The hills have thighs

So, as expected, after my last comment on the flatness of Quebec, I am rapidly proven wrong.

Due to some Truck problems, we headed out of Quebec late in the afternoon and thus rode for a much shorter period. We took the official scenic cycling route out east of the city and it was awesome. It was also on the bottom of a ridge the entire way. This meant that while the road was quite tame for the most part, every turn up to the left was ridiculous. I decided that I should ride up one of the hills. 24%, officially, which makes that a Warren Record for steepness.

The climb was about 400m long and while I think the 24% wasn't constant, the average was probably closer to 20%, there were steep bits. Anyhow, that was cool.

The next day brought more, and those were unavoidable. The 362, which seemed on paper a nicer ride, and seemed even better when we saw a group of 20 or so riders coming off the road, was tough.

It started with a 5km climb at 10% and while this was the largest single sustained climb of the road, there were several pitches of 12+. Most of these weren't signed, but given the short climb of the day before, I can start making some good guesses... Suffice it to say, we successfully climbed some 15% and 18%, including one awesome climb up through a small town.

This road was awesome, but brutally hard. We ended up walking when a climb out of St. Irene hit close to 20%, the sign officially called for 18% for 1km, which is really quite silly.

Anyhow, due to further Truck troubles, we are now in Riviere-du-Loup and should hit Edmundston tomorrow, and the Maritimes.