3 training route ideas

Strangely enough, despite the mild weather, summer or early fall are sometimes more difficult times to carry out well-structured training sessions.

Repeating the same segment uphill until your legs explode seems rather unappealing when you also have the option of a Ride that takes you to the far reaches of the surrounding countryside, with the sun and wind caressing your skin. Especially if your friends are going for a ride at the same time.

Except that there is a way to combine pleasure and discipline during our long rides . Better yet, some terrains are perfect for race simulation. And since the training effect and the desire to excel are never greater than when competing against others on the same terrain, these sessions can be extremely beneficial.

Here are three suggestions for challenges to complete as a group in the Quebec City area. And if you're on your own, there are Strava segments for these three routes. You can then compete against others, and yourself, virtually.

Simulated race around Lake Saint-Joseph

With just over 26 km of rolling roads, often free of traffic, the tour around Lake Saint-Joseph is one of the most enjoyable routes for playing cat and mouse, wearing down your opponents and attacking repeatedly, jumping on their wheels and countering until you break away and make your own escape.

You can get there by whichever route you choose. Ideally, place this segment in the middle of a long Ride and extend the return trip. Make it a high-intensity segment in the middle of a long, easy session. Or add a return trip via Pont-Rouge, then simulate a solo or team time trial in Petit-Capsa or Rang des Mines. From the city, you will have covered more than 120 kilometers, with a third of that in intense effort.

Which direction is the most difficult around the lake? That's the subject of endless debate. Rather than deciding, we'd like to suggest the safest option, and the one that offers the most interesting route for this kind of effort: clockwise. Starting from Duchesnay, you'll be almost alone in the world, and you'll have plenty of time to get going again before you see the first mandatory stop. 

Here, the goal is simple: to shake off your current companions. Who will be able to set a grueling pace, causing the others to fall behind? Who will take advantage of a series of steep hills to break away? 

Be careful, though, and make your first mandatory stop your finish line. This isn't a closed circuit. Stay alert and respect other road users. It's better to get home in one piece—and without giving a motorist who has every right to be on the road the fright of their life—than to win a KOM or the Wednesday night world championships. 

KOM Saint-Achillée 

25 km from the city center, with little traffic once you pass the quarry and go-kart track, the climb to Saint-Achillée is a timeless classic. You can turn it into a race: the first to set a wheel on the dirt when the paved road ends wins the honor. 

Here, you climb, but that's not all. There are flat sections and a few descents. So you have to stand up on the pedals and give it your all after reaching the top of the climbs. It starts off tough. Don't give it your all right from the start, but don't let yourself fall behind either: the puncheurs could hurt you in the early stages and force you to use up too much of your precious energy. But if you're the Tom Dumoulin type, capable of slowly pulling back on the cable to catch up with the attackers, with patience and consistency, let them go without losing sight of them, then crush their hopes after the small wooden bridge, while they agonize on the final climb, which is not very steep but very long.

When riding solo, you have a choice. Either you compete against the hundreds of cyclists who have gone before you, pressing the LAP button on your Garmin and trying to beat the KOM target time, or you take advantage of the opportunity to do intervals on the climb. 15-30s to the organic farm, 30-30s to the sand pit, etc. It's not perfect, the terrain doesn't always cooperate and flattens out at the wrong moment, but it's still less boring than repeating the same hill over and over again. And above all, it's much better than not doing any intensity training at all.

A breakaway or a time trial to the north

From Grande-Ligne, in Lac-Delage, to the entrance of Jacques-Cartier National Park, more than 35 km of time trial await you, with a few short breaks at the rare mandatory stops, roughly halfway through the course. 

Heading north, you'll encounter a long climb after the gas station and McDonald's. But you'll also enjoy a beautiful moment of near solitude, since the road, once the only route to Laurentian Park, has been "replaced" by the highway that runs alongside it. What remains is a beautiful stretch of asphalt and, above all, a very wide shoulder that allows you to train alone or in a group when you want to simulate a breakaway. 

The section on the Grande-Ligne is a little less welcoming and busier, but if you're alone, it's great for a time trial and allows you to do two different efforts in a row.

On the way back, a stop at Pascal Le Boulanger for coffee and pastries is a must. Or to fill up your bidons, as there is a jug of water available inside.