Trois-Rivieres is a good cycling destination from Montreal if you’re looking to push
your distance and travel outside of the Montreal region. There’s lots to see along the way
as you follow the Saint Lawrence River, and the city itself has a historic area and lively
downtown to explore.
But it’s not entirely a stress free ride, especially if you have a healthy disrespect
for cars. Unlike some other bike trips from Montreal, you’ll be sharing the road with
motorists here. There are side roads you can take to avoid the worst of it, but they add
distance.
Also, despite the name Trois-Rivieres meaning “three rivers”, don’t get your hopes
up, there are actually only two rivers here, the Saint-Maurice and obviously the Saint-Lawrence.
Arguably this is false advertising, but we’ll let it slide since it was named more than
500 years ago.
The simplest route is along the north shore of the Saint-Lawrence River because the south
shore has limited river crossings, especially for bikes. The trip one way is around 150
kilometres, depending on how direct your route is, which we’ll have recommendations on.
We decided to do the trip there in one day to push our personal distance record. The
challenge was fun and the time-frame was doable, but it would have been nice to have a more
casual schedule to take more breaks and better enjoy the scenery.
To leave Montreal we took Notre-Dame Street. This road actually continues, under different
names, all the way to Trois-Rivieres, so if you prefer speed and simplicity over comfort
you could technically just keep going straight from here and arrive in about eight hours.
This part of Montreal is industrial and loud, and it includes this intersection from hell
where we saw a motorist jump the curb to get to Tim Hortons.
This isn’t the best scenery on the trip, but the bike infrastructure is much better
than you’d expect for an industrial area. While you could just follow Notre-Dame, if
you want comfortable cycling there are sections still in Montreal where you have to veer off
to a parallel road or a path. This doesn’t add much time if you check the map beforehand
to know when to expect them.
Leaving Montreal there’s a big choice: continue straight through a suburban environment that’s
not great for cyclists, or follow the Route Verte on a detour through l’Assomption.
The second route is much more enjoyable except for one unpleasant highway crossing, but unfortunately
it adds 10km to the trip. Choose your own adventure.
After these two routes meet up there’s a long stretch of cycling along the Saint Lawrence.
This is really the scenery we were waiting for, with great views of the river framed
by fields, forests, and quaint houses. We found a charming gazebo rest stop by the river
in Saint-Sulpice, where we had a nice conversation in French and learned about another good rest
stop in Lanoraie.
Technically through this stretch you’re riding on the shoulder of Quebec Highway 138,
but it’s not nearly as bad as it sounds. Traffic here is pretty light, due to a newer
highway nearby, and drivers here are used to sharing the road with cyclists.
Once you hit Berthierville the route goes more inland. Here we have a strong recommendation:
do not continue straight on Highway 138 as it passes over Highway 40. The traffic got
much heavier and the cars came too close for comfort, seeming almost resentful of us being
there. One was a motorized tricycle that honked just as it passed very close to us at full
speed, showing how jealous they were of our nice non-motorized non-tricycles.
Fortunately you can avoid this by turning off to the Route Verte just after Berthierville.
We did this on the way back and it was 100% worth it, despite the added 10km. Instead
of cars zooming past you on a highway, you get to see old country roads and farmers’
fields. You’ll meet back up with the main road to pass through Louiseville but soon
after there’s another turn off and you’re back to some very pleasant pastoral scenery.
We did eventually get back on Highway 138 for the final stretch, which is even here
still basically an extension of Montreal’s Notre-Dame Street and it’s even called that
again in Trois-Rivieres. It wasn’t that bad when we were there but we might have gotten
lucky.
When we got into Trois-Rivieres we were exhausted. For proper recovery, we made sure to get a
really large pizza. The pizza place was kind enough to include enough toppings on the pizza
to make it practically a lasagna, which we appreciated.
At 154 km, this day was our longest bike ride yet, and it’ll probably stay our longest
ride for a while. It was fun to push ourselves but focusing so much on distance does also
take something away from the experience. If you want to split the trip up, Berthierville
is a good half-way point. On the way back we stopped there and got a hotel because of
an unexpected amount of rain.
The next day we explored Trois-Rivieres, which is the fifth largest urban area in Quebec.
It’s not a superstar of tourism like Montreal, Quebec City, or Mont-Tremblant, but it’s
much more than just a random small town you run across on a cycling trip. We found plenty
to do and see in our day there, and we could have easily spent a few more days.
Founded in 1634, it’s the second oldest city in Quebec and it has a pretty respectable
old town. There’s also a really lively stretch of bars and restaurants downtown, plus a modest
waterfront where we finally fulfilled our bucket list goal of seeing a mobile musical
act pulled by a train.
We really enjoyed the sunset views of the Saint Lawrence River from the amphitheatre.
In a normal year, meaning not the summer of 2020, there would be interesting events going
on. This city actually has both the Beer and Poutine Festival of Trois-Rivieres and the
International Festival of Poetry, which might literally be something for everyone.
Despite some better route choices, the ride home was much less pleasant than the ride
there. We knew there was a possibility of rain but we weren’t expecting or prepared
for it lasting most of the day. The temperature wasn’t too cold, between 10 and 15 degrees,
but when you add hours and hours of rain without any water resistant clothing, it just left
us shivering and unable to keep going. We ended up getting a hotel, the Berthierville
Days Inn, which actually had a discount for cyclists and a COVID-safe lunchbox-style continental
breakfast with local ingredients, so that’s our recommendation for anyone looking to split
this trip into two sections.
All in all, we can recommend this route, but with reservations. If you’re hoping for
a care-free ride you should stick to the parts of the Route Verte that are completely separated
from traffic, which we cover in other videos. But if you’re looking to get out of Montreal
to see a mix of small towns and countryside, while getting some really nice views of the
Saint-Lawrence, and you’re maybe willing to be reminded of how much some people still
hate cyclists, then turn on your Strava and get out there, kid!