road tires or will it be too slippery?
Yeah, I used Google Maps to plan the route, it shows that the trail is accessible by bike from Rigaud. Clearly it's not, but I didn't figure that out until too late. I've not had any experience riding on gravel with slick road tires, but my feeling is that it'd be possible, the trail is well-maintained and the gravel is pretty tightly packed. Thicker tires / a gravel bike would be an advantage though.
Congratulations! You are ready to join your local randonneuring club. I’m 69 and did two 200km rides this summer for the first time. Thinking of trying to do 300 next year. You didnt mention anything about major climbs. How many feet of climbing did you do over the 200k?
I've never heard of this concept of randonneuring before - I'm going to look deeper into this, thanks! It was a mostly flat ride, 686 metres (2250 feet) climb across the whole 200km. Looking over the route, the biggest climb was about 40 metres across 10km heading west from St-Eugène, not even noticeable. Good luck next year with the 300.
That trail is unfortunately not a bike trail in Quebec (it’s a snowmobile trail). It becomes a bike trail in Ontario.
@3:44 that Quebec accent
Should have uberred to 2:55 as a starting point.
Live near Rigaud, only thing it’s good for is the McDonald’s, they have a “ski” hill that’s horrible, never go there
Ha! Actually I must say I had a really good breakfast at Chez 4's, but I'm certainly not in a hurry to pass through Rigaud again. I'm still sour about the overgrown trail.
Best ski hill to learn how to ski. Perhaps the ownership soured the experience over the years.
With Quebec’s developing country infrastructure, your bike stood no chance of getting you comfortably to your destination.
A fat bike would have done the job
Ahaha, a few years ago I crossed into NY and over to Vermont with a friend before heading back up to spend the night at Venise-en-Québec. The difference in road quality from one side of the border to the other was astonishing.