Ever higher, ever further
Every spring, Hugo Germain organizes the Hors Catégorie training camp in Charlevoix, in which the Vélo Cartel team Vélo Cartel . A regular customer at our training center and an inspiring cyclist, he recounts how he developed a taste for eating up miles and a little bit of misery.
Hugo Germain discovered a passion for cycling later in life.
A father of young children, busy with his career in the family hotel business that bears his surname, he admits that he had let himself go. "My cycling career began in 2012," he says. "I was invited by Dubeau Capital to participate in the Grand défi Pierre Lavoie. Each team had to recruit a sedentary person, and that year, it was me. It worked out well. My oldest daughter was five years old. I weighed myself and was one pound away from reaching 200. I wasn't fat, but I wasn't comfortable in my own skin either. I accepted the challenge."
He began training indoors twice a week, lost 20 pounds, took part in the Grand Défi, and never stopped cycling after that. He participated for eight or nine years in a row, eventually playing as a support rider and actively raising funds.
"Then, for my 40th birthday, I wanted to do something really special. Someone told me about the Haute Route, and I clicked on it." Both a race and a participatory event, the Haute Route is an opportunity to tackle the world's most beautiful mountain passes in an "all-inclusive" environment. Seven days, with a daily program of over 100 kilometers and at least 2,500 meters of elevation gain. "I went to do the Pyrenees one on my own, because my friend, who was supposed to join me on this beautiful trip, couldn't make it in the end. I arrived as a cycle tourist, but by the end I was racing."
Climbing Mount Everest
Fast forward to 2020. The pandemic threw a wrench in Hugo's plans, who was looking forward to taking on a new challenge by competing in the Rasputitsa spring classic that year. "Bruno [Langlois] had told me about it. I thought it was crazy, but at the same time, it sounded cool."
Under house arrest, like the rest of us, he decided to attempt Everesting (climbing the equivalent of the world's highest mountain) by climbing Gilmour Hill... 127 times. "I started at 5 a.m. and finished at 1 a.m. the next day," he says. A personal challenge, a lever to raise funds for Horizon Charlevoix (the charity he is associated with), and a carrot to motivate himself to train: all of this weighed in the balance and pushed him to climb for 20 hours. "That, and the fear of disappointing those who had come to cheer me on or who had contributed to my fundraising campaign." Friends came to climb with him a few times—sometimes several times: some did 15, 20, 40, and even 50 climbs! Others were there at the very end. It was an emotional moment.
Get into trouble
The reader will have understood by now that Hugo Germain likes slightly crazy plans. Just to stir things up a bit.
The latest extraordinary challenge to add to his list of achievements: Grinduro, an event that defies categorization, but could be described as a kind of gravel bike rally for lovers of the unknown and adventure. "We rode on every surface imaginable: dirt, asphalt, four-wheel drive tracks, singletrack, sand... At one point, we just decided to have fun on this incredible course, but it was so hot that day that we pulled the plug before the finish line." Like the vast majority of participants, who also chose to stop before their engines exploded from overheating.
Take it upon oneself
As is often the case in life, there are connections between our leisure activities and our professional activities. This is especially true when the former become more important and occupy a prominent place in our minds.
"Over the years, biking has become my passion, and through it, I have gradually discovered a way to connect with our customers," explains the Vice President of Operations for Germain Hotels.
"For example," he continues, "there's the Hors Catégorie bike camp that we organize every year. It was originally an idea from my friend Simon Clément, who I was chatting with and who told me that with our hotel in Charlevoix, we had the perfect setup for an activity in a paradise setting, in the most beautiful region of Quebec, with great food, terrain, and enthusiasts... Over the years, not only have we developed friendships, but we've also gotten people interested in coming to cycle in our region and talking about it... So eventually, it's good for business."
"Our concierges at Le Germain Charlevoix often ask me to help plan cycling trips in the region. I enjoy contacting our guests to find out what they're interested in, then sharing my favorite hidden gems and must-see spots with them. After that, they become ambassadors themselves."
In short, cycling is not a direct way for him to do business. But sharing his knowledge and passing on his passion ultimately generates different types of returns, whether it's building human connections, promoting the region, or building customer loyalty.
But more than that, he says, cycling is an outlet. "It allows me to disconnect, to think about other things, or it's a place inside me that allows me to push my ideas further and find solutions to the vagaries of working in the hotel industry."
There is an enthusiasm that is a pleasure to hear in all of Hugo's stories. A desire that seems to renew itself in different forms from year to year, but which perfectly captures the feeling that cycling enthusiasts know so well. It is a passion that permeates our daily lives and our travel plans, and which fuels a desire to push ourselves beyond our limits that we didn't always know we had. And once you've tasted it, there's no turning back.
