#CycleTour2021 Day 8: Opposite day

 While Day 7 started with an easy 20-km ride and ended with numerous challenging hills, today started with 20 kilometres of hills and ended with an easy downhill run from Waterloo to Granby. From the very first instance of planning for this tour, years ago, I knew this day would be challenging. The Route Verte here passes along the local bike route known as “La motagnarde,” which should give you some idea of the kind of relief we were facing. In particular, the Chemin de la diligence is an old coach road that cuts straight across the terrain like a Roman road, with no consideration whatsoever for making things easier for future cyclists. 

Last night, we slept quite well for almost 11 hours. And still, if legs had eyes, mine would be looking at me with an expression that conveyed, “you really want to do this again?” We had a few sprinkles in the night, the first precipitation we have seen on this trip, but the morning was bight and warm and showed no signs of becoming overcast, as the forecast had been predicting for days. We were on the road by 9:40 and the path from the Lac Stuckley campground up to the Route Verte was a truly sadistic way to start the day. The RV through the parc was no better, and I actually had to push my bike up one particularly diabolical grade. 

Then it was downhill into the town of Eastman, which is is where the real fun started. We embarked on the Chemin de la diligence and soon realized that the next 13 kilometres was going to be a challenging hour. The road features three big climbs and an equal number of thrilling descents. I got Yul over 50 km/h for the first time, but that was too much even for me and I hit the brakes. But ultimately, we got to the top and were all smiles, knowing that our day was about to get a lot easier. 

We rolled into Waterloo just before noon, and I stopped at Au p’tit poulet for some well-deserved fries, which went very well as an appetizer for our lunch. The rest of the day was spent zooming down the truly lovely bike path between Waterloo and Granby, the Estriade. Our digs for the night is the home of Sonia’s recently late parents in Granby. Tomorrow is a rest day, and, since the forecast for Sunday is looking like rain, we may not get home until Monday. My legs just gave me a look of gratitude.