VerMontréal and Le Tour de l'Île
Jun. 5th, 2008 12:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
figarofigaro1Last weekend we rode our bikes to Montréal and then rode in the Le Tour de l'Île.
The ride was organized by a Vermont group, Local Motion. There were two groups: Our group, that did a three-day ride (about 70 people) and another group that did a four-day ride (longer distances, about 40 people). The four-day group left on Thursday. Our group left on Friday.
Friday's weather was great for cycling: cool and sunny. It's a good thing, as that was the longest day of cycling. We went from Snow Farm Winery, on South Hero (an island in Lake Champlain), to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, 65 remarkably flat miles.
They had cue sheets for the turns, so we put my map holders to the test. (Photo for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lunacow.)
The ride was easy and beautiful. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures because B didn't want to stop much. But at the rest stop, there was a nice view of Mount Mansfield.
We had lunch in Alberg. We'd preordered sandwiches and a deli made them and had them at the Catholic Church. We sat on the lawn and the food tasted so good after all the riding. I had a turkey sandwich, Fritos, a banana, and grape juice. This is notable because (1) Fritos and grape juice are normally forbidden foods because of calories, and (2) I sat beside a woman who said, "Oh, you chose Fritos, too," and then introduced herself. It turned out that she and her boyfriend had a lot in common with B and me, and a friendship was born with A&M.
We left lunch with A&M and a few others, and were the first out of there. We rode two miles to the border crossing, which was interesting doing it on a bicycle. It was a small crossing and the border guy talked to us very casually about riding in being a new experience for some of us. Then, there was a route change and we were supposed to go left and ride along the water, but we went straight and did the "other route" that was not as pretty, but was flat. We were riding fast. B and M were riding really fast and at one point M was way ahead and missed a turn despite much screaming for his attention.
A rode with us for a while, as well as a lovely couple from Massachusetts. The woman, D, was a really fast biker and had a Freewheeling Adventures water bottle, as did B and I. So we talked about the trips we'd taken. In a bit, they took off and B followed. A and I were back a bit, talking about how our partners often are way out in front, leaving us behind. There was joking about now M was lost and would learn his lesson. I told her that if he was anything like B, that lesson would need to be relearned every so often. There were no turns and it was flat, so I told A that I was going to go catch up with B. I did, and it was a good workout. We ended up getting to Saint-Jean with the Massachusetts folks, and as far as we knew, there were only two people in front of us (who reputedly had $$$ titanium bikes, and had "something to prove" according to folks back with us earlier). The Mass. folks stopped at the bike shop in town and when B and I got to the hotel, we were the second couple to arrive.
We left South Hero at exactly 9:00 and got to the hotel at 14: 46. I made some joke about "Bruce and Andy, you arrived at 2:46 PM, so you will depart at 2:46 AM." but either nobody got the Amazing Race reference, or they didn't think it was funny. Anyway, we thought that was pretty good time for the 65 miles with lunch and rest stops.
People arrived the rest of the afternoon, and B and I sat out on the lawn and watched, cheered, talked.
The folks at the hotel, Auberge Harris, had enough bike racks for everybody. They also did a reception on the lawn with beer, wine, soft drinks, and potato chips. Some riders got in the pool, and everyone cleaned up and dissipated for dinner. We'd not ever been to Saint-Jean and didn't know it was so large. They had sign-up sheets for dinners and so we signed up for a pan-Asian mostly Thai restaurant. The reservation was for 6:30 and that's way early for us. The walk into town was about two miles. We made it to the restaurant by 7:00 and there were two long tables with bikers. They tried to seat us at a third giant table, but we thought that would be strange to be "with them" but segregated like that, so we asked for a table for two in the back. It turned out that other folks arrived even later, and we could have been with the group. But then we ended up getting our food faster than the big group. The food was fairly mild for Thai, even the spicy stuff, but had lots of fresh vegetables. It was downright virtuous healthy food, which wasn't exactly what I wanted after riding all day.
We'd passed a bar, La Trinquette, that had a huge outdoor patio. We stopped there on the walk back and had a couple of gin an tonics, watching people. They had fire pits, lights in the trees, two bars opening onto the patio, and it was all festive and relaxing. I started getting sleepy and we walked the rest of the way back to the hotel, stopping to get some chocolate bars along the way. There were two coffee and dessert places en route, but both were chock full of people. Weather reports for Saturday were consistent: rain. We crashed at 10 PM.
Saturday was a rainy soggy mess. We only had to ride 30 miles, but the rain was steady and a lot of the planned path was on La Route Verte, Québec's network of bike paths.
Breakfast was good. The hotel did a nice job of providing high protein foods. They must know what bikers want to eat. They had a woman frying eggs on a griddle which made the line move slow. The tour guides announced that we were going to delay leaving by an hour, to see if the rain would let up. It didn't. The first 10 miles were easy, no turns, along an unpaved canal path. Everyone had strategies for dealing with the rain, but in the end, we all got wet and muddy no matter what we were wearing. The worst thing was my shoes were full of water and my smart-wool socks were like little sponges. And my butt hurt. Ouch.
One of the bad parts of being first the day before was that our bikes were in the back, so we were among the very last to leave. There was a small group who were going to delay one more hour to see if the rain would let up. But we were basically the last to leave except for them. We got to a fort and that was where we were going to break into small groups because the next 20 miles had lots of turns as we rode through parks, streets, and neighborhoods. We'd passed some of the slowest riders, but most of the fast folks were already gone in small groups. So we got stuck with a slow group. A very slow group. That, plus the rain, was a little frustrating, moreso for B. But for me, to keep things interesting, my bike's rear brakes became less and less effective. At first I thought it was just mud and wet, but later on, discovered that the cable had probably slipped from the wet. The pads were making contact, but not even causing any slowing at all. I discovered this while going down a corckscrew exit from a bike overpass. I passed a few people unintentionally! Let's just say I figured out how to use my front brakes judiciously. (Later on, when we got to the hotel, we would find out that our group leader lost both her front and back brakes on the trip, and spent the last few miles stopping by hopping off her seat!)
We had lunch at La Capitainerie and rendez-voused with riders from the four-day trip. The set menu was grilled kabobs (chicken or beef) on rice, brown gravy, french fries, and cole slaw. That and a beer was really good for being wet and tired. We made it on the 3 PM ferry at Port de Plaisance. It seemed like the majority of the group was on that ferry. We later found out that some of the fast folks forewent lunch and took the 1 PM ferry so they could get to the hotel and get dry, warm, and clean.
When we got off the ferry, we were on the promenade at the waterfront in old Montréal. We just had to ride up Rue Berri to our hotel, but I wanted to fix my brakes, so we were at the very back of the pack to get to the hotel. At the hotel, they had everyone lined up and were hosing off bikes (and people in some cases). We were very muddy. We stayed at the DoubleTree Plaza Hotel at Berri and Sherbrooke. They're not exactly equipped to handle 110 bikers. We had to take an elevator to the mezzanine and park our bikes in a ballroom, leaning bikes against chairs scattered through the room. I wish I had a picture of it, but I didn't take any pictures on Saturday because of all the rain, and then I just didn't think about pictures later.
There was a big reception in a small area; crowded and hard to get a drink. A&M asked if we wanted to dine with them at ChuChai. We agreed and we ducked out of the reception to go eat. They hadn't had lunch and were starving, and we were hungry too. We walked the few blocks over to the restaurant. It's all vegetarian and they have "mock meats" which usually puts me off. I must admit that the mock duck tasted incredibly real. B and I shared some spring rolls, some crispy fried spinach, a duck noodle dish, and curried cauliflower. We had a lovely time getting to know A&M more. We strolled back to the hotel and stopped at Café Vienne for some coffe an dessert. They were ready to crash so we walked back to the hotel. B and I wanted to go out for a drink, so we walked back over to the Opus Hotel and had drinks at their new ultra-trendy bar. The bartenders were really hot! Of course it was raining, so we got wet on the walk over and the walk back. As if we'd not been wet enough all day. Again, we crashed about 10 PM, but that seems logical since the mornings were starting at 6 AM, about an hour earlier than we usually get up.
Sunday was cloudy and looked like it could be rainy. We had a good breakfast at the hotel, but we were a little rushed for time.
Le Tour de l'Île is a 50 km bike ride that is the culmination of the Montréal Bicycle Festival. People go from serious (riding fast) to silly (with bikes and helmets decorated). Local Motion is in cahoots with Vélo Québec trying to connect the Vermont trails with La Route Verte and promote cycling. So we had "VIP status" and had a reserved spot at the start of the pack. Estimates were that more than 30,000 riders would participate. We lined up next to riders associated with some of the corporate sponsors. They had us lined up on two sides of a divided street.
And an enlarged detail of the line-up. Bikers as far back as we could see in both lanes!
The route was a big circuit through the north and east ends of the Island of Montreal, kept relatively flat so everyone can participate. I was with B the whole way, and he wanted to ride fast and not stop at the rest stops. So we rode the 30 miles in well-under three hours. There were some interesting points along the way. There is a section of houses in the north end that are crazy architecture: fake castles, statues, pillars, odd roofs, and all kinds of decor. There were also some ugly sections: riding through industrial areas and beside quarries. The roads are all closed and people line the route to cheer. It's all very festive. There was one long downhill stretch and B was way in front of me and in between us, somebody crashed their bike. He heard it and turned around to see if it was me. Meanwhile I was approaching and slowing down to see if it was him. Later on I heard other couples talking about how they'd done the same sort of thing. It was a scary crash, but they had first aid there quickly... even before I got to the crash. We didn't want to be in the way or seem morbidly curious, so we went on again. It rained just a little. The real battle was with the wind. At times the side wind was so strong it blew my bike sideways, and when it was a gusty headwind, the pedaling was difficult. The finale was riding up to the Olympic Stadium, riding around it, and exiting back to the park where we started off the circuit. It was a good ride, and we thoroughly enjoyed riding on the closed roads in such a festive atmosphere.
I thought they'd have more do to in the park at the finish, but they just handed out free milk (Lait was a sponsor) and had a bike shop, a Toyota tent, and some other weak stuff: a "circus" that hadn't started on a very small stage, and a tent handing out free Dial soap. We got our free chocolate milk and bought t-shirts commemorating the ride.
We rode back tot he hotel (about 4 miles) on busy Sherbrooke. The hotel kindly allowed us all to use the pool area to change clothes. That was nice, but a chaotic mess, too. We met up with V&D, another couple we'd been friendly with, and we had a great lunch at Amir, a chain fast food middle-eastern restaurant. We got to know hem a whole lot better there. We wanted dessert, but had to be back at the hotel by 1:30, so we got pastries to go. We got separated from V&D but ended up beside A&M on the bus back with the Massachusetts folks in front of us. We ate our Paris Brêt cake on the bus before too many people noticed. V&D ended up not eating theirs because they felt self-conscious eating in front of people on the bus. Some people didn't have time for lunch, I guess.
The ride back was pleasant. Lots of talking and laughing and reviewing the weekend. I got to plug NaNoWriMo and as I was doing it, the bus got really quiet, and later on others commented on it. I had no idea I was playing to the whole bus! The border crossing on the bus was interesting. They came on and looked at everyone's passports and were cracking jokes and such. We had to sit and wait for the vans with the bikes on them in case anything was a problem.
Back at the winery, we made our goodbyes and then drove home. My bike's front brakes had been jacked up in the transport, and the back breaks were a little tight from my overzealous fixing... so I took my bike to the shop for a tune-up on Monday. The folks at Earl's are great!
Day 1: 63 miles. Day 2: ~30 miles. Day 3: 35 miles. Not bad at all. We're already looking forward to VerMontréal next year!
The ride was organized by a Vermont group, Local Motion. There were two groups: Our group, that did a three-day ride (about 70 people) and another group that did a four-day ride (longer distances, about 40 people). The four-day group left on Thursday. Our group left on Friday.
Friday's weather was great for cycling: cool and sunny. It's a good thing, as that was the longest day of cycling. We went from Snow Farm Winery, on South Hero (an island in Lake Champlain), to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, 65 remarkably flat miles.
They had cue sheets for the turns, so we put my map holders to the test. (Photo for
lunacow.)The ride was easy and beautiful. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures because B didn't want to stop much. But at the rest stop, there was a nice view of Mount Mansfield.
We had lunch in Alberg. We'd preordered sandwiches and a deli made them and had them at the Catholic Church. We sat on the lawn and the food tasted so good after all the riding. I had a turkey sandwich, Fritos, a banana, and grape juice. This is notable because (1) Fritos and grape juice are normally forbidden foods because of calories, and (2) I sat beside a woman who said, "Oh, you chose Fritos, too," and then introduced herself. It turned out that she and her boyfriend had a lot in common with B and me, and a friendship was born with A&M.
We left lunch with A&M and a few others, and were the first out of there. We rode two miles to the border crossing, which was interesting doing it on a bicycle. It was a small crossing and the border guy talked to us very casually about riding in being a new experience for some of us. Then, there was a route change and we were supposed to go left and ride along the water, but we went straight and did the "other route" that was not as pretty, but was flat. We were riding fast. B and M were riding really fast and at one point M was way ahead and missed a turn despite much screaming for his attention.
A rode with us for a while, as well as a lovely couple from Massachusetts. The woman, D, was a really fast biker and had a Freewheeling Adventures water bottle, as did B and I. So we talked about the trips we'd taken. In a bit, they took off and B followed. A and I were back a bit, talking about how our partners often are way out in front, leaving us behind. There was joking about now M was lost and would learn his lesson. I told her that if he was anything like B, that lesson would need to be relearned every so often. There were no turns and it was flat, so I told A that I was going to go catch up with B. I did, and it was a good workout. We ended up getting to Saint-Jean with the Massachusetts folks, and as far as we knew, there were only two people in front of us (who reputedly had $$$ titanium bikes, and had "something to prove" according to folks back with us earlier). The Mass. folks stopped at the bike shop in town and when B and I got to the hotel, we were the second couple to arrive.
We left South Hero at exactly 9:00 and got to the hotel at 14: 46. I made some joke about "Bruce and Andy, you arrived at 2:46 PM, so you will depart at 2:46 AM." but either nobody got the Amazing Race reference, or they didn't think it was funny. Anyway, we thought that was pretty good time for the 65 miles with lunch and rest stops.
People arrived the rest of the afternoon, and B and I sat out on the lawn and watched, cheered, talked.
The folks at the hotel, Auberge Harris, had enough bike racks for everybody. They also did a reception on the lawn with beer, wine, soft drinks, and potato chips. Some riders got in the pool, and everyone cleaned up and dissipated for dinner. We'd not ever been to Saint-Jean and didn't know it was so large. They had sign-up sheets for dinners and so we signed up for a pan-Asian mostly Thai restaurant. The reservation was for 6:30 and that's way early for us. The walk into town was about two miles. We made it to the restaurant by 7:00 and there were two long tables with bikers. They tried to seat us at a third giant table, but we thought that would be strange to be "with them" but segregated like that, so we asked for a table for two in the back. It turned out that other folks arrived even later, and we could have been with the group. But then we ended up getting our food faster than the big group. The food was fairly mild for Thai, even the spicy stuff, but had lots of fresh vegetables. It was downright virtuous healthy food, which wasn't exactly what I wanted after riding all day.
We'd passed a bar, La Trinquette, that had a huge outdoor patio. We stopped there on the walk back and had a couple of gin an tonics, watching people. They had fire pits, lights in the trees, two bars opening onto the patio, and it was all festive and relaxing. I started getting sleepy and we walked the rest of the way back to the hotel, stopping to get some chocolate bars along the way. There were two coffee and dessert places en route, but both were chock full of people. Weather reports for Saturday were consistent: rain. We crashed at 10 PM.
Saturday was a rainy soggy mess. We only had to ride 30 miles, but the rain was steady and a lot of the planned path was on La Route Verte, Québec's network of bike paths.
Breakfast was good. The hotel did a nice job of providing high protein foods. They must know what bikers want to eat. They had a woman frying eggs on a griddle which made the line move slow. The tour guides announced that we were going to delay leaving by an hour, to see if the rain would let up. It didn't. The first 10 miles were easy, no turns, along an unpaved canal path. Everyone had strategies for dealing with the rain, but in the end, we all got wet and muddy no matter what we were wearing. The worst thing was my shoes were full of water and my smart-wool socks were like little sponges. And my butt hurt. Ouch.
One of the bad parts of being first the day before was that our bikes were in the back, so we were among the very last to leave. There was a small group who were going to delay one more hour to see if the rain would let up. But we were basically the last to leave except for them. We got to a fort and that was where we were going to break into small groups because the next 20 miles had lots of turns as we rode through parks, streets, and neighborhoods. We'd passed some of the slowest riders, but most of the fast folks were already gone in small groups. So we got stuck with a slow group. A very slow group. That, plus the rain, was a little frustrating, moreso for B. But for me, to keep things interesting, my bike's rear brakes became less and less effective. At first I thought it was just mud and wet, but later on, discovered that the cable had probably slipped from the wet. The pads were making contact, but not even causing any slowing at all. I discovered this while going down a corckscrew exit from a bike overpass. I passed a few people unintentionally! Let's just say I figured out how to use my front brakes judiciously. (Later on, when we got to the hotel, we would find out that our group leader lost both her front and back brakes on the trip, and spent the last few miles stopping by hopping off her seat!)
We had lunch at La Capitainerie and rendez-voused with riders from the four-day trip. The set menu was grilled kabobs (chicken or beef) on rice, brown gravy, french fries, and cole slaw. That and a beer was really good for being wet and tired. We made it on the 3 PM ferry at Port de Plaisance. It seemed like the majority of the group was on that ferry. We later found out that some of the fast folks forewent lunch and took the 1 PM ferry so they could get to the hotel and get dry, warm, and clean.
When we got off the ferry, we were on the promenade at the waterfront in old Montréal. We just had to ride up Rue Berri to our hotel, but I wanted to fix my brakes, so we were at the very back of the pack to get to the hotel. At the hotel, they had everyone lined up and were hosing off bikes (and people in some cases). We were very muddy. We stayed at the DoubleTree Plaza Hotel at Berri and Sherbrooke. They're not exactly equipped to handle 110 bikers. We had to take an elevator to the mezzanine and park our bikes in a ballroom, leaning bikes against chairs scattered through the room. I wish I had a picture of it, but I didn't take any pictures on Saturday because of all the rain, and then I just didn't think about pictures later.
There was a big reception in a small area; crowded and hard to get a drink. A&M asked if we wanted to dine with them at ChuChai. We agreed and we ducked out of the reception to go eat. They hadn't had lunch and were starving, and we were hungry too. We walked the few blocks over to the restaurant. It's all vegetarian and they have "mock meats" which usually puts me off. I must admit that the mock duck tasted incredibly real. B and I shared some spring rolls, some crispy fried spinach, a duck noodle dish, and curried cauliflower. We had a lovely time getting to know A&M more. We strolled back to the hotel and stopped at Café Vienne for some coffe an dessert. They were ready to crash so we walked back to the hotel. B and I wanted to go out for a drink, so we walked back over to the Opus Hotel and had drinks at their new ultra-trendy bar. The bartenders were really hot! Of course it was raining, so we got wet on the walk over and the walk back. As if we'd not been wet enough all day. Again, we crashed about 10 PM, but that seems logical since the mornings were starting at 6 AM, about an hour earlier than we usually get up.
Sunday was cloudy and looked like it could be rainy. We had a good breakfast at the hotel, but we were a little rushed for time.
Le Tour de l'Île is a 50 km bike ride that is the culmination of the Montréal Bicycle Festival. People go from serious (riding fast) to silly (with bikes and helmets decorated). Local Motion is in cahoots with Vélo Québec trying to connect the Vermont trails with La Route Verte and promote cycling. So we had "VIP status" and had a reserved spot at the start of the pack. Estimates were that more than 30,000 riders would participate. We lined up next to riders associated with some of the corporate sponsors. They had us lined up on two sides of a divided street.
And an enlarged detail of the line-up. Bikers as far back as we could see in both lanes!
The route was a big circuit through the north and east ends of the Island of Montreal, kept relatively flat so everyone can participate. I was with B the whole way, and he wanted to ride fast and not stop at the rest stops. So we rode the 30 miles in well-under three hours. There were some interesting points along the way. There is a section of houses in the north end that are crazy architecture: fake castles, statues, pillars, odd roofs, and all kinds of decor. There were also some ugly sections: riding through industrial areas and beside quarries. The roads are all closed and people line the route to cheer. It's all very festive. There was one long downhill stretch and B was way in front of me and in between us, somebody crashed their bike. He heard it and turned around to see if it was me. Meanwhile I was approaching and slowing down to see if it was him. Later on I heard other couples talking about how they'd done the same sort of thing. It was a scary crash, but they had first aid there quickly... even before I got to the crash. We didn't want to be in the way or seem morbidly curious, so we went on again. It rained just a little. The real battle was with the wind. At times the side wind was so strong it blew my bike sideways, and when it was a gusty headwind, the pedaling was difficult. The finale was riding up to the Olympic Stadium, riding around it, and exiting back to the park where we started off the circuit. It was a good ride, and we thoroughly enjoyed riding on the closed roads in such a festive atmosphere.
I thought they'd have more do to in the park at the finish, but they just handed out free milk (Lait was a sponsor) and had a bike shop, a Toyota tent, and some other weak stuff: a "circus" that hadn't started on a very small stage, and a tent handing out free Dial soap. We got our free chocolate milk and bought t-shirts commemorating the ride.
We rode back tot he hotel (about 4 miles) on busy Sherbrooke. The hotel kindly allowed us all to use the pool area to change clothes. That was nice, but a chaotic mess, too. We met up with V&D, another couple we'd been friendly with, and we had a great lunch at Amir, a chain fast food middle-eastern restaurant. We got to know hem a whole lot better there. We wanted dessert, but had to be back at the hotel by 1:30, so we got pastries to go. We got separated from V&D but ended up beside A&M on the bus back with the Massachusetts folks in front of us. We ate our Paris Brêt cake on the bus before too many people noticed. V&D ended up not eating theirs because they felt self-conscious eating in front of people on the bus. Some people didn't have time for lunch, I guess.
The ride back was pleasant. Lots of talking and laughing and reviewing the weekend. I got to plug NaNoWriMo and as I was doing it, the bus got really quiet, and later on others commented on it. I had no idea I was playing to the whole bus! The border crossing on the bus was interesting. They came on and looked at everyone's passports and were cracking jokes and such. We had to sit and wait for the vans with the bikes on them in case anything was a problem.
Back at the winery, we made our goodbyes and then drove home. My bike's front brakes had been jacked up in the transport, and the back breaks were a little tight from my overzealous fixing... so I took my bike to the shop for a tune-up on Monday. The folks at Earl's are great!
Day 1: 63 miles. Day 2: ~30 miles. Day 3: 35 miles. Not bad at all. We're already looking forward to VerMontréal next year!
