We meet Réné Kopalie-Soucy

We met the bicycle racer Réné Kopalie-Soucy this morning while passing through Ville de/Town of Mont-Royal. Mr Kopalie-Soucy races for team CC Rossi Lachine with licence number 264.

We learned some interesting things.

Mr Kopalie-Soucy told us that because he has a racing license, so he does NOT have to stop for red lights or stop signs. Nope. Nosiree. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Not even if we ask him nice.

In fact he informed us that he doesn't even have to slow down for things like pedestrians, children, cars, etc. If he doesn't want to, he isn't going to.

He says his license lets him pass these traffic controls at top speed if wants (and judging from what we saw, he wants). He even took out his license and showed it to us (this was a bit weird) to make the point.

And if we don't like it, he will give us the finger. Multiple times in fact. He will yell at us when we are stopped at the light. He will yell at the other cyclist who witnessed Mr Kopalie-Soucy's complete lack of respect for road safety and who came up beside us and told Mr Kopalie-Soucy that the streets are not his personal race track.

We know some bicycle racers and we know that they are decent people. Mr Kopalie-Soucy is most likely a very decent person. Perhaps the combination of testestosterone and training goals have reduced his awareness of civisme.

Team CC Rossi Lachine leadership should give this racer a talk about road safety and civisme. (number one lesson: TMR isn't a sprint circuit, number two: calmly ignore whining bike commuters). We hope that Mr Kopalie-Soucy learns from these lessons, and goes on to become a great bicycle racer and a great leader.

(Hint: this will involve fewer one fingered salutes.)

While we're on the subject of rude racers, we have a great story about one of Canada's greatest cross country skiers, who had a few choice words for a woman in front of him in a race we watched... but this is a bicycling blog. (Full disclosure, our one and only cross country ski race resulted in a last place finish in a 20 km race. Cross country ski racers are gods.)

***********

The citizens of Ville Mont Royal might want to watch out when Mr Kopalie-Soucy passes through their town, because he contributes mightily to reducing the safety of their streets. Look for the license #264 on the back of the bike.

If you are as surprised as we are about this get-out-of-jail-free racing license that Mr Kopalie-Soucy showed us (and want one for yourself), or have any questions about the truth as spoken by Mr Kopalie-Soucy, we are sure that the Fédération Québecoise des Sports Cyclistes (FQSC) can provide the answers at their website here. 2009 racing licenses are still available!

Mr Kopalie-Soucy's racing team - Club Cyclists Rossi Lachine - can be contacted at 514-634-1611.