Planning a bike trip across Quebec just got easier

Tashi Farmilo

Vélo Québec, a Montreal-based cycling advocacy group that has promoted two-wheeled travel in the province for nearly six decades, launched a new website earlier this month that pulls together every bike trail, road route, and mountain biking path in Quebec into one place for residents and visitors planning a ride.

Until now, a cyclist wanting to cover several regions would have had to piece together information from a patchwork of regional tourism websites and paper maps. The new platform, lequebecavelo.ca, puts it all in one spot.

The site lets users browse routes by difficulty, duration, and discipline, whether that is a leisurely rail trail, a gravel road, or a technical mountain bike descent. A trip planner lets riders map out a route, break it into daily stages, and find places to sleep, eat, and fix a flat along the way. A separate directory highlights businesses certified under the "Bienvenue cyclistes!" programme, a stamp of approval for hotels, B&Bs, and restaurants that offer things like secure bike storage and basic repair tools.

For riders in the Outaouais, the site maps out the region's many routes, including Gatineau's roughly 350 kilometres of bike paths, which link parks, neighbourhoods, and cross the river into Ottawa. Further afield, the Vélo des Draveurs winds 72 kilometres around lakes, forests, and farmland in the Gatineau Valley, while the Cycl-O-route de la Rivière des Outaouais runs 87 kilometres through the Petite-Nation countryside as part of the Route Verte, the province's flagship long-distance cycling network.

Jean-François Rheault, the chief executive of Vélo Québec, said the platform addresses a long-standing gap, calling it "a unified showcase to highlight all of Quebec's cycling offerings" and adding that it reflects the organization's determination to strengthen the province's standing as a world-class cycling destination.

The numbers suggest that the market is worth cultivating. More than 1.2 million people ride across the province each year, spending $803 million and supporting around 6,400 jobs. Marie-Hélène Hudon, director of business development at the Quebec Tourism Industry Alliance, said Quebec "n'a rien à envier" of other cycling destinations, meaning the province need not look elsewhere with admiration because it already has everything it needs, pointing to its safe trails, river and mountain landscapes, and picturesque villages. "Cycling and mountain biking enthusiasts are always spoiled for choice here," she said.

The project was financed by the Quebec government through its Plan pour une economie verte 2030 and coordinated in part by the Fonds d'action québecois pour le développement durable. Nicolas Girard, the fund's executive director, said the support made it possible to bridge the gap between Vélo Québec's expertise and tourism stakeholders across the province. "By harmonizing regional tourism offerings and giving cyclists the opportunity to create personalized routes, they are promoting slower, more environmentally friendly tourism," he said.

Quebec Tourism Minister Amélie Dionne said the project demonstrates the industry's commitment to developing the sector responsibly. "It is thanks to projects like this that tourism is positioning itself as a lever for action to contribute to the development of our territories and to the vitality of the regions," she said.