100,000 Bixi users in 2009

L'actualité magazine reports that there have been 100,000 users of the Bixi in this first year of operation.

Now, if all 100,000 of these Bixi users had bought their own bike... But we digress.

Read the article here.

what's inside that camelbak?

Revealed at last: the mysterious contents of a camelbak.

Mont Gosford day two - bike day

Sentier Mont Gosford


OK, maybe the rain isn't all bad.


This is the place. The hard starts as soon as the trail enters the forest


Summit of Mont Gosford is in clouds behind this ridge.


We came back to Mont Gosford on Sunday. The blue sky was gone. Rain was forecast. We figured we'd ride until it stopped being fun.

We parked at the accueil, and rode in the same access road as before. First stop was the new velo-montagne trails.

We would like to say we rode these trails, but we can't because there was plenty of walking going on. The 2nd-half/return part of the loop was better, but we are a bit short on the technical skills required for low-speed uphill technical terrain.

Getting back to the road after we had finished the trail, we noticed that it was raining but it was a superfine light rain, and we figured we'd keep the promise and ride the bike up the forest roads to the Refuge Clearwater. We knew where it was, but we didn't know how far it was. We knew it was uphill too. With this information, we pedaled. And pedaled, and pedaled some more. At the 2:40 point of riding we were getting as bit rough (even with having eaten two breakfasts!) and we were wondering where is this %$##@ refuge?

We agreed that if it didn't show up by 3 hours of riding time, we'd u-turn and come back on a sunnier day. At 2:55 there was the hut!

We went inside to warmth from a toasty fire in he stove. We inhaled some food and got all our clothes on for the descent. Wind chill would be our nemesis, so we covered up well.

Then we descended and descended some more until we were back at the entrance and the car.

Woohoo!

Lucky for us there was a bike wash station, so we hosed off the mud from the bike and ourselves, and got cleaned up and rejoined civilization.

Mont Gosford day one - hiking day

view of lunch rocks on summit of Mont Gosford, Refuge Clearwater in distance


View of Lac Megantic from Gosford summit lookout tower


The excellent lookout tower


Welcome to ZEC Louise Gosford-secteur Gosford

Saturday was a completely glorious autumn day, warm, no wind, and a perfect blue sky.

We parked, we hiked, we summited, and every minute of this was excellent.

We would be back tomorrow for biking.

Parc Mont Megantic mountain bike loop

forget summer sunsets, it's autumn's time for glorious sunsets


Parc Mont Megantic from Notre-Dame-des-Bois

Parc Mont Megantic is not known for it's mountain biking. This is because the trails are just roads that are big cross-country ski trails in winter. They're really good in winter. But a bit boring without snow.

But when you have three hours to kill before your friends arrive, then it's the right trail at the right place and at the right time. So we rode. Three hours of daylight, and a two hour ride. No problem right?

Actually, everything worked great. We had a nice ride inside the forest, and karma was restored.

Parc Mont Megantic area & Mont Gosford

We are heading down to the Parc Mont Megantic area this weekend to explore Mont Gosford. Gosford is the highest summit in southern quebec, and has both hiking and biking trails.

We have been aiming for an exploration here for many years, so we are glad to finally achieve this destination.

Lesson learned: find destination, set goals, sooner or later achieve the goal.

The trip preparations would be a lot easier if I didn't have to turn Old Blue's city-bike-adaptation back into an off-road bike. And this means I will have to ride old blue and let friend Dave ride the new FS mtn bike. This is not an ideal situation.

See ya later.

autumn excursions

Ther autumn is when nature dresses up the trees. Get up and leave the city tomorrow. Go north, east, west, or south, it doesn't matter. Just go. Cross a bridge (or two) and get some fresh air.

Will Chateauguay Valley ever complete its Rail-to-Trail bike path?

Chateauguay Valley bike path - opening in 2015?

Fact: this 32 Km rail-to-trail bike path is an invention of our imagination.

It does not exist.

Not yet.



Chateauguay river at Dewittville

There is an excellent rail-to-trail bike path parallel to the Chateauguay river southwest of Montreal. It has great clear-day views of Covey Hill and the Adirondacks.

This path goes from Ste-Martine to just-outside Howick. (In Ste-Martine you can take another bike path through farm fields to Beauharnois and many trails in the Valleyfield area.

The problem is that this bike path stops at Rt 203 and it does not continue to the actual town of Howick, nor to Ormstown, Dewittville, and Huntingdon. It just... stops.

The abandoned railway right-of-way and bridges are still there. It needs to be converted into a bike path. The job is started. Now it needs to be completed.

And it needs a name. We don't have one.

But we do say, "Build the Chateauguay."

You should know that this area does boast some of Quebec's best road cycling, in beginner, intermediate, and expert flavours. It's just that a lot of people want to ride bicycle on a car-free bike path. And this abandoned rail line is sitting there, waiting, not doing anything.

We are waiting for the MRC and the local towns and the province and velo-quebec and everybody else to get together and build what will be one of Quebec's great bike paths, through some of Quebec's most beautiful villages and farmland.


Quebec's best "unbuilt" bike path

The map shown above doesn't include it, but this bike path can continue another 31 Km to Dundee for a total length of 61 - the same as the new Veloroute de Bellechase near Quebec city.

Click here to see the map on Bikely.

new online montreal bike-path map

There's a new bike map in town, pardners, pedalmontreal.ca. It shows bike paths and bixi stations in a google-maps sourced map engine.

Research reveals that the map is just as out of date as the other online maps available to Montreal citizens. Missing is the entire cote-ste-catherine bike path, and the rachel bike path is shown in its outdated missing-link version. All 533 km of Montreal bike path are not on this map!

Topping off our list of complaints is the fact that the map-window is petit, and that's not a good thing in a map.

We encourage the developer to update the map with this year bike path improvements.

Hmm, on the plus side, it is kind of fun to see montreal bike maps combined with google maps. The website is bilingual, and different bike path types are color-coded.

What we would change: identify the direction of the bike path, some are one-way only. And we'd let the map occupy the full screen, please! And don't forget to get the information up-to-date, this is really important.

Conclusion: the data is so last year, but other wise an interesting new addition to answer the question "where is the closest bike path?" We can reveal that this blog gets the most hits from google searches for "montreal bike path." If the developer keeps it up to date it will be a good place to answer that search question.

Adding the Bixi Stations on the map is a good thing - other map makers take note!

Everything you need to start cycling

La Presse asks Velo Quebec's Patrick Howe for a cyclo-tourist survival guide. Read it here.

This article is part of their excellent "The Quebec that we love" series. (Le Québec qu'on aime).

There are several good bike-rides articles there also. Cyclo-tourism is in!

Mont Hereford mountain bike trails closed for Hunting Season

We'll be back after hunting season

The mountain bike trails at Mont Hereford/East Hereford are closed for hunting season. Here are the dates:

Hunting Season Trail closure dates

Trails closed:
from 26 September to 9 October
and
from 31 October to 15 November

Trails open:
from October 10 to October 30
and
after 16 November

Don't f*** around, stay off the trails.

Gazette says "Do your part" in the cycling revolution

The gazette's Michelle Lalonde wrote a great piece about Montreal's urban cycling revolution. She said to stop shouting at one another and gave several really practical tips so everyone can sahare the roads safely, both car drivers and bicyclists have to give a little and do a few things for safety's sake.

Do your share in cycling revolution

Montreal is experiencing a cycling revolution - a "vélo-rution" if you will - and no revolution is easy.

Michelle Lalonde

Nobody has any overall numbers yet, but it is clear to anyone who travels Montreal's streets on a regular basis that the number of cyclists in this city has shot up over the past couple of years.

First, the city's recent efforts to add more bicycle infrastructure (bike paths, painted lanes, bikeways, bike stands, etc.) has obviously persuaded a lot of Montrealers to give cycling a try. Second, the city's new short-term bicycle rental service, Bixi, has attracted 10,000 members and 98,000 casual users since it hit the streets last May.

The city of Montreal has automatic bicycle counters at five different points in the city. While they can't give the overall picture, these counters can give us a hint at what's happening. For example, a daily average of 3,186 cyclists used the Berri St. bike path between Ontario St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd. over a 42-day period in the summer of 2008. This past summer, over the same 42-day period, the daily average at that spot was 4,129. That is an increase of 30 per cent.

Yet, instead of celebrating the fact that more Montrealers are choosing a healthy, non-polluting mode of transportation, a steady backlash seems to be growing among car drivers who resent the intrusion into what they consider their space.

The horrific incident in Toronto last month that left one bike courier dead and a former Ontario attorney-general facing criminal charges has pushed the issue of conflicts between cyclists and motorists to the fore in that city and beyond. While nothing so headline-grabbing has occurred (yet) in Montreal, recent public debate here seems to focus on the irresponsible behaviour of many cyclists.

My theory on this issue is that there are idiots in about equal measure among motorists and cyclists. But as the numbers of both cyclists and cars on Montreal's streets keep going up, it's clear that everybody has to get smart about sharing the road.

Vélo Québec's director Suzanne Lareau said this fall is a good time for drivers and cyclists to get a grip on the new reality.

"Everybody is noticing the increase in cyclists... and there is frustration among drivers because the city is becoming congested with more and more cars. When you are stuck in traffic all the time, you tend to burn red lights and you get mad when you have to slow down for cyclists."

The long-term solutions to these problems have to come from politicians, she said. We need better public transit to entice people out of their cars. We need changes in traffic laws, public policy and city planning to discourage unnecessary car travel and favour public transit, car pooling and active transportation (i.e. walking and cycling).

But the short-term adjustments will have to come from cyclists and drivers themselves. Here are some tips from Lareau to help drivers and cyclists avoid conflicts and collisions.

Tips for drivers
- Change your attitude and give cyclists rroom. Cyclists have a right to their space on the streets. Think of each cyclist as one less car on the road and be glad they are there. Slow down to pass and wait until you can do so without getting too close. "Some drivers are in their bubble and just don't realize how close they come. It's really infuriating when a car brushes you, and puts your life at risk."

- Look before you open that door. It is thhe driver's legal responsibility to make sure the coast is clear before opening a door into the roadway. Always assume a cyclist is coming along. Proceed with caution.

- Slow down. Driving in a densely populateed city is tricky. Assume there will be cyclists, pedestrians and other drivers, all going too fast and doing stupid things. Speeding can lead to a collision, which will not only slow you down, it could scar you for life.

Tips for cyclists
- No speed training in the city. "If you aare cycling at 30 kilometres an hour, you won't have time to stop when pedestrians, cars or other cyclists do something unpredictable. Keep speed to 15 to 20 kilometres, maximum."

- Stay about a metre from parked cars. A ccar door opening suddenly can be deadly. Ride about a metre from those doors, even if it means you are closer to moving traffic. Cars can see you better if you are not weaving in and out between parked cars, and will pass you when it's safe to do so.

- Get lights - white in front, red in backk. "It's fall. It gets dark earlier. Only about 15 per cent of cyclists in Montreal use lights. I think this is aberrant," Lareau said. A third of cycling accidents happen at night, even though only about 2 per cent of all cycling happens at night. You can buy lights for under $5.

- Position your bike in front of cars at iintersections. At stop lights, don't sit beside or behind a car if you are going straight. A driver may turn right into you, without seeing you. Cyclists should pull right up slightly in front of the car, staying to the right, so the driver has to let you go before turning. Make eye contact with drivers at intersections before proceeding.

- Follow the arrows on those bike lanes annd bikeways. Many new bike paths and bikeways in Montreal have arrows painted on the roadway. If you aren't going in that direction, get off the route and find one going in the right direction. Don't crowd out your fellow cyclists, putting everyone in danger.

- Stop at red lights. It may be unrealistiic to expect all cyclists to make full stops at every stop sign on quiet streets, but red lights are non-negotiable. Traffic lights are generally placed at busy intersections. As for stop signs, Lareau said, cyclists need to use common sense and be polite. Slow down, look both ways, and if there is nothing coming, proceed. If a car, or another cyclist, gets to a four-way stop before you, stop and let them proceed.

- Stay away from buses and trucks. "These large vehicles have huge blind spots," Lareau said. Stop behind them at intersections, not beside them. If they turn right unexpectedly, you can be crushed without the driver noticing a thing.

Mont Hereford and september sunshine

Panorama, look closely, trees with a tag are going to someone's home for christmas


Today's star attraction


Welcome to mountain bike paradise


Village of East Hereford from Panorama


Village of St-Venant-de-Paquette


Church at St-Venant-de-Paquete


View from Sapiniere, near junction of La Noire/Bobine


Bridge on Bobine (see video here)

Had another great day at Mont Hereford.

The route (from church in East Hereford)

• a bit of road
• Le Noire (uphill)
• La Bobine (uphill)
• (minor explorations on unmarked new bump trail off of Bobine)
• Quartz US
• Quartz Cdn
• turn around at forest road at end of Quartz Cdn
• Quartz Cdn
• Quartz US
• Bobine (downhill)
• side trip on Sapiniere to valley lookout and back
• Des Pins (downhill)
• road past the village of East Hereford
• Chemin de la Riviere to St-Venant de Paquette
• (minor village tour up to the church)
• Rang 9 uphill from east side (easier than west side)
• Trial from uphill start (much better!)
• L'Express (rock and roll)
• Panorama (woohoo!)

And suddenly we were back at the village. 50 km, 5 hours riding time.

We had a real A+ day.

Bicycle + Night+ Lights + You

It's time to get some lights on your bike.

Don't be a black blur, a swooshing shadow in the night, or you might go swooshing over a car. Surprise... (you be thinking, "Uh-oh, this isn't going to have a happy ending")

We know, because a month after getting our first ever real racing bike, we went flying over a car hood during the night, and destroyed that still-brand new racing bike, and our rapid deceleration didn't do our body any favours either (lucky we didn't fly into the car). Oh the joys of our long-ago youth. Yes, we were wearing black. We had very good luck that night.

You just can't count on good luck taking care of things all the time. Every time.

Luck has two colors and one of them is bad luck. Luckily a lot of bad luck can be avoided with some simple preparations.

Do this now:

1. go to the bike store and buy a front light and a rear light
2. install these lights (or have the store install them for you)
3. turn on the lights when you are riding
4. remember to turn off the lights when finished riding (Very important!)
5. Remove lights when parking the bike (all modern lights are quick release)
   

If you want to be extra careful, you can bring some condoms with you when you ride your bike, because you never know when your luck will be extra-extra-good. You just have to live long enough until you get lucky, and that's where bike lights come in.

We love night bike riding for fun and relaxation, and we are a lot more relaxed when we know the car can see us in the dark.

We guarantee that this will be the best 20-30 dollars you'll ever spend.

Updated regional bike map sorely needed

Montreal has 533 km of bike paths, and the region (laval, south shore, monreal, north shore have hundreds more. But we don't have an up-to-date regional (and online) map.

Velo Quebec, which does produce an excellent regional map, is still showing the outdated May 08 map on their website. At the bike show last winter the Velo Quebec staff said a new edition of the Montreal Region map would be available in May 09. We're still waiting.

here is the ville de Montreal bike map. Current and up to date? The date on the map says April 2007, and that says it all.

We're waiting, and we are wondering where our tax money is going. We can't take bike-path routes through Montreal if the city doesn't publicize where the bike paths are.

bicycle cops in action

One-way the wrong-way? Why aren't they giving a ticket?

Interesting shot of bicycle cops in action, with a car going the wrong way on a one-way street.

We noticed several one-way-the-wrong-way cars this week, at least two of which were awesomely dangerous locations.

How stupid are (some) people? Why do we keep asking this?

Montreal has 533 kilometres of bike path

Montreal has 533 kilometres of bike path, said Mayor Tremblay this morning on the radio.

september's wardrobe enhancements

September mornings mean a gradual reappearance of our cool-weather cycling apparel collection.

We dislike being cold, although we like The Cold.

Last week started with the spandex tights, this week the jacket, and this morning we wore our neck fleece. Below 10 we add a light tuque and some liner gloves.

This outfit is fine for the +10C September temperatures, although the jacket gets too warm if we ride more than 10 minutes. We should use a vest and arm warmers instead of the jacket.

The hardest thing is to keep track of all these different pieces of wardrobe, so we organize everything the night before. What a difference to the morning departure promptness. An excellent life hack.

We also put the lights on the bike.

And promptly had the front one stolen.

Doh.

Excellent western-Mauricie mid-Maskinongé ride

Most of today's roads were very low-traffic. (map here)


Church in St-Barthelemy, we're back a bit before sunset.


The laurentians start... at the edge of the road.


Summer's greens changing to autumn's golds


Some unexpected auto-history, Model Ts!


Crossing the Riviere du Loup near St-Leon-le-Grand

We did another mid-Mastinongé ride today. That's the inland area on this side of Trois Rivieres.

This route was the result of many explorations in this region this year. Today we put the camera away and just rode the bike.

Lots of new asphalt and perfect temperatures mean that the bicycle riding was exquisite.

Ride notes:
Generally good to excellent pavement quality. But, bad asphalt on the main fast descent of the ride - down to Ste-Angele-de-Premont.
100 km long
600 m of climbing
90% quiet country roads
94 km distance from Montreal
Fun level: 25/30

Havelock Fair 2009

Visiting a country fair gives you the chance to inspect the business-end of a cow

Havelock fair isn't Quebec's largest fair, but it's one of the most charming. And it had some giant pumpkins and interesting quilts. We are fascinated with quilts. It is in a beautiful setting, and a drive up or down the road lets you visit plenty of apple orchards for apples, u-pik fun, and delicious baked and preserved products.

September is the month when we visit some of Quebec's regional fairs and festivals.



One of our favorites in the kid's costume parade


Magnificent Percheron draft horses


Judging the 4-H cattle competition


Ready for the barrel race


red golden pheasant



Blue skies and fresh country air


Havelock Fair backdrop is Covey Hill


White Silkie chicken, unusual (blue flesh!) to say the least


Many animals are to be seen at this fair


Winning quilt


The middle pumpkin weighs 975 pounds.

Weekend of cycling fun ahead

Sunshine means one thing, you should be outside riding your bike.

Excellent opportunities for amazing bike rides abound both inside and outside Montreal. Some of them even start right outside your front door. It's true! Faites une exploration!

Gmail us. Or not.

you can send us an email at cyclefunmontreal@gmail.com

4-lane autoroute through western Mont Royal park will be split in to 2 lanes for cars and 2 lanes for cyclists and pedestrians

We learned a long time ago that if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn't true. The lottery and promises made by politicians during elections are two good examples.

Here's another one (from Francois Cardinal's column in the la Presse newspaper). Yet he presents it as truth, so it must be true... right?

La Press has learned that the City has allocated two million dollars to remove a good portion of the highway on Mount Royal.

Within a few months, traffic will be prohibited on two lanes that connect Côte-des-Neiges to the top of the mountain, the section passing by Beaver Lake. (chemin Remembrance road)

The closed lanes will be completely dedicated to bicycles and pedestrians.

Motorists up and down and will share the remaining leg, that is to say, the side that runs along the cemetery.

We will shrink the automobile's part of the road from four to two lanes.

That's some translation, courtesy google translator robot.

No news on what will be done to reduce the rush hour traffic across the mountain, which is supposed to be a park, not an autoroute. One option is to stop the cross-mountain traffic, cars on the east could come and go on the east side only, and cars from the west could come and go on the west side only. We support this idea.

Click here to read the original column (french).

September? Time to think about your 2010 goals

Yes, it is time to think about your 2010 goals, some of which may require spending some time in the gym this winter.

So, it is time to start thinking about off-season training, because being lazy all winter and gaining 10 kilos doesn't do your cycling ability any good at all.

Also, if your bike needs some maintenance, do it/get it done before you put the bike away this winter. In the spring bike shops are very busy and bikus interuptus is a painful way to start the season: blue sky, warm temperatures, and waiting.. waiting... waiting for a bike repair is no one's idea of a good time.

Velo Quebec offers some safety tips

Velo Quebec offers two safety tips. PAY ATTENTION.

If you just make these two little changes in your bike-riding habits, you will not cause chaos and risk various levels of injury up to and including death.

Conseils de Vélo Québec pour un automne en sécurité

Vélo Québec tient à rappeler quelques conseils de sécurité pertinents en cette période automnale qui suit la rentrée scolaire.

"Jusqu'à la fin novembre, il y a beaucoup de cyclistes qui sillonnent les rues, rappelle Suzanne Lareau, présidente-directrice générale de Vélo Québec. C'est pourquoi nous souhaitons rappeler aux cyclistes deux conseils de sécurité."

La nuit tombe vite. Vite un éclairage actif !
À l'automne, il est très fréquent que les cyclistes se fassent surprendre par la noirceur. Il est obligatoire, et surtout plein de bon sens, de posséder un éclairage actif sur la bicyclette, soit un feu blanc à l'avant et un feu rouge à l'arrière. Au Québec, seulement 15 % des cyclistes roulent avec un éclairage actif le soir.

Les accidents survenus en soirée sont surreprésentés : 29 % des accidents de vélo ont lieu le soir, alors que cette période de la journée représente seulement 2 % des kilomètres parcourus. "Lorsqu'on sait qu'un jeu de lumière ne coûte que quelques dollars, pourquoi des cyclistes prennent-ils autant de risques ?", se questionne Suzanne Lareau.

Il y a une direction à respecter sur les bandes cyclables
Les bandes cyclables ont fait leur apparition il y a quelques années dans les rues de Montréal. La bande cyclable est une voie réservée aux cyclistes, aménagée à même la chaussée. Elle se distingue de la piste cyclable du fait qu'elle n'est pas séparée physiquement de la circulation automobile. Elle se démarque des autres voies par des éléments visuels : symboles (pictogramme vélo, losange de voie réservée et flèche) et ligne de séparation ou revêtement de couleur différente. La bande cyclable est toujours unidirectionnelle.

"Trop souvent, il nous arrive de rencontrer des cyclistes qui circulent en sens inverse de la direction donnée par les flèches, indique Suzanne Lareau, ce qui représente un danger pour les deux usagers qui se rencontrent. Or, ce qu'il faut retenir, c'est que sur une bande cyclable, on suit la direction indiquée par les flèches, tout simplement !"

Visitez la page Sécurité à vélo sur le site www.velo.qc.ca

Translation?

Use lights when riding at night. Otherwise you are invisible, which is not a good thing. When the car driver says "I didn't see the cyclist..." is this how you want to die?

There is a direction to Bike Lanes that you MUST respect. Look at the arrows painted on the ground. That is the direction you must be riding in. Yes, you must obey the painted direction. There is no "I'll think about it." option going on here. The rest of us thank you for noticing.

Cote Ste-Catherine bike path - no more automatic walk signals on cross streets

Waiting for that automatic walk signal you got used to? Whoops, we're back to that cars-first mentality.


Cote-Ste-Catherine and St-Joseph. Big intersection, and back to being bike-unfriendly.

It is with great disappointment that we have noticed that Outremont/Ville de Montreal has removed the automatic walk signal as part of the traffic signal cycle at several intersections along the Cote-Ste-Catherine bike path.

It looks like impatient car drivers get priority over the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.

Cyclists now need to mount the sidewalk to push the walk button before they have permission to cross Cote-Ste-Catherine road.

This is a step backward and a real slap in the face to cyclists and pedestrians, who, for once, had the feeling that we were not (for a change) second-class citizens in this Montreal suburb.

We guess that once an urban-autoroute, always an urban autoroute. Oh, Outremont, you tried to support active-transport, don't give up now!

Bike lane markings appear on Graham boulevard in TMR/VMR

"Designated roadway" bike lane, the cheap and ineffective solution to bicycle safety


Bike lane ("designated roadway") markings have appeared on the northwest part of Graham boulevard in TMR/VMR.

This is a popular bike-commuting route (we use it every day) and very worthy of being identified as a bicycle route.

This is another step in the development of a bike route network on the island of Montreal. If we can link rural quebec with the route verte, then there is hope we can have a network of safe(r) bike paths, lanes, and designated roadways to travel on bicycle across Montreal island.

There are still many gaps in the network (north-south parallel to Decarie would be top of the list) so it's good to see the TMR/VMR axis appearing - out of nowhere!

We also notices some work being done on the traffic lane configuration around the circle in the middle of TMR/Graham, and it looks like this could lead to a bike lane being added here. Natch we forgot to snap a photo of this, sorry.


Cars showing some respect? No, just no right-lane-speeders at the moment.

un-usual bike parking

One bike, one lock, three wheels?


The front-wheel over the fence method. Also seen on some poorly designed bike racks (hello Outremont public-security bike-rack)



The effectiveness of the camouflage system of bike-parking security fades with summer's end


Park good, or this guy'll get you!


Bixi bike parking and BAD car parking - not on the bike path please. (What are those lines painted on the road for anyway? It's a good argument for permanent/separated bike lanes, not the painted-on-the-road variety)