Bicycle Tour of the Island of Montreal

      Montreal's Tour de l'île de Montréal is held each year since 1985. Held a couple weekends ago, this was my first experience in a "mega-ride" of thousands of bicyclists. There were differing routes, from 28 to 100 kilometers; I finished the 50 kilometer ride (31 miles). New York's well-known 40-mile mega-ride is called the Five Boro Bike Tour.

     I quickly learned to be wary of certain riders in front of me. There were the wobblers (they're slow and not sure if they want to go left or right), there were family units that rode four abreast and wouldn't let anyone between them, there were infants in trailers (oh jeeze!), there were 2-seater bikes with a little kid on the back but the worse ones were the little 1-wheeled kiddy bikes being towed by a big adult bike, and then there were the sleek-looking racers (whoosh, they punched through like a jet), but the major offenders were the folks who without any warning just STOPPED on the "main course" without hauling themselves up on the 4-inch sidewalk curb to get safely out of the riptide of riders. And this scenery of various kinds of riders changed every half minute or so. On 90-degree corners at intersections, I'd ride wide outside, away from the wobblers, away from the family units, but sometimes getting lucky by following a pacer who rode just like me! and then on a straight-away, find a hole somewhere in anticipation of positioning myself to ride wide at the next intersection. It was like being a jockey on a racehorse, looking for an opportunity to put those slow unpredictable riders behind me. But wait! This wasn't suppose to be a race, it's suppose to be a TOUR, a fun ride! On the sidelines, residents were partying with drinks and costumes and musical instruments, cheering us on, "go, go, go!" like we were in a race. Hey folks, this isn't a race, it's a TOUR!

     Some reports say 25,000 bicyclists rode in the Tour of Montreal Island this year. I don't know if there's an accurate number because kids could ride for free but there were ALOT of bicyclists ranging in age from 80 something to several months old infants in trailers.

 

     There were a tremendous number of parents with their kids. The Friday evening ride and Sunday's official tour ride were both very much family affairs - unlike Kansas City's mega-ride which I had planned to join last summer. At that ride, I noticed most riders were between ages 20 and 50 years and many began the ride with an alcoholic beverage. I chickened-out of that one at the last minute. Montreal's mega-ride is definitely pro-family, pro-seniors, and non-alcoholic.

 
    My almost four hours of riding the tour seemed like one hour. If time goes by fast when you're having fun, I guess this was fun. And although my bicycle has an electric motor (pedal-assist), the power setting was at the lowest end so my speed averaged about nine mph. Maybe it wasn't technically a race, but from the get-go I found myself hurrying to get to the END of this maddening tour. There was some interesting scenery; I remember two worrisome scenes which involved EMS personnel, ambulances and a couple of downed riders receiving first-aid. And my butt remembers Montreal's many potholes, uneven surfaces and bad pothole repairs.

     Here's a few more photos my sister and I managed to take when we weren't racing, oops, I mean touring . . .

     And lots of entertainers too . . . 

      Would I do it again? I admit it was dangerously fun flying through city streets for four hours straight and not having to stop for traffic lights, traffic signs and pedestrians. I didn't even stop to take a snack or bathroom break; too intent on wanting to see that "50 KM fini" cardboard poster sign. Yeah, I probably will do another mega-ride. Isn't it classic though how our triumphs cause those formerly huge annoyances to become minor ones?

Inexpensive and excellent lodging downtown Montreal

    

     It was time to shake up my rural comfort zone and visit The Big City. I was to meet my sister and her hubby for a week of adventure in Montreal, similar in population numbers to Houston, Texas, but mostly French-speaking and exceptionally bikeable. Chef Renauld, mon tres bon ami et expert diesel, suggested I blow the carbon out of La Lair and take the international highway in overdrive, which I did.

     My sis, her hubby and I all love to bicycle as sight-seers. They had easily talked me into joining them for Montreal's annual 50K cycling event called "The Tour de I'lle de Montreal" and another shorter evening ride. These mega-rides are completely car-free. There's something exhilarating about flying through city streets without having to stop for signs, traffic signals, cars and buses, plus pedestrians must stay off to the sides. But it takes a ton of volunteers and police and EMS personnel to ensure safety for tens of thousands of folks. More about the mega-rides in a forthcoming post.

     Montreal is expensive and non-resident charges and sales taxes are high. When I learned my over-size van would be charged twice the $15 daily parking lot fee, I decided to park at an open-air longterm parking lot near the Montreal-Trudeau Airport; only $6 per day plus free shuttle service to the airport. Once at the airport, I'd catch the 747 bus to downtown for only $10 CD and then reverse the process a week later. I'd save myself about $140 CD. 

     My sis and her hubby stayed at a Bed & Breakfast near downtown, but being solo, I opted for a hostel within easy biking distance, but 75 percent cheaper than their Bed and Breakfast. I've stayed at hostels throughout my life perhaps a dozen times. Each is unique, so it's hard to generalize about them. Since I'm a member of the Hostelling International organization, I stayed at the locally known Auberge de Jeunesse (Youth Hostel). It's undergoing an exterior face lift right now, but inside, it's a well run hostel.

     
     Many hostels are independent; very few are located in the United States. Some have annual memberships; my senior membership was only $18 and entitles me to discounted prices at HI hostels all over the world. Don't be fooled by the "Youth" in hostels. About one quarter of the folks I've seen at hostels are middle-aged to senior citizens, and we're usually traveling solo. Yes, my sis and her hubby are pampered with more attention and elaborate breakfasts each day at their Bed and Breakfast, but hostels also have their unique charms despite a limited free breakfast and dormitory rooms with bunkbeds.

     The best things about hostels are the kitchen and dining room; you can use the refrigerator, stoves, utensils, pots, pans and make your own lunch and dinner. And it's fun to visit a strange town's grocery store and try their fresh fruits and veggies, including meats. But in my limited experience, a hostel's kitchen is un-organized, somewhat dirty, uses pots and pans that should have been tossed years ago, and there are few procedures or tools for clean-up. The kitchen and dining room at Montreal, however, are exemplary. In the kitchen are three commercial size toasters, hot water pots, several coffee makers, a mircrowave, and a Toast-R-Oven.

     There are two huge refrigerators like this one . . . baskets are provided with labels to keep your food separate from others.

 There are three cooking areas plus work space and plenty of pots, pans, and lids to choose.

  Plenty of cutting boards, plates, cups, dinnerware and glassware . . . .

Three sink areas with spray bottles of detergent and drying racks . . . .

And it gets better; each hosteller gets their own cubicle to store dry goods which must be labeled, too.

     And since hostellers are multi-lingual, pictures pasted on the drawers tell us what's inside the drawers. No need to open each drawer to find a wire egg beater for example. There are also clearly labeled individual buckets for compost, trash, and recyclables. 

     The beauty of this kitchen is that with everything clearly labeled, there are fewer screw-ups by 60 or so hostellers everyday. And with plenty of everything to go around to each hosteller, there's no rude shuffling or elbowing to hurry to the front of any line. There are also coin-operated washers and dryers. It all makes for a more pleasant stay.

     And I've noticed too that in the dining room of approximately 20 small tables and 80 chairs, a bar and stools, free Wi-Fi and several flat televisions on the walls, there's a soothing pleasant hum of conversation and conviviality. There's pleasant music, too; no bassey loud music to damage eardrums or make conversations indecipherable. When it was raining outside, I spent many hours in their pleasant dining room working on this blog with no worries about hogging space. My bedroom with four bunkbeds and a bathroom is clean, but it's solely for sleeping and showering, not for leisure enjoyment.

   In a few more weeks I'll be staying at another Canadian hostel in La Tuque. They've agreed to let me park and sleep in my van and use their facilities during the day for a small fee.