Montreal World Cup race pictures

The winner: Judith Arndt, seconds after crossing the finish line


2nd place Fabiana Luperini giving congrats to the winner

We took our own advice and headed over to Mount Royal to see the 11th women's Montreal World Cup Road Race.

It was excellent!


Speedy corner entering Parc Avenue

Especially if your name was Judith Arndt. She won the 110.66 km race in 3:11.34 (avg speed 34.65 km/h) in a final sprint to the line with 2nd place finisher Fabiana Luperini. Full results here from the UCI and here from cyclingnews.com.

The results were decent for Canadians: one podium, two Canadians on the National Team were in the top ten, and a total of three Canadian "cyclistes" in the top ten.

The Canadians/Les Québecoise:
(Olympic update included below look for JO...)):

• 3 Leigh Hobson - 3rd place - Equipe Nationale Canada (JO roadrace 13th)
  
• 6 Anne Samplonius - Equipe Nationale Canada
• 7 Erinne Willock - Webcor builders (JO roadrace 37th)
  
• 17 Felicia Gomez - Aaron's Professional Cycling Team
  
• 20 Alex Wrubleski - Webcor builders (see photo below) (JO roadrace 50th)
  
• 22 Julie Beveridge - Aaron's Professional Cycling Team
• 33 Sue Schlatter - EMD Sereno Stevens (2nd place on Mount Washington!)
• 41 Johanne Cyr - Equipe Cascades
• 43 Bettina Hold - Equipe Nationale Canada
• 44 Moriah Jo MACGREGOR - Equipe Nationale Canada
• 46 Julie BELLEROSE - equipe Cascades
• 50 Jen STEPHENSON - Ultralink
• 59 Sophie Matte - EMD Sereno Stevens
• 64 Julie Bradley - EMD Sereno Stevens
• 65 Alyssa Mellon - Ultralink
• 66 Catherine Hogan - Specialized Carrefour Multisport Maz
• 70 Tricia K Spooner - EMD Sereno Stevens
• 74 Joanie Caron - Equipe Cascades
• 77 Genevieve Gauthier - Specialized Carrefour Multisport Maz
• 80 Natasha Elliott - EMD Sereno Stevens
• 82 Mathilde Hupin - Specialized Carrefour Multisport Maz
• 83 Sarah Coney - Ultralink
• 86 Allison Lampey - Ultralink
• 87 Veronique Labonté - Equipe Cascades
• 88 Karol-Ann Canuel - Specialized Carrefour Multisport Maz
• 96 Joelle Numainville - ESGL 93 GSD Gestion
• 104 Julia Farell - Ultralink
• 105 Chloe St-Arnaud-Watt - Ultralink
• 110 Alison Testroete - Aaron's Professional Cycling Team
• 117 Susan Palmer-Komar - Advil-Chapstick
• 118 Kirsten Robbins - Advil-Chapstick
• 119 Elisa Gagnon - Advil-Chapstick
• 121 Julie Marceau - Specialized Carrefour Multisport Maz

Congrat's to everyone who came to Montreal to race and especially to those superhumans finished this very physically challenging race. Come back any time!

For historical buffs, the French cycling legend Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli was DNF in position 81. She is 11 months older than CFM! Unlike us, she is ... "la plus titrée de toutes avec 30 médailles aux Jeux Olympiques ou en Coupe du monde cycliste, treize championnats du monde, trois victoires du Tour de France féminin, 38 records du monde, et 800 victoires depuis sa première licence" (french wikipedia).

In weather news, the race started in rain, but stopped about halfway, a very good thing for racers and fans alike.

The UCI's webpage for the race is here, and the real name of the event is la Coupe du Monde de Cyclisme Féminin 2008, somewhere to that gets added Montréal and Route (road). In English it is "Montreal Women’s Cycling World Cup."

These women remain in the Montreal area this week for the 7th edition of the Tour du Grand Montréal. This stage race visits Granby, Chateauguay, Mont St-Hillaire, Lachine and Little Italy over the next few days.

Here's some more pics of the action:



Almost at the top of the Camilien Houde climb


Hairpin a couple hundred metres before the finish line



Fast cyclist with non-Montreal tan and nice pink nails



entering avenue du Parc


Sprint up park avenue with one turn to go before finish line


The pack climbs the middle of Camilien Houde hill around the middle of the race


Starting the second hairpin, this group wasn't at the front of the race.
Every possible combo of cool/wet weather cycling clothing on display.


100% used up, and it's still better than a 9-5 job! She's #46


On the steep upper section of Montréal's 1.7 km Mont Royal climb.


Riding through Montréal's Mount Royal park near the top of the climb. The Camilien Houde climb is long and steep - and the city's best climb.


A real in-the-clouds alpine look at the top of our "mountain" today



The rain has stopped, and the riders are a lot happier looking


Quick snack at the feed zone - drink that food!


Focus!


This woman was cheering on all slow uphill riders, and often running faster than the riders.



The race is finished and it is oxygen-replenishment time. Canadian Alex Wrubleski - Webcor builders. The trees behind her are working hard to provide the oxygen she needs.


Cycle Fun Montreal would like to thank all the racers, team members, organizers, team and event sponsors, and the volunteers (and fans!) who together made this a successful and superfantastic event.

A local note: wouldn't it be great if they closed Camilien Houde to car traffic, just once a week, say, on Sunday mornings, so cyclists could enjoy our "world class cycling facility" without cars constantly passing us, especially on the extra-narrow road at the top through the canyon? Especially since our Olympic Velodrome was closed and turned in to a zoo?

Hmmm?

ADSVMQ? They're building Quebec's mountain bike trails

The ADSVMQ is the volunteer mountain bike trail building organization in Quebec. They are building new trails and opening new areas to public mountain bike trails.

Quebec is big. And has a lot of outdoors.

These good men and women are building trails for the rest of us to enjoy. Good work!

Here is their welcome statement:

L’Association pour le Développement des Sentiers de Vélo de Montagne au Québec a été mise sur pied en 2004 par des passionnés de vélo & de plein air.

L’association est un organisme sans but lucratif, qui donne une voix aux centaines de cyclistes du Québec qui emprunte les sentiers de nos forêts et montagnes et aux propriétaires qui veulent contribuer aux développements d’activités récréatives.

Notre force repose sur nos membres qui souhaitent voir un changement des mentalités autant au niveau d’organismes gouvernementaux que de ceux des amateurs de vélo.

Objectifs:

L’association s’est donnée comme mission de défendre et de promouvoir les intérêts de la pratique récréative du vélo de montagne.

Nous souhaitons contribuer à la préservation des sentiers existants et d’obtenir les droits de passage sur certains terrains qui jusqu'à ce moment nous sont défendu de circuler. Nous voulons encourager et faciliter la pratique libre et sécuritaire du vélo de montagne, en mettant l'accent sur le respect de la nature, informer les gens, les aider à garder les sentiers en bon état et nous assurer que les prochains sentiers seront aménagés dans les règles de l’art.

Deux raisons majeures font en sortes que nous pouvons perdre accès à des sentiers, soit par le refus de droits d’accès aux sentiers par les propriétaires terriens ou par le développement urbain.

Pourquoi une telle association?

Depuis quelques années, plusieurs endroits sont devenus interdits à la pratique du vélo de montagne. Le manque d’enseignement et d’information des amateurs est responsable la majeure partie du temps. Le développement urbain et le refus de droits d’accès aux sentiers par les propriétaires terriens sont eux aussi responsable de nombre décroissant d’endroits accessibles aux vélos de montagne.

Le vélo de montagne est un sport magnifique et de nombreuses personnes pratiques ce sport mettant en symbiose l’activité physique et la nature.

L’association croit que notre force réside dans chacun de nous et c’est ensemble, en rassemblant le plus de cycliste possibles, que nous pourrons trouver des solutions efficaces et durables.

Le vélo de montagne a des répercutions positives, autant sur le plan de la santé que sur le plan social. Dans une société ou l’inactivité et la sédentarité est grandissante, il est primordial d’être et de rester actif.

En développent et préservant des sentiers nous favorisons par le fait même la pratique d’activités de plein air, soit le vélo de montagne.

Il est capital de se préoccuper de la question de l'accessibilité et de la conservation de nos sentiers. Ça nous concerne tous !!!

Équipe ADSVMQ.

Interesting new Montreal bike blog

Rouleravelo is an interesting new Montreal bike blog.

Read the informative post on cycling criminals on the Rachel street bike path.

Click here for our pictures and the race results.



The worlds top women cyclists are in Montreal for the

11th Montreal World Cup - CDM

These are the top women cyclists in the world, and you can see them today.

For race coverage and results, go to www.cyclingnews.com

There are additional races during the week for the related Tour de Grand Montreal, which is a stage race with stops in Chateauguay, Mont St-Hilaire, Granby, and Little Italy.

23 teams. 11 laps of Mont Royal. 110 km. In the pouring rain.

...and since it is pouring rain, you are not outside on your bike. So you should go to Mont Royal between noon and three pm today Saturday and cheer, Cheer, and CHEER for these hard working world-class athletes!

Swimming holes

This is actually not off-topic for the Cycle Fun Montreal blog, believe it or not.

We have had several great rides made even better by the simple addition of a swimming hole in the middle or at the end of the ride.

We're thinking Bromont, the Jay Peak ride, Mont Megantic, West Virginia, and other still-secret locations.

A good place to find out about swimming hole locations on the internet is at swimmingholes.org website. We actually contributed their first Google-map-linked swimming hole location, and now they offer this as a feature!


A good summer bike ride creates a bit of sweat, and a great summer ride creates a lot! A swim is a great way to wash it off and refresh yourself.

Splash!

11tth Womens world Cup bicycle road race Saturday noon - Mont Royal

If google brings you to this page, please click here for our pictures of the race.


Yes, it is the 11th women's World Cup road race tomorrow (Saturday) here in the heart of Montreal.

Since the weather forecast is for rain, you won't be out riding, so why not come out and cheer on these hard-working women?

It is very possible that one of these women will be on the gold medal podium, in Beijing at the Olympics. This is your chance to see then in action.

This is one of the top cycling events in Montreal, be there!

Here's a link to a gazoo article.

The Stones and Beer bike tour

Some bike tours are better than other's.

This one is one of the best.

You explore some geopogy and history of Montreal.

You're probably asking "Don't you mean Geology?"

Yes I do. There is also beer, ghosts, and Leonard Cohen.

This bike ride starts at McGill's Redpath museum, a museum filled with natural wonders and delights (an amazing shell collection, mummies, and much more!)

Here's a link to the gazette blurb.

Complete pandemonium

Cyclists are causing complete pandemonium on Montreal street's and sidewalks.

Chaos!

Anarchy!

Death and destruction!

And it's just a few bad-cyclists.

A few very, very bad cyclists.

Mont Royal "ceinture" trail

Le projet de chemin de ceinture du mont Royal


New "Ceinture" (belt) trail planned for Mt Royal park

Mont Royal has a great car road (Camilien Houde), and it has a great horse-buggy road (Olmstead road).

Now it will get a great bike road too, the Gazette reports:

Bike route planned for mountain

City's consultation board wants to hear from public about project

Julia Patrick

Montreal's public consultation board is seeking the public's input about a proposed 10-kilometre bicycle and pedestrian route that would cross part of Mount Royal, pass through the Notre Dame des Neiges cemetery and along part of the Université de Montréal campus.

The plan also calls for a path linking the north and south sides of the mountain.

"The project is designed by planners and landscapers but it's also important to have input from the people who use the park," said Luc Doray of the consultation board. It's seeking opinions on the route, safety issues and such features as lighting.

"Automobile access to the mountain has been given priority over the years, so a project that will give priority to the cyclists and pedestrians is encouraging," said Gabrielle Korn, spokesperson for Les amis de la montagne.

The public consultations will be held June 7 at 2 p.m. at the Outremont borough office, 543 Côte Ste. Catherine Rd., and June 8 at 2 p.m. at the parish hall of the Notre Dame des Neiges Church, 5320 Côte des Neiges Rd. The presentations will be in French but English questions about the project are welcome.

To view the full proposal, visit www.ocpm.qc.ca Go here how and check this out, a very interesting and very positive development for Montreal cycling.

You might want to note note that this is a multi-use trail.

100 kilometres of new Montreal bike path in 2008

100 kilometres of new Montreal bike path in 2008!

Woohoo!

Some of these are new paths on major traffic arteries, like on Cote Ste-Catherine road. Some are connections between existing bike paths. But we are promised 100 new kilometres.

Here's the La Presse article breaking the news with the details of the City's long-announced but with no details bike path expansion.

Pistes cyclables : cent kilomètres de plus cette année

Plus que jamais, Montréal est la capitale du vélo en Amérique : 100 km de pistes cyclables, de bandes cyclables et de chaussées désignées sont sur la planche à dessin des services de la métropole afin d’être réalisés cette année, a appris La Presse.

Éric Clément

Il s’agit d’une opération chirurgicale majeure des artères de la métropole quand on sait que ça a pris 30 ans pour créer les 400 km actuels de voies cyclables de Montréal. À titre de comparaison, la Ville avait aménagé, l’an dernier seulement, 18 nouveaux kilomètres de voies cyclables tandis que 20 km avaient été réparés et 5,5 km réaménagés.

Il faut dire que le conseiller municipal André Lavallée, maire de l’arrondissement de Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie et responsable du Transport collectif et de l’Aménagement urbain à la Ville, veut respecter son engagement de doubler le réseau cyclable en sept ans. Cet engagement a été pris dans la première ébauche de son Plan de transport l’an dernier. L’objectif est d’atteindre 800 km de voies cyclables en 2014.

Ainsi, parmi les pistes qui seront créées cette année, notons un lien important rue Saint-Zotique, entre Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie et Anjou, via Saint-Léonard. Une autre piste sera créée au nord du mont Royal, entre le chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges et l’avenue du Parc, à travers Outremont. Par ailleurs, pour faire en sorte que le lien soit effectif avec Côte-des-Neiges, Lachine, LaSalle et même le fleuve Saint-Laurent, la piste située sur De Maisonneuve sera prolongée vers l’ouest.

En ce qui concerne les bandes cyclables établies à même la chaussée avec une signalisation peinte sur l’asphalte, un aménagement sera réalisé rue Viau, entre le boulevard Rosemont et la rue Notre-Dame Est, un autre rue Hutchison, entre la rue Milton et l’avenue des Pins Ouest et un troisième rue Sainte-Famille, entre la rue Prince-Arthur Ouest et l’avenue des Pins Ouest.

Plusieurs chaussées désignées, soit des rues reconnues comme voies cyclables que les vélos et les autos se partagent, seront aussi créées. Une des plus attendues sera celle qui fera le pourtour de l’île Bizard et qu’on pourra emprunter à partir de la passerelle construite à côté du pont menant à l’île.

Cette voie deviendra un site de randonnée cycliste très apprécié des amateurs, d’autant que la Ville va aussi «boucler la boucle» du tour de l’île dans sa partie ouest, attendue comme Ulysse par Pénélope sur la pointe extrême de l’île de Montréal.

Non seulement des voies cyclables seront créées, mais, à la demande de nombreux férus de la «petite reine», il y aura aussi des connexions et des liens entre les pistes déjà existantes. Ainsi, le tronçon manquant rue Rachel, entre les avenues Des Érables et Émile-Duployé, dans le secteur du parc La Fontaine, réclamé à cor et à cri depuis des années, sera réalisé. De même, la voie cyclable de la rue Saint-Urbain sera achevée au sud de la rue Milton jusqu’au boulevard de Maisonneuve , tout comme la rue Villeneuve, entre la rue Saint-Urbain et le chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine.

Le Plateau-Mont-Royal prévoit aussi prolonger la piste qui emprunte l’intersection Du Parc-Des Pins et longe l’avenue du Parc dans le parc Jeanne-Mance jusqu’à l’avenue du Mont-Royal Ouest pour se raccorder au réseau de l’avenue de l’Esplanade et de la rue Clark . Et des travaux seront aussi bienvenus sur la piste cyclable de la rue Christophe-Colomb entre la rue Saint-Grégoire et la voie du Canadien Pacifique.

Actuellement, des discussions techniques ont lieu à la ville centre sur la planification de cette expansion entre ses services et ceux des arrondissements et également en lien avec le gouvernement du Québec.

Très bientôt, la Ville et la ministre des Transports du Québec, Julie Boulet, annonceront un investissement qui permettra de soutenir l’expansion du réseau cyclable montréalais. Le gouvernement du Québec veut en effet donner... un coup de guidon à sa politique verte et notamment à la croissance de l’activité cycliste en attendant de prendre des initiatives pour décourager l’utilisation des véhicules à moteur.

La Ville de Montréal a, par ailleurs, toujours pour objectif d’implanter un système de vélos en libre service au printemps 2009. Comme en Europe, les usagers pourront, en différents endroits, emprunter un vélo à un coût modique et pour une durée prédéterminée.

Handicapped access ramp - NOT bike parking

Block that ramp!

Thanks to all of the people who don't block handicapped-access ramps with bikes and bike handlebars.

There's a bike parking stand less than ten metres from here.

petit Ste-Martine to Howick ride

Covey Hill's climb at far left. Lyon Mountain on right side.


Last day of vacation... the sun and blue skies arrive!




This excellent rails-to-trail bike path suddenly stops. Can someone please build the rest please?



We're just rolling along through the peaceful countryside

Sometimes an hour is available. Sometimes you just stop the car in between two places and go for a ride. Sometimes this turns out wonderfully.

That's the backstory for sunday's little ride between St-Martine and Howick Quebec.

We parked at the arena in Ste-Martine, and rode west along their excellent flat bike path. (for those who know of our affection for hills, let's mention that some days are hill days, and some days are flatland days.)

When this path ended we took the twisty road to the Howick road (at the abandoned rail bridge), then turned left a couple of times to come back via farm roads to Ste-Martine.

It's a nice 20 km one-hour ride through nice land.

The view when on the bike path is of Covey Hill and Lyon mountain in the distance. Excellent.

This ride could be easily expanded by adding some distance to the south or west. A safety note: remember that some of the older sections of the "numbered highways" do not have paved shoulders. I'm talking here most about the Rt 201, 202, and 138. Stick to the backroads!

From Ste-Martine you can also take a rockdust bike path to Beauharnois, which is the start of the Beauharnois canal bike path and valleyfield. Ste-Martine is the entry point to the chateauguay valley. Try to visit it this summer. It's a great place to ride, particularly starting from Ormstown.

St-Malo Eastern townships ride

This superior-quality ride visits the southeast-corner of Eastern Townships.
(this link gets you the Google map of the ride.)



The ride... from space!


Sid gets a retro road bike.

Southeast of Coaticook (south of Sherbrooke) is one of the "corners" in the geography of the province of Quebec. The geography is also hilly: St-Malo is at 583 metres elevation, they claim to be the highest town in the province.

This ride is a good-weather repeat of a beautiful, but then it ended as a lightning-filled ride last summer.

The ride started with camping at Coaticook gorge, camping price included the cost of touring the gorge park. Supper in Coaticook, then up early and at the parking at St-Herménégilde. We were on the bikes under blue sky and clouds by 8:30 am.

We took the Coaticook road towards East Hereford, then turned north on Bolian (?) which is the very rugged dirt road, our ride of it was excellent, the rain of the previous day had restored smoothness to the road.


Mysterious forest road

This took us over the hills and to the road to St-Malo. We had lunch in the 30 ft high lookout tower at the highest point in the town. The view is very good.


Zooming past St-Venant de Paquette and fresh spring dandelions

Then it was descend through great scenery and good roads to St-Venant de Paquette, and then to East Hereford, and then continue through the scenic river valley as far as the border and Customs where we turned around.

The road to the border is a good scenic addition to the ride.

This is a 22 km descent from St-Malo to the US-Canada border. Very nice.

But every descent requires a uphill grind. Now we were turned around and started heading back to Ste-Herménégilde. This climb lasts 20 km. Sid was loosing motivation, strength, and his lunch. Just kidding about the lunch!


20 km more of climbing? On my first day? Aieee!



The road in background is the big descent that starts off the ride.
It's also the top of the 20 km of climbing that is the ride's finalé.

You might not understand, but this is massive fun.


Owl's Head on left and Sutton's "round top" in middle.



Just riding along... it's a great day to be alive.

Returning to Coaticook area (this time no lightning please)

Last summer's southwest Quebec near Coaticook ride was great in every way, even the nonstop lightning storm at the end of the day was... exciting!

We're doing a repeat on Saturday, and sunshine is forecast, no thunder and lighting. This is a good thing.

Go here to read last year's ride report. It was quite an excellent epic adventure in an amazing place. It's also one of our favorite photo-reports of a ride.

The landscape is very Vermont-like, which makes sense since Coaticook is just across the border from Vermont, and it's excellent "northeast kingdom" area.

This time we're going back with Sid, who joined us for last year's Frelighsburg - Joy Hill -Richford-Montgomery ride, an excellent international ride with amazing views.

Urban destination - Sunday is Museum day

On Sunday many of Montreal's museums are free!

There are even free shuttle buses... but cyclists don't need no shuttle buses! With sunshine and decent temperatures, you can bike from museum to museum.

You don't have to wait for museum day, any day is a good day to take an urban bike adventure to any of the great museums in our historic and cultural city.

Spring's month-long police crackdown on illegal cycling behaviours has begin

Do you run red lights? Ride where there is no bike path? Wear an ipod when you ride?

For the next 30 days police will be enforcing these and other traffic regulations to make a safer city for pedestrians, cyclists, and everyone else.

So think about it before you do something you already know is both illegal and stupid. Maybe stop at a red light, maybe not ride on the sidewalk, maybe not try to run someone down with your bike!

Read about it in the Gazette here. 5 Montreal cyclists died in accidents in the last 17 months. Died is forever.

A couple of bike blogs for a rainy day

The internet is a big place, here are a few of the places I sometimes take a read from, in no particular order:


http://communities.canada.com/MONTREALGAZETTE/blogs/ontwowheels/default.aspx

http://www.velocia.ca/forums/

http://veloptimum.net/nouvelles.html <<--Daily read

http://spacingmontreal.ca/

http://www.chicagobikeblog.com/

Here's two I will check out when I have time

http://midnightridazz.com/

http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/index.htm

One of 17 good reasons to ride your bicycle

We all hate oil companies, except for their effectiveness in delivering life(style)-giving gasoline products to wherever we need them, which they do rather well, but we still hate the price they charge us for the awesome amount of energy stored in each litre of gasoline.

So, our revenge on the oil companies? We ride our bikes and therefore buy less gasoline.


Try it, it works!

Chemin du Roi - B&B network along road to Quebec City

One of the nicest flatland rides in Quebec is to follow the St-Laurence river from Montreal to Quebec city. Plus there's usually a tailwind.

The part of the Route Verte along here here is called the Chemin du Roi, or King's road, and it dates back long before the automobile was invented.

You might already know that it is quite far between Montreal and Quebec city, most cyclists will do it in a multi-day ride, or will visit one section of the route, and spend the day (or weekend, or overnight holiday trip exploring. Nearby mini-trips like this are an innovative holiday option for our new high-cost-gasoline world.

Happily, the local B&B industry is offering cyclists bike-friendly places to stay along this exceptional journey. They even suggest interesting side trips in the several tourist region(s) along the way, such as the lovely La Mauricie. Take it from us, the backroads are usually a lot more interesting!

Here is a Gazette feature on this very subject, get your bike ready, because bicycle tourism has, like spring, arrived in a big way!

A little B&B&B in the Mauricie: bed, breakfast and biking
Six gîtes in the region come up with a way to make cycling tours easy
ROCHELLE LASH, The Gazette

Bicycling and buckwheat pancakes are on this summer's menu of attractions in the Mauricie region, north of Trois Rivières.

Six B&Bs, calling themselves Les Gîtes au pays du sarrasin, which translates as "B&Bs of the buckwheat region," have created Vélo à la carte, in which visitors can bring their bicycles and cycle from inn to inn. Start your visit to the Mauricie region at Maskinongé near Louiseville on the Chemin du Roy (now Route 138), a historic route between Montreal and Quebec City. Here, much of the flat land is devoted to growing buckwheat, a dark flour popular in Quebec recipes in years past for pancakes, muffins and noodles.

Head north past St. Léon Le Grand to the area around St. Ursule and St. Paulin, where cyclists can conquer the rolling terrain with its dairy farms, cattle ranches and cornfields. By the time cyclists arrive at St. Alexis des Monts, they will be huffing and puffing up hills through the landscape of forests, rivers and lakes for which the Mauricie is known.

"The most direct routes are along the main highways, but the back roads are even better, and the B&B hosts will create a personalized itinerary for each group of cyclists," said Johanne Raymond, who with her husband, Daniel Brunet, owns Gîte La Tempérance in Charette. "That's why we called it Vélo à la carte - all the visitors can customize their trips.

"Choosing your cycling route depends on distance, geography and personal interests. Some riders will want a long, strenuous route, and others will want to cycle to antique shops, lunch spots and tourists sights.

"The first step is to choose a B&B and go from there."

With the help of their B&B hosts, cyclists can choose beginner, intermediate or advanced itineraries. They spend the night, indulge in a good dinner and a hearty breakfast, explore the region and wheel off to another inn in another village. The B&B hosts take care of luggage transfers and box lunches, and they can even drive the guests' cars to the next stop. There is no set itinerary. Visitors choose the B&Bs that appeal to them.

Riders at any level can start their journey at Auberge Épicurium in Louiseville on the Chemin du Roy. This imposing Victorian house was built in 1927 by a prominent family. Richly decorated with antiques and rated four "suns" out of five by Quebec Tourism, Auberge Épicurium was named the best B&B in Mauricie in 2007. An industrial town, Louiseville also has boutiques and trendy cafés near the city hall and the historic Église St. Antoine du Padoue.

Épicurium is at the heart of the action on the main street. It is owned by two former Montrealers, Éric Monette, a graphic designer, and Stéphane Bernier, a child psychologist. True to its roots in the buckwheat region, breakfast features eggs Benedict on buckwheat waffles and buckwheat griddlecakes wrapped around boar sausages. Épicurium also serves dinner with such local specialities as boar with caramelized apples, venison with brandy and red wine, quail stuffed with raisins, duck confit, wapiti stew or trout from nearby St. Alexis des Monts.

It's an easy 10.5-kilometre ride from Louiseville to B&B Le Comble outside St. Léon le Grand. Le Comble is a beautiful 1920s farmhouse surrounded by cornfields. Diane Archambault and Yves Déry are far from city lights, and they have a telescope for stargazing. The next étape is the 23 kilometres from St. Léon to St. Paulin. Here, Caroline Collard, a retired pop singer, owns Gîte Le Grandelinois, another country B&B with attractive post-cycling options - a swimming pool surrounded by gardens and a sunroom for relaxation.

From St. Paulin, cyclist can take the hard road or an easier one. Aspiring Lance Armstrongs can head 16.5 kilometres northwest along Route 349 to Gîte La Veille Maison in St. Alexis des Monts. Artist and writer Paulette-Michelle Hétu has created a relaxing hideaway with ponds and gardens. The easier option involves a moderate cycle northeast for 11 kilometres along Route 350 to Charette and a choice of B&Bs. Gîte La Voisine has extensive grounds with walking trails along the Rivière du Loup. Gîte La Tempérance is in a former rectory on the main street of the quiet village.

Among the attractions along the way is Le Temps des Cerises (819-221-3055, www.letempsdes

cerises.ca) in Charette, a farm where visitors can pick their own cherries. More than 3,000 cherry trees have been trimmed to make it easier for picking. The gorgeous pink clouds of cherry blossoms will bloom by the end of this month, and the sweet fruit should be ready by late July.

Fish-lovers will gather June 20-29 at St. Alexis des Monts for the annual Festival de la truite mouchetée (www.festivaldela

truitemouchetee.com) dedicated to the plentiful speckled trout. The town will come alive with fishing contests, kids' activities, and music and dance by performers, including Suzie Villeneuve, who rose to fame on Star Académie.

rochelleink@aol.com

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If You Go

Louiseville is a one-hour drive from Montreal. Take Highway 40 east to Exit 166.

Vélo à la carte is offered at six B&Bs: Rates are for two and include breakfast. Extra fees for luggage transfer ($15-$40) and car transfer ($5), depending on distance.

Auberge Épicurium: 100 St. Laurent Ave., Louiseville; 866-628-8408, www.epicurium.ca; $85-$120, cycling package for two nights, including dinner one night, bicycles, a snack and breakfast two mornings, $260-$320 for two. Dinner reservations are obligatory, $24-$34 for a table d'hôte.

Gîte Le Comble: 311 rang Lamy, St. Léon Le Grand; 819-228-0612 www.gitescanada.com/lecomble; $67-$77 for two including breakfast.

Gîte La Tempérance: 441 de l'Église, Charette; 866-921-3462, www.latemperance.com; $79-$109.

Gîte La Vieille Maison: 940 Route Rurale 349, St. Alexis des Monts; 819- 265-2363, www.quebecweb.com/vieillemaison; $55.

Gîte La Grandelinois: 3401 Chemin Grande Ligne, St. Paulin; 877-668-2242, www.gite-grandelinois.com; $100-$120.

Gîte La Voisine: 391 Petit Bellechasse nord, Charette; 819-221-3163, www.gitescanada.com/lavoisine; $90.

Plateau Mont-Royal holding talks on controlling cars

The Plateau Mont Royal burrough of Montreal is planning talks with citizens on ways to restrict the use of cars and promote walking, bicycling and public transport.

Can you feel the earth shake?

Lower car speed limits, greater use of bike paths and bike lanes, and bigger fines for bicyclists and pedestrians who ride contrary to the traffic regulations. Every one is responsible to make some changes in their behaviour. We'll see how that goes, since the Plateau has some of the most dim-witted pedestrians and bicyclists in the world! (Thank god they don't also have cars!)

So, if everybody (cars, bikes, and pedestrians) gives a little bit, then everyone can have a higher quality of life. Stay tuned...

One good initative is to double the number of bike racks... by 2018! We can see that the city agile bureaucracy moves as fast as usual!

While on the subject of the Plateau, here's a Montreal Mirror article on the improvements for bike parking THIS YEAR.

Here's the Gazette article on this news:

Give peace a chance, Plateau residents say
Seeking relief from vehicles for pedestrians, cyclists, public-transit users and residents

MICHELLE LALONDE, The Gazette

Plateau Mont Royal is not so much declaring war on cars as it is seeking a little peace for pedestrians, bicyclists, public-transit users and residents, borough officials said yesterday,

In a detailed report on the Plateau's traffic problems published last February, local officials said there were simply too many cars going too fast through the streets of the borough - Canada's most densely populated neighbourhood.

About 250 cyclists and pedestrians are injured in the borough each year in collisions with moving vehicles.

Air pollution and traffic are also eroding the quality of life in an area where less than half of residents own cars themselves, the report said.

So after months of public meetings, the borough yesterday put forward 50 recommendations in a draft urban mobility plan.

The idea is designed to slow and reduce vehicular traffic, improve public transit and encourage residents and visitors to use taxis, join a car-sharing group, ride bicycles or walk as much as possible.

"Hundreds of people have come to meetings to tell us they want a reduction in vehicular traffic and a better balance between the various methods of mobility," Plateau mayor Helen Fotopulos said yesterday, before a public meeting last night where the draft plan was presented to the borough's standing committee on traffic issues.

The objectives of the plan are to reduce automobile traffic in the borough by about 20 per cent, increase public transit use by about seven per cent, increase use of "active modes of transit" like walking and biking by almost 14 per cent - all by 2018.

Proposals include:

• - Making parts of some streets car-free, at least part of the time (the report suggests mentions Mount Royal Ave., Gilford St., Gauthier St., Milton St. and Guilbault St. as candidates for pilot projects).
• - Improve the bicycle path network to the point where bikes paths or routes are no more than one kilometre apart.
• - Eliminate the illegal, but common, practice of parking less than five metres from intersections.
• - Increase by 50 per cent the number of taxi stands by 2018.
• - Double the amount of bike parking available by 2018.

Public hearings on the draft document are scheduled for June 9, 10, 11 and 12 at 7 p.m. at 480 Gilford. The hearings are being conducted by the borough's standing committee on traffic issues, a panel of 10 Plateau residents with expertise in urban transportation issues.

That committee will report to the borough council in September with recommendations for improvements to the draft and a final plan is to be adopted by the council in December.

To read the draft, available in French only, under the title Plan de déplacement urbain du Plateau-Mont-Royal, go to www.ville.montreal.qc.ca/plateau/pdu

To contact the Gazette writer of this article: mlalonde@thegazette.canwest.com

Nice bikes with bad manners

restricted mobility people love having bikes block the hand-rail


Old bikes and new bikes - all have this bad habit


Nice bike, bad manners!

Like people, some of the nicest looking bikes have the worst manners.

Here is an excellent example. This nice bike is parked blocking the railing for the senior citizen and handicapped persons access ramp for PA supermarket on Parc avenue.

There is a bike rack less than 20 feet away from this point.

Outremont's giant speedbumps

Bike launching pad in yellow?

Outremont's giant speedbumps are big, and can be ridden fast on bikes.

I hate the small sharp speed bumps, they can throw you off your bike. These big ones are great and they don't disrupt snow-removal operations.

Notice the low-budget Outremont bike path.

Hyper-Scenic Riviere Rouge Laurentians ride

The most scenic ride of the year so far
(click here for link to this Bikely map)


ROute follows the Rouge river valley

Surrounded by hills, this is a CFM favorite ride


It "looks" like a train engine, but is it?


The rails-to-trail Corridor Aerobique bike path side-trip to this bridge


We went up north to one of the nicest and scenic rides we know of: the Riviere Rouge loop from St-Jovite (aka Mont Tremblant).

We'll let the pictures tell the story today.

One note: if you want a bit more distance (a mere 10 km round trip from Arundel) and you want to get away from cars for a while, take the Corridor Aerobique bike path west from at Huberdeau or Arundel. It is dirt road or double track and is do-able on road bike. The destination is the train bridge in the picture.

Mont Tremblant area - Riviere Rouge ride

It's vacation, and it's not raining, so it's time to leave the city and do a beauty ride. Where to go? We are thinking of repeating the Riviere Rouge ride near Mont Tremblant.

Leaving the village of Tremblant is always a good idea, head from tourist office west and turn near Riviere rouge and ride north to village with strange bridge, with dock in middle and great wood sculpture. Cross here and ride south along rouge river, and country side, ride back north along river. Great hills, scenery, and covered bridge and with optional crazy hill at end. This is touches the Pays en Haut area. Optional extension to make Arundel southern turning point. Check the strange train at Arundel post office.

Here are links to the blog posts from the first and second times we did this ride. This report (link) has pictures and this one was when I lost my car keys (link.)!

Full report --WITH PICTURES--when I get back!

Pont Mercier bridge Piste Cyclable / Bike Path

Will the renovated Pont Mercier Bridge have a modern, safe bicycle path built with the major bridge=deck renovations starting to get under way?

No one on the internet seems to know, does anyone out there have the answer to this question? The Mercier bridge is the "missing link" to an amazing voie-maritime seaway bike path complete loop ride. The mercier brisge connects close to the Lachine Canal and Les Berges ste-laurence river-side bike path through lachine, lasalle, and verdun. If the Pont Mercier gets a real bike sidewalk (as expected, we hope) this 60 km loop will be one of the great bike rides in the universe.

Salvaging a late ride from a rainy Monday

7 pm and the rain has stopped for a couple of hours. Time to ride? Time to Ride!

We clipped in and rode up Olmstead road to the summit, past fresh dirt on the summit circle, checked out the view at the Chalet Mont Royal lookout, and came down through the cemetery.

We got good cardio, good views, and we didn't get wet. Yes!

What is... Active Transportation?

Active transportation is FUN!

Actually, Let's have the Public Health Agency of Canada define it for us:

What is Active Transportation?

Active transportation is any form of human-powered transportation. It is any trip made for the purposes of getting yourself, or others, to a particular destination - to work, to school, to the store or to visit friends. As long as it is "active", you can choose the mode - walking, cycling, wheeling, in-line skating, skateboarding, ice skating (eg. on a canal). Walking and cycling are the most popular forms of active transportation. It can also involve combining modes such as walking/cycling with public transit.

Active Transportation is important for a number of reasons! (not just because it's fun!)

(snip)

The most energy efficient and least costly mode of transportation is muscle power!

For distances up to 5 km, cycling is recognized as the fastest of all modes from door to door.

Taking Action

Here are some ideas that may help you consider adopting more active modes of transportation:

• Think twice about using your car for every trip. Could you walk or use your bike to visit friends?
• Dust off your bicycle and cycle to work when the weather permits.
• Trade in your dress shoes for running shoes, strap on a backpack and walk all, or part of the way to work/school.
• Instead of driving your kids to the park, why not make it a family outing on your bikes.
• If you are considering moving, think about the transportation options available to you in the new locations you are considering. How far will the distance be to those places you regularly need to get to. Could you walk to do most of your small errands? How far away is the nearest school for your child? Is this new neighbourhood "pedestrian friendly"?

But keep in mind, it's not just up to an individual to adopt active transportation, our communities, workplaces and schools must also support active transportation.

Communities that endorse active transportation :

• have dedicated bicycle lanes and routes;
• advocate for sharing the road with cyclists;
• undertake specific measures to ensure the safe integration of pedestrians, cyclists and other active users among motorized vehicle traffic;
• regularly maintain and upgrade pedestrian and cycling facilities;
• provide storage for bicycles throughout the city;
• have an integrated network of pedestrian and cycling paths that are designed for efficient transportation as well as recreation;
• favour urban design that reduces the distances that people have to travel to get to work, retail areas, schools and recreational/leisure pursuits;
• encourage the retail and service sectors to support customers who use active modes of transportation;
• plan streetscapes to be visually pleasing and inviting to pedestrians;
• have a network of greenspaces throughout the urban and suburban areas;
• make access to public transit easily integrated with pedestrian and cycling facilities to encourage intermodal travel;
• encourage driver education about how to share the road with multi-users;
• encourage feedback from citizens, pedestrian and cycling advocacy groups.

Workplaces that endorse active transportation:

• support and encourage their employees to adopt active transportation;
• provide secure bicycle storage, lockers and shower facilities for employees;
• allow more flexible dress codes;
• organize workplace challenges, employee recognition programs or support community events to increase awareness;
• work with municipal planners to map out safe and efficient routes to work and to address infrastructure or safety problems;
• emphasize reduced motorized transportation while at work and encourage more active modes;
• provide or subsidize safe cycling or in-line skating clinics for their employees.

Schools that endorse active transportation:

• support and encourage their students to adopt an active way to get to school;
• work with the municipality to identify safe routes for children while addressing safety and infrastructure barriers;
• encourage parents to form "escorted walks" to and from school for young neighbourhood children;
• have teachers work with children to identify the safest routes to get to school while teaching children about traffic and pedestrian safety;
• offer cycling and in-line skating skill and safety courses;
• work with parents, motorists and the community at large, to make the trip to school a safe trip for children and youth.

Isn't that interesting!

For lot's more information, please visit the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Cycling Advocacy - Montreal vs Toronto

How do we move from a world with poor cycling infrastructure to a world where it is safe to ride everywhere? Where the car and bikes and pedestrian (the whole active transportation thing) share the road and street network?.

Here in Montreal we have benefited from the existence of Velo-Quebec. It's our bicycling NGO. Velo Quebec has been promoting and planning and developing and supporting and advocating and lobbying for better cycling facilities in Montreal and Quebec, for over 25 years. In fact they hhey have succeeded, far beyond anyone's expectations.

Toronto is getting a top-level cycling group, an umbrella group trying to bring everyonein the bicycle scene together so the bicycle community can speak "with one voice." This group is called the Toronto Cyclists Union.

Cycling's union movement
Leslie Scrivener
Staff Reporter

Biking on the streets of Toronto are mad-eyed couriers, spidery-legged racers and baby-toting moms and dads. Some cyclists sit upright, some lean into the wind; some wear helmets and others spurn them; some resent any red light that impedes them and some are scared witless in traffic. There are earnest commuters with trousers tucked into their socks, kids who cycle to school and weekend pleasure riders.

Can this array of independent-minded bike riders find common cause in a single club?

The Toronto Cyclists Union created a buzz long before its launch at City Hall this Tuesday. It's modelled on the Canadian Automobile Association and if the CAA can be an advocate and offer benefits to its disparate car-driving members, the bike union hopes to do the same for Toronto cyclists.

There are already dozens of bike organizations in Toronto – from Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists (ARC), a lobbyist and cyclists' rights group, to Wenches with Wrenches, a free, women-run bike repair workshop. Cycling advocates tend to be a fractured community, with different objectives and different members – and the task of bringing them together in a unified voice may have worn out the union's founder, Dave Meslin. He spent nearly a year researching bike unions across the United States and created a model he thought would suit Toronto – one that's co-operative, not competing with the rest of the field.

The cycling union is different from other bike groups because it's member-driven, Meslin says. Its goal is to speak up for cyclists from Etobicoke to Scarborough and challenge City Hall.

"Cyclists don't feel safe on the streets and if they know there is a group fighting for safer conditions for them, I think they will join," says Meslin.

The union aims to hold city councillors, many of whom may be surprised at how many cyclists they have in their wards, accountable. "We've got this incredible bike plan that council passed in 2001– it's visionary," says Yvonne Bambrick, one of the co-ordinators of the cycling union. "We want to work with folks in different wards and get the plan in place."

To help achieve this, they're marshalling 44 "ward captains" representing each of the city's wards to be a link between local cyclists and the city council. "To make sure their voices are heard," says Meslin. "In the end, councillors respond to voters."

Through this ward program, they hope to represent the wider city – not just the Type A white males in the downtown core. One of their ideas is a cycling-with-newcomers program hooked up with the settlement agency CultureLink to encourage cycling among new immigrants. "We're looking to be a unified voice, a nice, pragmatic, sensible voice," says Bambrick.

The union proposes to create a cyclists' roadside assistance plan, similar to the one offered by the CAA. Insurance, an online dating service for cyclists and a trailer-lending program for moving larger loads by bike may all be offered later.

In the meantime, they're starting a lock removal program – similar to the CAA's service of retrieving keys locked in cars. (Members have to prove the bike is theirs or register their bikes with the police to be eligible.) They're also offering cycling maps for members travelling to other cities, family-friendly social rides – a fund-raising ride up the Humber River Valley and down the Don Valley is planned, and celebrations every time a new bike lane is opened. "We're good at complaining and getting critical," says Meslin. "But how about a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a cake and patting the councillor on the back and encouraging him to do more?"

Meslin, 33, planned the union without pay while doing chores in exchange for room and board. One of the founders of Spacing magazine, where he's no longer involved, he's also stepped away from the leadership of the bike union. "I get excited about starting up, research and bringing in the right people. Once that's in place, my role evaporates."

Like Meslin, everyone involved in the union is a volunteer. The union is housed at the Centre for Social Innovation on Spadina Ave. and has a desk in the centre's workspace.

That's still tiny compared with the biking scene in Chicago, where the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation has 6,100 members (up 29 per cent in the last five years), 40 full-time employees, about 1,000 volunteers, 2,000 miles of bikeways in the metropolitan region and a $3-million budget. Its staff works on such issues as biking in the suburbs and in the Latino and black communities, and planning special events, including the Bank of America Bike the Drive, which draws 20,000 cyclists for a car-free ride along the city's lakeshore. The federation is funded by members' dues, starting at $30 a year, plus grants and consulting work. Dues in Toronto will start around $25.

"Bicycling as a form of transportation is picking up nationally, at both the policy level and from elected officials. People are wanting to see cities become more bike friendly," says federation spokesperson Margo O'Hara. Furthermore, people are fed up with traffic congestion and high gas prices; they worry about their contribution to global warming, feeling "eco-guilt," she says.

Here in Toronto, Meslin admits it's nothing short of a miracle that the union has come to be. `We've been talking about this for years."

He and other cycling advocates say the bike union's arrival in Toronto's busy cycling scene is more collaborative than competitive. "The union can be more outspoken," says Fred Sztabinski of the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation, a coalition of about 50 organizations. "We can talk about policy."

With 51 kilometres of new bikeways planned for Toronto this year, there's an air of optimism, unusual in the cycling community as the City of Toronto's Bike Month begins May 26. (Another sign of change, it used to be Bike Week.) "The pace is quickening, and there are degrees of political will," says Meslin. "Things are getting together."

Will the union be effective – to ensure that bike lanes are built, plowed in the winter and pothole free – among other tasks?

"They'll need to show a little more backbone," says Darren Stehr, a cycling advocate and member of ARC. To succeed, the union needs "a clear win", like a proper ban on cars parked in bike lanes, he says.

"The union is a fantastic idea as long as they hold politicians to account. They have to keep the pressure up."

That was the Toronto Star. This is the Globe and Mail:

Cyclists get in gear to speak with a unified voice
Goal of new group is to lobby for more bike lanes, negotiate an insurance plan and start a CAA-style roadside assistance system

SUSAN KRASHINSKY

Ask any cyclist, and they'll tell you the hardest thing about riding a bike in Toronto is that you feel invisible.

"A lot of drivers just don't look," says Vanessa Fong, an architect who rides her black folding bike to work every morning. She says motorists don't see bicycles the way they see pedestrians or other cars. She has been cut off, pushed around, and nearly run over.

Stepping forward on her behalf now is a group fighting for cyclists to be seen - and heard. Nine months in the making, the Toronto Cyclists Union will officially launch on Tuesday. Its goal is to represent cyclists' interests at city hall.

Toronto has put bikes on the back burner, Yvonne Bambrick, one of the group's co-ordinators, said. "Our first and most clear objective is to get the city to put in place all the things they voted on in the bike plan that was passed in 2001," she said. "It's stagnated for far too long now."

The city's bike plan was meant to provide better infrastructure for cyclists, with more lanes and places to park. Its aim was to have 1,000 kilometres of lanes in place by 2011, but only a few dozen have gone in so far, Ms. Bambrick said.

Councillor Adrian Heaps, who chairs a city hall cycling committee, says plans are to build 50 kilometres of bike lanes by the end of this year, 75 more next year and 90 the year after that. Work will start this weekend, with the painting of white lines and bicycle icons on Rogers Road from Old Weston to Oakwood.

Cyclists are thankful for Mr. Heaps's energy in pushing forward the bike plan, Ms. Bambrick said. So, with the committee moving forward, why start a union now?

Simply put, cyclists need to get organized, Mr. Heaps said. "Most other interest groups have managed to galvanize their interests under one umbrella. They come to meetings and it's coherent. With cycling, for some reason, we seem to get people saying the same thing five times."

In the past, there have been as many as six or seven groups of activists representing cyclists just in the downtown core, Ms. Bambrick said. They all did good work, she added, but needed a unifying voice.

The new union hopes to negotiate an insurance plan to cover cyclists, start a CAA-style roadside assistance service for bikes, and try to teach motorists how to interact safely with bicycles. Membership costs a minimum of $2 a month.

The union comes at a time of increased momentum for cycling in Toronto. At the end of April, the Toronto Bicycle Summit brought together cycling advocates from around the world. The city's old Bike Week has been extended to a month this year, with more than 150 events between May 26 and June 21. And the Toronto Off-Road Biking Association will officially launch on Thursday.

"There's an attitude shift taking place as gas prices go up," Mr. Heaps said. Biking can be faster than travelling by car, and suburban commuters can combine cycling with public transit to avoid rush-hour frustrations. "At some point or another, people are going to say, 'I don't want to sit for three hours in traffic,' " he said.

Mr. Heaps agrees with critics like Ms. Bambrick who say the current "patchwork" of bike lanes is ineffective. "We are a city that's been built around the car. What we're doing now is retrofitting it," he said.

First, ride the rails

A Toronto cycling advocate is trying to turn drivers into part-time cyclists, and he aims to do it by putting them on trains.

Every Sunday, starting June 1, Donald Wiedman will be encouraging people to take a GO train to Ajax's lakeside bike paths. They will be given maps from the train station to a 15-kilometre ride on the Trans Canada Trail. A student will also be on hand to answer questions.

"I'm hoping people enjoy it so much that they make a link in their minds between their bicycle and the transit system," Mr. Wiedman said, adding that many people don't know they can take their bikes on the GO train.

The paths go from Ajax to Scarborough's Rouge Hill station, where cyclists can hop the GO back to the city to avoid busy roads - their only option when waterfront paths cut off for a long stretch of suburb.

"Some people may call me the new Henry Hudson. I've discovered the northeast passage through Scarborough!" Mr. Wiedman laughed. As a ward captain with the new cyclists union, he plans to lobby for that gap to be filled in so cyclists can enjoy uninterrupted rides.

For now, he hopes weekend cyclists will start to think about using their bikes for commuting as well as recreation. "My dream will be realized when I see 100 or 150 bikes parked at the GO station on a weekday," he said. Susan Krashinsky

Isn't that interesting.