When people go to visit Mont Tremblant they generally visit the resort and not the actual town. Tucked a few kilometres away from the big Intrawest resort, which is Whistler’s french cousin, the town of Mont Tremblant is filled with charm. As soon as we arrived we discovered the bike shop/sandwich bar/cafe located next door to the Resto-Pub on the busiest corner in town. Every second car carried bikes and the rental fleet outside the bike shop was well stocked.
We joined the Club de Velo Mont Tremblant on their Wednesday night group ride in order to explore the trails. The club has grown to over 90 members this year and holds successful Wednesday night group rides with 20-30 riders coming out each week. The ladies only rides on Mondays were originally held once a month but demand has increased and they have made it a weekly ride as well. The club is thrilled with the success that it has seen over the past couple of years and have a solid plan in place to continue to succeed over the next 5-10 years. Velo Mont Tremblant also recently switched their insurance model and are now insuring the club through the city. This means they can keep more of the membership money for the club, enabling them to hire a part-time event organizer.
Their biggest challenge is working with the city to get funding to continue building and promoting their trails. They want to provide more beginner friendly trails for residents to help grow their club, support local businesses and provide a better quality of place for the full time residents. They are hoping to become as popular as cross country skiing. For permanent residents of Mont Tremblant, access to XC ski trails, beaches and other recreation sites is included in their property taxes. For example, the city pays a flat fee per resident to the ski club who then uses that money to fund maintenance and programs. If you are not a permanent resident you have to pay annual fees to gain access to these sites. It’s an interesting model that we have not encountered anywhere else that could potentially provide consistent funding to the bike club for trail development.
Located only a couple of hours from Montreal and Ottawa, it is close enough to visit as a day trip but you’ll want to stay at least a few days. The existing trail network is close to 50kms in length and weaves between golf courses in the area. The terrain is fantastic and it would be amazing to visit in the fall when the maples are changing colours. For tourists, the trails are a value added service in an already busy tourist town. They showcase a side of Mont Tremblant that you don’t see by going to the resort.
Our heartfelt thanks goes out to Valerie Goyette from the Club de Velo Mont Tremblant for all her work in organizing the visit, getting us a place to stay and arranging meals at some of the best restaurants we’ve been to in a while. A special thanks to the owners at Hotel Mont Tremblant for providing the accommodation during our stay. They were very accommodating and friendly and the food was always great. Merci beaucoup!