A weekend visit to Ottawa brought the need for a vehicle so I rented one from the local rent-a-car place. I normally go with the most economical choice as it is only a two hour drive but my passengers usually gripe about the amount of leg room so I went with a standard size car for a change. When I went to pick up the car, the rental agent told me, as if I had won the lottery, that he was going to give me an all-wheel-drive SUV for the same price. Obviously, it was because they didn't have anymore vehicles available but I said whatever and he brought out a brand new SUV. He hands me the keys with a twinkle in his eye expecting that I will be impressed and pleased. All I could think of was that I was glad I was taking it out of the city and onto the highway so I didn't have to try and manoeuvre it around all the traffic, construction and narrow streets of Montreal. Climbing in, I got a bizarre sensation that I was extremely high above everything yet I also felt somehow closed in. As I familiarized myself with the various controls, I realized that the designers of the vehicle had undoubtedly designed the interior in order to make the occupants feel safe. The only thing I could equate it to, though I have never been in one, is being inside a tank surrounded by steel.
As I drove around making my way to the highway, I had the impression that the vehicle was actually bigger than it was. I felt like I was going to clip passing cars on the left or parked cars on the right. No wonder regular drivers of these behemoths get irate at cyclists; they need the whole road. Granted, it was a pleasant vehicle to drive on the highway with lots of room but, after foolishly driving around downtown Montreal on the subsequent Monday, I rushed to take this beast back to the car rental early. What a relief to be free of the stress of having this weight around me. I cannot fathom what the thinking is for drivers who actually buy these vehicles when most of their driving is in the city. Can it really provide a sense of security? Give me two wheels anytime.
Wonderful biking weather around Montreal for the Canada Day weekend for the few of us who do not move on July 1st. Plus the start of the Tour de France! Here's hoping that Ryder Hesjedal stays out of trouble the first week. And also hoping that there is a special hell reserved for Lance A. (can't bring myself to write/say his name anymore) who does not know that he should just keep his f---ing mouth shut and disappear. May he spend the rest of his days on a bike path behind a roller blader.
Montreal is investing a lot of money to revamp many of its streets by widening sidewalks at intersections and other traffic calming measures such as speed bumps on residential streets. As I was riding along the Lakeshore out to St. Anne de Bellevue, I was passed by several STM buses. The speed limit on this road is 30 km/hr and there are signs telling drivers to get onto the highway if they are in a hurry. Now, I wasn't doing 30 km/hr; more like 20. But then most of the buses seemed to be moving at well in excess of the speed limit. A thought occurred to me; if every bus in the city drove at or under the speed limit all the time it would 'calm' the traffic throughout the city without costing a single nickel to citizens.
From the Plateau, a ride out to the West Island and St. Anne de Bellevue is somewhat longer than out to the east point. Depending on my mood, I will do it clock-wise or counter-clockwise. Yesterday, I decided to go out along the Lachine Canal and the Lakeshore because I thought I might just turn around and backtrack instead of continuing past Senneville and Boulevard Gouin. In the end, I decided to carry-on but chose to try a different route that cuts through the middle of suburbia via Chemin de l'Anse-a-l'Orme.
Nothing special about the path following the chemin; a marked shoulder section on a road designed for cars to head for the highway. To connect up with the path to take me through Kirkland, I just turned left at the first street I came to as shown on the map above. Not surprisingly, there was no sign on l'Anse-a-l'Orme to direct cyclists to turn. The path through Kirkland is a very nice paved path leading through a hydro right-of-way almost up the Boulevard St. Charles. It then just stops in a mall parking lot and you have to make your way through the parking lots on both sides of St. Charles before picking up the path again. This was not too much trouble, especially when compared to the design of the path further east at the intersection of Salaberry and Boulevard des Sources.
Here, the path stops for an entire block before des Sources and cyclists are expected to walk their bikes along the block and then across des Sources before picking up the path again. The only problem is that the lights at des Sources do not allow for pedestrian crossing on the north side of the intersection. There are no painted lines, no pedestrian lights and the traffic lights are set up for traffic to turn left throughout the green. In the end, I had to cross to the south to cross the intersection. Once across des Sources, I was so pissed at the whole situation I just kept biking along the road. It is beyond all logic that all this effort has been put to create cycling infrastructure except for the most critical spot with the highest risk due to volume of traffic. It is a shame because I would certainly chose this bike path over Boulevard Gouin as it leads directly Parc nature du Bois-de-Liesse as its east end.
I often ride out to the east end of the island of Montreal following the south shore and then coming back on Boulevard Gouin, but my favourite part is the zen-like ride through the Parc-nature de la Pointe-aux-Prairies.
Even though it is a gravel path, the surface beats the majority of the supposedly paved 'path' on Boulevard Gouin.
