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St Raymond to LSJ, March 2 & 3


Fozzy
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Wednesday afternoon Bucky and I leave Ottawa for a two day ride in Quebec as sledding in our area is pretty much done. We leave Ottawa in perfect timing to hit the Montreal traffic. We get fuel for the truck in Bertherville and a quick bite. As we get back on the Hwy, the snow starts and it's coming down hard making for the rest of the drive to St Ray slow. We arrive at the Roquemont around 9 pm, check in and off to the bar for a couple of beers. This is a nice place and no doubt it was booked solid.

Thursday morning we are at breakfast as soon as they open and then we're off. The plan is to take the 23 to LSJ, then to Lamarche as we have a cabin booked at the Mont Vilian

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The 23 is fantastic, loose with the new snow but just a beautiful ride.

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We make it to L'Etape with not a lot of gas to spare. We were hard on the throttle.

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After getting gassed up we make it to Mont Apica for over priced hotdogs and beer. We enjoyed the over priced beers so much we had seconds.

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Getting to Lamarche wasn't as easy as we thought. Leaving our map in the truck doesn't help either. We figured we would see signs for Mont Vilian and would just follow them in. Didn't work out so well, ended up stopping at BRP dealer getting a map, still getting a bit lost and finally getting in there at 7:30 with 420km for the day.

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What a great place. $160 tax in each includes the cabin, four course dinner and breakfast in the morning. Spent the night talking to some locals. Lots of laughs and a good chance for me to brush up on my LSJ French. I grew up in Montreal, went to school in the English system, learned barely any French from school. Learned it all in the streets and when I moved to Ottawa, my work involves working with guys from LSJ. It's amazing how much better I was talking after a few shots lol.

to be cont...

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Friday morning we wake and we're in good shape. No hangover which is surprising. The plan is to take a different route home, head over to the lake, loop over towards Roberval and grab the 355 to the 73. Supposed to be a little longer run back, no problem, good planning since we have a 5 hr drive home 😜.

Coming out of the Mont Vilian the trails were freshly groomed, sleds were running fast but couldn't get top speed out of them as the trails are soft.

First time at the lake.

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We get to Lac Bouchette for lunch. Nice spot right at the lake, can't remember the name but the food was good.

We stop for a break not realizing Lac Bouchette was just down the hill. First time riding this area.

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This is where the trails were whooped out. It didn't look like they have been groomed in awhile. We make it to Lac Edward, last feud up till we are back in St Ray. The plan was to take the 355 to the 73 but at the gas stop the guy says there is a short cut trail, LT3 ( I think that's the trail number ), it doesn't show on our new acquired map. We take it, what a great trail, perfectly groomed, fast with nice sweepers.

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We get back on the 73 which will take us into St Ray, we see a great little Relais with a few sleds stopped and everyone inside. No time to stop as we need to hammer down and get going. Lots of great places to stop and take pics as we ride along these huge cliffs but we need to keep moving. We pull into the parking lot at Roquemont at 7:30, same amount of time riding as Thursday but with more mileage, around 440 km. The one less beer at lunch helps 😆.

Home at 1:30am, up at 6am, out the door for a quick job at 7am. I was tired Saturday and dreamt of my bed all day.

No riding for two weeks, I have spring break with the family, Bucky is in Florida. The plan is to go again at the end of March somewhere, then our season finally at Mont Valin mid to end of April. 

A funny story from Thursday. Out of L'Etape about 20 km we come up to three riders. I am in the lead with Bucky right on my ass. Find safe spots to pass, first rider no problem, then the second gone, come up to the lead rider it's a chick on a Sidewinder. She turns and sees me and starts getting onto it. This chick can ride! I find my opportunity, I get on the throttle hard, my ski is beside her running boards and the boom, my belt blows. Dam!!

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