Destination Showcase: Ride Québec City Part 2 - Jacques Cartier
JACQUES CARTIER, QC
Sticks and Stones
Video: Liam Mullany
Photography & Words: Andy Vathis
Riders: From Rocky Mountain Vaea Verbeeck and Alex Volokhov, with Pinkbike Presenter Christina Chappetta
Presented by Quebec City Mountain Bike
SENTIERS DU MOULIN
Just 30 minutes north of Québec City lies what many describe as the best West Coast trails in the East. Sentiers du Moulin is the hottest spot for proper enduro riding around Québec City and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. It's a pedal access trail network that spans 60kms with unique terrain that has riders lining up for the climb trails and grinning the entire way down. Legendary tracks include the LB Cycle trails and Super G on the main side, but now the cherry on top is the newly developed Maelström sector.
The builders basically had a blank canvas right across the street from the welcome center. While planning the trails, they found huge rock slabs and rolls hidden under the mossy ground. Naturally, the rocks became an essential part of the trails' characteristics, adding to the already challenging technical terrain. This is part of what separates them from the rest, and the formula is working very well for them so far.
Previously:
Destination Showcase: Ride Quebec City Part 1 - Portneuf
Whether it's the local pastry shop or the SDM Welcome Center, you'll have to try hard to miss out on a pre ride fuel up.
There are plenty of delicious baked goods to check out before planning the day on the new terrace. Today's mission is the new Maelstrom sector beginning with the trail Wolverine.
Dropping into Wolverine, the crew was immediately greeted by granite slabs as they traverse down to the main descents.
Crossing more slabs and connecting wooden bridges is the norm on the upper end of this track. The trail work is second to none. Every meter has been thought out and kept looking as natural as possible bar a few rock placements.
The track breaks through the forest mid-way down for a view of the Saint Laurent and surrounding greenery.
The rocks are very porous, allowing for enough traction at almost any speed, even in the wet. These unique features are why people come here to ride week in, week out.
View of Lac Beauport from lower Wolverine.
Slab City was next on the list.
I hope you like granite.
Vaea leading the charge down the longest continuous rock slab you'll ever see.
Christina bouncing through the rock garden on the new Granitosaur trail.
Finishing the day off on some jumps will put a smile on anyone's face. Vaea cruising through the air on Gold City, a jump line of 43 jumps.
Alex finding flow after a day in the tech.
The welcome center has some of the best coffee around and good brews on tap. It's the perfect spot to start and end the day.
Pass through the E47 welcome center for tickets, snacks, and post-ride beverages on their terrace out back.
EMPIRE 47
Empire 47 or E47 had a rather unconventional start. In 2014, the idea to build a trail network around Lac-Delage was kickstarted by a triathlon coach wanting to host an 'XTERRA' competition in the region. After the approval to build cross-triathlon trails, the volunteers quickly realized the jump in popularity from cyclists, winter and summer, and a non-profit organization was put in place just a few years later to run the show. E47 was and still is the most visited fat biking center in the world and because of this success, they made a plan to structure themselves with progressive mountain bike trails that were very well received. This means that there is virtually every level of trail needed here for one to hone in their abilities. It's truly a place for everyone, and the numbers don't lie. Nearly 100k visitors rode there just this summer. It does help that the welcome center is 20 minutes out from Québec City, making it an ideal accessible destination all year round.
For mountain bike tourism, the food is as essential as the riding.
More rocks and natural drops are scattered in the E47 woods, and a great slab in the "Descente du coude" trail
Catch berms are built out of necessity on the more natural tracks. They try to keep those as untouched as possible.
The crew was lucky enough to sample a new trail being built. It's got rock, wooden features, and lots of natural sections.
Big doubles after steep rock rolls? Alex was enjoying that.
And the views are not bad.
Warming up by the fire to end the day.
The days felt short while checking out these two pedal access spots, each with its own unique personality. Their goals are similar, however. Build it, build it well, and they will climb for it. We continued our journey towards the city, leaving behind switchback climbs for good old-fashioned lift access trails. Old Québec is next, along with a legendary mountain you may have heard of and another that has the potential to be Québec City's next best-kept secret.
Presented by Quebec City Mountain Bike.
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Hope you can make it out to MSA, excellent riding and no lineup on the lifts. amazing.
Happy to see that you guys had a blast in the East! It is also a reminder to us east-coasters that we have some pretty nice spot to ride and that we take for granted!
Sadly, this the system that we have here in the whole province and free trails are getting rarer. Having been a trailbuilder for a few seasons, I'm very proud of the trails we're building around here, just not this expensive "luxury trail centre" culture. My 0,02$!
It's no secret that the money we're paying in access fees are needed and used to maintain the cozy lodges and hire people to check tickets. Trail building and maintenance money mainly comes from government grants.
I'd gladly donate a season pass value (150-200$) for multiple memberships if it would give access to most trail centres like people do in BC (Worca, Sorca, Nsmba, etc), but I can't afford paying 200$ per trail centre (5 around Quebec city itself = 1000$+!) or 20-25$/ride!
Those who say it's only 20$ have the means and that's good for them, but not everyone can afford to go ride when they feel like it for 20-25$, sometimes just for an hour, and there are not many places left to ride for free or for cheaper, like it used to be a few years ago. This is just one more thing to add to the list of things that will push the least financially comfortable away from enjoying the outdoors/bike trails around here. That's too bad as most other provinces provide the money and/or land to organisms and we can't figure this out here!
I always write it « Tabarnak! ».
More satisfying for some reason...