Today I got to play tour guide for my fellow riders on the tour as we rode through my hometown of Montreal. After a few wrong turns, we managed to interpret the cue sheet to the point where we actually made it onto the island of Montreal without putting ourselves in major danger.
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| Surf's up! |
Once on the island the first 20 miles were riding along the lake shore, and the Lachine Rapids where we saw some river surfers surfing on a standing wave in the river. Instead of paddling back out to wait for and catch the next wave, they would come ashore, walk 200 feet with surf board in hand and pop back into the river upstream of the wave.
Our next stop was at the Atwater Market to drool at real food. The selection of fruits and vegetables was amazing, on the weekends, it is even more impressive.
It was a slow day so far with many stops to sightsee – we had only travelled about 30 miles in the first four hours.
Next was a stop at a bike store, and then I took my party (Serge, Judy, Kelly, Jody and Carol) climbing – first up Westmount Mountain to Summit Circle to see the massive houses in upper Westmount, the back of St. Joseph’s Oratory on the north side of the mountain, and the view overlooking Westmount. As you can see from the photos, we were having another great weather day!
After a steep serpentine descent off Westmount Mountain, and a crossing of the busy Cote des Neiges, we headed up Mount Royal for the views from there. It was a lot easier climbing up Westmount and Mount Royal this time than it was last year.
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| The Big "Owe"! |
Some quick photos at the top, and from the lookout on the east side overlooking the Olympic Stadium, and then Serge and I had to “book it” to the campsite for dinner with Annie, Eric, Emma, my Mum, my sister Sue and Brendan, my nephew.
Luckily for me, on previous visits to Montreal my brother-in-law, Louis showed me a lot of the cycle paths on the south shore, so I was able to abandon the cue sheet for a more direct route to the campsite as we were running late.
We arrived with 30 minutes to set up our tents, shower, change and then join my family for a great dinner – a good time was had by all!
When we got back to the campsite at 9:15 after dinner, it was dark and deserted, causing Annie to ask “Where is everyone?” We responded that our typical routine is to be in bed asleep by 9:00 to rest up for the next day’s ride. Such is the life of a touring cyclist,
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