On a reasonably successful trial run

The short version, I biked to Marieville and back today.

The long version is that I wanted to find out exactly where the Route des Champs begins in Marieville. In addition, I need to get used to riding Leonardo for long distances as well to sort out the various new bits and pieces I have. A trial run in other words.

My estimate was that Marieville was about 40 km from my place in Montréal. This proved a bit of an underestimate. The total distance was 98.08 km, including a few meanders. Average speed was 21.9 km/h. The maximum speed was 41.9 km/h coming home with the wind at my back over the ice breaking bridge. Incidently, the posted speed limit on said bridge is 30 km/h!

As I was riding down beside the Seaway to the St-Lambert locks, I was thinking how much fun it would be if there was a ship in the Seaway, especially if it was in the lock. Lo and behold, there was one just coming out.
She was the BBC Elbe, a multipurpose tweendecker of some 13,380 metric tons deadweight. I had no idea what those big conical cylinders she was carrying are. The only thing I can observe is that they can't be particularly heavy as she was riding fairly high.

I left Chambly on highway 112. As luck would have it, I found the route to the exact start of the Route des Champs right off. You turn off the 112 at this gas station, a.k.a. Le Chemin de Chambly.
Then proceed East until you arrive here in Marieville.
You then make a hard right. Ride about a kilometer or so and you will see a bike path on your left.
Coming back from Marieville, I stopped to watch a surprising number of madmen surf and kayak on the Richelieu river just below a dam. Both surfers and kayakers were trying to stay on the same "wave" of the rapids with varying degrees of success.

It was a gorgeous day, sunny but not too hot, combined with a fair breeze. I think it is not too surprising that there were many people out on their bikes today. A very good day's ride, especially as I don't feel particularly tired or stiff after having done nearly 100 k.

I will probably regret those words tomorrow.