Yesterday was our full day off in Montreal and we had to make the most of it. The kids planned a trip to Old Montreal while I was in charge of bike maintenance. While the girls had to figure out how to catch the train I was trying to figure out how to add some lower gearing to our bikes so that we'd have more options on the hills. For any of you who have not seen our bikes fully loaded - i'ts quite a spectacle.
It was difficult to pull the girls away from "television" and for Levi to remove himself from a house full of toys, they did get away and do some shopping/touring of my favourite city. Of course Levi's highlight was taking the train from the north side of the island to the south.
I, on the other hand, set out for what turned into just another 60km day of cycling. I had good information setting out: MEC Location, Gear ratios, crank lengths, local bike shop, etc. etc. I packed up Lana's rear wheel with a wobble and our broken tent pole. I was happily riding my way south and quickly falling in love with a city dense with bike lanes, cyclists and diversity of every description. Late in the game I began to wonder what was taking me so long to get to the "local" bike shop. I went in circles many times in a grungy part of Montreal's red light disctrict looking for Cycle St Laurent before giving up and heading for my next marked waypoint at MEC.
It wasn't until reaching MEC to get a new set of peddles, rear cassette and tent pole that I was made aware that "Cycle St. Laurent" is in St. Laurant (a part of Montreal), that the bike shop was only 3km away from the MEC. To make a long story short, I arrived at the bike shop about 30 minutes before closing. The guys at Cycle St-Laurent were awesome and addresses everything with efficiency and expertise. Merci!
Because I was staying home I had been put in charge of diner and I panicked to rush home and find my way to the local IGA. An hour or two ;) later we were serving up a wonderful meal on our good friends' back patio. Ah....
postscript: What I learned riding around Montreal for a day is that a red light in Montreal is treated more like a yellow and that they are not actually there at all to a cyclist. Stop signs are treated much the same way.
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6 comments:
Looks like a fantastic trip thus far...have you stayed off the major roads, or do you have to hit the big highways around Montreal. That is scary enough in a car!
Hey, maybe when you get back I can give you that hill climbing lesson I promised you.
I'm off to Philly a month from today.
Keep having such a great trip, eh.
Cheers,
don
Hey Don - the trails here are amazing. We do have to be on secondary highways but only with very nice shoulders thus far.
I can promise you that any lesson you have in mind for hill climbing will be mastered by the end of this trip. I had to change my cassette yesterday to an 11 - 34 in preperation of hills to come.
Montreal is no doubt Canada's greatest City. As much as I love the prairies, I could live there as you can feel at home on the west Island even as a red-necked lifetime Alberta conservative with British Roots. I can relate to the beauty you can marvel at biking around the place. It just has so much cultural flavour, and as hard as we try - it's missing in our two large Alberta Cities. (Although Winnipeg gives it a bit of a run - but without the unique commuter rail system.) I loved my time there.
We are proud of you. We have a hard enough time loading the truck up to go camping at Meeting Creek which we are doing tomorrow morning, and then off to the beach at Buffalo Lake, let alone the adventure you are currently on. Say hello to Lana, Levi, and girls and be safe.
S I S and family
Wow! You guys are doing great.
We'll be in Montreal visiting Yolande's family Aug 6-20, but we won't be burning as many calories as you. That won't keep us away from the smoked meat sandwiches, though.
Good luck on the rest of the trip.
- ken, yolande, melissa, and andrea
Team MacG!
Maaaybe this is the sweetest blog ever. Glad to hear you're all doing well (at least appear as such) and are having fun. We're missing you all back home and will be taking bets on how long it takes for one of you to break down and hope a bus the rest of the way to Gaspe ;)
Jk we know you guys are troopers/insane and will make it with high spirits.
All your OOMPHERS are rooting for ya!
Hey Mac gang,
WOW! Want an adventure. Thanks for the updates / photos and letting us in on the adventure across Quebec. Are the girls finding it beneficial to be in a French speaking environment? Enjoy the remainder of your adventure and bike safe!!
Look forward to hearing all the details when you return.
The Szarka gang
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