Imag­ine the glis­ten­ing near­by riv­er, aro­ma of a smol­der­ing fire and the taste of sump­tu­ous cheese paired with a fine wine. Shar­ing sto­ries with new friends reflect­ing on the rum­bling of the water­fall as you round­ed that one bend and the rush of let­ting go of the brakes and catch­ing that lit­tle bit of air. 

Awak­en each of your sens­es and immerse your­self in a land of pris­tine beau­ty on this exquis­ite women’s‑only moun­tain bike adventure.

Pic­ture this: four dis­tinct trail net­works fea­tur­ing world-class sin­gle­track and breath­tak­ing land­scapes all with­in a short dri­ve of a UNESCO world her­itage site, a bustling metrop­o­lis and an inter­na­tion­al air­port. Add excep­tion­al food and hos­pi­tal­i­ty, idyl­lic accom­mo­da­tions and a tan­ta­liz­ing cul­ture respon­si­ble for la joie de vivre and there you have it: the ulti­mate venue for a wom­en’s moun­tain bik­ing getaway.

What’s more, you’ll boost your con­fi­dence and pro­pel your skills to new heights with the help of our unpar­al­leled team of guides and coach­es. And when the time comes to unwind and relax, you’ll have ample oppor­tu­ni­ty to après-bike in style at the lake­side resort, the wilder­ness retreat and the nordic spa we have lined up for you.

Québec City is Euro­pean charm with­out the jet lag or the cost­ly air­fare. Bien­v­enue à la belle province!

Is This Ride For You?

You’re pas­sion­ate about moun­tain bik­ing and main­tain a good lev­el of fit­ness through reg­u­lar car­dio­vas­cu­lar activ­i­ty. When rid­ing in a group, you may not nec­es­sar­i­ly be at the front of the pack, but you can hold your own and keep up on a 2‑hour (or 15km) ride at a reg­u­lar pace. You have strong bike-han­dling skills and feel con­fi­dent on a vari­ety of ter­rain, from undu­lat­ing, smooth and flowy dirt to chunky, rocky and more tech­ni­cal sin­gle­track with the odd low lad­der bridge. You love a good chal­lenge, and you’re open to ses­sion­ing fea­tures that push you ever so slight­ly out of your com­fort zone with the help of expert coach­ing. Most of all, you’re sup­port­ive of oth­ers and love to see the sport grow with oth­er rad women like your­self. The idea of rid­ing new trails in beau­ti­ful set­tings with an incred­i­ble group of women and guides excites the heck out of you!

Itinerary

Day 1. Berms, Belved­eres, and Brew­ery Tour

We’ll pick you up in the morn­ing at Jean-Lesage inter­na­tion­al air­port (YQB) or our rec­om­mend­ed hotel in Old Que­bec. Then we are off to Saint Ray­mond, the sec­ond sec­tor of the Val­lée Bras-du-Nord trail net­work, for more action-packed fun!

Once at the trail­head, you’ll want to check out the local bike shop, Frenette, and pick up some VBN swag to help sup­port the local trails (and look super cool, too). We’ll hit the trails on Sen­tier du Roque­mont and La Mon­tée du Belvédère with all the new­found skills and con­fi­dence we’ve acquired from the past few days, before let­ting go of the brakes on the grin-induc­ing Grand Eggan. We’ll do a lap of the XC loop l’Écho des Julien before wind­ing down on Mon­sieur Roland. We’ll end up at the Roque­mont Brasserie for lunch and a tast­ing tour of the brewery.

Day 2.  Yoga, Wild Rivers, and Won­drous Waterfalls

We’ll wake up this morn­ing to the sound of birds chirp­ing and the sun ris­ing above the moun­tains. The trails in Val­lée Bras-du-Nord are bound to leave you speech­less and dumb­found­ed by their sheer beau­ty. So wild and rugged is the land­scape, you’ll have a hard time believ­ing we’re just an hour away from bustling Que­bec City. Plus, being steps away from the trails in our pri­vate eco-lodge, we’ll be able to take full advan­tage of the day ahead of us.

We’ll dis­cov­er the Neil­son North and South trails which, linked togeth­er, form an undu­lat­ing rib­bon of per­fect­ly carved sin­gle­track along rag­ing rivers, strik­ing water­falls and gran­ite cliffs jut­ting from the for­est floor. Per­haps one of the coolest aspects of these trails is that they were built in part­ner­ship with Pro­jet Jeunesse, a pro­gram that puts shov­els and pulask­is in the hands of at-risk youth and pro­vides them with valu­able skills and mean­ing­ful work through trail build­ing. As we break by the Neil­son riv­er, we’ll gain an under­stand­ing of why this land is so sacred to the Huron-Wen­dat First Nations of the area. A spec­tac­u­lar catered lunch awaits us on the banks of the riv­er where we’ll feast on local and tra­di­tion­al del­i­ca­cies and sit stunned by our mag­i­cal surroundings.

This after­noon, we’ll begin a short ride on the super-fun La Boréale and the mind-blow­ing Légende, which fea­tures a mas­sive slab ride next to a plum­met­ing water­fall that cul­mi­nates with a stun­ning panoram­ic view of the val­ley below. Then it’s onto the clas­sic Chute à Gilles, where we’ll cross the very same water­fall from below, before mak­ing our way back to our idyl­lic lodge. It’s time to cool down in the riv­er, crack open a beer and cheers to an unbe­liev­able day. In the evening, we’ll enjoy a BBQ din­ner togeth­er before crank­ing some clas­sic Québé­cois folk around a bon­fire (where maple whiskey is known to flow gen­er­ous­ly) and talk about the days accomplishments. 

Day 3. Lac Beau­port Ped­al and Paddle

We’ll dri­ve 90-min­utes out to Lac Delage and head to Empire 47 (which sits at the 47th parallel). 

Empire 47 is well-known as the world’s pre­mier fat­bik­ing cen­tre, but rest assured the sum­mer­time sin­gle­track is just as wor­thy of admi­ra­tion as the groomed win­ter loops. Before div­ing into the trails, our guides will go over a few key rid­ing tech­niques and prop­er rid­ing posi­tions as we ses­sion the super fun flow trail and pump track. Once prop­er­ly warmed up and briefed on what to expect, we’ll ride a nice mix of green and blue trails like Flowren­tide, Huron and Belzébrute where berms, flow lines and stun­ning vis­tas await.

Back at the park­ing lot, we’ll clean up, load up bikes and grab a bite at near­by Pas­cal le Boulanger for a won­der­ful selec­tion of char­cu­terie and fresh pas­tries. Once bel­lies are full and thirst quenched, we’ll check in to our trendy hotel & resort for the next two nights, Entourage sur-le-Lac, over­look­ing beau­ti­ful Lac Beau­port. Once set­tled in, join your guides for a scenic pad­dle around the lake on stand-up pad­dle boards, before unwind­ing over din­ner and a well-deserved glass of wine.

Day 4. Mont-Saint-Anne Thrills and Skills

We’ll wel­come a won­der­ful yoga instruc­tor at the lodge to help us breathe, stretch and get our mus­cles warmed up for the day ahead… and what a day it will be. After a hearty break­fast at the resort (be sure to try cre­tons!), we’ll hit the road for the myth­i­cal Mont-Saint-Anne (don’t miss sight of the 83-metre tall Mont­moren­cy Falls on the way!). Mont-Sainte Anne has deep roots in the moun­tain bike rac­ing world dat­ing back 30 years, and it’s where our fear­less leader Marie-Ève cut her teeth before ris­ing as a nation­al down­hill champ! It’s also the per­fect train­ing grounds on which to push and progress our skills as rid­ers, and we’ll take full advan­tage of MSA’s amaz­ing facil­i­ties and breadth of trails.

Our expert guides will offer valu­able advice and point­ers as we go through drills and ses­sion a few inter­me­di­ate-lev­el fea­tures. Then it’s time to apply those fine­ly-tuned skills on bermy, flowy and rocky trails like La Bout­taboutte and La Grisante that are sure to leave you smil­ing from ear to ear. Plus, with Marie-Ève’s gen­tle coach­ing and insight­ful advice, you’ll find your con­fi­dence soar­ing to new heights! We’ll break for a deli­cious, healthy catered lunch at the foot of a mag­i­cal water­fall to soak in the scenery and refu­el on carbs.

In the after­noon, we’ll keep the laughs going with a few mel­low jump lines and high-speed flowy sec­tions on l’Adorila and La Cairn, before clean­ing up to head into Old Que­bec City for din­ner. You’ll walk back in time as you stroll down cob­ble­stone streets, peruse shops, catch some live music and dine at one of our rec­om­mend­ed restau­rants for clas­sic Québé­cois cui­sine or fresh local gas­tronomie. We’ll regroup to head back to Lac Beau­port for a calm­ing soak in the hot tub fol­lowed by a good night’s rest.

Day 5. Slabs, Super G, and Siber­ian Spa

Today, we’ll dri­ve a short dis­tance to the famed Sen­tiers du Moulin where rocky ter­rain and mod­ern-day trail build­ing blend to make for an unfor­get­table des­ti­na­tion. We’ll tour the brand new, state-of-the-art wel­come cen­tre and learn about the fas­ci­nat­ing his­to­ry of the area’s rid­ing scene. The trails here of all lev­els have been built thanks to a ded­i­cat­ed crew and over 10,000 hours of vol­un­teer work. You can’t help but feel the pas­sion, devo­tion and deter­mi­na­tion etched into every berm, bridge and rock garden. 

We’ll start off on the crowd-pleas­ing Raph before hit­ting Quebec’s most pop­u­lar trail, Super G, a roller-coast­er-of-a-trail with tons of cool fea­tures, steep slabs, wood­work and techy lines, most of which have ride arounds and alter­na­tive options. After a round of high-fives, we’ll head to the Tour­bil­lon sec­tor and if we’re lucky, we’ll hitch a ride in pick­up trucks to save us the grunt-of-a-climb to the top (some­thing only our local guides can pull off!). We’ll roll into Slab City, a mas­ter­piece-of-a-trail that flows like one giant piece of Cana­di­an Shield. Despite sev­er­al off-cam­ber sec­tions, you’ll learn to trust how grip­py your tires are on the gran­ite! We’ll then regroup for a deli­cious trail­side lunch made up of baguettes, local cheeses and a boun­ty of pro­duits du ter­roir. Rejoice!

After all the adven­tur­ing from the past few days, it’s time to kick back, relax and get our spa on at the near­by Spa Sibéria. Nes­tled in nature, the Scan­di­na­vian-inspired spa is the per­fect spot to unwind and soothe any ten­sion by alter­nat­ing between hot and cold baths, saunas and relax­ation areas. Feel­ing divine­ly reju­ve­nat­ed, we’ll hop in the van before pack­ing up bikes and bid­ding our farewells. We’re off to the air­port for 4:00pm for those catch­ing a flight, and then back to Old Que­bec for those extend­ing their trip. Quel beau voyage!


The fol­low­ing data rep­re­sents a typ­i­cal itin­er­ary, but adven­ture trav­el can be unpre­dictable and our Guides may need to make last-minute changes to ensure your enjoy­ment. Inclement weath­er, road clo­sures, changes to the itin­er­ary to accom­mo­date requests, and oth­er issues may affect the itin­er­ary. The ride data rep­re­sents an ‘aver­age’ itin­er­ary, and may dif­fer when you actu­al­ly show up to ride. Our guides make every effort to stick to the itin­er­ary as post­ed, but your safe­ty is our #1 priority.

Ride Data: Wilderness and Waterfalls: Québec City — Women’s (Cis, Trans, Non-binary)

Day Hours of rid­ing Dis­tance rid­den Ele­va­tion gained Ele­va­tion lost High­est ele­va­tion
1 2.5 6.22 656.17 296 0
2 4 16.16 1017.06 622 0
3 4 9.32 902.23 300 0
4 5 9.32 984.25 590 0
5 3 7.46 771 365 0
Totals 18.5 HRS

Picture Yourself Here

Book Wilderness and Waterfalls: Québec City — Women’s (Cis, Trans, Non-binary) Now

Dates chosen: Aug. 26, 2024—Aug. 30, 2024
Skill Rating: Blue Square
Fitness Rating: Blue Square
Exit Booking
Skill Levels
Black Diamond

The Black Diamond Rides are  suitable for riders looking for that edge. Maybe it’s the edge of a drop, the edge of a cliff, or singletrack requiring focus and fast reactions developed from extensive experience riding “the edge”. You will find yourself on steep trails of varied surfaces. In the Pacific North West that could be slick roots and loam, in Nepal you will find exposed granite in the Mustang Valley and in Guatemala it maybe narrow stairways through cliffside villages. While airtime is rarely required, the ability to find the backside or clean a tabletop should be comfortable or in a state of progress. Obstacles on Black rides are likely to be outside the range of your bikes ability to cover your goofs with its awesome suspension and grip.

Blue Square

In general, Blue trails are narrower than green trails, encounter unavoidable obstacles such as roots, rocks, and drops that are up to 8-inches tall. You will want to have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of mountain biking including body positions, powerful braking, cornering, riding on varied terrain, steep sections and experience riding trails that requires line choice. Airtime is not mandatory, but you will find yourself on trails with alternate lines giving you the option.

Double Black Diamond

A Double Black ride is for those that already know they are looking for a Double Black. It’s going to be very hard and require advanced bike handling skills. You will find yourself on trails with sections most non-riders would look at and say, “that’s totally nuts!”. You will know how to look at a line and contemplate where it will work and where it won’t. Drops of a couple feet should be comfortable and getting your bike off the ground should feel predictable and fun.

Green Circle

Typically, green Rides are safe for beginners. Green Rides may have both avoidable and unavoidable obstacles. Trails are generally low grade, wide, consistent surface texture and have minimal features. You are likely to come across unavoidable obstacles 2-inches or shorter, which is small enough for mountain bike tires to simply roll over. More challenging than tarmac, but in general, a wonderful Ride for those riders new to mountain biking or looking for a casual experience.

Fitness Levels
Black Diamond

A Black Fitness ride will test you. Aside from needing to be able to manage up to 6 hours on the bike, day after day, including distance up to 50km/30miles and elevation gains up to 1750m/5000feet of climbing, you will be adding extra challenges along the route like periods of hike-a-bike and the extra effort required by the whole body to safely dance with your bike over technical terrain. Generally, riders who are up for a Black Fitness ride, likely spend time on the bike a couple times each week.

Blue Square

Blue should be considered a good deal more effort than our Green Rides.  You should be able to handle 3 to 5 hours in the saddle covering up to 45km/30miles and be able to pull off a big day of 1000m/3000feet of elevation gain. Managing fuel is important as well.  You should have a good understanding how your body responds to multiple days on the bike. We will help with positive coaching, a manageable pace and plenty of trailside snacks.

Double Black Diamond

A Double Black will be for those with the strength and endurance to get to the top of anything they want and understand the term “turning the screw”. Distance could be quite high on some routes and elevation gain numbers could hit 2000m/6000 feet+ in a day. You are likely riding multiple days a week during the dry periods and have a trainer or belong to a gym for the rest of the year.

Green Circle

You should be ready to spend 2-4 hours per day on the bike. Mileage may be up to 30km/20 miles and elevation gain will be under 500m/1500feet. On e-MTB tours, numbers will be higher, however the approximate effort would be considered similar to a standard Green Circle ride. If you get on your bike once a week, you will be just fine. However, when preparing for a Ride, you will benefit from more rides and time in the saddle.