TheBigLake

Good afternoon, Our last day today, home tomorrow. Rode around 200 today I think. Left the Universel, dipped between 85 and a couple greens to get down to the rail yard at 35. Put the boot to it, landed at the Roche Blanc intersection where one of our crew noticed some shredded bogeys. Return ticket for him. Two of us snagged a great lunch and some fuel at Hiboux, ran into Mikerider and his crew headed for St Pam. Ran 5 to 55 to 35, set the cruise control and didn’t stop until the railyard. A lot of clubs aren’t open Monday and Tuesday. Same with many local restaurants in town RDL. Typical chains open as usual. The restaurant here is all revamped, looks great. Exact same breakfast menu as always. Dinner menu options aren’t plentiful, but the food is much better than it ever was. Spoke with the spa attendant tonight, she said this place was full all of December and the first half of January. Feels really empty to us, but they’re glad to see it slow for a moment. Worth the drive for some great trail time here. Some snow pack can be a little light in spots but typical RDL experience prevails!

Sorry for the double post here, but just saw this on FB which tells you where that rough section of 35 is. And by rough, it’s brutal.

Jasmin is Tourville. We were going to go that way until we found out that baby is closed on Tuesdays as well. We will take a long cut and end up at Hiboux tomorrow for lunch. Their FB page says they’re open seven days a week now.

Good evening, We landed back about 4PM as a run to the dealer was needed for one of our crew. New Klim gear courtesy of some cash spent at Jean Morneau in RDL. Always great folks. Ran through Cabano down to Temiscouata this morning. 85 was aces. 563 has some whippets but is quite nice otherwise. Clicking once in a while but again, no issues. You could see the snowpack decreasing slightly in there. Hooked up with 35 headed toward Sully, there’s a spot of probably 4-5 miles of ungroomed material halfway between Sully and the 563/35 intersection. It’s very rough. 1.4-2’ wumps with the occasional rogue wave thrown in. The SmartShox are a complete game changer. That XRS ate it up at 60+ kmh without breaking a sweat. The sled just doesn’t move. You see one coming you think is going to hurt, and it just glides over? Anyway, got gas at the Irving on the way down to the village of Pohenegamook. That guy keeps a great store. Had lunch at Auberge de Frontieres. They were just finishing up staking the lake when we finished our lunch. There are some slushy spots for sure, and the staked route is further west on the lake than last year. Good crossing. Made it up to the cross overlook. 526 was great, orange trail 40 is stellar, 546 to 85 to the hotel. Nice day. Highly recommend. Headed for Jasmin tomorrow.

Hey folks, Boots on the ground in RDL. Got checked in and all parked, took a 50 mile burn to stretch the legs this afternoon. Snow cover is low-ish, but extremely enjoyable. You’ll click the skis a few times getting out of town, but once past the Adventurers you’re pretty well set. Ran down 85, up 544 to 44 back to 85. Tomorrow we will run down through Cabano and over to Pohenegamook. The Universel is a ghost town. There’s nobody here. Now’s the time to make the run if you can. Saw mikerider a few moments ago, I think he’s had the whole place to himself…the hotel and the trails! On another side, two of us are running the new CKX Mission helmets now. Both of us came out of Oxygens after hearing rave reviews from others we know. This helmet is all that! It’s not as quiet as the Oxygen, but it’s so much lighter, no fogging issues at all and I can turn my head without turning my body while it’s on! New to me this year is a 2023 Renegade XRS 900R with SmartShox. Another game changer. Came off a 2021 XRS 900T with QAS that is still a fantastic ride. I’m pretty well sold after our short run, but we will put some saddle time in tomorrow and see how things pan out.

Hey all, Four of us inbound for the Universel tomorrow dark thirty AM. Thanks for starting this thread! Very helpful.

Great choice, Mike! Nice to see you up and running on here, my first sign on since March! Hoping the snow folks up above decide to bless RDL with some before the end of the year. We try to hit the Universel on Dec 26 every year, but the last two didn't work out for us. They've changed the Boston Boat show dates from Feb to Jan this year, so the first part of Jan is pooched for us. If it isn't there, to Forestville we go!

Get it in now while you can! Riding is exceptional, really. 85 to Temiscouata yesterday was a great burn. Over to Sully for lunch, that burger was worth the wait. More traffic than I’ve ever seen out here but good stuff all around. Didn’t hit a bad trail yet. It’s that time of year and unless another storm hits, the in-town material will fade quickly. I lost the turbo on my new Expedition SE Turbo R (blew the cooling line) so my ‘21 XRS 900T has been seeing some use (fantastic sled). Thinking this may be the last ride in QC for us this year. Back to St Sabine today to load up/head home. Signing off ‘til December. You all stay well!

Evening, Rolled into the Universel tonight. Parked in St Sabine and rode up. The conditions are getting thin in a few spots where you have to run roads before you hit St Pamphille. Once on the outbound side, plenty of base and excellent riding. You can tell the days are getting longer. Any spot the sun can cast a decent swath of light, you’ll find a dip in the trail. 35 was a little lumpy but still great cruising and smiles all around from my wife and two other couples with us. Sunny, warm and ideal spring riding. 526 got plowed, but good base. Some nasty rises close together, something to watch out for and it’s not for long before you’re back on track. BUT, 40 is flat and perfect after being plowed for a while this year. Finest seven miles around and it’s crazy wide right now, and 544 was stellar from that point to 85. Headed down to Sully tomorrow for lunch. Back to the trucks Sunday. Hearing big storm next week?

Boat show season has ended for us! Looking forward to loading up for another ride this week. Inbound to RDL Friday evening for two nights. Dropping in St Pamphille Friday AM. Only a 1.5hr drive from home to there, and it cuts off a bunch of mileage that my wife or the other couples would prefer not to run. 287mi from home to RDL I believe. So 140-180mi days of fantastic riding in our future. My wife’s first ride of the season…just received a promotion so she’s been busy, but what a great time for her to kick it off either way. Two couples joining us. Heading up the typical Universel/L’Estaminet experience, one couple has been up with us a few times, for the other it’ll be an introduction to the epitome of fine trail riding. Hoping you all are well - Jack, I was hoping to connect with you and Sandi again. Great meeting you both a while back.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jack and Sandi on Thursday night! Super people. 35 seemed to be late or they had some blowdowns on Thursday, but they’d completed a huge task and it was open for business. Hammer down. Tourville at Jasmin is always a winner. Gas 2.25/L. Great lunch. Moving averages were high that day! Fortunate to be headed back with a stellar crew on Thursday right out of home base…I’ll be seeing RDL on Saturday afternoon. Excellent group on here, I feel fortunate to have met a few of you along the way and it hasn’t disappointed. Safe riding to all!

There’s gas just east of Pohenegamook village a couple miles..:it’s not the Irving halfway up the lake but a different one. I’m attaching a screenshot so you can see. Nice clean store, too. The lake is no good to run right now. Lots of yellow, and no stakes of course. At the bottom of the lake across the bridge to the west is a small Auberge that serves lunch. Closed Wednesdays and Thursdays I think. The micro-brasserie in Pohenegamook is closed on Tuesdays I know that. The Pohenegamook relay (Quonset hut) was closed on Tuesday. Club Exploreurs was closed Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

Did a little recon for you guys today. Headed down 5 to St Bruno, but went out through the culverts down to 5 first. We stopped for fuel in Bruno to top off, we didn’t know where our destination was going to be. As a side note, the 900 Turbo R Expedition is brutal on fuel! I don’t care, it’s a blast to run…buddies XTerrain RE 900R isn’t any better. Averaged 10.9 for the day. Continuing west, you’ll run into 8 or so miles of plowed road, one of which goes through an active logging op. The base is good on the plowed parts. Ended up at Hiboux for lunch. Roche Blanc was open as well. Went down to 35 to figure out what the deal is with 35 and it showing up gray on the app. It’s had one pass or so I think with the groomer since the big snow, but it’s great running either way with some loose on top. Once you hit groomed, it’s the highway we know it to be. Explorers was closed, Adventurers was closed. It’s nice to see the doors opening up around here, but maybe 15 sleds seen all day on the trails. Three trailers in the lot right now. Tourville tomorrow. Home Friday. http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2023_01/680635D1-3EFC-49ED-BF44-20E9AA52588A.thumb.jpeg.6c28fc654a19f3284e68b5ada798071f.jpeg http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2023_01/894F09B1-5A1E-48DD-B374-94E312D9589F.thumb.jpeg.3ced7a6d1348d8b7b4cbc08d682f16d3.jpeg http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2023_01/25B8C51D-DC0F-48E8-AA7B-A0FD59B04C01.thumb.jpeg.9b31957a55bbb53f59b61634474c2f1d.jpeg

Just adding a few things in: Most of downtown is closed early in the week, usually Sun-Tues. We went to La Cage for dinner last night, it worked well. Tonight, we went to Symposium and it was stellar. If you hit Symposium or L’Estaminet you’re bound for excellence. The taxi service in town is good (we drive our rig but we’ve used the taxi before). Breakfast this morning was the same it’s always been. We aren’t picky folks but the difference between the hotel and these places are night and day and so easy to get to. We get up, grab breakfast, ride, return for nordic spa time, find dinner…rinse and repeat.

A gentleman’s ride today, nothing crazy for miles but man we hit it on the nose. Rolled out at 8:30 headed toward Temiscouata. I ran point all day and was the second sled in the trail until 544E, then I was the first all the way to Cabano. Stopped to make a small adjustment…I lost the air shock on my new Expedition SE 900TR in Valin two weeks ago, had to take the springs to the moon to get back to the Pelchat, so had to stop and dial the springs back a little. Snagged 563 to 35, first sleds all the way to within ten miles of the Pohenegamook quonset hut. It was closed today, so ran to the Irving then over to Auberge Villa des Frontieres for lunch. Had a great meal. Up to the cross then 35 to 526. Local 40 is plowed! Assuming 544 is as well…I think revct said something about that. Anyway, from 40 north, 526 is fine. It’s worth the drive up. You can tell some clubs have only made one pass through, but first tracks today involved 3-5” of fresh snow and mostly flat trails. The fields have some drifting and the snow off the sides of the trails is much deeper than it looks. So I’d recommend you do a little recon before you venture out to be sure your lunch stop is available. Some restaurants in town RDL are closed early in the week. The restaurant at the Universel is still hit or miss.

Hi Jack, We just rolled in. The place is pretty empty but I’m sure it’ll fill up before the weekend. Where did you guys make it today? - Mark

Four of us northbound for the Universel tomorrow morning. Riding Tues-Thurs, out Friday. I usually make my reservations online but decided to call last Friday to see how conditions were. The Universel is great about telling you like it is rather than sugar coating what they have (or don't have). She said we were going to be fine and everything on the app is lighting up green with groomers running everywhere. If any of you haven't been, L'Estaminet downtown is a fantastic restaurant. Great food, massive beer and wine selection, excellent service...we go every night we are there. mikerider took our recommendation the last time I saw him in RDL, he knows!

Excellent two days out of the Pelchat. We are southbound this morning for home, but a nice run to break in a couple new machines. Day 1 was to Forestville for lunch at the Danube, which is great as usual. Fueled up and back to the Pelchat, short run. Little reroute headed toward Forestville but nothing crazy. Yesterday saw us headed to La Chapelle via the 420 but didn’t run it all the way up. We didn’t know what our plans were as the snow was coming down and we got a late start. Took a left and ran to 93. All quick and smooth running…The Turbo R Expedition SE’s have some serious legs over the old 1200 XU machines! Got out to 93 and headed up. La Chapelle was cranking busy, so we picked up fuel there and had lunch at KM31. It’s pretty rough the last 15 miles or so running in/out of there. Otherwise, stellar experience. Issues/incidents and discovery: The new Montana 700i worked fantastic, especially with the built-in inReach for text communication. The air suspension on the two new Expedition SE’s in our crew failed. One compressor runs but dumped all the air out 105mi away from Pelchat yesterday, which really sucked and I feel like the tin man right now. The other one keeps cycling up and down on its own. 105mi on a tank of fuel in the Expedition. 15.1 miles on the fuel light before it runs out, but very loose snow and lots of spinning headed up the hill yesterday. Did much better coming down. Great to get a ride in before the new year! Safe travels.

Got a report from the Universel RDL today. Not enough snow to ride in/out of the hotel. I'm assuming once you get into the treeline a few miles (as always) it'll get better. A few clubhouses still showing closed as well. Trying to avoid driving to Les Escoumins just because we only have a couple days to burn. Hoping La Malbaie comes through and we can save some time on the road.

Have you heard anything about RDL, Mike? We have two days to burn this week and want to get somewhere and throw a few hundred on.

Good morning folks, hoping you’ve all recovered well from the Christmas festivities! We’ve been chomping pretty hard to get on the sleds this year, so it looks like we are going to chance it shortly. Headed for RDL tomorrow as we have a time constraint for returning Friday. According to the app, they’ve run the groomers and a few trails are open, but wondering if anyone has any “boots on the ground” reports? We know Club Les Aventuriers is closed right now until they can find someone to run the bar/restaurant but the grooming side of it is operational as usual. A few other clubs in the vicinity haven’t opened yet, so we will take some gas and pack a lunch. I’d like to get north of the river where the snow depth is but it’s not in the cards for this trip. New Expedition SE Turbo R to break in, should be fun if the snow is tolerable.

L’Estaminet is in town. Fantastic spot, excellent food and the drink selection is very impressive. Service is spot on. We don’t do dinner anywhere else. The Universel restaurants work but it takes way too long for mediocre meals and breakfast there drags on. We usually just hit McD’s down the road for breakfast.

Can’t believe we are making a run for RDL in a week. Northbound to the Universel on the 8th. It’s been a great go-to for our crew and as far as we are concerned, the Universel sets the bar this side of the St Lawrence. Walgreens offers a documented rapid test that conforms to the new regulations, which is better than obtaining a PCR for us as that requires four hours of round-trip driving. One hour is much more tolerable. It’s slightly ridiculous still but easier and we can justify it this time. The hotel is open, restaurant is running and the garages are available. The spa is reserved off in blocks of time now (to control the number of people), so you get a block of four hours to come and go as you please. Haven’t called L’Estaminet for dinner reservations yet but that’s coming. Its been since March of 2020 and we are ready for it. Should any QR’s be roaming around, let us know.