NSHM

Barrage Gouin has a nicely groomed trail maintained by them from TQ83 .. it just dosen't show on the map 

Low of $2.15 at Lunic to a high of $2.89 at Repos.  Most at $2.25-$2.65.

St Apollinaire   Sunday    1500 feet from road.   Got pretty far.
 
 

If this is all from this year we’re in trouble 

This is beyond a GPS issue. 
 
can not fix stupid

Hey
Just wanted to let everyone know about conditions.
We rode out of the Delta with no problems.
Trails were thin in spots at first or Whooped Out in others.
Everyday things got better, little snow, little time, little more grooming.
I know a lot of riders were pissed that it is not 100%..... well the relays told us there was no snow a week ago.....
If you go into the ride thinking it is Dec and Not Jan.... you'll be happy.
It'll be better in 2 weeks!
Later
GutZ

Help me understand why the groomer was not moved?  It appears to be parked next to the gas tank.  Isn't that where we pull up to get gas?  Horrible place to park the groomer and then take the keys.
 
Just wondering!

It’s a complete swing and a miss by BRP.

Big thanks to all the unsung hero's !

NSHM:     I can change the ratio but they immediately change back to the old ration of 50/50.  I  can't get the new ratio to hold, like thee should be one more step I don't know about.   (4.5 gauge)..   There is one switch on the handlebar that controls both warmers at the same time, (a tiny button that I can't find half the time with gloves and gaunlets .  But I am getting better at it:  turn em up when my hands get cold and down when my thumb starts burning.
 
Trails nice again, late lunch at RDL club house and out for another loop.
Big gang of us at hotel day room for an extended happy hour. Great time.
mike
 

Obviously, these drivers didn't take the pledge?

What's in the water up there?

Obviously, these drivers didn't take the pledge?

http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_01/image.jpeg.95bbb86559bd9a03d26e10dac48dd202.jpeg

Apparently this situation is getting deep. The ZEC here in question Well it’s more the people who use it in winter. They are charged winter fees by the ZEC and they want those fees abolished or they will block the trails. 
 
Hearing the TQ 23 could be cut Feb 1  (st ray to l’Etape) that is the deadline given by users of the ZEC for the board of the ZEC to act on abolishing fees. 
tha ville and club are trying to avoid the economic disaster closing TQ23 would cause.
 
stay tuned
 

Made the St. Pamphile loop today. Trails totally mint, every inch. Lunch at Hiboux and saw Big Lake there. A few new reroutes this year but all good. Jak and Jack arrived today. Great happy hour with Paddy O and wife joining us. New sled should break 1,000 miles tomorrow.
Blueblood.    After 50,000 miles on 900 Aces I needed a change. Wanted something sporty so got the 129 600R,  The Polaris 650 is by far the finest sled I have ever driven, but 30% of the time I ride solo and I trust the SkiDoo. The Polaris may be dependable but I am just not sure yet.
mike
 

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!

Obviously, these drivers didn't take the pledge?

Obviously, these drivers didn't take the pledge?

Obviously, these drivers didn't take the pledge?

Obviously, these drivers didn't take the pledge?

Obviously, these drivers didn't take the pledge?

here is some music footage from this last weekend ride...

Finally, here's the report of our first ride of the season did yesterday January 20, 2024

We could have ridden last Sunday but it was an after a foot snow storm day with mild weather and we knew well that the trail conditions would not hold and be hard for us 2up so we waited until yesterday and were not disappointed . The cold of the last few days has been very good for the trails and the ice... it's about time!
We were able to start directly from home in St-Thomas near Joliette, the trails are open and there is more than 2 feets of snow and it increases over 3 feets in some spots on the route that we did. Here in the fields near St-Norbert. The sky was very gray with a little snow at times which makes the pics less attractive but it still allows you to see what it looked like.

We strategically chose to do the wooded northern section to start the ride and to return via the fields to the south which remain nice for longer under the effect of traffic. Here north of St-Gabriel de Brandon.

And here at #23/#63 junction in St-Damien

5 km north of the Renard Bleu outfitter, the trail turns 90 and takes a new route to connect to #350 this year due to logging in this area.

there are a couple of kms to go on a plowed road but it ride very well

Then we are on the road path which is snowy for a long section it ride really great, I really appreciated this new path groomed wide

After the #350 west junction there is 1km where the trail passes either next to the plowed road or a new path in the woods that the club is at finishing but it is very short

then we return to the usual #350 path which was really very nice and fast

We quickly passed in front of the Koubec

And we went up #345 towards the north which was as nice and fast

And we continued on #23 towards the east which was just as beautiful, just the last 2km which goes up the mountain before reaching intersection #350 which seemed to still be on the first dozer pass...
This #23/#350 junction(Gaston's trail towards Lac Blanc) was our expected meeting point with our friend Snowcruiser who was leaving from Trois-Rivières airport to meet us with the plan to eat together at Lac Blanc. It's a bit ambitious to arrange meetings in the middle of the woods like that... especially on the first season's ride. We had 140km to go and he had around 70km to get there but we had agree that we would wait a little and at worse we would crossed each other while riding, but we were lucky with our estimates that were spot on. I was stopped for less than a minute when he showed up! After a bit of chatting we got back in the saddle to try to get at Lac Blanc before noon to beat a bit the lunch crowd.
The #350 going back down to Lac Blanc was still very beautiful, just a little worn in its big hills and very panoramic in terms of snow, it's impressive


We arrived at the Lac Blanc Auberge at 11:40 a.m. with 165km done from the morning. We obviously weren't the only ones who had this idea!

Given the size of the crowd we wondered how things would go for the meal inside but I have to take my hat off to their extremely quick and efficient organization which was ready. We didn't wait a second to be seated in the dining room and we had our meals in front of us less than 15 minutes later! I was impressed.
After this good meal break and a refueling we left under the snow a little after 1:00 p.m. towards the southeast on trail #350. The view from the lake when we left!

This trail was starting to get pretty beaten up by traffic but was not that bad on our side of the trail heading south. We tested our suspensions up to the #63 junction where we took a break. I was able to chat a little with Jonathan Doucet from Randonnée Motoneige au Québec on Facebook, whom I had recognized and briefly meet as I left Lac Blanc auberge

The trail condition came back nice on the #63 and we were able to ride good trail all the way back home. Snowcruiser left us to return to his trailer via St-Léon/St-Sévère and we continued on #63 and #3 for the return


The Bayonne River is already solid and the trail passes over it without problem near Berthier

We got back home early around 3:45 p.m. with 272 km for the ride, very happy with this season's opener which had been a long time coming.
The trail network is pretty much open and connected in Lanaudiere and Mauricie minus some rivers that are not ready yet. The cold we just had in the last days helped alot for this and I hope that mother nature will continue to cooperate in the next days to complete the puzzle.
Have a  great riding season!
Alain