Quebec Day 16

Start: Saint Louis / Quebec City
End: Trois Rivieres
Mileage/cumulative: 78.02 /  662.68
Elevation Ascended/cumulative: 1,552’ /  24,774’
Weather: Start – Rain 54 degrees / Finish – Cloudy 55 degrees
Flat tires (entire group) day/cumulative: 2 / 6

It took until Day 16 but our streak of dry days finally came to an end. When planning for this trip we expected to ride in rain, on average, every three days. Fifteen days without donning all of our rain gear was more than we could have asked for. 

Bev said that this was a “car wash” day. First, you get soaking wet. This stage lasted for about 2.5 hours. Then the water stops and you go through the blowers to dry off. In our case, this was a headwind that lasted another 2.5 hours. All that was missing was the soap, which would have helped wash all of the dirt and grime off of our bodies and our bikes. 

It was still a fun ride, in spite of the conditions. We paralleled the St. Lawrence River for most of the day and even though the rain and wind hampered the sightseeing and photo opportunities, the scenery was nice and the roads were generally good.

We arrived in Trois Rivieres, the second permanent settlement in New France, where we’ll get another rest day (Day 17) and rain is forecast for the entire day. We‘ll need the day off just to dry out indoors and clean our bikes. Hopefully the rain disappears before we have to get on our bikes for Day 18.