I am looking for advice as to where to stay for approx. 5 weeks in the Quebec Province during June/July to have access to a variety of riding, including group rides. I prefer a medium to smaller city to enhance local interactions and practice my french. Airbnb will likely be used. I was first thinking Quebec City but prefer a smaller city or at least a quieter part of that city.
Thanks.
Roads could be “interesting” in that part of the world… 
The best road in the whole province is probably the IM course (Mont-Tremblant)
I really like the region around Sutton… but i never road my bike down there.
Note: you could get away with no French in Montreal, Eastern township, mont-tremblant… and maybe downtown Quebec city… not much else.
Trois-Rivières?
I have a cycling teammate from there… tremendous cyclist, so must be some decent riding.
I see there is fondo there in August.
I live in Chelsea Quebec - it’s right on the border with Ottawa, Ontario. Chelsea is home to Gatineau parc with world class cross country skiing - hundreds of km of groomed trails and an awesome fatbike network. In the summer, the parc also has a great road circuit that is packed with people training. It’s a rural area with quiet roads and only 15 min from a major city. It’s also a mainly English community, so French isn’t required (I’m an anglophone). I love it here.
Edit: fantastic gravel and mtn biking too!
Sorry, I must not have been clear. I actually prefer an area that is mainly or completely french speaking. But so far, the riding does not sound inspiring…
Baie St-Paul, Charlevoix - very french, beautiful and hilly
Sutton - Lots of interesting road from there, flat and hilly
Mont-Tremblant - Famous for the IM
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Gatineau may be an interesting option
The Gatineau park is pretty amazing. Lots of good climbing.
There is also good riding towards Wakefield and you can ride quite far North
You can pop over to Ottawa.
Lots of races around including a Grand Fondo in the park that time of year.
TTs every Thursday night.
Good gravel trails 40min North.
Gatineau will be quite Francophone but a high tolerance for English.
also in Chelsea, QC. i really like the cycling around here. Bonesbrigade and marcad described thelocal cycling well. The Chelsea area is more anglophone than most places in Quebec. Chelsea itself is about half francophone / half anglo. Eastern townships and the Laurentians (Mt Tremblant area) have very nice riding.
I have heard a lot of good things about the Saguenay area, but have not been there myself. Le Grand tour, an annual bike tour in Quebec, is around Saguenay this year. Aug 3 to 9, so maybe later than you were looking for. About 1800 riders, mix of abilities.
http://www.veloquebecvoyages.com/e/destination-bike-adventure-the-grand-tour
Baie St-Paul, Charlevoix - very french, beautiful and hilly
Sutton - Lots of interesting road from there, flat and hilly
Mont-Tremblant - Famous for the IM
These three right here. I live in Montreal, and will bike in these areas a lot.
Additionally, you can check out Saguenay/Lac St Jean area, but I wouldn’t be able to spend more than a few days in the area.
Given the choice, I would jump around to a few different spots as opposed to staying in just one. All three listed above are within 2-3 hours of each other.
Beauce region might be an option as well? There is the Tour de Beauce which means lots of familiarity with seeing riders on the road as well as if you are looking for a pretty good climb Mount Meganitc, though I can not vouch personally I would assume this area to be mainly French speaking if that is your want. Another area tough again I have not ridden there but I have visited is Gaspe which is very beautiful, lots of hills and very rural so again mainly French speaking. This area is very popular with tourists.
I live in Quebec City.
Very french city.
For cycling, there are nice routes in the area, but as with everywhere else, it is fun to move around and go explore other areas while you are here. So will you have a car while you are here?
Thanks for all the suggestions.
I do not think that I will have a car though. My other half’s family is in upstate NY, we live in AZ. So we are planning to fly to NY and likely they will take me to CA for the time that I will spend there. Hmmm…it would be nice to move around a bit though.
Time to research the areas you guys listed.
Cheers.
take a look at this
I like others can vouch for Gatineau Park for sure. But if you want further east, and more French, there’s fantastic riding in the Magog/Sherbrooke/Orford area (certainly not flat though…). There’s a big Tri in Magog in mid July as well. Not sure about organized group rides, but there’s for sure great riding around there.
On a hybrid or mountain bike you cannot beat the Route Verte in the eastern townships. A fair amount of hard-packed dirt cycling paths so it can be a bit dicey on a road bike.
While it would probably not fill five weeks, the Gaspe Penninsula has some of the most beautiful and challenging riding in the world. Particularly at the far end. Incredible ocean and mountain scenery, a great road with a huge shoulder, and some massive climbs. Very little english spoken out there.
The Petite Train du Nord is another incredible Quebec cycling experience. Runs from St. Jerome (40 miles north of Montreal but there is a bike path from Montreal to St. Jerome) to Mont Laurier - around 200 miles. Also alot of hard packed dirt but I have seen people using road bikes on it. Montreal is an extremely bike-friendly city.
Bottom line is it’s hard to go wrong anywhere up there. Quebec is a cycling paradise - especially if you are willing to ditch the “roadie” mentality and go for more of a touring mode of riding. Enjoy!
I am looking for advice as to where to stay for approx. 5 weeks in the Quebec Province during June/July to have access to a variety of riding, including group rides. I prefer a medium to smaller city to enhance local interactions and practice my french. Airbnb will likely be used. I was first thinking Quebec City but prefer a smaller city or at least a quieter part of that city.
Thanks.
https://www.outsideonline.com/1858076/bike-touring-quebecs-coast
Also the area around Lennoxville up towards North Hatley. The rural roads all around the eastern townships.
I am looking for advice as to where to stay for approx. 5 weeks in the Quebec Province during June/July to have access to a variety of riding, including group rides. I prefer a medium to smaller city to enhance local interactions and practice my french. Airbnb will likely be used. I was first thinking Quebec City but prefer a smaller city or at least a quieter part of that city.
Thanks.
https://www.outsideonline.com/...ouring-quebecs-coast
Also the area around Lennoxville up towards North Hatley. The rural roads all around the eastern townships.
This is a wicked itinerary. Added to my list!
Also Tour of Lac St-Jean… 250km of cycle path around a big lake !
Martin
Cheers
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Consider Rimouski too( I left and came back because I missed it), Nice Coastal Town, low traffic, if you ride by the sea, you can ride good distances on low traffic/ touristy flat roads where bikes are expected or if you go up in the farm roads you see some hills. Nothing like Tremblant or baie St Paul though but still some fun to be had.
I rode in trois rivières a few times(5-10 days of riding here and there) I felt like cars didn’t respect cyclists much( I almost got hit a few times, my wife actually got hit by a car at some point, nothing major, no injuries but damn plus the person drove away…) and it was quite flat, almost no hills. Didn’t like it much to be honest.
I lived in la Malbaie which is a 30min drive from baie St Paul. The whole Charlevoix is actually beautiful but expect major hills. They might be a bit too much and expect serious grades. When you’re off the major roads it’s pretty sweet but when you’re on the more important roads cars are easily doing 60mph+ which tends to get scary. Where I lived, I legitimately got tired of riding there because it was hard to just go and do a calm ride. All I had was either turn left and hit a 10-15% road for 4km or go right and head into high speed traffic. 
Almost didn’t ride when I was there. I might have enjoyed it more in baie St Paul though, they have more side/farm roads. But just for vacations, it’s really a nice place. The mountains and everything. The first year I was there it was fantastic just to drive around and discover. Consider the Ile aux coudres too, it’s a small island and easy to do on bike. It’s like 15-20km bits of hills but there’s a place where they make cider, lots of fun little things to see, food is fine, you get there by boat and it’s free but if you get there on bike. Haha. Hope you have good hearings because the hills around are STEEP there’s even another path that’s only open during the summer with actual switchbacks lol. It sounds fun at first but 18% is not all that fun. Lol
Saguenay lac St-Jean looks beautiful and they have a really nice bike trail that I’ll have to try some day. I did drive by it and it looked fantastic. I heard from friends that Quebec City is pretty nice too. Better than they thought.