2023 Log Driver’s Waltz and St. Lawrence Bikepacking Triple Crown Recap

Words by Mike Feldman, photos by Mike Roe

O Canada

I’m standing astride my bike at a T-intersection. I’m not lost, it’s just late at night, my stand light is dimly lit, and I’m a bit tuckered out. It’s midnight, and having paused for too long in the cool night air, my legs feel the fatigue and start to cramp. I’ve anticipated this and earlier moved my emergency ration of pickle juice for quick deployment. Four ounces down the hatch, and the cramps are arrested before the howling starts.

Just as I’m getting ready to move, I look back over my shoulder and see a light coming towards me. Another rider. I scoot over more to the side to wait and see who it is, and he rolls up and stops. And he is mad. A navigational device failure has added a 50-kilometre detour to his ride. He turns right, off course, exclaiming he needs to find a place to camp. I turn left, figuring to get another hour of riding.

As I continue on in the darkness, I reflect on how I wound up here on the Log Driver’s Waltz (LDW) bikepacking route and Grand Depart in Canada. The LDW is an 800-kilometre route through Ontario and Quebec, the passion work of Eric Betteridge and Jen Adams. This is the land of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation. Today, I’ve ridden through such scenic landscape, the overall theme of the ride. By all rights, this is their land as no treaty has ever been signed.

This is the second Grand Depart on the newly created St. Lawrence Triple Crown (SLTC), another creation from Eric and Jen. They’ve collaborated with Matthew Kady and Tabi Ferguson from the BT 700 (Grand Depart #1), also in Ontario (but further west), and Mikey Intrabartola, creator of the Adirondack Trail Ride (my home turf and Grand Depart #3). I’m here because of my spouse Jody Dixon, as she provides the structure. Jody had set her sights on the Virginia Triple Crown in 2023 but an unexpected surgery scuttled that plan. During recovery, she found the SLTC.

Back to day one, actually day two because it’s about 1 a.m. as I find a trailhead parking lot to throw down my bivy. By 4 a.m., I’m cold and awake, lying there, waiting. For what? I figure might as well roll up my dew-covered bivy and get a move on to the real day two. Starts out as well as can be expected on a few hours of sleep. Legs feel good, the rest of the body is lagging. I roll into a town park with a water source just as the sun starts to break the horizon. I find a table on the porch and lay out some breakfast. As I chow down, I start looking for a faucet, water pump…nothing. A guy emerges from the back of a truck, so I ask him. Too funny, you slide open the kitchen window and reach in with your bottle to fill up from the sink! Hilarious.

Pretty sweet riding. Nice gravel, rolling hills, some doubletrack, low-volume pavement, and a few bike paths. One bike path had a long and deep flooded stretch, but it wasn’t that bad. Day two, the riding is about the same, maybe a little more technical. I have no idea where I am in a precise sort of way, but my left foot has been bothering me and severe pain is now radiating into my toes. Eventually, I can’t tolerate any forefoot pressure and use my heel to turn the crank. I have to stop. Massaging my foot offers temporary relief, but soon after getting back on the pedals, it comes back with a vengeance. Quebec was the goal; Renfrew becomes the reality. I limp into Renfrew looking for a motel, inn, anyplace I can rest and soak my foot.

Eric and Jen researched the route in detail, and their map with available resources is comprehensive. I should have known better to get a motel not on their map. It’s cheap and convenient, but lacks hot water. The pick “two out of the three” paradox… quality is indeed lacking. The cold foot soak is what I need, although a hot shower would be nice.

Pizza Hand-up

I smell it from the trail, so I venture off and find the source. They won’t sell me a slice, so I leave and am standing in the parking lot, ready to get back on the bike. A woman and her grandson come out with a whole pie and insist I have a slice. Serendipitous trail magic at the pizza place!

I meet so many great folks, like the two young riders who roll up on me heading into Wakefield on road bikes. While I do my best to converse in French, it is to no avail. They switch to English and we ride part way into town. Expect to see them at the grand depart in 2024.

Final Day

I’m crashing in Irene and Jerry’s camper in Wakefield, with tomorrow the final push to the finish. My last day seems to be a series of flashes. Gatineau Provincial Park and a gaggle of camper kids. Navigating the cities of Gatineau and Ottawa. Ride with GPS has a break from reality. My backup is the Gaia app, and the backup to the backup is my venerable eTrex 20, but I do miss the turn by turn directions of the RWGPS. I see Jen and her friends at the Ottawa Experimental Farm somewhere along the bike path, cheering and ringing cowbells. The hills of LDW, many of which you could roll into and some roll over and some required me to shift to two-foot drive. I stop for a beer with a post-ride crew at a singletrack trailhead. It was all such an awesome ride, amazing people.

That’s a wrap. I roll back into Almonte around 1 a.m. looking for the Naismith memorial statue to get a picture and submit it to Jen and Eric. The town is absolutely asleep. As I ride back out to the start where my van is parked, I look around at the buildings, the pavement. Looking up at the stars, with the lights from the street lamps, not even the sky is immune from the development.

Further Reading

Make sure to dig into these related articles for more info...

29

Inspiration

Nine Days on the Northwestern Ontario Rambler

11

Inspiration

Mere Mortals on the BT700

3

Dispatch

My First Bikepacking Trip – Muskoka Backcountry Loop

30

Bikepacking Videos

The James Bay Descent (Video)

Please keep the conversation civil, constructive, and inclusive, or your comment will be removed.