A new city bike

Townie bike in Parc Stanley

Certain people were unhappy with the too-tall stepover height of their highly-cursed old bike.

So, after a bit of bike shopping she came home with a new Townie Bike.

And now the city has one more happy rider. Let her tell you in her own words:

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It was more than the initial high step-over (which caused multiple leg bruises), it was also stopping and starting, with the bar so high! The Townie also has another excellent feature: for non-racers, there is no need for low handlebars as no need to maintain an aerodynamic hulking over them .. hence the high sit-up-straight-and-don't-kill your lower-back handlebars of the Townie .. a definite plus .. and with the 21 gears, it's still easy to go uphill and down .. ♪♪ over hill, over dale, we shall hit the dusty trail, as the Townie goes rolling along ♪♪
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To test that the happiness levels were sufficiently elevated, we took a bike ride on the main bike path north (Route Verte/axis Brebeuf/Christophe colombe) up the the river on the north side of our Montreal island, to the little-known Stanley Park.

Stanley Park

We know, you thought that Stanley Park was in Vancouver, just keep going on the route verte and you'll get there, eventually. But if you don't want to make the multi-month journey this would require, you can just stop at Montreal's own Stanley park.

Riding options from Stanley park are several:

Ride east or west on Gouin blvd bike path, which would take you eventually to the east and west end of the island, and you can continue around and come back also on bike path. These are long-distance options and you have the popular option to u-turn or head south at any point for a shorter return-ride.

You can continue across the bridge (any of several) and do a lap of the Laval riverside also. Or ride north on the route Verte which will take you eventually to the P'tit train du Nord in St-Jerome (which continues 200 excellent off-roadway kilometers later in Mont Laurier)

Or you can just stop sit on the first empty park bench and enjoy summer. Then just retrace the same route home. Don't forget to explore the many neighbourhoods along this route or anywhere you ride.