It wasn’t far to the Quebec border, and once I crossed over, I found myself on the Route Verte—Quebec’s cycling network. Biking in Quebec vs Ontario was like night and day. What Quebec may lack in their road infrastructure, they more than make up for in their cycling infrastructure. Once I got to St Zotique, I stopped for a snack. There was a gazebo in the middle of town to shelter me from the rain, with a station with bike tools and a bike pump! After being on the Route Verte for a while, I felt like Ontario had been gaslighting me for the past week with the “Waterfront Trail.” The Route Verte is so well marked, is mostly separated from traffic except on very small side streets, and when the path runs parallel to the highway, there is at least a few rows of trees separating the path from the road.
I was making good time, and was aiming to get to Montreal by 3:30, as my friend Emily who I was going to be staying with had to leave for work at 5, and I wanted to see her before she left. Despite all the rain, I was pretty happy by the time I got to St-Anne-de-Bellevue, where I stopped to eat lunch. Biking on a real cycling network felt great—every bridge had a separated bike entrance, and for the brief periods I did have to share the road with cars, they were all very considerate.
After St Anne, I started getting into the Montreal suburbs—Beaconsfield, Dorval, Lachine—which all had so much more character than the Toronto burbs. Dorval had the worst cycling infrastructure of all the towns I went through, and it was still pretty much on par with most of Ontario.
Getting into Montreal is always super confusing, and doing it on bike was not any simpler. But I finally reached Montreal West and was only about 5 km from Emily’s place when suddenly I felt some dragging on my bike. I hopped off to inspect it, and I saw that the screw that attaches my back rack and fenders to my frame had broken in half, with the threaded part still in the frame! I couldn’t continue to bike like that, as the rack couldn’t hold any weight without pressing onto the wheel.
My phone battery was at 6%, I was soaked, and it was still raining. I messaged Emily about the delay and then tried to call an Uberxl. None were available, so I went for an Uberx instead. While I was waiting for my Uber, a guy named Monay came by to see if he could help. We started chatting and he was super interested in my bike trip. It was his birthday and his wedding anniversary and he was excited to tell his wife about my trip. He ended up asking me a bunch of questions about my trip, and told me I should name my bike after him! Finally my Uber came, but the driver refused to take me and my bike, and told me to get a van.
At this point my Uber app is telling me that there are no cars available, and Lyft doesn’t yet exist in Montreal, so I was starting to look up a cab number when another guy on the street came by and mentioned to me that there was a bike shop just a couple blocks away. So I loaded my bike back up and walked over. And of course the place is closed on mondays. I tried my Uber app again, and at this point there was an XL available, so I ordered it and after a 20 minute wait it finally arrived. I got to Emily’s place around 5, far later than I had anticipated, but the silver lining was that her shift was cancelled since the patio at her work was closed due to the rain, so she was free to hang out. Emily had put up notes around the apartment to give me the sweetest welcome, and I think I had the best hot shower of my life once I arrived.
It was so nice to see Emily and Ryan, her fiancé. Em made a delicious dinner, and we looked up a bike shop that is near their place and opens at 10 am. It will be nice to have a couple days rest here. Depending on the state of my bike, I’m hoping to head out Thursday morning, but if I’m gonna get stuck somewhere for a few days, I can’t think of a better place than Montreal.
Total distance: 89 km
Total elevation: 108 m
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