August 08, 2018 (Lac Delage, Quebec) – Just one valley east from Valcartier lies the small town of Lac Delage, which rings a lake of the same name. And while they may favour skis and rifles in Valcartier, it’s all about the fat tires at E47 Lac Delage – the “E” being short for Empire.

This relatively new 21km trail network was promised as a “recovery day” from yesterday’s long stage at Mont Sainte-Anne. Owing to a huge downpour the night before and rain that fell steadily for the first hour of the stage, there wasn’t a whole lot of recovery on the mud-soaked trails, but it was a whole lot of fun just the same.

Québec is synonymous with two things: maple syrup and poutine. For that past 10 years I’ve been a more exposed “Quebecker” and can better appreciate some of the nuances of these two iconic foods. I make my own syrup and have pretty high standards when it comes to the fries, gravy and cheese curds involved in a good poutine. Simon, one of the true Quebeckers in the race (not an Anglo-transplant like myself), provided some background on the creation of this most perfect of after-ride-snacks.

The story goes that cheese curds – which can only be properly made in Québec, in case you were wondering – were a bit of an accident of a cheesemaker who decided to see if he could sell them rather than garbage them. Then, another happy accident occurred in Drummondville, when someone (no detail on whom) inadvertently dropped some cheese curds onto his plate of fries and gravy. He tasted it, liked it, and a culinary legend was born.

Both the syrup, in the form of maple fudge and poutine made an appearance at today’s stage, along with a lot of other surprises, such as a Dorito-throwing King Kong, the fog-shrouded wreckage of an old plane and yes, even vodka shots at the second aid station. As I’ve learned, sometimes it’s these random, unexpected things that can become all the motivation you need to get through the next climb or to help you push to the finish.

Until today, I had never been a big fan of riding in the wet, but this has more to do with my disdain for cleaning my bike afterwards than the trail conditions themselves. Today, however, I forgot about the dreaded bike cleaning at the end and really enjoyed the riding. Each stage of the QSE has a timed climb and timed descent and classifications for both.

The designated segments for both of these at E47 were incredible – the descent down Kamasutrail was a superb combination of technical features and flow and included a narrow pass through a rock canyon, barely wide enough for 800mm bars. The climb, La montée de lait, was also varied, with switchbacks, small bridges and some rock problems, all made more challenging by the water and mud.

At only 20km in length, this was one of the shorter stages, and the final 3km circled Lac Delage itself, on a combination of paved and gravel roads and bike path. I was expecting to struggle today, given the length of yesterday’s stage, but I felt strong all day and having poutine waiting at the finish line was a fitting reward for this “Quebecker’s” efforts.